Manuscripts in the Biblioteca Marciana explained
The collection of the Marciana Library contains 4,639 manuscripts and 13,117 manuscript volumes.[1] Its historical nucleus is the private collection of Cardinal Bessarion, which was donated to the Republic of Venice in 1468.
Manuscripts
Some significant manuscripts in the collection include:
Greek
- Gr. Z. 196 (=743): commentary by Olympiodorus on Plato's Gorgias and Alcibiades (ninth century) on-line
- Gr. Z. 228 (=406): includes Books I and II of Peri Psychēs by Aristotle with commentary by Simplicius of Cilicia and Sophonias and paraphrases by Themistius together with commentary by Pseudo-Diadochus on Plato's Timaeus, commentary by Simplicius of Cilicia on Aristotle's Peri Ouranoû, commentary by Ammonius Hermiae’s on Plato’s Phaedrus, and commentary by Proclus on Plato’s Parmenides. (fourteenth century) on-line
- Gr. Z. 313 (=690): Mathematiké sýntaxis by Ptolemy (tenth century)
- Gr. Z. 388 (=333): Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis by Ptolemy with 27 map projections, commissioned by Bessarion and attributed to John Rhosos (fifteenth century)[2]
- Gr. Z. 395 (=921): Romaiki istoria by Cassius Dio, the oldest manuscript containing Books XLIV, 35, 4–LX, 28, 3 (ninth century)
- Gr. Z. 447 (=820): Deipnosophistaí by Athenaeus of Naucratis, the oldest surviving and most complete extant text (tenth century) on-line
- Gr. Z. 453 (=821): "Homerus Venetus B" (eleventh century) on-line
- Gr. Z. 454 (=822): "Homerus Venetus A", text of Homer's Iliás epic with annotations, glosses, and commentaries (tenth century)[3] on-line
- Gr. Z. 460 (=330): commentary on Homer's Odýsseia by Eustathius of Thessalonica, autograph copy (twelfth century)
- Gr. Z. 479 (=881): Cynegetica by Oppian of Apamea and Vita Oppiani by Constantine Manasses, the oldest illustrated version with 150 miniatures (eleventh century)[4]
- Gr. Z. 481 (=863): Anthologia Planudea, autograph copy of Greek epigrams by Maximus Planudes (1299–1301)[5] on-line
Italian
Latin
- Lat. Z. 549 (=1597): "Codex Cumanicus", handbook of the Cuman language for missionaries with glossaries and a collection of religious texts, linguistic data, and folkloric materials (fourteenth century)[8] on-line
- Lat. I, 99 (=2138): "Breviarium Grimani", Breviary illuminated by the Flemish miniaturists Gerard Horenbout and Alexander and Simon Bening, once belonging to Cardinal Domenico Grimani (c. 1515–1520)[9] on-line
- Lat. I, 103 (=11925): "Evangelistarium Grimani", Gospel illuminated by Benedetto Bordone and Giulio Clovio for Cardinal Marino Grimani (1528)[10] on-line
- Lat. VI, 86 (=2593): De remediis by Francesco Petrarch and Cato Maior de senectute by Cicero (fourteenth century)[11]
- Lat. VI, 254 (=2976): Historia naturalis by Pliny the Elder, illuminated copy commissioned by Pico della Mirandola (1481)[12]
- Lat. XII, 68 (=4519): De bello punico by Silius Italicus, illuminated by Zanobi Strozzi and Francesco Pesellino (fifteenth century)[13] on-line
- Lat. XIV, 35 (=4054): De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii by Martianus Capella, illuminated by Attavante degli Attavanti for Matthias Corvinus (fifteenth century)[14] on-line
Oriental languages
Biblical manuscripts
Old Testament
- Gr. Z. 1 (=320): Old Testament (beginning with the Book of Job), companion to the Vatican codice Vat. Gr. 2106 (eighth century) on-line
- Gr. Z. 17 (=421): "Psalmi cum catena", the 150 Psalms with commentary and illustrations, (tenth-early eleventh century) on-line
- Gr. Z. 538 (=540): "Catena in Job", text of the Book of Job with catena and 30 miniatures (905)
New Testament
Cartography
Music manuscripts
There are some important music manuscripts. The composers represented include:
References
- Labowsky, Lotte, Bessarion's Library and the Biblioteca Marciana, Six Early Inventories (Rome: Storia e Letteratura, 1979)
- Raines, Dorit, 'Book Museum or Scholarly Library? The ‘Libreria di San Marco’ in a Republican Context', Ateneo veneto, CXCVII, terza serie, 9/II (2010), 31–50
- Rapp, Claudia, 'Bessarion of Nicaea', in Anthony Grafton, Glenn W. Most, and Salvatore Settis, ed., The Classical Tradition (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010), pp. 125–126
- Zanetti, Antonio Maria, ed., Græca D. Marci Bibliotheca codicum manu scriptorum per titulos digesta (Venetiis: Casparis Ghirardi & Simonem Occhi, 1740)
- Zanetti, Antonio Maria, ed., Latina et italica D. Marci Bibliotheca codicum manu scriptorum per titulos digesta (Venetiis: Casparis Ghirardi & Simonem Occhi, 1741)
- Zorzi, Marino, Biblioteca Marciana Venezia (Firenze: Nardini, 1988)
External links
Notes and References
- https://marciana.venezia.sbn.it/la-biblioteca/il-patrimonio/patrimonio-librario Patrimonio librario
- Zorzi, Biblioteca Marciana Venezia, p. 122. For a description of the codex, see the exhibition catalog Mapping Our World: Terra Incognita to Australia (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2013), pp. 17–19, .
- Zorzi, Biblioteca Marciana Venezia, p. 62
- Zorzi, Biblioteca Marciana Venezia, p. 64
- Zorzi, Biblioteca Marciana Venezia, p. 82
- Zorzi, Biblioteca Marciana Venezia, p. 148
- Zorzi, Biblioteca Marciana Venezia, p. 115
- For a discussion, see The Codex Cumanicus in Peter B. Golden, ed.,Studies on the peoples and cultures of the Eurasian steppes (Bucharest: Academiei Române, 2011), pp. 333–366, .
- Zorzi, Biblioteca Marciana Venezia, p. 192
- Zorzi, Biblioteca Marciana Venezia, p. 196
- Zorzi, Biblioteca Marciana Venezia, p. 102
- Zorzi, Biblioteca Marciana Venezia, p. 144
- Zorzi, Biblioteca Marciana Venezia, p. 162
- Zorzi, Biblioteca Marciana Venezia, p. 166
- Zorzi, Biblioteca Marciana Venezia, p. 180
- Web site: Rosand . Ellen . Ellen Rosand . 2008 . 'Cavalli a le stelle' Cavalli and the staging of Venetian opera . Gresham College.
- Web site: L'Erismena . baerenreiter.com.
- News: White . Robert . July 2007 . The mercurial maestro of Madrid .