Codex Ravennas 429 of

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

’s Classense Library, dated to the mid- tenth century, is the oldest manuscript to preserve all eleven extant comedies of

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

. About a quarter of the

Lysistrata ''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', ) is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city ...

and the entirety of the

Thesmophoriazusae ''Thesmophoriazusae'' (; ''Thesmophoriazousai'', ), or ''Women at the Thesmophoria'' (sometimes also called ''The Poet and the Women''), is one of eleven surviving comedy plays by Aristophanes. It was first produced in 411 BC, probably at the Cit ...

survive the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

period only in this codex and copies made from it. In 1423,

Giovanni Aurispa Giovanni Aurispa Piciunerio (or Piciuneri) (June/July 1376 – c. 25 May 1459) was an Italians, Italian historian and savant of the 15th century. He is remembered in particular as a promoter of the revival of the study of Greek language, Greek in ...

brought the codex to the humanist

Niccolò de' Niccoli Niccolò de' Niccoli (1364 – 22 January 1437) was an Italian Renaissance humanist. He was born and died in Florence, Italy, and was one of the chief figures in the company of learned men which gathered around the patronage of Cosimo de' Medic ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. Bernardo Giunti later used it for the first printed edition of ''

'' and ''

'' in

1516 __NOTOC__ Year 1516 ( MDXVI) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar, there is also a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 20 – Juan Díaz de Solís arr ...

. The manuscript's provenance is unknown between then and

1712 In the Swedish calendar it began as a leap year starting on Monday and remained so until Thursday, February 29. By adding a second leap day, Friday, February 30, Sweden reverted to the Julian calendar and the rest of the year (from Saturday, M ...

, when the abbot Pietro Canneti brought it from

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

to the library of the Monastery of Classe in Ravenna. Simone Beta, ''La donna che sconfigge la guerra: Lisistrata racconta la sua storia'' Carocci editore, 2022.

Notes

{{reflist Aristophanes Byzantine manuscripts History of Ravenna