Western Medieval Manuscripts : Greek philosophical miscellany

Western Medieval Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'> Manuscript Kk.5.9 contains a small <i> Greek philosophical miscellany</i> comprising the commentary by Alexander of Aphrodias to books M and N of Aristotle's <i> Metaphysics</i> and a dialogue dealing with natural sciences by Theophylactus Simocatta (6th century CE), an author born in Egypt, best known for his historic work in eight books. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'> All the texts here were copied in the 16th century by a well known scribe active in Italy, Camillo Zanetti (first half of the 16th century-after 1587; also known as Camillo Veneto). The commentary by Alexander of Aphrodias to books M and N, with the same lacuna at the end (see Contents), is found in other manuscripts copied by Camillo Zanetti, <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://medieval.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/catalog/manuscript_741'> Oxford, Bodleian Library, Auct. T.1.17 (Misc. 195)</a> and <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://medieval.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/catalog/manuscript_10431'> Oxford, Merton College, 304</a> (RGK I, 212), which was copied around 1581 in Padua from an exemplar owned by Gian Vincenzo Pinelli (see the description of the MS by N. Wilson in R.M. Thompson, <i> A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts of Merton College, Oxford</i> (2009), p. 268).</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Manuscript Kk.5.9 is currently bound as the fourth part of a single volume with three other manuscripts, Kk.5.6, 7 and 8.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dr Erika Elia</p>