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Medieval and Early Modern Greek Manuscripts : Exegesis in Homeri Iliadem by Ioannes Tzetzes

Medieval and Early Modern Greek Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'> This manuscript, produced in the late 14th or early 15th century, contains the most complete copy of the <i>Exegesis in Homeri Iliadem by Ioannes Tzetzes</i>, the 12th-century Byzantine scholar and poet, who composed several commentaries and scholia on Homer (<i>Allegories to the Iliad and Odyssey, Exegesis, Antehomerica, Homerica</i>, and <i>Posthomerica</i>), Hesiod, tragedians, Aristophanes, Lycophron, and others.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The Exegesis, composed in approximately 1140, consists of a lengthy Introduction and a running commentary, structured by lemmata, on the entire first book of the Iliad. The Introduction is accompanied by scholia also by Tzetzes. The manuscript has the peculiarity of containing the complete transcript of the Homeric text of the first book of the Iliad, in groups of ten lines surrounded by the Tzetzes' explanation. The lines 503-526 and the corresponding part of the explanation is missing due to the loss of a folio.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Aulus Janus Parrhasius (1470-1522) read the manuscript and left a number of annotations throughout; Angelo Poliziano (1454-1494) copied excerpts from this manuscript in <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00011554/images/'> Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, clm 807</a>, ff. 45r-53r (see Daneloni 2009, p. 98-100).</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dr Matteo Di Franco</p>

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Exegesis in Homeri Iliadem by Ioannes Tzetzes (Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.16.33)

This manuscript, produced in the late 14th or early 15th century, contains the most complete copy of the Exegesis in Homeri Iliadem by Ioannes Tzetzes, the 12th-century Byzantine scholar and poet, who composed several commentaries and scholia on Homer (Allegories to the Iliad and Odyssey, Exegesis, Antehomerica, Homerica, and Posthomerica), Hesiod, tragedians, Aristophanes, Lycophron, and others.

The Exegesis, composed in approximately 1140, consists of a lengthy Introduction and a running commentary, structured by lemmata, on the entire first book of the Iliad. The Introduction is accompanied by scholia also by Tzetzes. The manuscript has the peculiarity of containing the complete transcript of the Homeric text of the first book of the Iliad, in groups of ten lines surrounded by the Tzetzes' explanation. The lines 503-526 and the corresponding part of the explanation is missing due to the loss of a folio.

Aulus Janus Parrhasius (1470-1522) read the manuscript and left a number of annotations throughout; Angelo Poliziano (1454-1494) copied excerpts from this manuscript in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, clm 807, ff. 45r-53r (see Daneloni 2009, p. 98-100).

Dr Matteo Di Franco

Information about this document

  • Physical Location: Trinity College Library
  • Classmark: Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.16.33
  • Alternative Identifier(s): Diktyon 12049
  • Date of Creation: 14th century
  • Language(s): Greek
  • Extent: Codexii + iii + 49 + 3 + ii Leaf height: 297 mm, width: 205 mm.
  • Collation: The manuscript consists of 7 quires and three leaves: Decorated quire signatures in Greek numerals in red ink in lower margine of the first recto and last verso folios of each quire from f. 8v (α) to f. 46v (ϛ).
  • Material: ff. ff. [iii] recto - [v] verso, western paper, folded in quarto. Watermarks: Swan's head ( Watermark height: 65 mm, width: 33 mm. ) centre of folio comparable to Piccard-Online 41748-41754; watermarks of this shape are in use in the early 15th century.ff. f. [46a]r-v, western paper, folded in quarto. Watermarks: Circle ring ( Watermark height: 40 mm, width: 35 mm. ) centre of folio comparable but not identical to Piccard-Online 161622; watermarks of this shape are in use in the early 15th century.ff. ff. 1r-46v, 47r-49v, and ff. 50r-52v, paper, folded in quarto, not watermarked.
  • Format: Codex
  • Condition:

    In fair condition; pages are yellowed and slightly stained, with numerous wormholes.

  • Binding:

    Couched-laminate boards, red leather label on spine, with title ("Homeri Ilias") tooled in gold

    Binding height: 308 mm, width: 214 mm, depth: 18 mm.

  • Script:

    The manuscript was copied in a mixed minuscule script in brown and red ink. The same hand used two variants of the same minuscule for the main text (the introduction and the Iliad lines) and the comments. The script of the commentary has a faster ductus, a smaller letter size, and a greater use of abbreviations. The same scribe has added the titles on ff. 1r and 14v in a epigraphic-display majuscule.

    Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings are not limited to the end of lines. Breathings are round and mute iota is used. Horizontal strokes appear over names.

    Beta appears in its bilobate shape and hearth-shape, often enlarged; mu is alexandrine; the modern nu and sigma telikon are present. Enlarged lunate sigma wrap around the following letters. The upper curve of minuscule delta is often extended obliquely.

    Punctuation used includes the middle and upper points, lower and middle commas and full stop.

    ff. 49v-52v are written in an informal, carelessminuscule, with large use of abbreviations.

  • Foliation:

    [i-v] + 1-46, [46a], 47-52 + [vi-vii]. Modern foliation in pencil in Arabic numerals, recto, upper right corner. Early foliation in reddish ink from 1 to 11.

  • Layout: ff. 1r-8r: written space Written height: 240 mm, width: 160 mm. 40-46 lines per page.ff. 8v-49v: written space Written height: 242 mm, width: 170 mm. 46 lines per page, surrounding the Iliad lines.ff. 50r-52v: written space Written height: 275 mm, width: 185 mm.
  • Decoration: A simple pyle on f. 1r in red ink; cord frame on f. 14v.
    Small decorated initials on ff. 1r and 14v in red ink.
    Small coloured initials in red ink throughout the manuscript.
  • Additions:

    Donation note on left pastedown with reference to G. Hermann's 1812 edition: "This MS containing the first book of the Iliad with the exegesis of John Tzetzes was presented to Trin. Coll. in 1757 by Dr. Richard Bentley. The Exegesis of Tzetzes has been published by G. Hermann (but with some lacunae) in the same vol. with Draco Stratonicensis, Lipsiae 8vo. J.W. 1839."

    A previous donation note on f. [iii] recto.

    Seripando's ownership note on f. [v] verso and marginal notes by him or Parrhasius throughout the manuscript (see Daneloni 2009, p. 94-97).

  • Provenance:

    The manuscript belonged to the Venetian scholar Ermolao Barbaro il Giovane (1454-1493), and it later entered the possession of Lucius Victor Falchonius (Lucio Vittorio Falconio), identified with Fausto Vittore (1490-1546), pupil and collaborator of Aulus Janus Parrhasius in Venice (1508-1511) and public lecturer on Greek eloquence in Venice. Fausto Vittore quotes the Exegesis of Tzetzes in his De comoedia libellus (1511), and this manuscript R.16.33 has been identified among a list of manuscripts in a letter of Falchonius/Fausto to Jacopo Sannazaro (1458-1530; Vind. lat. 9737e, ff. 11r-v): according to this letter, the manuscript seems to have been taken from Falchonius by Parrhasius.

    After the death of Aulus Janus Parrhasius (1470-1522) the manuscript was inherited by the Neapolitan humanist Antonio Seripando (1476-1531), as stated in the note on f. [v] verso: "Antonij Seripandi ex Jani Parrhasii testamento".

    At Seripando’s death, his books passed on to his brother, Cardinal Girolamo Seripando (1493-1563), who in turn bequeathed his library to the Augustinian convent of San Giovanni a Carbonara in Naples. Before being declared a 'Royal Library' by King Ferdinand IV of Naples in 1792, the convent library was raided on several occasions and in some instances manuscripts and books were sold by the monks themselves.

    The manuscript eventually entered the possession of Richard Bentley, Master of Trinity College.

  • Origin: The script suggests that manuscript was produced in the 14th century.
  • Acquisition: Donated in 1757 by Richard Bentley (ca. 1704-1786), Senior Fellow, rector of Nailstone from 1745 to 1786, executor for his uncle Richard Bentley, Master of Trinity.
  • Funding: The Polonsky Foundation
  • Data Source(s): Description (2020) draws on M.R. James, The Western Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1901, p. 395.
  • Author(s) of the Record: Matteo Di Franco
  • Bibliography:
    James, M. R., The western manuscripts in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge : a descriptive catalogue, 4 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1901) 2.
    Wendel, C., "Tzetzes", in Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft : neue Bearbeitung (Stuttgart: Druckenmüller, 1948) 7A 1959-2011.
    Masson, Olivier, "Notes sur quelques manuscrits de Jean Tzetzes", Emerita 19 104-116 (1951).
    Irigoin, Jean, "Sur un distique de Callimaque (fr. 496+533 Pfeiffer)", Revue des Études Grecques 439-447 (1960) https://www.persee.fr/doc/reg_0035-2039_1960_num_73_347_3629.
    Lolos, Anastasios, Der unbekannte Teil der Ilias-Exegesis des Iohannes Tzetzes (A 97-609) / Anastasios Lolos. (Königstein/Ts.: Hain, 1981).
    Tristano, Caterina, La biblioteca di un umanista calabrese, Aulo Giano Parrasio (Manziana (Roma): Vecchiarelli, 1988).
    Vendruscolo, Fabio, "Dall'ignoto Falconio all'immortal Fausto", AION: Annali dell'Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale" 27 37-50 (2005).
    Papathomopoulos, Manoles, Ἐξήγησις Ἰωάννου Γραμματικοῦ τοῦ Τζέτζου εἰς τὴν Ὁμήρου Ἰλιάδα Exegesis Ioannou Grammatikou tou Tzetzou eis ten Homerou Iliada (Athens: Akademia Athenon, Kentron Ereunes tes Hellenikes kai Latinikes Grammateias, 2007).
    Daneloni, Alessandro, "L’Exegesis in Homeri Iliadem di Giovanni Tzetzes tra Poliziano e Parrasio", Studi medievali e umanistici 7 91-100 (2009).
    Montana, Fausto, "The oldest textual witness of John Tzetzes’ Exegesis of the Iliad", in Marco Ercoles, Lara Pagani, Filippomaria Pontani and Giuseppe Ucciardello (eds), Approaches to Greek Poetry (Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2018) https://www.degruyter.com/view/book/9783110631883/10.1515/9783110631883-006.xml.
    Vendruscolo, Fabio, "Per la biblioteca di Francesco ed Ermolao Barbaro: cinquant’anni dopo", in C. Brockmann, D. Deckers, Dieter Harlfinger and S. Valente (eds), Griechisch-byzantinische Handschriftenforschung. Traditionen, Entwicklungen, neue Wege (Berlin - Munich - Boston: De Gruyter, 2020) 101-128.

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  1. Item Metadata

    Information about this document

    • Physical Location: Trinity College Library
    • Classmark: Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.16.33
    • Alternative Identifier(s): Diktyon 12049
    • Date of Creation: 14th century
    • Language(s): Greek
    • Extent: Codexii + iii + 49 + 3 + ii Leaf height: 297 mm, width: 205 mm.
    • Collation: The manuscript consists of 7 quires and three leaves: Decorated quire signatures in Greek numerals in red ink in lower margine of the first recto and last verso folios of each quire from f. 8v (α) to f. 46v (ϛ).
    • Material: ff. ff. [iii] recto - [v] verso, western paper, folded in quarto. Watermarks: Swan's head ( Watermark height: 65 mm, width: 33 mm. ) centre of folio comparable to Piccard-Online 41748-41754; watermarks of this shape are in use in the early 15th century.ff. f. [46a]r-v, western paper, folded in quarto. Watermarks: Circle ring ( Watermark height: 40 mm, width: 35 mm. ) centre of folio comparable but not identical to Piccard-Online 161622; watermarks of this shape are in use in the early 15th century.ff. ff. 1r-46v, 47r-49v, and ff. 50r-52v, paper, folded in quarto, not watermarked.
    • Format: Codex
    • Condition:

      In fair condition; pages are yellowed and slightly stained, with numerous wormholes.

    • Binding:

      Couched-laminate boards, red leather label on spine, with title ("Homeri Ilias") tooled in gold

      Binding height: 308 mm, width: 214 mm, depth: 18 mm.

    • Script:

      The manuscript was copied in a mixed minuscule script in brown and red ink. The same hand used two variants of the same minuscule for the main text (the introduction and the Iliad lines) and the comments. The script of the commentary has a faster ductus, a smaller letter size, and a greater use of abbreviations. The same scribe has added the titles on ff. 1r and 14v in a epigraphic-display majuscule.

      Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings are not limited to the end of lines. Breathings are round and mute iota is used. Horizontal strokes appear over names.

      Beta appears in its bilobate shape and hearth-shape, often enlarged; mu is alexandrine; the modern nu and sigma telikon are present. Enlarged lunate sigma wrap around the following letters. The upper curve of minuscule delta is often extended obliquely.

      Punctuation used includes the middle and upper points, lower and middle commas and full stop.

      ff. 49v-52v are written in an informal, carelessminuscule, with large use of abbreviations.

    • Foliation:

      [i-v] + 1-46, [46a], 47-52 + [vi-vii]. Modern foliation in pencil in Arabic numerals, recto, upper right corner. Early foliation in reddish ink from 1 to 11.

    • Layout: ff. 1r-8r: written space Written height: 240 mm, width: 160 mm. 40-46 lines per page.ff. 8v-49v: written space Written height: 242 mm, width: 170 mm. 46 lines per page, surrounding the Iliad lines.ff. 50r-52v: written space Written height: 275 mm, width: 185 mm.
    • Decoration: A simple pyle on f. 1r in red ink; cord frame on f. 14v.
      Small decorated initials on ff. 1r and 14v in red ink.
      Small coloured initials in red ink throughout the manuscript.
    • Additions:

      Donation note on left pastedown with reference to G. Hermann's 1812 edition: "This MS containing the first book of the Iliad with the exegesis of John Tzetzes was presented to Trin. Coll. in 1757 by Dr. Richard Bentley. The Exegesis of Tzetzes has been published by G. Hermann (but with some lacunae) in the same vol. with Draco Stratonicensis, Lipsiae 8vo. J.W. 1839."

      A previous donation note on f. [iii] recto.

      Seripando's ownership note on f. [v] verso and marginal notes by him or Parrhasius throughout the manuscript (see Daneloni 2009, p. 94-97).

    • Provenance:

      The manuscript belonged to the Venetian scholar Ermolao Barbaro il Giovane (1454-1493), and it later entered the possession of Lucius Victor Falchonius (Lucio Vittorio Falconio), identified with Fausto Vittore (1490-1546), pupil and collaborator of Aulus Janus Parrhasius in Venice (1508-1511) and public lecturer on Greek eloquence in Venice. Fausto Vittore quotes the Exegesis of Tzetzes in his De comoedia libellus (1511), and this manuscript R.16.33 has been identified among a list of manuscripts in a letter of Falchonius/Fausto to Jacopo Sannazaro (1458-1530; Vind. lat. 9737e, ff. 11r-v): according to this letter, the manuscript seems to have been taken from Falchonius by Parrhasius.

      After the death of Aulus Janus Parrhasius (1470-1522) the manuscript was inherited by the Neapolitan humanist Antonio Seripando (1476-1531), as stated in the note on f. [v] verso: "Antonij Seripandi ex Jani Parrhasii testamento".

      At Seripando’s death, his books passed on to his brother, Cardinal Girolamo Seripando (1493-1563), who in turn bequeathed his library to the Augustinian convent of San Giovanni a Carbonara in Naples. Before being declared a 'Royal Library' by King Ferdinand IV of Naples in 1792, the convent library was raided on several occasions and in some instances manuscripts and books were sold by the monks themselves.

      The manuscript eventually entered the possession of Richard Bentley, Master of Trinity College.

    • Origin: The script suggests that manuscript was produced in the 14th century.
    • Acquisition: Donated in 1757 by Richard Bentley (ca. 1704-1786), Senior Fellow, rector of Nailstone from 1745 to 1786, executor for his uncle Richard Bentley, Master of Trinity.
    • Funding: The Polonsky Foundation
    • Data Source(s): Description (2020) draws on M.R. James, The Western Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1901, p. 395.
    • Author(s) of the Record: Matteo Di Franco
    • Bibliography:
      James, M. R., The western manuscripts in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge : a descriptive catalogue, 4 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1901) 2.
      Wendel, C., "Tzetzes", in Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft : neue Bearbeitung (Stuttgart: Druckenmüller, 1948) 7A 1959-2011.
      Masson, Olivier, "Notes sur quelques manuscrits de Jean Tzetzes", Emerita 19 104-116 (1951).
      Irigoin, Jean, "Sur un distique de Callimaque (fr. 496+533 Pfeiffer)", Revue des Études Grecques 439-447 (1960) https://www.persee.fr/doc/reg_0035-2039_1960_num_73_347_3629.
      Lolos, Anastasios, Der unbekannte Teil der Ilias-Exegesis des Iohannes Tzetzes (A 97-609) / Anastasios Lolos. (Königstein/Ts.: Hain, 1981).
      Tristano, Caterina, La biblioteca di un umanista calabrese, Aulo Giano Parrasio (Manziana (Roma): Vecchiarelli, 1988).
      Vendruscolo, Fabio, "Dall'ignoto Falconio all'immortal Fausto", AION: Annali dell'Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale" 27 37-50 (2005).
      Papathomopoulos, Manoles, Ἐξήγησις Ἰωάννου Γραμματικοῦ τοῦ Τζέτζου εἰς τὴν Ὁμήρου Ἰλιάδα Exegesis Ioannou Grammatikou tou Tzetzou eis ten Homerou Iliada (Athens: Akademia Athenon, Kentron Ereunes tes Hellenikes kai Latinikes Grammateias, 2007).
      Daneloni, Alessandro, "L’Exegesis in Homeri Iliadem di Giovanni Tzetzes tra Poliziano e Parrasio", Studi medievali e umanistici 7 91-100 (2009).
      Montana, Fausto, "The oldest textual witness of John Tzetzes’ Exegesis of the Iliad", in Marco Ercoles, Lara Pagani, Filippomaria Pontani and Giuseppe Ucciardello (eds), Approaches to Greek Poetry (Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2018) https://www.degruyter.com/view/book/9783110631883/10.1515/9783110631883-006.xml.
      Vendruscolo, Fabio, "Per la biblioteca di Francesco ed Ermolao Barbaro: cinquant’anni dopo", in C. Brockmann, D. Deckers, Dieter Harlfinger and S. Valente (eds), Griechisch-byzantinische Handschriftenforschung. Traditionen, Entwicklungen, neue Wege (Berlin - Munich - Boston: De Gruyter, 2020) 101-128.

    Section shown in images 13 to 112

    • Title: Exegesis in Homeri Iliadem
    • Note(s): Introduction: ff. 1r-14v; Exegesis on Iliad, lines 1-609: ff. 14v-49v; one folio after f. 46v is missing, as noted by a reader on inner lower corner of f. 46v: "λοιπεῖ μέρός τι. στίχοι δηλονότι κδʹ"; TLG 9022.014
    • Excerpts:
      Rubric: f. 1r Ἐξήγησις Ἰωάννου γραμματικοῦ τοῦ Τζέτζου εἰς τὴν Ὁμήρου Ἰλιάδα. Βίβλον ἑαῖς πραπίδεσσι γλαφυρολύτειραν Ὁμήρου τήνδε παραιφασίῃσιν ἐμῶν ἑτάρων τολυπεύσας, παισὶν Ὁμηριάδαις ἑρμήϊον ὤπασα δῶρον γραμματικὸς περΐαλλα μογήσας Ἰωάννης, τὸν Τζέτζη καλέουσιν ἐπωνυμίην ἐρέοντες
      Incipit: f. 1r Πολλοὶ μὲν τῶν ἀρχαίων τὴν Ὁμηρικὴν ἐπικεχειρήκεσαν Ἰλιάδα ἐπεξεργάσασθαι
      Explicit: f. 49v "Ζεὺς δέ", οὐχ ὁ ἀστὴρ νῦν ἀλλ’ ὁ ἀὴρ συνεκοιτάσθη τῇ Ἥρᾳ καὶ τῷ αἰθέρι, ἤγουν ηὐκρατώθη καὶ εὔδιος γέγονεν, ἐν ᾧπερ μένειν τόπῳ κεκλήρωται

    Section shown in images 13 to 38

    • Title: Scholia ad exegesin in Iliadem
    • Note(s): The text consistently runs in outer columns on ff. 1r-8r, and continues on ff. 8v-13v on red-ink marginal notes and short brown-ink blocks of lines; TLG 9022.015
    • Excerpts:
      Incipit: f. 1r, column b "Ὡς ὁ Ἀρίσταρχος καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ"· οβʹ γραμματικοὶ σὺν Ἀριστάρχῳ ὑπὸ Πεισιστράτου ἀξιωθέντες, τὰ Ὁμήρου ποιήματα σποράδην φερόμενα συντεθείκεσαν καὶ τὰς αὐτῶν λέξεις καὶ ἱστορίας ἐπεξηγήσαντο
      Explicit: f. 13v Ἐγὼ δὲ ἀνιαρὸν μὲν οὐδὲν ἑτέρῳ ἐκείνῳ τῷ Παλαμναίῳ ἐπεύχομαι, ἢ θεαθῆναι τὴν τούτου ἐξήγησιν, πεπαιδευμένοις ἀνδράσιν

    Section shown in images 112 to 118

    • Title: Various notes
    • Descriptive Title(s): Various notes
    • Excerpts:
      Incipit: f. 49v πονῶ πονύω ὡς κινῶ κινύω· καὶ
      Explicit: f. 52v illegible
  1. Transcription
  1. Translation

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