The Vergilius Augusteus is a manuscript from late

antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

, containing the works of the Roman author

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

, written probably around the 4th century. There are two other collections of Virgil manuscripts, the

Vergilius Vaticanus The Vergilius Vaticanus, also known as Vatican Virgil (Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica, Cod. Vat. lat. 3225), is a Late Antique illuminated manuscript containing fragments of Virgil's ''Aeneid'' and '' Georgics''. It was made in Rome in around 400 ...

and the

Vergilius Romanus The Vergilius Romanus (Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica, Cod. Vat. lat. 3867), also known as the Roman Vergil, is a 5th-century illustrated manuscript of the works of Virgil. It contains the ''Aeneid'', the '' Georgics'', and some of the ' ...

. They are early examples of

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, th ...

s; the Augusteus is not illuminated but has decorated initial letters at the top of each page. These letters do not mark divisions of the text, but rather are used at the beginning of whatever line happened to fall at the top of the page. These decorated initials are the earliest surviving such initials. Only seven leaves of the manuscript survive, four of which are in the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

(MS Vat. lat. 3256), and the remaining three in the

Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin This is a list of the state libraries (german: Landesbibliothek) for each of the Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany. These libraries hold the right for legal deposit for the publications in their respective state. Landesbibliothek ...

(Lat. fol. 416). The leaves contain fragments of Virgil's ''

Georgics The ''Georgics'' ( ; ) is a poem by Latin poet Virgil, likely published in 29 BCE. As the name suggests (from the Greek word , ''geōrgika'', i.e. "agricultural (things)") the subject of the poem is agriculture; but far from being an example ...

'' and the ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of ...

''. The fragments themselves are unremarkable, but they are written in

Roman square capitals Roman square capitals, also called ''capitalis monumentalis'', inscriptional capitals, elegant capitals and ''capitalis quadrata'', are an ancient Roman form of writing, and the basis for modern capital letters. Square capitals are characteriz ...

, which shows that square capitals were used in handwriting and not only for stone inscriptions. Due to its great age, it was originally believed that the manuscript was written in the time of Roman emperor

Caesar 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 ...

, hence its name. In the later

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

the manuscript was kept in the abbey of St. Denis in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

References

*Alexander, J. J. G.: ''The Decorated Letter''. New York, 1978. *Carl Nordenfalk: ''Vergilius Augusteus. Vollständige Faksimile-Ausgabe, Codex Vaticanus latinus 3256 d. Bibl. Apostol. Vaticana u. Codex latinus fol. 416 d. Staatsbibl. Preuss. Kulturbesitz''. Graz 1976 (Codices selecti phototypice impressi, 56) Complete colour facsimile edition of the 14 pp. (7 fol.) from the Staatsbibliothek Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin (3 fol.) and from the Biblioteca Vaticana (4 fol.) in original size 420 x 345 mm. 14 ornamental letters, text in Capitalis Quadrata. All folios are cut according to the original. Binding: half leather. Scholarly commentary (German/English): C. Nordenfalk, Stockholm. 32 pp. text, 5 illustrations.

External links

Vatican, Bibliotheca Apostolica, MS Vat. lat. 3256
complete reproduction
More information at Earlier Latin Manuscripts
4th-century books Literary illuminated manuscripts Aeneid 4th-century Latin books {{manuscript-art-stub