A typical page of the text from the 1514 Aldine first edition.

A typical page of the text from the 1514 Aldine first edition.

Aldus

Aldus's preface from the Onassis library copy of the 1514 Aldine first edition.

Detail map of Alexandria Governorate, Egypt Overview map of Alexandria Governorate, Egypt

A: Alexandria Governorate, Egypt

Hesychius of Alexandria's Dictionary Survived in Only One Deeply Corrupt Renaissance Manuscript

Circa 450 CE
Hesychius OP

Beginning of letter Π from Biblioteca Marciana MS Gr. 622, the "deeply corrupt" only surviving manuscript of Hesychius.

The "Alphabetical Collection of All Words" (Συναγωγὴ Πασῶν Λεξέων κατὰ Στοιχεῖον), written in the fifth century by the Greek grammarian Hesychius of Alexandria (Ἡσύχιος ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς), remains the richest lexicon of unusual and obscure Greek words that survived. It includes many words not found in surviving ancient Greek texts, and its explanations of many epithets and phrases also reveal important facts about the religion and social life of the ancients.

Hesychius's work survived in only one "deeply corrupt" 15th century manuscript preserved in the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice (Marc. Gr. 622). This manuscript, which belonged to the Mantuan scholar Giangiacomo Bordellone, was edited by Greek scholar and philosopher Marcus Musurus (Μάρκος Μουσοῦρος; Marco Musuro) and published for the first time in print by Aldus Manutius of Venice in 1514. In his preface to the first edition Aldus thanked Bordellone for loaning the manuscript to Musurus so that it could be published.

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