MS Gg.6.10

MS Gg.6.10 The Polonsky Foundation Suzanne Paul University Library

Images made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License (CC BY-NC 3.0) This metadata is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Cambridge University Library (CC BY-NC 4.0) University of Cambridge Cambridge University Library Medieval Manuscripts MS Gg.6.10 Diktyon 12194

The manuscript contains two small philosophical treatises by the Byzantine polymath Michael Psellos: the first deals with the creation of the souls in Plato; the second with the Chaldaean Oracles, a set of texts belonging to the mystical tradition, which carry revelations from the Gods. The manuscript was copied by the Greek scribe Iakobos Diassorinos, who was librarian of Fontainebleau Palace library around the middle of the 16th century. He made several copies of these texts: both texts are present in manuscripts Cambridge, Trinity College, O.1.32 and Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Barb. gr. 38 ; and the Expositio brevis de dogmatis Assyriorum was transcribed by him in MS El Escorial, Real Biblioteca, Φ.II.11. Dr Erika Elia

Greek ff. 4r-36r Michael Psellus In psychogoniam Platonicam f. 4r Μιχαὴλ τοῦ Ψελλοῦ εἰς τὴν ψυχογονίαν τοῦ Πλάτωνος f. 4r Τὸ μὲν λεγόμενον ἐστιν· ὅτι οὐ μάτην ἡ τῶν ἐφεξῆς λόγων εὕρεσις f. 36r ἀναφέρει τὰς περατώσεις τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκρότητα. The text is accompanied by some diagrams P. Moore, Iter Psellianum, Toronto 2005, phi. 72a; ed. G.C. Linder, Τοῦ Ψελλοῦ Μιχαὴλ εἰς τὴν ψυχογονίαν τοῦ Πλάτωνος, Michaelis Pselli in Platonis De animae procreatione praecepta commentarius, Uppsala 1854, pp. 1-49 nr. 1; PG 122, 1077-1101 ff. [i] recto-[i] verso, 2r-3r are blank ff. 36v-39r Michael Psellus Expositio brevis de dogmatis Assyriorum f. 36v Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἔκθεσις κεφαλαιώδης καὶ σύντομος τῶν παρ' Ἀσσυρίοις δογμάτων f. 36v Μετὰ τὸ ἕν τὸν πατρικὸν φασὶ βυθὸν ἐκ τριῶν τριάδων πληρούμενον f. 39r καὶ ὡς θείας φωνὰς ταῦτα ἐδέξαντο. TLG 2702.011; P. Moore, Iter Psellianum, Toronto 2005, phi. 114; ed. D.J. O'Meara, Michaelis Pselli Philosophica minora, vol. 2: Opuscula Psychologica, Theologica, Daemonologica, Leipzig1989, op. 41 ff. 39v-42v, [ii] recto-[ii] verso are blank ff. 1-42 Western paper, folded in octavo. Circle surmounted by a four-leaf clover ( 20 15 ) in the upper or lower part of the leaf, cut and incomplete, near the gutter, without exact correspondence in the main repertoires. ff. [i], [ii] Western paper, folded in quarto. Pitcher with letters DA surmounted by a four-leaf clover ( 90 38 ) in the gutter, without exact correspondence in the main repertoires. Codex i + 42 + i, 185 115 Modern pencil foliation in Arabic numerals, in the top right hand corner recto: [i] + 1-42 + [ii].

The manuscript consists of a binion, 5 quaternions and two later endleaves, one at the beginning, one at the end of the manuscript. The manuscript was rebound: at present the leaves which formed the first bifolium of the first quaternion (ff. 3 and 10) are detached; f. 3 is glued to f. 2.

Quire 12 ff. 1-2 Quires 2-68 ff. 3-42 Quires numbered 1-5 by a later hand

Vertical catchwords in the scribe's hand on the last verso, lower part, near the gutter; very short, written from the top down. Modern pencil signatures in Arabic numerals on the first folio recto of each quire, lower right, probably by a later librarian, from 1 ( f. 3r) to 5 ( f. 35r).

The codex is in good condition. The leaves are slightly yellowed and there are a few humidity stains (see e.g. ff. 1r-1v, 34r-40v, lower edge).

Worm holes in the upper edge of ff. 1r-3v.

ff. 4r-42v A single column of 14 lines. 125 75

ff. 4r-39r Hand A: the texts have been written by Iakobos Diassorinos (16th c., 2nd quarter-1563) Diassorinus, Jacobus (16th c., 2nd quarter- 1563) , ( Ἰάκωβος Διασσωρινός, RGK I, 143. See also RGK II, 191; RGK III, 241), in the more calligraphic variant of his script.

The text is written in black ink; titles and initials in red.

Small friezes in red ink are present at the beginning of the texts: on f. 4r scrollworks with a vegetal motif; on f. 36v interlace frieze divided in two parts, with title at the centre. Initials in ekthesis in red ink are decorated with a vegetal motif, see e.g. ff. 4r and 36v. Thick red-ink initials in ekthesis, see e.g. ff. 31r-31v. The first text is accompanied by some diagrams, see e.g. ff. 10r, 27v-29v.

On f. 34v, on the leaf's upper border, there is an annotation traceable to Jean-Baptiste Hautin (see History).

On the upper edge of f. 1r, the classmark is written in pencil.

On the left pastedown there are modern pencil notes on the manuscript, presumably by a librarian.

Western modern binding. Bookcloth over millboard; author and classmark tooled in gold on the spine.

196 125 16

The manuscript was copied by Iakobos Diassorinos (16th c., 2nd quarter-1563) Diassorinus, Jacobus (16th c., 2nd quarter- 1563) between the second quarter of the 16th century and 1563.

Owned by J.-B. Hautin, probably to be identified with Jean-Baptiste II Hautin, son of the French scholar and numismatist Jean-Baptiste Hautin (c. 1580-1640) Hautin, Jean-Baptiste, approximately 1580-1640 . On f. 34v, on the leaf's upper border, there is an annotation by the hand that occurs in almost all Hautin's manuscripts: Psellus in Platonis psycogoniam (see also Jackson 2006, p. 33).

The codex was later owned by John Moore (1646-1714), bishop of Ely Moore, John, 1646-1714 : number 1016 in the handwritten supplementary list of Moore's manuscripts, now MS CUL Oo.7.50(2), compiled by Thomas Tanner after the publication of Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (1697).

Presented to the University Library in 1715 by George I George I, King of Great Britain, 1660-1727 . On the left pastedown is glued the engraved bookplate made by John Pine for the Royal Library (1737). Description (2019) partly draws on A catalogue of the Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, vol. 3, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1858, p. 218.

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A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the library of the University of Cambridge Cambridge 3: Gg-Kk Cambridge University Press 1858 Specimen eines Repertoriums der griechischen Kopisten. Ernst Gamillscheg Dieter Harlfinger Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik 27 293-322 1978 Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten, 800-1600. I. Grossbritannien Ernst Gamillscheg Dieter Harlfinger Wien Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1981 Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Byzantinistik Bd. 3 Michaelis Pselli Philosophica minora, vol. II: Opuscula Psychologica, Theologica, Daemonologica Michael. Psellus Dominic J. O'Meara Leipzig 2 Teubner 1989 Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana Iter Psellianum: a detailed listing of manuscript sources for all works attributed to Michael Psellos, including a comprehensive bibliography Iter Psellianum 0-88844-375-7 22 Paul Moore Toronto Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies 2005 Subsidia mediaevalia 26 The Greek Manuscripts of John Moore and Etienne Baluze Jackson, Donald F. Codices Manuscripti 56/57 29-42 2006 El copista griego Jacobo Diasorino (s. XVI): estudio paleográfico y codicológico de sus manuscritos Carmen García Bueno 2017 http://hdl.handle.net/10803/456128 Jacobo Diasorino en Italia C. García Bueno ΠΗΓΗ/Fons 3 51-69 2018 The evolution of Jacobos Diassorinos’ handwriting in context C. Griechisch-byzantinische Handschriftenforschung : Traditionen, Entwicklungen, neue Wege C.Brockmann D.Harlfinger S.Valente D.Deckers Berlin ; Boston201-210De Gruyter2020 Library of Congress Subject Headings Philosophy, Ancient Erika Elia