NEWLY DISCOVERED ILLUSTRATED TEXTS OF ARATUS AND ERATOSTHENES WITHIN CODEX CLIMACI RESCRIPTUS

Abstract

This article presents texts recovered by post-processing of multispectral images from the fifth- or sixth-century underwriting of the palimpsest Codex Climaci Rescriptus. Texts identified include the Anonymous II Proemium to Aratus’ Phaenomena, parts of Eratosthenes’ Catasterisms, Aratus’ Phaenomena lines 71–4 and 282–99 and previously unknown text, including some of the earliest astronomical measurements to survive in any Greek manuscript. Codex Climaci Rescriptus also contains at least three astronomical drawings. These appear to form part of an illustrated manuscript, with considerable textual value not merely on the basis of its age but also of its readings. The manuscript undertexts show significant overlap with the Φ Edition, postulated as ancestor of the various Latin Aratea.

INTRODUCTION

This article presents an initial edition of Greek astronomical texts associated with Aratus and Eratosthenes which have been found since 2012 in the underwriting of a palimpsest. The underwriting appears to date from the fifth or sixth century a.d. and extends across nine folios of Codex Climaci Rescriptus (hereafter CCR). CCR consists of 146 folios, and takes its name from John Climacus, Abbot of the Convent of St Catherine on Sinai, whose Scala Paradisi and Liber ad Pastorem, translated into Syriac, constitute the overtext. This palimpsest came into the possession of A.S. Lewis between 1895, when one folio was purchased at Cairo, and April 1906, when forty-eight were purchased at Port Tewfik.¹ Another eighty-eight folios were received by Lewis from an unidentified ‘Berlin scholar’ in October 1905.² One folio is in the Mingana Collection in Birmingham,³ and eight remain in the Convent of St Catherine.⁴

Of the 146 folios, 109 (including the Birmingham and St Catherine's folios) have as their undertext Christian Palestinian Aramaic theological material, especially translations of the Old and New Testaments, while 27 contain as their undertext Greek biblical texts.⁵ Folio 55 appears blank. This article is about the remaining nine folios (47–54 and 64), which have long been known or suspected to contain Greek undertext, but which defied decipherment before the advent of more recent multispectral imaging techniques.

The Convent of St Catherine is the presumed source of CCR. Lewis bought manuscripts in Egypt, Sinai and Palestine, and Alphonse Mingana bought manuscripts in Egypt, Sinai, Palestine and Syria. The discovery of eight folios of CCR at the Convent of St Catherine among the New Finds of 1975 (catalogued as Syriac NF 38) confirms that part of the codex resided at the Convent before coming to the attention of scholars in the west.

DECIPHERMENT

Lewis gave her folios to Westminster College, Cambridge, and these were put up for sale by the College at Sotheby's in 2009. After initially failing to sell, they were purchased by the Green Collection in 2010 and donated from the Green Collection to Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC, in 2012, where they form MS.000149. In 2012 Tyndale House, Cambridge was invited to take responsibility for publication of the underwriting, with the encouragement to engage students in the process of researching the multispectral images. At that time the palimpsest was believed to contain only theological texts in Greek and Christian Palestinian Aramaic. Undergraduate students were engaged in this research during university vacations from 2012 to 2017. In July 2012, Klair, then a University of Cambridge undergraduate, discerned in the underwriting of folio 48 recto, column ii lines 4–6, the sequence of words αὐ|τὸν τεθῆναι ὅτε | εἰϲ Νάξον. He identified the text through the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae as part of Scholium in Aratum 73.⁶ This discovery led to the identification of further astronomical material by students over the succeeding years. In March and July 2017 the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library (EMEL) and the Lazarus Project undertook new spectral imaging of the manuscript.⁷ In Tyndale House in May 2018 a residential week of collaboration between textual scholars and imaging scholars from EMEL, the Lazarus Project at the University of Rochester, New York,⁸ and the Rochester Institute of Technology led to further breakthroughs in identifying text and images, since image processors were guided by textual scholars to develop optimal algorithms for recovery of erased ink from particular parts of specific pages.⁹ As the last of the ten groups of undertext within CCR to be deciphered, the astronomical texts are known as CCR10, when it is necessary to distinguish them from other groups of underwriting.

CODICOLOGY

The non-biblical Greek content in the undertext of CCR occupies folios 47–54 (which are currently bound as a single quire) and folio 64. Conjugate folios are 47 with 54, 48 with 53, 49 with 52, and 50 with 51. Together these form quire 7 of CCR. Folio 55 (seemingly without underwriting, though probably ruled) along with folio 64 functioned as the outermost leaves or fifth bifolium of quire 8, which otherwise consists of folios 56–63, all of which have Christian Palestinian Aramaic undertext. Folios 55 and 64 are isolated leaves which probably did not form a single bifolium of the undertext.¹⁰ The layout is shown in Diagram 1 below.

Diagram 1: Quire Structure of the Astronomical Leaves within CCR

The central sheet of quire 7, namely folios 50 and 51, contains a continuous Greek text of the anonymous Proemium II to Aratus sections 1–6 in the sequence 51r, 51v, 50r and 50v. Therefore, this sheet must also have been the central sheet of a quire in a codex that was recycled to make CCR, and it is clear that the sheet not only was rotated prior to reuse but was also turned over. The hair and flesh sides were identified through autopsy by P.M. Head: the hair sides are (working from the centre of quire 7) 51r with 50v, 52v with 49r, 53r with 48v, and 54r with 47v, along with 55r and 64v from quire 8.

Folios 49, 50, 51 and 52 were rotated 180° for reuse such that the Greek undertext is upside down in relation to the Syriac overtext.

Moir reported that ‘The average size of the sheets is now about 23 or 24 cm. × 18 or 19 cm. or 9¼ × 7½ in., but there is evidence that at least some parts of the MS. were upwards of an inch longer and also broader and that they have been trimmed to suit the present format.’¹¹ Several folios have lost not only their outer margin but even some of their undertext as a result of this trimming (for instance both 48v and 52r have lost the ends of their hexameters).

Other than Aratus’ hexameters, which are laid out in a single column, texts are laid out in two columns of twenty-six lines, most commonly with thirteen or fourteen letters per line.

DATE

Lewis writes: ‘The upper-script is in Edessene Syriac, in a hand which has been ascribed by the Rev. G. Margoliouth and Mr A.G. Ellis, of the British Museum, to the beginning of the ninth century.’¹² In contrast to this, Mingana, who considered only Mingana Collection MSyr637, dated the upper writing to ‘about a.d. 1100’.¹³ J.F. Coakley has noted analogies between the upper script and the writing of British Library Add. Ms. 17,194, dated to a.d. 885–886.¹⁴ Samples from three folios of CCR (folios 10, 52, 122) were sent for radiocarbon dating. The result for folio 52, the only leaf containing astronomical text to be dated, is shown in the table below, followed by the results of folios 10 and 122 for comparison.¹⁵

Table 1

Though the sloping ogival majuscule hand of the undertext permits a wider range of dates, a date from the mid fifth to the mid sixth centuries is not in conflict with any obvious palaeographical data.¹⁶

CONTENTS

Nine folios contain or share a bifolium with astronomical material, while a tenth (folio 55) is merely physically associated with these by its current placement in the manuscript. Five pages (47r, 48r, 54r, 54v, 64r) contain several of the Catasterisms that were attributed to Eratosthenes, and a further page (64v) contains the same type of material, albeit previously unknown in Greek. Three pages (48v, 49v, 64r) contain diagrams or drawings. Two folios certainly (48r and 53v) and probably a third (54v) contain astronomical measurements. Four hair sides (47v, 49r, 52v, 53r) as well as the isolated but codicologically associated folio 55 have not yet revealed either identifiable word sequences or indications that diagrams were once present.¹⁷ Folio 48 shows that the manuscript integrates the text of the Phaenomena with Catasterisms and illustrations. The manuscript thus appears to belong to the family of the Φ Edition which Martin posited.¹⁸ The contents in their current order are shown in the following table.

Table 2

Our provisional reconstruction of the quires of the original astronomical manuscript is given in Diagram 2.

Diagram 2: Proposed Quire Structure of Original Astronomical Codex

TRANSCRIPTIONS

The erasure of the undertext of this part of the codex was generally more thorough than for other parts.¹⁹ Much of the undertext of this palimpsest is not legible, either being obscured by the overtext or, more frequently, because the undertext was erased so thoroughly. Since the transcriptions are based on study of various multispectral images, letters that are legible in one image may be invisible in another which in turn does not show the letters visible in the first image. Underdots have been reserved for letters that are uncertain, substantially obscured or lost; square brackets [ ] are used for breaks in the parchment and angle brackets < > for modern editorial additions. Round brackets () enclose text which has been editorially restored using space calculations, and not in response to visible remains of letters. Text within such brackets must be regarded as particularly uncertain when it covers more than several letters, since within this manuscript letter size and spacing vary as does the number of letters per line. Round brackets also enclose modern section and line numbers. Where text is recorded as undeciphered, individual letters and words may have been read, but extended sequences have not been read with confidence. Except where specifically noted, all breathings, accents, apostrophes and most spaces between words are editorial, while any punctuation outside of round brackets is from the manuscript—though judgements about the presence of punctuation are often uncertain within a palimpsest. Absence of punctuation in the transcription should not be taken as an indication of its absence in the manuscript. Diaeresis, other than in restored sections, is from the manuscript, and its representation is given priority over accents and breathings. CCR often uses ε for αι—for example 64r λέγοντε (i 7), καλῖτε (ii 4), ὁρῶντε (ii 4–5), λέγετε (ii 9–10) and μιγῆνε (ii 11 and 13–4)—and these and other non-standard spellings are preserved in our transcriptions. Iota adscript is generally used in CCR, but only occurs at the end of words. Capitalization represents enlarged letters in the manuscript, and has otherwise been avoided in the transcriptions, in order better to highlight the enlarged letters. Opening letters of paragraphs or columns are generally enlarged, though the degree of enlargement varies. Columns mostly begin with ekthesis. In the manuscript Greek letters used as numbers have overlines, and overlines have been editorially restored in some cases of presumed numbers. Discussion has been ordered by bifolia in the presumed order in which their first text occurred in the original manuscript.

Select images of the relevant pages of the manuscript are available at motb.me/codex-climaci-rescriptus and https://tyndalehouse.com/CCRimages.

FOLIOS 51 AND 50: ANONYMOUS II PROEMIUM TO ARATUS

Folios 51 and 50 contain sections 1–6 of the Anonymous Proemium II to Aratus, deciphered in reliance on the edition of Maass,²⁰ who dated this Proemium to the sixth century a.d. or earlier.²¹ Based on the radiocarbon date for folio 52, the sixth century should be taken as the latest possible date for this material. Folios 51 and 50 present the longest sections of continuous text recovered from CCR. A number of readings particularly agree with witness group Λ, or with a significant number of its members: 51r i 18–19 κάτω ἐπί; ii 20 καί; ii 22–4 omission of ἐπεὶ προείρηται μὲν ἔχων; 51v ii 6–7 omission of κατηϲτέριϲται before κρατήρ; ii 14 ἐκτόϲ; ii 21 omission of τε καί; ii 22 omission of ϋάδεϲ; 50r i 18 τούτων ἐξήγηϲιν; i 21–2 περι|ελθών; 50v ii 2 ἀτάκτωϲ; ii 8 presumed omission of μέϲον before ἀγκῶνα on grounds of space.

Folio 51 rectο

Some text from the right-hand side of column ii may have been lost through trimming but, because legibility decreases at the right margin, it has not always been possible to identify precisely where this has occurred. The title ending φαινόμενα ἀράτου, which other words may have preceded, was added in a later, less elegant, hand.

1. i 8 The reconstructed line is unusually long, and could be shortened by omitting δέ.

2. ii 2–14 The reconstruction of these lines is tentative. The assignment of text to lines often only illustrates a possibility.

3. ii 26 The final three letters of the column are clearly τοϲ, which we take to be in error. The ekthesis presumably is to mark the following content about the smaller circles beginning with ἐλαχίϲτο<υ>ϲ as a new unit.

Table 3

Folio 51 verso

1. i 3–4 The spellings ζώδια and ζωδιακόϲ without iota after the omega are consistently used in CCR, which only uses iota adscript at word endings.

2. i 13–14 λύρα is omitted between ἐνγόναϲι and καϲϲιέπεια.

3. i 20 κατηϲτέριϲται or κατεϲτήρικται.

4. i 23 CCR's θηρίον appears haplographic alongside the traditional θηρίον, θυτήριον.

5. ii 15 The reading ἐν rather than ἐπ’ agrees with the correction in L^II.

6. ii 16–17 CCR exhibits an unparalleled word order: κατηϲτεριϲμένων ἀϲτέρων. This phrase is not followed by eta (= 8) as in Maass's edition.

Table 4

Folio 50 recto

1. i 5 With Aratus Latinus CCR lacks the gloss ὅ ἐϲτι ζυγόϲ after χηλάϲ. Some of the other witnesses present such an explanation after παρθένον, but in different forms: ζυγὸν χηλὰϲ ϲκορπίου (Λ) and χηλὰϲ ἃϲ ζυγὸν ὀνομάζουϲιν (A P).

2. i 15–16 Dittography of ἄρηϲ, possibly with the second ἄρηϲ being replaced in correction by ὁ γ, with breathing, but without overline. There may be up to two additional letters at the end of i 16.

3. i 24 The presence of ἀρκτικοῦ is unique to CCR.

4. i 25 Agrees with A P in adding δή after εἶτα.

5. i 26 ϗ as an abbreviation for καί is an interpretation of a shape more like Ҍ, with a possible extension to the lower right.

6. ii 2 CCR shows agreements with L^II: ἐπ<ε>ιδή (with itacism, instead of ἐπεί) and οὗτοϲ at ii 3.

7. ii 16 The anomalous overline slightly precedes the second sigma.

8. ii 17–18 For non-assimilation of ϲυν- in ϲυνκατάδυϲιϲ, cf. 50v i 14 and ii 1–2.

9. ii 21 CCR seems to have read not καταϲτεριϲμόν ‘instellation’, from καταϲτερίζω, but καταϲτηριϲμόν ‘establishment, installation’, as if from καταϲτηρίζω.²²

Table 5

Folio 50 verso

1. i 23 The smooth breathing on ἔϲτηκεν follows the clear use of οὐκ, not οὐχ.

2. i 26 διεξέρχεται in the sense ‘recount’ seems preferable to the reading ἔρχεται in other manuscripts.

3. ii 2 See 50r ii 18 for the spelling ϲυνκαταδύϲιϲ as a plural.

4. ii 6–7 Another possible reading is 6 (ἀρκτικὸϲ κύκλο)ϲ̣ | 7 (τέμνει ζώδια) β̅ β̣οώ, treating the most prominent letter at the end of the line as sigma rather than tau, and holding the signs read as a small εμ as insignificant.

5. ii 26 The final three letters begin τράχηλον. Indeed, further letters of τράχηλον may be visible.

Table 6

FOLIOS 48 AND 53: ARATUS, PHAENOMENA WITH DIAGRAM, AND CATASTERISM

Folio 48 verso: Aratus, Phaen. 71–4 followed by circular diagram

Figure 1 Courtesy Museum of the Bible Collection. © Museum of the Bible, 2021. Image shared under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license, 2022. All conditions apply. Spectral imaging by the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library and the Lazarus Project of the University of Rochester. Image processing by Vasilis Kasotakis.

Four lines of text appear at the top of the page with a diagram underneath.²³ Lines 1–3 (Phaen. 71–3) are visible between the lines of overtext. However, line 4 (Phaen. 74) is almost entirely obscured by overtext. Its letters can therefore only be read tentatively, especially before the φ of ϲτέφανοϲ. The right margin is lost. Statistical processing by Easton shows that the diagram consists of four concentric circles in two sets, which were made using drawing compasses. The radius of the outer circle is 46 mm, and of the others 43 mm, 33 mm and 31 mm. Since all texts on this bifolium concern Corona Borealis, we interpret this as a depiction of that constellation.²⁴ The lines of the Phaenomena read thus:

1. 71 We read ἀγαυόν against ἀγαυόϲ in manuscripts M E S. Only traces of the final letter remain, which are more suggestive of a nu than of a sigma, but nevertheless could represent either reading.

2. 73 CCR does not allow us to distinguish ὕπο ϲτρέφεται and ὑποϲτρέφεται. κεκμηότοϲ agrees with manuscripts M E S, against κεκμηκότοϲ in manuscript C.

3. 74 Punctuation in the manuscript. The extract from the Phaenomena ends mid sentence, being followed immediately below by the diagram.

Table 7

Folio 48 recto: [Cat.] 5, Corona, followed by astronomical position of Corona Borealis, continued on Folio 53 verso

We infer from the continuous text between 48r and 53v that they formed the centre spread of their original quire. Likewise, 51v and 50r, the only other pair which constitute the central spread of a quire, are flesh sides. These centre spreads fit the typical codex pattern of consistent alternating pairs of flesh or hair facing pages.²⁵ Although 48r was initially identified as containing Scholium in Aratum 73, Pàmias subsequently suggested that this text was a version of Eratosthenes’ [Cat.] 5.²⁶ This text conforms closely to the form of [Cat.] 5 in the Fragmenta Vaticana. ²⁷ Here we have clear evidence of a connection between the text of Aratus on 48v and the Catasterism on 48r, both of which concern Corona. The final six lines (ii 21–6) begin a section on astronomical measurements, which is continued on 53v. This is previously unknown Greek text showing the integration of astronomical measurements in a bifolium containing Aratus, Eratosthenes and an illustration. This material has extremely close structural parallels with measurement material which has survived for constellations which are treated towards the beginning of Aratus Latinus—namely, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor and Draco.²⁸ Because this is new material, we give a provisional translation. The text and understanding of this section emerged out of extended correspondence with V. Gysembergh and E. Zingg.

1. i 6–7 ἐν τῆι καλουμένηι / ϊδαίαι ‘οn the island (?) called Idaea’: CCR preserves an otherwise unattested reading that is plausible, not only as an unfamiliar name for the island of Crete (the scene of the myth: cf. i 14, 17 and ii 1–2),²⁹ but also as an explanation of the reading of all the manuscripts ΙΔΗΙ (that is, Ἴδηι), for which Koppiers's conjecture of Δίαι has been widely accepted. Greek and Latin stories of the marriage of Dionysus and Ariadne give the location either as Naxos or as Dia,³⁰ which is either another name for Naxos or the name of an island near to Crete.³¹

2. i 13 The rough breathing is in the manuscript.

3. i 17 φθῖρε, that is, φθεῖραι.

4. ii 1 The first letter of this column seems to be both a theta and a nu, one being a correction of the other, though it is hard to tell which. Presumably, in i 26–ii 1 ϲωθῆναι is intended and some confusion has occurred during the movement between columns.

5. ii 1–2 The spelling λαβιρύνθου is clear.

6. ii 25 The abbreviation μ̊ (mu with circlet over it) here and on 53v stands for μοῖραι ‘degrees’.³² The restoration is based on the number suggested by Victor Gysembergh.

Table 8

Folio 53 verso: Measurements of Corona Borealis

Figure 2 Courtesy Museum of the Bible Collection. © Museum of the Bible, 2021. Image shared under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license, 2022. All conditions apply. Spectral imaging by the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library and the Lazarus Project of the University of Rochester. Image processing by Vasilis Kasotakis.

Table 9

Provisional translation of 48r ii 21–53v ii 7

‘Corona [Borealis], lying in the northern hemisphere, in longitude spans 9¼ degrees from the first degree of Scorpius to 14½ [corrupted from 10¼?] degrees of the same zodiacal constellation [that is, in Scorpius]. In latitude it spans 6¾ degrees from 49 degrees from the [equatorial] North Pole to 55¾ degrees. Within it, the star [β CrB] next to the bright one on the Western side leads, occupying half of the first degree of Scorpius. It lies last towards the East.

The one which is to the East of the bright star …

… 49 degrees from the North Pole. Southernmost [δ CrB] is the third from the bright one counting towards the East, which is 55¾ degrees distant from the North Pole.’

1. i 1 Though the initial letter is not enlarged, there appears to be ekthesis and the initial letter of ii 1 also appears slightly enlarged. We have therefore taken this as the first line. The word ϲκορπίου was thus spread between 48r and 53v. The number has also been read as ι̅β̅. The number is thus 14½ or 12½, or, if μέϲηϲ is taken as subtractive,³³ 13½ or 11½. A possibility is that ι̅δ̅ μέϲηϲ is corrupted from ι̅ <καὶ> δ̅ʹ μ̊, which allows the addition to work.³⁴

2. i 4 here and in i 7 and ii 7 represents the manuscript's symbol, which we take to mean ½. We infer its meaning not based on the shape of analogies in other manuscripts but from its position within sequences of numbers from the greater to the lesser. The number in this line is 6, ½ and ¼, that is, 6¾.

3. i 13 The number δ̅ is also possible.

4. i 14–18 In their extant form these lines are problematic since i 14–15 cannot go with the preceding lines which have dealt with the most westerly star. The translation above is thus of a text which is presumed corrupt. Textual confusion has probably occurred owing to the resemblance of i 14–15 with i 16–17 (δέ is in second position in both, ἀνατολάϲ in the same position in both, and ἔϲχατοϲ shares much visually with ἐχόμενοϲ). We expect here a description of the last star to appear, namely ε CrB, rather than the easternmost star ι CrB. On the analogy of νοτιώτατοϲ δὲ ὁ γ̅ ἀπὸ τοῦ λάμπρου πρὸϲ ἀνατολὰϲ ἀριθμούμενοϲ in ii 2–6, we may conjecturally restore ἔϲχατοϲ δὲ πρὸϲ ἀνατολὰϲ κεῖται ὁ δ̅ ἐχόμενοϲ ὁ ἐπ’ ἀνατολὰϲ τοῦ λάμπρου ἀϲτέροϲ,³⁵ ‘In last place towards the East lies the one which is fourth to the East of the bright star.’

5. ii 8 Underneath the text is a scribal flourish, about three lines in height. Sketch by Zaman.

Folio 53 recto: nothing recovered

FOLIO 64: NEW MYTHOLOGICAL TEXT AND CATASTERISMS

Based on purely physical considerations it is not possible to determine which of 64r and 64v is to be read first, since it is probably a single leaf, not part of a bifolium. Whereas most CCR bifolios were recycled intact, with the trimming process producing a wide inner margin and a narrow or absent outer margin, folio 64 has narrow margins on both sides of the text intact. It may therefore have been trimmed on both the inner and the outer edge before reuse. However, the content of 64v does not readily follow on from 64r, and therefore 64v should be judged as coming first.

Folio 64 verso, new text concerning Hyas

This text concerning the naming of the Hyades after their brother Hyas ranges from the exceedingly clear to the currently obscure in quick succession. Column i lines 5–8 are sufficiently clear to indicate the subject matter. Column i and the name Hyas (υἵαϲ), though not fully visible in i 4, are restored on the basis of the close parallel in the story attributed to Musaeus in Hyginus’ De astronomia 2.21: quod earum Hyas fuerit frater, a sororibus plurimum dilectus; qui cum uenans a leone esset interfectus, quinque de quibus supra diximus lamentationibus assiduis permotae dicuntur interisse.³⁶

Table 10

Translation

• Column i [It is said that] of these [Hyades] one brother having grown up with them—a fair name Hyas—was loved by all [his sisters]. But becoming a hunter, he was destroyed by a lion. Him therefore five of them through night toil … of their lamentations [perished].

• …

• Column ii … the one that was born. [It is said that Zeus] pitied them and in the heavens established a memorial for the five [sisters]. The same number of stars bear the name Hyades because of the designation of their […] brother.

Comment

1. i 3–4 ἀγανόν is highly uncertain, as it is generally found in poetry and is awkward as an adjective with an accusative of respect, though it is elsewhere used in the context of mortality in a hunting context. Another possibility is to read αθανον by parablepsis for ἀθάνατον. υἵαν ‘Hyas’ is a reading suggested by Zingg.

2. i 8 Our translation treats τοῦτο̅ as an object and therefore assumes that subsequent lines contain a verb. Another possibility is that τουτο̅ is for the feminine plural τούτων, referring to the sisters.

3. i 9–10 διά could also be λία̅. The restoration νυκτερ<ε>ίαϲ, taken to refer to night toil, is not fully satisfactory, and a variety of lexemes beginning νυκτερ- or διανυκτερ- would render sense. As all dotted letters are uncertain, there are further possibilities.

4. ii 7 Much of this line is uncertain and if this interpretation is correct, the letters are more compressed than other lines.

5. ii 9 To judge from traces, the line may end with the same word which we have hesitantly transcribed as ἀγανόν in i 3.

Folio 64 recto: [Cat.] 14 and 23, Taurus and Pleiades

The collocation of Taurus and Pleiades is found in the Latin tradition of Hyginus but not in other Greek manuscripts of Eratosthenes. The wording here shows both significant alignments with and differences from existing traditions, including additional material, for example text with analogies to Anonymous II at i 19 and the longer explanation for the presence of seven stars in ii 3–7.³⁷ Since this section is already dealing with the positions of the stars in Taurus, we must assume that the mythology of Taurus preceded 64v and also that the treatment of Taurus and its associated constellations (Pleiades and Hyades) continued onto the page following 64r. Thus Taurus and associated material occupied at least four sides.

1. i 2 The punctuation appears mistaken.

2. i 6–7 Possibly ϋάδαϲ was corrected to ϋάδεϲ.

3. i 12 Preposition appears to be missing.

4. i 15 This line is read as having atypically few letters, but further text may be present.

5. i 21 It is uncertain whether the article is present.

6. i 22 Letters are lost in a tear in the manuscript.

7. ii 3 The presence of the final supralineal stroke on ἑπτάϲτερο̅ is uncertain, but this appears more likely than ἑπτάϲτεροϲ.

8. ii 5 The syntax is awkward. ζ̅ may have been omitted between δέ and ἀλλά.

9. ii 11 CCR most probably reads φηϲιν with L, not the plural φαϲιν of E, but it is possible that it has both readings with alpha or eta overlayed on the other as a correction.

10. ii 19 Reading ποϲειδόνι for ποϲειδῶνι.

11. ii 22 CCR supports Heyne's conjecture λύκοϲ against λεῦκοϲ in E.

12. ii 26 CCR supports Kiesslingius's conjecture διόπερ. In the lower margin, set to the left, there appears to be a diagram consisting of lines and small triangles, which, if contemporary with the rest of the underwriting, might be the horns of Taurus. The diagram, however, is surprisingly flattened relative to the other two known diagrams in CCR and this, combined with its position in the margin, may suggest that it is not part of the initial astronomical work. Sketch by Zaman.

Table 11

FOLIOS 52 AND 49: ARATUS, PHAENOMENA, A DIAGRAM AND UNDECIPHERED TEXT

We do not know the distance between these folios in the original codex, but we note that both known sides feature aquatic entities. We tentatively order them 52r, 52v, 49r, 49v, so that the creature we identify as Delphinus would be nearer to the part of Aratus’ poem which follows the section on 52r. In our provisional reconstruction (see Diagram 2 above) folio 49 comes after folio 54, but it is treated here in order to keep its treatment next to that of folio 52, with which it is physically connected.

Folio 52 recto: Aratus, Phaen. 282–99

Figure 3 Courtesy Museum of the Bible Collection. © Museum of the Bible, 2021. Image shared under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license, 2022. All conditions apply. Spectral imaging by the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library and the Lazarus Project of the University of Rochester. Image processing by Vasilis Kasotakis.

The top and left margins are preserved (in relation to the undertext), but the right-hand side of the folio has been trimmed with the result that the ends of the lines have been lost. In addition, in the upper lines the writing becomes less legible towards the right-hand side. The text ends about three quarters of the way down this page and its ending appears to be marked with a paragraphos. Above the top line, there is a fingerprint which we presume to be ancient. The tau at the start of line 282 is about twice as large as the rest of the letters. Thus the beginning of a new section coincides with a new page in the manuscript, as well as with the paragraphing of Kidd's edition. The codex is the earliest witness for these lines of the Phaenomena except for a scholium to line 294 preserved in P.Berol. 5865 (fourth century).³⁸ CCR agrees with the manuscripts against Stobaeus (293 and 296) and vice versa (294, twice) and most often agrees with manuscript E (284, 291 and 293); 297 is the only example of a disagreement with E.

1. 1 (282) Reading μεταϲκαίροντα with the direct manuscript tradition. Since the text in the codex is not accented, it does not provide evidence in relation to Martin's division as μετὰ ϲκαίροντα.

2. 3 (284) CCR has τάνυται with E in ras S, against τετάνυϲται in M and τετάνυται in P. The reading in CCR requires hiatus at the caesura (cf. 287, though not at the caesura, 292, and 296, which involves an initial digamma). The reading of M requires elision of -αι, which is possible in Aratus (for example 293).

3. 5 (286) With ἲϲ τρέπετ’ ἠε[λίοιο] CCR supports the earlier position of ἴϲ, as conjectured by Grotius and adopted by Kidd, against the readings transmitted by the manuscripts: ἵνα τρέπετ’ ἠελίοιο M* S; ἵνα τρέπετ’ ἠελίοιο ἴϲ M²; ἵνα τρέπετ’ ἠελίου ἴϲ E; ἵνα τε τρέπετ’ ἠελίου ἴϲ A.

4. 10 (291) ἔλθοι with E S, against ἔλθοιϲ M.

5. 11 (292) ἐπιρήϲϲουϲι displays simplification of geminate -ρρ-, but metre shows that -ρρ- is required.

6. 12 (293) ϲυμφέρετ’ with the direct manuscript tradition against ἐμφέρετ’ in Stobaeus. τότε δὲ with M E, against τότε δὴ S, and τὸ δέ τοι V.

7. 13 (294) μαλκῑ́οντι with Stobaeus, against μαλκιόωντι of the codices. κακώτατον, again with Stobaeus, against κακώτερον of the codices.

8. 15 (296) κολυμβίϲιν uniquely, and problematically, as an adjective, with the direct manuscript tradition, against the adjective κολυμβάϲιν of Stobaeus.

9. 16 (297) πολλάκιϲ with S, against πολλάκι δ’ in M and E.

Table 12

Folio 52 verso: nothing recovered

Folio 49 recto: contains undeciphered text

To date no clear words have been recovered, but there is at least some prospect of future decipherment for this page.

Folio 49 verso: drawing of aquatic creature

Statistical processing of the images of 49v by V. Kasotakis resulted in Independent Component Analysis images which show that this page contained a line drawing of an aquatic creature. Although the aquatic creature is upside down in relation to the Syriac overtext, that was not the original orientation of the drawing as a whole. Since the text on the conjugate folio (52r) is also upside down in relation to the Syriac overtext, we know that the bifolium was rotated 180° prior to reuse and thus that the drawing originally represented an upright aquatic creature. When rotated to its original position it is on the left-hand half of the page with its tail rising to the right. The creature faces away from the manuscript's binding with its mouth in the outer margin and preserved intact. No traces of a label or other text have been recovered. The seven or more groups of four dots which show up clearly in the image are not part of the same layer, but are punctuation in red ink accompanying the Syriac upper writing. This may suggest that the aquatic creature, which is only visible after digital processing, is also in red ink.

This drawing bears a remarkable resemblance, both in its form and in its orientation, to a drawing labelled δελφῒν on folio 306v of the fourteenth-century Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1087, the earliest manuscript hitherto known of the Fragmenta Vaticana of the Catasterisms. Space above the image is sufficient for the text of Phaen. 316–18 concerning Delphinus, or possibly for 316–21, which would follow Phaen. 282–99 which was identified on 52r, the conjugate folio of this bifolium.

FOLIOS 47 AND 54: CATASTERISMS

Folio 47 verso: unidentified Greek text

No continuous sequences of words have been recovered, but like the majority of other material recovered, this appears to be a Greek text in two columns of about twenty-six lines.

Folio 47 recto: [Cat.] 27, Capricorn

It is noteworthy to find the Catasterism of Capricorn in CCR, because Capricorn is mentioned three times in the passage of the Phaenomena preserved on 52r (lines 284, 286 and 292). These are, of course, not the only references to Capricorn in Aratus, but they are a cluster of references and the first in the Phaenomena. This confirms the close connection between elements of the Phaenomena and the Catasterisms also seen on folio 48. The left margin has been trimmed but without loss of Greek undertext.

1. i 1–2 Reconstruction of dotted letters is particularly uncertain.

2. i 3 There is probably insufficient space for δέ after ἐκείνου, though its absence is not certain.

3. i 10 The spelling κρητηκά for κρητικά seems likely, as the crossbar of the second eta appears visible.

4. i 19–22 Traces of letters are visible and it seems likely that the text here was longer than has otherwise been preserved in the Greek tradition. See, for instance, Hyg. Poet. astr. 2.28.

5. i 26 There is no space between ἔθηκεν and τήν and therefore the corrector has added καί immediately above them.

6. ii 17 The reading οὐρᾶϲ rather than οὐραίου is possible, but fits the space less well.

7. ii 19 κ̅β̅ is also possible.

Table 13

Folio 54 verso: [Cat.] 30, Aquila and measurements

Though most of column ii is undeciphered, the use of ἐπέχει ‘spans’ and ἀπέχει ‘is distant’ (lines 1 and 7) as well as their position in relation to the catasterism suggest that this column contains measurements of Aquila analogous to those of Corona on folios 48r and 53v.

1. i 1 It is not certain that this is indeed the first line of text. It has not been possible to count 26 lines of text on this page.

2. i 7–8 Compare Anonymous II ἀετὸν αὐτῶι φανῆναι θύοντι κτλ.³⁹

Table 14

Folio 54 recto: [Cat.] 29, Sagitta

The left (outer) margin has been lost through trimming of the bifolium for reuse. However, it seems that almost no text was lost when the bifolium was trimmed, as the degree of continuity evident in κ̣εραυνὸν ἐργαϲα|μένουϲ in i 6–7 illustrates. The kappa at the start of line 6 is only slightly damaged, but the mu at the start of the next line remains intact. The order of the Catasterisms in CCR differed here from the traditional ordering. Since 54v preceded 54r in the Greek codex (the bifolium was not rotated prior to rewriting), [Cat.] 30 must have preceded [Cat.] 29.

Table 15

CONCLUSION

CCR10 appears to contain closely connected folios from a single codex consisting of a Proemium to the Phaenomena, single-column parts of Aratus’ Phaenomena, and related parts of Eratosthenes’ Catasterisms, with illustrations, and some astronomical measurements. It is provisionally dated to the fifth or sixth century and contains numerous textually significant readings. It confirms Martin's hypothesis of an integrated Φ Edition of Aratean and Eratosthenic material in Greek and points to the inclusion within at least some Φ Editions of astronomical measurements with parallels in Aratus Latinus. Given the extent and range of the surviving material, it is reasonable to suppose that the astronomical folios of CCR once belonged to a manuscript which contained large parts or all of the Phaenomena and the Catasterisms, numerous illustrations and further astronomical material besides. The serious level of erasure during the palimpsesting process presents difficult challenges even for a large-scale collaborative decipherment, but there remains the prospect that the foundation of this initial article can lead to further decipherment in the future. Nevertheless, significant challenges remain as hair sides have proven particularly resistant to decipherment and pages with essentially known text have proven easier to read than those for which we have no guide. The manuscript requires further research, both to correct the inevitable missteps taken when a palimpsest is first deciphered, and to expand on the readings offered here. It also calls for a fresh evaluation of the Aratean and Eratosthenic textual traditions. Methods of processing images continue to improve, and therefore there is the likelihood that more of the undertext will be read in the future. Since the manuscript appears to come from St Catherine's Monastery in Sinai, where eight pages with the same overwriting are known to exist (albeit with Aramaic undertext) and numerous other palimpsests, there is also the prospect that further parts of the same astronomical undertext will be identified as the palimpsests of St Catherine's are further investigated.