121 THE MANUSCRIPT Π OF THE GREEK PHYSIOLOGUS
Caroline Macé
In 1894, Aleksandr Karneev published his discovery in the Synodal library of the Moscow
Patriarchate (now in the historical museum) (1 ) of a 11th-century Greek manuscript containing, on f. 192-203, the text of the Physiologus (2 ). As Karneev noted, this manuscript
contains the Greek text of the Physiologus in a form closest both to the Armenian translation and to one of the Latin translations, therefore attesting the survival until the 11th century of a type of Greek text that was used in early middle ages by both the Armenian and the Latin translators (3 ). Karneev called that manuscript Π and edited its text in
his 1894 article. Until this discovery, the type of text reflected by the early medieval translations seemed without a parallel in Greek – a situation which is in fact not uncommon in
(1) A. Karnejev, «Der Physiologus der Moskauer Synodalbibliothek. Ein Beitrag zur Lösung
der Frage nach der Vorlage des armenischen und eines alten lateinischen Physiologus » , Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 3, 1894, p. 26-63.
(2) See the still fundamental article by B. E. Perry, «Physiologus » , in Paulys Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, neue Reihe, vol. XX/ 1, ed. by G. Wissowa et al., Stuttgart, 1941, col. 1074-1129.
(3) The editions available at that time were, resp., for the Armenian : J. B. Pitra, Spicilegium solesmense complectens Sanctorum Patrum scriptorumque ecclesiasticorum anecdota hactenus opera…, III, Parisiis [ Paris], 1855, p. 374-390 ; for the Latin : Ch. Cahier -A. Martin, Mélanges d’archéologie, d’histoire et de littérature, II, Paris, 1851, p. 85-232 ; III, Paris, 1853, p. 203-288 ; IV, Paris, 1856, p. 55-87. For the Armenian translation, which can be dated to the beginning of the 5th century, see now : G. Muradyan, Physiologus. The Greek and Armenian Versions with a Study of Translation Technique, Leuven -Paris -Dudley, MA, 2005 (Hebrew University Armenian Studies, 6), and also A. Sirinian, F. D’Aiuto, «Nuove osservazioni filologiche e paleografiche su antiche traduzioni armene dal greco » , in Philologie, herméneutique et histoire des textes entre Orient et Occident. Mélanges en hommage à Sever J. Voicu, ed. F. P. Barone, C. Macé, P. A. Ubierna, Turnhout, 2017 (Instrumenta Patristica et Mediaevalia, 73), forthcoming. As for the Latin, the recension Y, which is the closest to the Armenian and to manuscript Π, is difficult to date but
preserved already in a manuscript from the beginning of the 8th century. The edition by Carmody in 1941 is very unsatisfactory : F. J. Carmody, «Physiologus Latinus Versio Y » , University of California Publications in Classical Philology, 12/ 7, 1941, p. 95-134. See also G. Orlandi, «La
tradizione del Physiologus e i prodromi del bestiario latino » , in L’uomo di fronte al mondo animale nell’alto medioevo, Spoleto, 1985 (Settimane di studio del centro italiano di studi sull’altomedioevo, 31), p. 1057-1106, especially p. 1070-1072.
Scriptorium, 71, 2017, p. 121-123.
