Vat.gr.109

Testo del curatore

Vat. gr. 109, copied in the fourteenth century, contains various texts related to the Byzantine students’ rhetorical curriculum. The first text, Aphthonius’ Progymnasmata contains preliminary rhetorical exercises with examples for educational purposes. This text is furnished with commentaries in the margin surrounding the main text. Then various rhetorical treatises follow by Hermogenes of Tarsus (On legal issues, introduced my Maximus Planudes, On invention of arguments, On forms of style, On Method), which were extensively used in rhetorical education in Antiquity and Byzantium. The manuscript received protective initial flyleaves (ff. III-IV) that were recycled from a codex of Nicander’s didactic poem Theriaca. It was principally a medical handbook linked to medicines related to animals. The lower text of this bifolio contains a fragment from 2 Corinthians with catena commentary from the ninth century.

Bibliography; Pinakes.