Venetus A is the more common name for the tenth century AD manuscript codex catalogued in the

Biblioteca Marciana The Marciana Library or Library of Saint Mark ( it, italic=no, Biblioteca Marciana, but in historical documents commonly referred to as ) is a public library in Venice, Italy. It is one of the earliest surviving public libraries and repositori ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

as ''Codex Marcianus Graecus'' 454, now 822. Its name is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for "Venetian A." Venetus A is the most famous manuscript of the

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

ic ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...

''; it is regarded by some as the best text of the epic. As well as the text of the ''Iliad'', Venetus A preserves several layers of annotations,

glosses A gloss is a brief notation, especially a marginal one or an interlinear one, of the meaning of a word or wording in a text. It may be in the language of the text or in the reader's language if that is different. A collection of glosses is a ''g ...

, and commentaries known as the "A

scholia Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of t ...

", and a summary of the early

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Epic Cycle which is by far the most important source of information on those lost poems.

Venetus A contains the following in one volume: * a full text of the ''Iliad'' in

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

* marginal critical marks, shown by finds of ancient papyri to reflect fairly accurately those that would have been in Aristarchus' edition of the ''Iliad'' * damaged excerpts from Proclus' ''Chrestomathy'', namely the ''Life of Homer'', and summaries of all of the Epic Cycle except the ''

Cypria The ''Cypria'' (; grc-gre, Κύπρια ''Kúpria''; Latin: ''Cypria'') is a lost epic poem of ancient Greek literature, which has been attributed to Stasinus and was quite well known in classical antiquity and fixed in a received text, but which ...

'' * two sets of marginal

on the ''Iliad'': ** the "A scholia", derived largely from the work of Aristarchus ** some "D scholia", discussing difficulties in the meanings of words ** among the above, a very few exegetical scholia (exegetical scholia are far more characteristic of the "B" and "T" scholia)

Origins

None of the works on which the scholia in Venetus A are based survive. As a result, the task of tracing their contents to their sources is extraordinarily difficult and obscure. The study of the Iliadic scholia is a significant, ongoing area of research in

Homeric scholarship Homeric scholarship is the study of any Homeric topic, especially the two large surviving epics, the '' Iliad'' and '' Odyssey''. It is currently part of the academic discipline of classical studies. The subject is one of the oldest in scholarsh ...

. The A scholia, for which Venetus A is by far the most important source, derive from the so-called "VMK" (''Viermännerkommentar'', "four-man commentary"), named for the four ancient scholars Aristonicus, Didymus,

Herodian Herodian or Herodianus ( el, Ἡρωδιανός) of Syria, sometimes referred to as "Herodian of Antioch" (c. 170 – c. 240), was a minor Roman civil servant who wrote a colourful history in Greek titled ''History of the Empire from the Death o ...

, and Nicanor. The main source for the A scholia was probably a compilation of their work, rather than each of the four men's work individually. Because all four of these scholars worked in the tradition of the

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

n scholar Aristarchus, much of the A scholia can be traced back to Aristarchus himself. The relationship between the A scholia and other branches of the Iliadic scholia, however, is much more debatable and confused. A text which does not survive, known as "ApH" for its authors "Apion and Herodorus", is key to all reconstructions of this relationship. Eustathius in his own commentary on the ''Iliad'' frequently refers to "Apion and Herodorus" as a source, and a comparison between them shows that the relationship between "ApH" and the A scholia is a close one. Two

stemmata A simple eye (sometimes called a pigment pit) refers to a form of eye or an optical arrangement composed of a single lens and without an elaborate retina such as occurs in most vertebrates. In this sense "simple eye" is distinct from a multi-l ...

or "family trees" for Venetus A may be summarised from the work of

van der Valk ''Van der Valk'' is a British television crime drama series produced for the ITV (TV network), ITV network. The first series ran from 1972 to 1992; followed by a remake in 2020. Created by Nicolas Freeling and based on his novels about a dete ...

and Erbse respectively: Of the two, Erbse's viewpoint tends to be the more highly regarded. Another important source that feeds into A is a group of scholia on mythographical and allegorical topics, derived from Porphyry's ''Homeric Questions''. The current standard edition of the ''Iliads scholia, that of Erbse, omits these scholia. On the origins of the Proclean ''Chrestomathy'' which is partially preserved in Venetus A, see also Epic Cycle, Eutychius Proclus.

History

Venetus A was created in the tenth century AD.See G. S. Kirk, 1985, "The Iliad: A Commentary," Vol. 1 (Cambridge) 39. All text on the manuscript dates to the same period, including the ''Iliad'' text, critical marks, and two sets of scholia in different writing styles. The twelfth century

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

scholar and archbishop Eustathius, even if he never saw the manuscript itself, certainly knew texts which were closely related to it; see Origins above (Eustathius cites "Apion and Herodorus" as a source in his own commentary about seventy times). At some point Venetus A was transported to Italy, but how and when this happened is uncertain. At one point it was thought that

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

brought it there.See e.g. R. Sabbadini 1905, ''Le scoperte dei codici Latini et Greci ne' secoli XIV et XV'' (Firenze); cf. also A. Franceschini 1976, ''Giovanni Aurispa e la sua biblioteca'' (Padova). In 1424, in a letter to Traversari in Venice, he mentioned four volumes which he had brought back from Greece:

''Aristarchum super Iliade in duobus voluminibus, opus quoddam spatiosum et pretiosissimum; aliud commentum super Iliade, cuius eundem auctorem esse puto et illius quod ex me Nicolaus noster habuit super Ulixiade.''

Aristarchus on the ''Iliad'' in two volumes, a large and very precious work; another commentary on the ''Iliad''; I think Aristarchus was the author of that, as well as of the one on the ''
Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...
'' that our friend Niccolò Niccoli got from me.

Aurispa already owned the "two volumes" in 1421; this suggests that he may have brought them back from a trip to Greece in 1413.A. Diller 1960, "Aurispa and Aristarchus", ''Classical Philology'' 55.1: 35f.; see also E.B. Fryde 1997, ''Greek Manuscripts in the Private Library of the Medici'' (Aberystwyth) 134. For a long time it was thought that these two volumes were Venetus A and Venetus B. More recently, however, it has been pointed out that the Venetus A and B manuscripts list multiple authors as their sources, not just Aristarchus, and Aurispa would be unlikely to have ignored this distinction. One scholar has suggested that Aurispa's two volumes were in fact Laurentianus LIX 2 and 3, a two-volume copy of Eustathius' ''Iliad'' commentary corrected in Eustathius' own hand, and in which the title is erased. Venetus A came into the possession of Cardinal

Bessarion Bessarion ( el, Βησσαρίων; 2 January 1403 – 18 November 1472) was a Byzantine Greek Renaissance humanist, theologian, Catholic cardinal and one of the famed Greek scholars who contributed to the so-called great revival of letters ...

, the Greek immigrant and scholar, and the man most directly responsible for the Western rediscovery of Greek literature in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

. Bessarion collected over a thousand books in the fifteenth century, including the only complete text of

Athenaios Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...

' '' Deipnosophistai''; the autograph of

Planudes Maximus Planudes ( grc-gre, Μάξιμος Πλανούδης, ''Máximos Planoúdēs''; ) was a Byzantine Greek monk, scholar, anthologist, translator, mathematician, grammarian and theologian at Constantinople. Through his translations from Lat ...

' ''Greek Anthology''; and Venetus A. In 1468, Bessarion donated his library to the Republic of Venice, and the library was increased by further acquisitions from Bessarion until his death in 1473. This collection became the core of the

. Bessarion made a condition that scholars wishing to consult the library should deposit books, but no attempt to enforce this was made until 1530. The earliest known scholar to have used Venetus A as a source is Martinus Phileticus in the 1480s; in this he was followed by Vettore Fausto in 1546 or 1547. In 1554, Bessarion's library was transferred to the building designed for it by Sansovino, the Biblioteca Sansoviniana. It remains there today. After that, Venetus A was largely forgotten until Villoison rediscovered and published it, along with the "B scholia" from Venetus B (= Codex Marcianus Graecus 453, now 821), in 1788. This was the first publication of any Iliadic scholia other than the "D" scholia (the ''scholia minora''). The A and B scholia were a catalyst for several new ideas from the scholar Friedrich August Wolf. In reviewing Villoison's edition, Wolf realised that these scholia proved conclusively that the Homeric epics had been transmitted orally for an unknown length of time before appearing in writing. This led to the publication of his own seminal '' Prolegomena ad Homerum'', which has set the agenda for much of

since then. Most recently, Amy Hackney Blackwell has a brief article in ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

'' on the just-concluded month-long effort to digitize Venetus A at the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice (May 2007). This work has resulted in the publication of high-resolution images of each folio of the manuscript, including details of significant areas and ultraviolet images of badly faded text; the images are published under a Creative Commons License and are available for viewing and downloading from the Center for Hellenic Studies of Harvard University.Center for Hellenic Studies of Harvard University

Publication of A scholia

* Villoison, 1788: A and B scholia * Bekker, 1825–26: A and B scholia * Heyne, 1821–27: D scholia or "scholia minora" * Lehrs, 1848: Herodian (reconstructed from VMK) * Friedländer, 1850: Nicanor (reconstructed from VMK) * Friedländer, 1853: Aristonicus (reconstructed from VMK) * Schmidt, 1854: Didymus (reconstructed from VMK) *

Karl Wilhelm Dindorf Karl Wilhelm Dindorf ( la, Guilielmus Dindorfius; 2 January 1802 – 1 August 1883) was a German classical scholar. He was born and died at Leipzig. From his earliest years he showed a strong taste for classical studies, and after completing F. ...

and Maass, 1875–1888: A, B, and T scholia * Nicole, 1891: Ge scholia * Comparetti, 1901: facsimile edition of Venetus A * Erbse, 1969–1988: all ''Iliad'' scholia, except D scholia and mythographical/allegorical scholia derived from Porphyry * Van Thiel, 2000: D scholia or "scholia minora"

References

External links

Venetus A on-line

Online edition of Comparetti
��facsimile of Comparetti's 1901 facsimile edition of Venetus A
Online edition of Villoison
��facsimile of Villoison's 1788 edition of the ''Iliad'' and its scholia
NewScholiasts
��project for translating the ''Iliad'' scholia into English {{Iliad navbox 10th-century manuscripts 1788 archaeological discoveries Classical philology Manuscripts of the Iliad

Contents

Origins

History

Publication of A scholia

References

Further reading

External links