The Cosmography of Aethicus Ister

France, 9th century

Parchment

i, 41 leaves

320 × 245 mm

Latin

1 (ff. 1r–40r) Geographical compendium

Note:

Sök på början i google books. första frasen finns nämns i t.ex. Iter italicum.

9v: Orosius

39v: Polemius silvius

Edition: Herren (2011).

1.1 (ff. 1r–14r) Description of the tripartite world

Rubric: Incipit cosmographia aethici

Incipit: Lectionum peruigili cura comperimus senatum populumque romanum totius mundi dominos dominatores orbis et praesules cum quicquid subiacet caelo pene trarent triumphis

Explicit: Quae capit est orbis et domina senatus

Final rubric: Explicit descriptio totius orbis tripertiti

Note:

1r: introduction

1v: habet omnis terrae orbis: followed by a list of seas, islands etc.; Oceanus orieantalis habet maria + list of seas, then follows lists of cities and rivers.

2rc: hec sunt flumina oceani orientalis + narrative text on the rivers

3rc: Oceanus orentalis habet gentes + list of people;

3v: ocenaus occidentalis + lists

5ra: Haec sunt flumina oceani occidentalis famosa + narrative text on the rivers

6ra: oceanus occidentalis habet gentes+ list

6rc: Hic explicit oceani occidentalis continentia. Incipit situs oceanis septentrionalis + lists

7r: narrative text, then lists

8rb: Incipit continentia sinus meridiani + lists

9r: narrative text

9v: Incipit situs asiae prouinciae cum limitibus et populis suis

10r: Incipit situs europae cum limitibus et populis suis

12r: Africa situ

13r: nomina insularum per diuersa maria

1.2 (ff. 14r–40r) Itinerary

Rubric: Incipit itinerarium prouinciarium omnium antonii augusti In primis prouinciae africae

Incipit: Atingi mauretaniae id est ubi baccauates et macenites barbari morantur

Note:

Three lines of introduction, then lists of place names followed by distance (stadia + Roman numerals), organised in 1-4 columns.

39r: Nomina septem montium urbis rome (from Polemius Silvius)

Physical Description

Support

Binding/Endleaves

Locus: LCI, f. SL1, RCI

Support: Paper

Leaf dimensions: 320 × 245 mm

Textblock

Locus: ff. SL2r–40v

Support: Parchment

Leaf dimensions: 320 × 245 mm

Foliation

Modern foliation in pencil.

Collation

Formula: 1-2(8), 3(8, lacks 8), 4-6(6)

Note: Viscoll collation

Signatures: Quire signatures in Roman numerals both at the end and beginning of a quire.

Condition

Textblock

Parchment worn and wrinkled. Some leaves stained, first and last leaes heavily stained (the manuscript may have been stored unbound). Several holes in the leaves, but no loss of text. Edges trimmed, with loss of text to the marignal additions. f. 22: leaf has been cut, only the top quarter remains, the following leaf has been cut away completely.

Layout

Written area: 265 × 210 mm

Note: The text is a mixture of leaves with one column and 30 lines, and leaves with 2-3 columns. Blindruling and pricking in the margins.

Script

Textblock

Hand 1

Carolingian minuscule

Additions

Binding/Endleaves

(LCI) Upper left corner, in black ink by a modern hand: ‘Va. 1’.; ‘Kungl. Biblioteket. Stockholm’; Upper part of page in pencil: ‘Se. S. Dahlgren i Ymer 1885’; below: National Library stamp.

(f. SL1r) Upper left corner, in black ink by a modern hand: ‘Sparvenfeldt Ecl. no 8.’; centre page, in black ink by a modern hand: ‘Aethici (Ister) Cosmographia seu Descriptio totius orbis tripartitis Antonii Augusti Itinerarium Provinciarum Omnium Inprimis Prouinciae Africae’; below, in ink: ‘Hdskr. från IX eller X^de århundradet’; below, in pencil: ‘Använd för den af A. Schott år 1600 i Köln tryckta uppl. af Itinerarium Antonini. Kom urspr. från ett kloster i närh. af Gent.’; bottom of page: National Library stamp.

Textblock

(f. SL2r) Top of page: one line of illegible text in faded brown ink by a contemporary hand; below, in black ink by an early modern hand: Ex musea? ill- March- - emit mantuae Carpent Ao 1690 d. 8 jan. J. G. Sparwenfeldt; bottom of page, in brown ink: ‘Gracchurris urbis Hibera- regionis dicta a Graccho Sempronio que antea Uurcis nominabatur fictus’; below: ‘Socrates Scholsticus Historie Ecclesiastice libro v. ΓΑΡΟΥΝ ΣΥΜΒΟΛΗ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΝ ΠΟΤΑΜΟΝ ΤΟΝ ΚΑΛΟΥΜΕΝΟΝ ΦΡΙΓΙΔΟΝ’.

(f. 1r) Top of page in brown ink by an early modern hand:‘ 12. 4 8’ (the first two numbers are struck through); bottom of page in brown ink: ‘8. 229’.

(ff. 1r–39v) Marginal additions and corrections by a contemporary hand. The additions usually consist single words.

(f. 40v) In hoc corpore continetur chronica iordanis episcopi rauennatis ciuitatis de origine ac uocabulis gentis gotorum aedita ad castalum sumptaque ex auctoribus id est (Strabone cornelio claudio ptholemeo) column 1: senatore, ablabio, prisco, iosipo, lucano, pomponio, dione, pompeio trogo, uirgilio column 2: dicineo, comosaco, salmoxe, zeuta, deuxippo, libio titio, simmacho, orosio paulo

Decorations

Textblock

Description:

Main text in brown ink, rubrics and capitals in orange-red. Some capitals touched in red. (f. 11) written in black ink.

Initials:

Plain initials over 2-4 lines in red or brown.

Binding

Description:

19th century binding. Leather and paper over cardboard.

Binding dimensions: 335 × 260 × 25 mm

Contemporary: No

History

Origin

France, 9th century

Bibliography

Dahlgren (1885).

Metadata

Statement of Responsibility

Cataloguers: Patrik Granholm, Robin Böckerman

External Identifiers

Libris ID: 12033980

Regina ID: 003096863

Internal Identifiers

Permalink: https://www.manuscripta.se/ms/101057

XML: https://www.manuscripta.se/ms/101057.xml

IIIF Manifest:

https://www.manuscripta.se/iiif/101057/manifest.json

License

Description: CC BY 4.0

Images: Public Domain

Last revision

2026-06-09

National Library of Sweden, Va 1

The Cosmography of Aethicus Ister

Contents

Physical Description

Support

Binding/Endleaves

Textblock

Foliation

Collation

Condition

Textblock

Layout

Script

Textblock

Hand 1

Additions

Binding/Endleaves

Textblock

Decorations

Textblock

Binding

History

Origin

Bibliography

Metadata

Statement of Responsibility

External Identifiers

Internal Identifiers

License

Last revision