Medieval and Early Modern Greek Manuscripts : Greek Poems by Joshua Barnes

Medieval and Early Modern Greek Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'> The manuscript contains a collection of <i> Greek Poems by Joshua Barnes</i> (1654-1712), all with a Latin translation. A fellow of Emmanuel College (1678), Joshua Barnes was made Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge in 1695. He published editions of Euripides (1694), Anacreon (1705), and Homer (1711). Being very fluent in ancient Greek, which he could write and speak (see J. M. Levine, <i> The battle of the books: history and literature in the Augustan age</i>, Ithaca and London 1991, p. 152). when he was young he also composed works in Greek himself, including the poems written in this manuscript, which dates back to 1673, when he was 19 years old. The codex contains <i> Esther</i>, a rendition into Homeric hexameters of the Biblical book of Esther, a revised version of which was published by him in 1679; the heroic poem <i> Iosephus</i>, <i> Metaphrases</i>, a compendium of selected episodes from the Bible, <i> Thuribulum</i>, <i> Synoris</i>, a collection of epigrams, <i> Bellum Anglo-Belgicum seu Mors Nobilissimi Comitis Sandavici</i>, about Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, a Commentary on his poem Esther, and finally the poem <i> Gallorum Pugna</i>. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'> The manuscript is in Joshua Barnes's own hand; he probably also made the frontispiece which precedes the texts. He seems to have worked on this manuscript over a period of time, as is demonstrated by the numerous notes and additions that he wrote on the versos of the leaves, which he had originally left blank. The codex is now preserved in Emmanuel College Library with various books he donated. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'> Dr Erika Elia</p>