Western Medieval Manuscripts : Lycophron's Alexandra

Western Medieval Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'> The manuscript contains<i> Lycophron's Alexandra</i> (3rd c. BCE), a poem in iambic trimeters characterized by laboured style and obscure vocabulary, which enjoyed a great success in antiquity and Byzantine times chiefly because of its use in education. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'> The text is accompanied by a synoptic Latin translation, by the classical scholar Willem Canter (1542-1575), and a summary of the text in poetry (Epitome) with a Latin translation by the same author.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'> The manuscript has been copied by a non-Greek person. Considering the texts, it was probably copied from a printed edition. Three editions of the 16th-17th c. contain the Greek text of the poem alongside with Canter's translation and Epitome: the edition by Oporinus (Basel 1566), Commelin (Heidelberg 1596) and Paul Estienne (Geneva 1601). </p><p style='text-align: justify;'> The scribe, probably to be placed in the 17th century, possibly copied the text for study purposes.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dr Erika Elia</p>