Medieval and Early Modern Greek Manuscripts : Lexicon, Bible Glossaries and Astrological texts

Medieval and Early Modern Greek Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'> This small manuscript was copied by Theodoros 'the Wise' from Constantinople in Koroneia (perhaps the city in Boeotia) in 1460. Theodoros collected in it a <i>Lexicon, Bible Glossaries and Astrological texts</i>.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'> The lexicon occupies 167 out of a total of 204 folios, but the first quire has suffered serious damage and survives in a fragmentary state and is difficult to read. The lexicon seems to derive from those of Hesychius, Pseudo-Zonaras and Suda; it is alphabetically ordered but has lost several sheets. The collection of short glossaries of words occurring in various books of the Old Testament and a list of transliterated Hebrew words found in the Actes of Apostles with their Greek explanation, is preceded by a lexicon to Dionysius the Areopagite. The astrological texts are instead placed after the colophon of the <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(438);return false;'>f. 196v</a>. Theodoros may have added these texts later, but not much time afterwards, because the script does not vary and the paper used is the same as the first part of the manuscript. In this section, however, Theodoros seems not to have completed his work because empty spaces remain which had to be filled with the figures of the plants of the various planets. Only one, related to the planet Venus, was added later by a reader.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>It was donated to the Trinity College by Roger Gale in 1738, the eldest son of the Fellow of Trinity and Dean of York Thomas Gale, who was also an antiquarian.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dr Matteo Di Franco</p>