210px, Manuscript Kassel; 9th century, Mandragora
Pseudo-Apuleius is the name given in modern scholarship to the author of a 4th-century
herbal known as ''Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarius'' or ''Herbarium Apuleii Platonici''. The author of the text apparently wished readers to think that it was by
Apuleius of Madaura (124–170 CE), the Roman poet and philosopher, but modern scholars do not believe this attribution. Little or nothing else is known of Pseudo-Apuleius apart from this.
The oldest surviving
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced i ...
of the ''Herbarium'' is the 6th-century
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration w ...
, MS. Voss. Q.9. Until the 12th century it was the most influential herbal in Europe, with numerous extant copies surviving into the modern era, along with several copies of an
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
translation. Thereafter, it was more or less displaced by the ''
Circa instans'', a herbal produced at the school of
Salerno
Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...
. "Pseudo-Apuleius" is also used as a shorthand generic term to refer to the manuscripts and derived works.
Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarius
Illustrations
image: Leiden Arnoglossa.jpg, Manuscr. Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration w ...
6th cent Arnoglossa, Plantago
image: Leiden Dragontea.jpg, Manuscr. Leiden 6th cent Dragontea
image: Leiden Centauria maior.jpg, Manuscr. Leiden 6th cent Centauria maior
image: Leiden Centauria minor.jpg, Manuscr. Leiden 6th cent Centauria minor
image: Leiden Caelidonia.jpg, Manuscr. Leiden 6th cent Caelidonia
image: Leiden Nymphea.jpg, Manuscr. Leiden 6th cent Nymp a
image: Wien Plantago.jpg, Cod. Vind. 93 13th cent. Arnoglossa. Plantago
image: Wien Dracontea.jpg, Cod. Vind. 93 13th cent. Drag nea
image: Wien Centaurea maior.jpg, Cod. Vind. 93 13th cent. Centauria maior
image: Wien Centaurea minor.jpg, Cod. Vind. 93 13th cent. Centauria minor
image: Chelidonia.jpg, Cod. Vind. 93 13th cent. Chelidonia
image: Nifea.jpg, Cod. Vind. 93 13th cent. Ni ea
image: Rom Plantago.jpg, Print Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
1481. Plantago, Arnoglossa
image: Rom Dracontea.jpg, Print Rome 1481. Dracontea
image: Rom Centauria.jpg, Print. Rome 1481. Centauria aior
image: Rom Centauria minor.jpg, Print Rome 1481. Centauria minor
image: Rom Celidonia.jpg, Print Rome 1481. Celidonia
image: Rom Nymphea.jpg, Print Rome 1481. Nymphea
Text
The text of ''Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarius'' is based on
late antique sources, especially
Pliny's ''
Historia naturalis'' and
Discorides's ''
De materia medica
(Latin name for the Greek work , , both meaning "On Medical Material") is a pharmacopoeia of medicinal plants and the medicines that can be obtained from them. The five-volume work was written between 50 and 70 CE by Pedanius Dioscorides, ...
''. Scholars agree that it was compiled in the 4th century, according to Sigerist (1930, p. 200) from Latin, according to Singer (1927, p. 37) from Greek sources. Each of the 128 to 131 chapters (the number varying between manuscripts) deals with one medical plant. In these chapters the name of the plant is followed by the enumeration of
indications in the form of
recipe
A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main recipe.
His ...
s and by
synonym
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are al ...
s of the plant's name.
For example: Chapter 89, Herba millefolium (Edition of Howald/Sigerist 1927):
Associated texts
In the surviving
codices
The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...
the ''Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarius'' was combined with other treatises:
#'. Treatise dealing with the herb ''
Stachys officinalis''. It was falsely ascribed to
Antonius Musa, physician of the Roman emperor
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
.
#'.
#'. Anonymous treatise on the use of the
European badger
The European badger (''Meles meles''), also known as the Eurasian badger, is a badger species in the family Mustelidae native to almost all of Europe. It is classified as least concern on the IUCN Red List as it has a wide range and a large stab ...
in medicine.
#' ascribed to an unknown Roman physician named "
Sextus Placitus Papyriensis".
#*A-version with 12 chapters about
quadrupeds.
#*B-version with 31 chapters about
quadrupeds, birds,
reptile
Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates ( lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalia ...
s,
spider
Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...
s,
insects
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...
and
human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultu ...
s.
#'. According to Riddle written before the 6th century in South-Europe.
#' (''Incantation of the mother of earth'') and ' (''Incantation of all herbs'').
Manuscripts
Howald and Sigerist (edition 1927, V–XVI) divided the codices into 3 classes (α, β and γ) according to the varying mixture of associated texts in the codices:
*α-class containing parts 1, 2, 3, 4a and 5, moreover better synonyms than in the β-class-texts and no
interpolations. The α-class is considered to be the class with the best text-tradition.
*β-class containing parts 1, 2, 3, 4b, 5 and 6, moreover
interpolations. The ß-class is considered to be the class with the best illustrations.
*γ-class containing parts 1, 2 and 6, without the
interpolations of the β-class. γ-class contains the oldest manuscripts.
Singer (1927), Grape-Albers (1977, pp. 2–5) and Collins (2000) cited more manuscripts:
*St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 217, 9th century.
*London, British Library, Harley MS 585, 11th – 12th century.
*London, British Library, Harley MS 1585, 12th century.
*London, British Library, Harley MS 5294, 12th century.
*London, British Library, Harley MS 6258 B, 12th century.
*London, British Library, Sloane MS 1975, 12th century.
*Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Ashmole 1431, 11th century.
*Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Ashmole 1462, 12th century.
*Turin, Bibliotheca Universitaria, MS. K IV 3, 11th century, destroyed by fire.
Several more manuscripts can be added (see Mylène Pradel-Baquerre 2013 and Claudine
Chavannes-Mazel 2016):
* Leiden, University Library, MS BPL 1283, c 1300 (related to Lucca)
* Leiden, University Library, MS Voss.Lat.Qu. 13, 10th century (Anglo-Saxon group)
* Leiden, University Library, MS Voss.Lat.Qu. 40, 11th century (German group)
* Montpellier, Bibliothèque de l'Ecole de Médecine, MS 277, 15th century
* The Hague, Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum MS 10 D 7, 10th century (alpha group)
Translation: the ''Old English Herbarium''
A version of the ''Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarius'' was translated into Old English, surviving now in four manuscripts:
* London, British Library, Cotton MS Vitellius C. iii (illustrated)
* Oxford, Bodleian Library, Hatton 76
* London, British Library, Harley MS 585
* London, British Library, Harley MS 6258 B (updated into early Middle English)
Like many of the Latin manuscripts, it includes the ''Herbarium of Pseudo-Apuleius'', ''De herba vetonica'', ''De taxone'', ''medicina de quadrupedibus'', and the ''Liber medicinae ex herbis feminis''.
[Anne Van Arsdall (trans.), ]
Medieval Herbal Remedies: The Old English Herbarium and Anglo-Saxon Medicine
' (New York: Routledge 2002). It was first edited and translated by
Oswald Cockayne
Thomas Oswald Cockayne (1807–1873) was a churchman and philologist, best known today for his monumental edition of Old English medical texts.
Life
Cockayne took a degree at St. John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent ...
, re-edited in 1984 by Jan de Vriend, and re-translated in 2002 by Anne Van Arsdall.
A variety of dates and places have been suggested for the production of this translation, ranging from eighth-century Northumbria to late-tenth-century Winchester, with recent scholarship tending towards tenth-century
Wessex
la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons
, common_name = Wessex
, image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg
, map_caption = S ...
.
Incunabula and early printings
Based on a 9th-century manuscript of
Monte Cassino
Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, west of Cassino and at an elevation of . Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first ho ...
the first
incunable
In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...
of ''Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarius'' was printed in Rome in 1481.
The first printing in northern Europe was done in 1537 in
Zürich
, neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon
, twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco
Z ...
.
[ (Digitised at the ]Bavarian State Library
The Bavarian State Library (german: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, abbreviated BSB, called ''Bibliotheca Regia Monacensis'' before 1919) in Munich is the central " Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria, the big ...
)
Editions
*
*de Vriend, Hubert Jan (ed.), ''The Old English Herbarium and Medicina de Quadrupedibus'', The Early English Text Society, 286 (London: Oxford University Press, 1984). (Contains a Latin text alongside the Old English.)
*
Kai Brodersen (2015). Apuleius, Heilkräuterbuch / Herbarius, Latin and German. Marix, Wiesbaden.
Sources
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References
External links
*
{{Authority control
4th-century writers
Pseudepigraphy