Fragments of two Metaphrastic Saints’ Lives

second half of the 11th c.

parchment

i, 14, i' leaves

310–320 × 240–245 mm

Greek

1 (ff. 1r–2v) Symeon Metaphrastes, Liturgica Menologium mensis Decembris (Vita Marcellus Abbas Archimandrite of the Acoemetae, fragmentum) (BHG1028)

Rubric: ιγ

Incipit: [mut.] ⟨πλη⟩γαῖς ἐκκαμὼν. ἀδρανὴς ὅλος

Explicit: ἐπὶ τῷ τάφῳ τραπέντι καὶ ἵνα τί [mut.]

Note: Usually commemorated on December 29. In the upper center margin of recto pages, the number ‘ιγ’ indicates that in the intact volume this vita was preceded by twelve others items, something which is corroborated by François Halkin’s presentation of codex Atheniensis gr. 990, . That manuscript and the Uppsala fragments were once part of the same volume, and the Athens manuscript obviously lacks the correspondent part of the Vita S. Marcelli and also most of the next item, number 14 (Vita S. Melaniae; cf. Halkin (1983), p. 76).

Edition: PG, vol. 116, cols. 741A–744D.

2 (ff. 3r–14v) Symeon Metaphrastes, Liturgica Menologii mensis Decembris (Vita Melania Iunior, Fragmenta) (BHG1242)

Note:

Usually commemorated on December 31. In the upper center margin of recto pages, the number ‘ιδ’ indicates this item’s place in the original Menologium volume. Cf. reference to Halkin (1983), above.

The text displays lacunae in two places due to the loss of leaves (cf. the physical description). These leaves do not seem to have been spared in the Athens part of the Menologium, either, where the presentation of the Vita S. Melaniae is resumed at τῇ πασχούσῃ τὴν καρδίαν (PG, col. 789B).

2.1 (ff. 3r–4v) Fragment A of Vita S. Melaniae

Rubric: ιδ

Incipit: [mut.] ἐπειδὴ μὴ ἤρκουν

Explicit: ἐκείνοι φυγῇ κλέψαι τὴν [mut.]

Edition: PG, vol. 116, cols. 753C–757D.

2.2 (ff. 5r–12v) Fragment B of Vita S. Melaniae.

Rubric: ιδ

Incipit: [mut.] ἠρεμεῖν οὐκ εἴα

Explicit: καταλέλειπτο καί τινι τῶν πιστῶν [mut.]

Edition: PG, vol. 116, cols. 760C–776A.

2.3 (ff. 13r–14v) Fragment C of Vita S. Melaniae.

Rubric: ιδ

Incipit: [mut.] Ποτέ τις προσῆλθε γέροντι

Explicit: τῶν ἐπὶ τούτῳ μισθῶν [mut.]

Edition: PG, vol. 116, cols. 780D–784D.

Physical Description

Support

Binding/Endleaves

Locus: ff. LCI, SL1r–SL1v, SR1r–SR1v, RCI

Support: Western paper

Leaf dimensions: 320 × 245 mm

Folding: Folio

Textblock

Locus: ff. 1r–14v

Support: Parchment

Leaf dimensions: 310 × 240 mm

Folding: Folio

Note: Parchment of medium thickness with a creamy-yellow colour, slightly more ivory-white on the flesh sides. Traces of levigating instrument still visible, and a blemish in the form of a large hole remaining at ff. 9r–9v in the lower right margin (outside the text block), and a tiny one in the lower margin of ff. 5r–5v. Another small hole, in the upper left margin of ff. 1r–1v, was probably sealed at an early date. Part of the edges of ff. 1r–4v have been restored.

Foliation

Modern foliation in pencil: 1–14.

Collation

Binding/Endleaves

Formula: I^f.i

Formula: I^f.i’

Textblock

Formula: Present state: _Q1II^f.4 + _Q2IV^f.12 + _Q3I^f.14

Formula: Original structure: _[Q25]IV^{(x f.1–2 x / x f.3–4 x)} + _Q26IV^f.12 + _[Q27]IV^{(x x x f.13 / f.14 x x x)}

Note: The Uppsala manuscript, in its fragmentary state, equals a lacuna in codex Atheniensis gr. 990, , as indicated by Albert Ehrhard and François Halkin; that manuscript seems to encompass the preceding twentyfour quaternions (Q1–24) plus a couple of leaves following upon our fragments, judging from the catalogue entry in Halkin (1983).

Signatures: In the lower left margin of first recto: κϛʹ f. 5r

Catchwords: none

Layout

Locus: ff. 1r–14v

Columns: 2

Ruled lines: 30

Written area: 200 × 145 mm

Ruling pattern: Identical with Sautel, no. 44C2

Note:

The written surface measures approximately 200 x 60 per column, with an intercolumniar space of 23 and a distance between lines of 5. The upper margin is 40 high, and the lower margin ca. 70. The external margin is ca. 60 mm wide.

There are prickings for the verticals in the form of tiny slits on every folio, mainly in the lower margin (and in the upper margin of ff. 1r–1v, as well as a row in the external margin of ff. 13r–14v).

Julien Leroy and Jacques-Hubert Sautel give the ruling for Atheniensis gr. 990, as 44C2. As this is also the ruling of the Uppsala fragment, this further confirms that these sheets once belonged to the manuscript now residing in the National Library of Athens.

Script

Textblock

Hand 1

(ff. 1r–14v) Perlschrift typical of the second half of the eleventh century, written deliberately to be easily legible and only occasionally allowing the spontaneous movement of letters such as Kappa, Lambda, Chi, so as to make the flow of script harmonious and rhythmic, rather than staid. Ornamental apices can be seen, e.g. in the Kappa acting as the last letter on (f. 1r), col. b, those of the last lines of (f. 1v), and several other last-line Kappas; in the tall Tau of the first line of (f. 2v), col. b, and the ligature Omicron-Upsilon lower down in the external margin of that same column; in the Eta whose prolongation is marked by two small crosses, on the lower right corner of (f. 3r), col. b, and similarly on the Zeta at (f. 4v), last line of col. a, and last line of col. b at (f. 5r) (attached to a letter now erased). Although the ligatures are standard, note the elongated shape they take at (f. 11v), col. b, line 3. At (f. 12v), col. a, the letters added in the margin to line 12 and the erasure at line 13 seem to be scribal corrections.

Hand 2

(ff. 1r–14r) Later marginal annotations by a thirteenth-century minusculehand writing in dark ink. On (f. 1r), partly erased and replaced: ‘λαφύξας· διεκροφήσ(ας) ’. Traces of the erased word seems to suggest the gloss διασπαράξας, which is given as synonym to λαφύξας in, e.g., Hesychius lexicon and in Suda. The verb διεκροφῆσαι is encountered once in Nicetas Choniates’ Historia (Dieten (1975), vol. 1, p. 114). On (f. 3v): ‘δρασμόν· φυγῆν’, a scholion to Aeschylus’ Persae (cf. Massa Positano (1963), p. 96, no. 370c). On (f. 4v): ‘ἔρνος· κλάδος’ (cf. Latte (1963–1966), vol. 2, no. epsilon5968); ‘λιτῶς τε καὶ ἀφελῶς· ψιλῶς τε | καὶ ἐλ⟨ευθε⟩ρίως’. On (f. 13r): ‘ἐρέσθαι· ἐρωτᾶν’ (cf. Tittman (1808), vol. 1, p. 872); ‘ἐμπαροινούμενον· ὑβριζόμενον’. On (f. 14r): ‘ἄστει· κοσμικῶν’.

Hand 3

(f. 5r) ‘N:o 9’, in brown ink in the upper center margin. Probably added by Pehr Fabian Aurivillius, who made an inventory of the Björnståhl donation of manuscripts (cf. Espling (1785), p. 35). The placing of the former shelfmark indicates that this leaf and quire was put as the first one at that time. The leaves have subsequently been rearranged to their present and more correct order.

Hand 4

(ff. 1r–14v) Frequent references to Surius (1571–1576) by a modern (nineteenth-century?) hand, in pencil.

Additions

Binding/Endleaves

(ff. LCI, SL1r–SL1v) Blank endleaves, except for a shelfmark label on (LCI), and a title on (f. SL1r): ‘Symeon Metaphrastes. Fragmenta vitarum S. Marcelli et S. Melanae (!) ’.

(ff. SR1r–SR1v, RCI–RCI) Blank endleaves

Decorations

Textblock

Description:

The initials in red ink are placed in the outer margins, enlarged approximately the distance of the interlineum and very minimally ornamented.

Binding

Description:

Modern half binding in brown goatskin and marbled paper. Presumably bound at Uppsala University Library in the early twentieth century, although the decorated paper used as board cover may point to an earlier date.

Binding dimensions: 325 × 250 mm

History

Origin

Probably written in the second half of the 11th c.. Place unknown. Besides the terminus post-quem given by its Metaphrastic content, the dating is made mainly on palaeographical grounds, and the type of manuscript fits well with this assumption. The same approximate date is given for Atheniensis gr. 990, in Sakkeliōn (1892). These two codices once belonged together and constituted a complete Menologium for the second half of December.

Provenance

Brought from one of the monasteries in Thessaly by Jacob Jonas Björnståhl, who was on a research expedition in that area in 1779 (Callmer (1946–1947)). Exactly which monastery the manuscript came from is not corroborated. But two of the thirteen Uppsala codices with Björnståhl provenance, Upsaliensis Gr. 12, and Upsaliensis Gr. 17, , are proven to be from Dousikon monastery near Trikala, and there is no evidence that Jacob Jonas Björnståhl would have acquired manuscripts from the other monasteries which he visited (such as, for example, the Meteora monasteries; cf. Callmer (1946–1947), p. 173, n. 6). Dousikon monastery is the provenance which François Halkin suggests for the Athens part of the Menologium (Halkin (1983), p. 76).

Acquisition

Jacob Jonas Björnståhl was suddenly taken ill during his journey and passed away in the summer of 1779 on his way to Thessaloniki. His property was thereafter brought to Sweden and, according to his will, the Greek manuscripts came as a donation to Uppsala University Library in 1781.