Medieval and Early Modern Greek Manuscripts : Apollonius of Perga

Medieval and Early Modern Greek Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'> This manuscript contains the <i> Conics</i> of the Greek mathematician <i> Apollonius of Perga</i> (fl. 200 BCE). The work, which became canonical for the study of conics, originally comprised eight books. Only the first four survive in Greek; Books 1 to 7 are extant in Arabic; the eighth is lost. This manuscript also contains the commentary by the Neo-Platonist Eutocius of Ascalon (early 6th century CE). </p><p style='text-align: justify;'> The codex is formed of two parts, which are distinguishable on the basis of the scribal hands, the type of paper, and the size of the leaves. Each part has a separate pagination. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'> The first part (pp. 1:1-1:[161e]) contains the text of <i> Conics</i> by Apollonius of Perga. The text was copied by several hands (at least nine) in the 17th century, as is shown by the watermarks of the paper. The scripts suggest moreover that the scribes were of western European origin. The <i> Conics</i> were copied from Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Savile 7 ( Decorps-Foulquier (2001), p. 113), which dates to the first quarter of the 17th century. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'> The Commentary on Apollonius's <i> Conics</i> by Eutocius is preserved in the second part of MS O.10.12 (pp. 2:1-2:[50]). It was copied by a single scribe of western European origin, in England, from <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://medieval.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/catalog/manuscript_998'> Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Barocci 169</a> ( Decorps-Foulquier and Federspiel (2014), p. lxxxiii).</p><p style='text-align: justify;'> Dr Erika Elia</p>