The Four Signs of the Art: Edition and Translation of an Alchemical Epistle Attributed to Ḫālid b. Yazīd and its Latin Translation

In the article, the authors present a study, a critical edition and an English translation of an Arabic alchemical epistle attributed to the Umayyad prince Ḫālid b. Yazīd, together with its Latin translation recently identified by the authors. Among the many alchemical works attributed to Ḫālid b. Yazīd, this untitled Risāla (inc.: ‮إني رأيت الناس طلبوا صنعة الحكمة‬‎) is the second most represented in the manuscript tradition, with no less than twelve witnesses containing it. Its partial Latin translation, available in six manuscripts, was also attributed to Calid, but the name of the translator remains unknown.

El rescriptum del emperador Majencio sobre Lucilla de Cartago en vísperas del cisma donatista

The study of some unpublished documents coming from several European and international libraries, after the publication of Anejos VIII, and the reconsideration of other primary sources that have already been studied, would seem to confirm most hypotheses raised in the book with a good margin of probability. The comparative analysis of these documents will allow us, as follows: a) to describe the historical background of the two letters, especially with regard to the rescriptum; b) to suggest a more precise dating of this rescriptum; and c) to outline the manuscript tradition of the two letters that, starting from the legal text in Koine Greek, are transformed into an apologetic literary text by means of interpolations that mostly affected the edict of tolerance. The preliminary study of some legal papyri, in comparison with the different versions of Ep. I, allowed us to propose a critical reconstruction of the text that has undergone numerous interpolations over the centuries. The first letter perfectly matches with both the structure and the legal terminology of the Hellenistic-Roman laws, in so fully mirroring the words used by Eusebius and Optatus to describe Maxentius' edict of tolerance. El estudio de algunos documentos inéditos procedentes de varias bibliotecas europeas e internacionales, tras la publicación de Anejos VIII, y la reconsideración de otras fuentes primarias ya estudiadas, parece confirmar la mayoría de las hipótesis planteadas en el libro con un buen margen de probabilidad. El análisis comparativo de estos documentos nos permitirá, de la siguiente manera: a) describir los antecedentes históricos de las dos epístolas, especialmente con referencia al rescriptum; b) hipotetizar una fecha más precisa de este rescriptum; y c) describir la tradición manuscrita de las dos epístolas que, a partir del texto legal en griego koiné, se transforman en un texto literario apologético mediante interpolaciones que afectan mayoritariamente el edicto de tolerancia. Además, el estudio preliminar de algunos papiros legales, en comparación con las diferentes versiones de Ep. 1, nos permitió proponer una reconstrucción crítica del texto que ha sufrido numerosas interpolaciones a lo largo de los siglos. La primera letra encaja perfectamente tanto con la estructura como con la terminología legal de las leyes helenístico-romanas, reflejando tan plenamente las palabras utilizadas por Eusebio y Optato para describir el edicto de tolerancia de Majencio.

The Rhetorical Arts in Late Antique and Early Medieval Ireland

This book represents the first study of the art of rhetoric in medieval Ireland, a culture often neglected by medieval rhetorical studies. In a series of three case studies, Brian Stone traces the textual transmission of rhetorical theories and practices from the late Roman period to those early Irish monastic communities who would not only preserve and pass on the light of learning, but adapt an ancient tradition to their own cultural needs, contributing to the history of rhetoric in important ways. The manuscript tradition of early Ireland, which gave us the largest body of vernacular literature in the medieval period and is already appreciated for its literary contributions, is also a site of rhetorical innovation and creative practice.

L'uso di epos nella letteratura latina Questioni testuali ed esegetiche (Lucilio, Orazio, Ovidio, Stazio, Marziale) e la definizione in Diomede (GLK III 483.27 ss.)

The contribution explores the use of epos in Latin literature, a very rare and often uncertain term in the manuscript tradition, in contrast with its later fortune. Starting from the examination of the detailed definition of it in Diomedes' Ars grammatica, all the five attestations of epos in Latin poets (Lucilius, Horace, Ovid, Statius and Martial) are examined, evaluating readings and conjectures in the search for the more reliable text, on the basis of the context and parallel passages. Research shows that the term in the Greek-Latin world had a partly different meaning from the current one, suitable for other literary genres, in addition to the epic poetry.

Per le future edizioni del testo della Historia Augusta

This paper presents partial results of a wider codicological study of the Historia Augusta manuscript tradition: it aims to shed new light on the historical relationships between the Palatine codex and a second family of fourteenth and fifteenth-century manuscripts, known as Σ. It offers new documentary evidence of what has been ignored or underestimated so far by scholars, with the purpose to show not only the independence of such a group of testimonies but also their usefulness for the restitutio textus.

The Birth of a Successful Prayer Book

The vast project to reconstruct a history and geography of the spread of the Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt necessarily involves looking into the beginnings of the prayerbook’s manuscript transmission. Composed in Morocco before 869/1465, the prayerbook was already known in the Eastern Maghreb from the mid-11th/17th century. It then reached Turkey and the rest of the Mashriq. After that it found its way to Central, South and Southeast Asia. Returning to the core of the book’s diffusion, this article questions the existence of an autograph copy of Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt. How was the manuscript tradition of one of the most copied religious books in pre-modern times established? This article also poses essential questions about the work of the actors (copyists, illuminators) responsible for the diffusion of the book in its early days.

The Regional Recitations of al-Jazūlī’s Dalāʾil al-Ḫayrāt as Reflected in Its Manuscript Tradition

Muḥammad al-Jazūlī’s Dalāʾil al-Ḫayrāt is one of the most popular and widespread Islamic prayer books in the Sunni Islamic world; consequently, most library collections around the world have many copies of this manuscript. Despite its prolific written form, it is its recitation that should probably be considered the most prominent expression of the text. This paper undertakes a careful analysis of the vocalization and orthoepic signs added to three vocalized copies of 18th-century Dalāʾil al-Ḫayrāt manuscripts from Mali, the Maghreb, and Turkey. It reveals that they each have distinct recitation styles with their own phonological and morphological features, distinct from the rules applied in Classical Arabic prose text. Moreover, it is shown that these recitation styles clearly draw upon the rules of local Quranic reading traditions, while not entirely assimilating to them, thus giving a distinct local orthoepic flavour to the manner in which this text was recited.

Ephraim of Ainos at work: a cycle of epigrams in the margins of Niketas Choniates

This article offers the first critical edition of a cycle of epigrams found in the margins of six manuscripts of Niketas Choniates’ History. This paper also proposes the attribution of the poems to Ephraim of Ainos, an author mainly known for his verse chronicle, which has Niketas Choniates as a source. Our poems occur in a group of manuscripts which we already knew Ephraim had used for his chronicle. Many formal parallels between the epigrams and the chronicle point to the same author and a book epigram connects one important manuscript with the city of Ainos. This paper reassesses the manuscript tradition of the epigrams with special emphasis on the marginalia of Niketas Choniates. The critical text of the poems is accompanied by two apparatuses and an English translation. The edition is preceded by some methodological considerations and followed by two appendices and three indices.

Richard de Fournival et les sciences au XIIIe siècle edited by Joëlle Ducos and Christopher Lucken

Edited by Joëlle Ducos and Christopher Lucken, Richard de Fournival et les sciences au XIIIe siècle focuses on one of the most fascinating intellectuals of the 13th century. Although Fournival studied in Paris and lived for some time in Rome, it was in Amiens that he spent most of his life. In some respects, Fournival may be compared with his English contemporary Robert Grosseteste. Both were polymaths interested in science, theology, and literature. Although less prolific than Grosseteste, Richard de Fournival wrote literary works in French—the most renowned being his Bestiaire d’Amours—and a number of scientific treatises. Some of these works are lost (e.g., his treatise on urines), while others such as his De arte alchemica are ascribed to him in the manuscript tradition, yet their attribution is still questioned. Reviewed by: Nicola Polloni, Published Online (2021-08-31)Copyright © 2021 by Nicola PolloniThis open access publication is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND) Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37739/28738 Corresponding Author: Nicola Polloni,KU LeuvenE-Mail: [email protected]