Between Southern Italy and Dalmatia Missal MR 166 of the Metropolitana Library, Zagreb

Zograf ◽

10.2298/zog0933063e ◽

2009 ◽

pp. 63-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Emanuela Elba

Keyword(s):

Critical Analysis ◽

Southern Italy ◽

Illuminated Manuscripts ◽

Illuminated Manuscript ◽

Textual Features ◽

Italian Origin ◽

Book Circulation

The Missal MR 166 from the Metropolitana Library, Zagreb, written in Beneventana script and dating back to the twelfth-thirteenth centuries, has long been considered a Dalmatian product, similar to the coeval illuminated manuscript in Beneventana script preserved in the Trogir Cathedral and originating in Zadar. Nevertheless, later studies - specifically based on the textual features of the manuscript - showed that it is undoubtedly a Southern Italian product, and a significant testimony of the uninterrupted book circulation that existed on both sides of the Adriatic for three centuries roughly from the eleventh to the thirteenth, thus influencing the activity of the Benedictine scriptoria on the Dalmatian coast. On the basis of the study that makes it possible to define more closely the group of manuscripts that make up the 'corpus of the illuminated manuscripts from Dalmatia', the paper aims to support the Southern Italian origin of the Missal by means of a critical analysis of the theories put forward so far about the 'typically Dalmatian' features of its Initialornamentik.

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Flood history in the karst environment of Castellana-Grotte (Apulia, southern Italy)

Natural Hazards and Earth System Science ◽

10.5194/nhess-3-593-2003 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 3 (6) ◽

pp. 593-604 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

M. Parise

Keyword(s):

Rock Mass ◽

Complex Network ◽

Critical Analysis ◽

Southern Italy ◽

Karst Area ◽

Flood Events ◽

Karst Environment ◽

Main Factors ◽

The Town

Abstract. Karst environments are characterized by peculiar hydrologic features, and in particular by a very limited, if not absent, surface hydrography. Water tends to infiltrate rapidly underground through the complex network of fractures and karstic conduits in the rock mass. However, on the occasion of concentrated rainfall, as well as in case of prolonged precipitation, such network might not be able to allow flowing of large amounts of water, which causes the occurrence of floods. This contribution illustrates the flood history in a classical karst area of Southern Italy, the town of Castellana-Grotte, in Apulia. The oldest part of the town lies at the bottom of a karst valley, which was hit by many flood events in the last centuries. More than twenty of these are here documented, starting from critical analysis of existing publications and documents, integrated with additional historical researches. Aimed at reconstructing the flood history at Castellana-Grotte, the best-documented events are described, together with the main factors, which played a role in distribution and gravity of the related damage. Eventually some engineering works realized during the first decades of the last century, in order to avoid further damage on the occasion of catastrophic floods, are also described.

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The Croatian Tradition of The Story of Akir the Wise in South Slavonic Recensions

Slovo ◽

10.31745/s.67.1 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 1-21

Author(s):

Keiko Mitani

Keyword(s):

Middle East ◽

Social Environment ◽

Critical Analysis ◽

17Th Century ◽

Common Source ◽

The South ◽

13Th Century ◽

Textual Relationships ◽

Textual Features ◽

Slavia Orthodoxa

This paper attempts to uncover the textual relationships between Croatian manuscripts of the Story of Akir the Wise and other South Slavonic copies of the same text. The Story of Akir the Wise, an apocryphal text originating in the ancient Middle East earlier than 500 B.C., was translated into Church Slavonic, probably in the 12th or the 13th century. The story was disseminated mostly among the Orthodox Slavs, but was also transmitted to the Catholic Slavs in Croatia. The South Slavonic copies, although outnumbered by the Russian ones, include the oldest extant manuscript preserved at the Savina Monastery in Montenegro. The question of the Slavonic archetype of the Story is still open because of the absence of a Greek recension. In Croatia, three copies have been preserved in Glagolitic, Cyrillic, and Latin scripts. This paper treats the South Slavonic copies of the Story, composed from the 14th to the 17th century inside and outside Croatia, and points out some textual features connecting the Croatian copies with other Cyrillic copies composed in Serbia and Bulgaria. Based on text-critical analysis, it is argued that the Croatian copies have a common source, which is a descendent of another older source that appeared in the Slavia Orthodoxa; some Serbian and Bulgarian copies also derived from that source. The paper also argues that the scribes of the Story not only copied their source texts but furthermore intentionally engaged in editing their texts in accordance with the language practices and social environment within which they worked

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Application of Multispectral Imaging and Portable Spectroscopic Instruments to the Analysis of an Ancient Persian Illuminated Manuscript

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21154998 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (15) ◽

pp. 4998

Author(s):

Cecilia Rossi ◽

Alfonso Zoleo ◽

Renzo Bertoncello ◽

Moreno Meneghetti ◽

Rita Deiana

Keyword(s):

Multispectral Imaging ◽

Middle Eastern ◽

Essential Element ◽

Complex Interaction ◽

Illuminated Manuscripts ◽

Rare Book ◽

Non Invasive ◽

Illuminated Manuscript ◽

Portable Instruments ◽

Good Support

Illuminated manuscripts are, in general, the final products of a wise and complex interaction of different competencies. In particular, each manuscript reflects uses and techniques rooted in the historical and geographical traditions of the area of realization. Defining the characteristics and the materials in these valuable artefacts is an essential element to reconstruct their history and allow a more precise collocation and a possible comparison with other works in similar periods and areas. Non-invasive methods, mainly using portable instruments, offer undoubtedly good support in these studies. Recent analyses of an ancient Persian illuminated manuscript, combining multispectral imaging and spectroscopic measurements made with portable instruments (XRF, FORS, micro-Raman, IR-ATR) on selected points, provided new data for an improved understanding of this rare book. This study details the possibilities offered by combining these non-invasive methods for an in-depth understanding of the techniques and practices behind the realization of Middle Eastern illuminated manuscripts and provided new perspectives for multidisciplinary approaches to research in this field.

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