Anicia Juliana Codex
Manuscript Information
Title of manuscript: Anicia Juliana Codex, Vienna Dioscorides, De Materia Medica, Codex VindobonensisMS call number (and folio selected): Med. Gr. 1, Folio 83r
Current location: Austrian National Library, Vienna
Place of creation: Constantinople
Date of creation: circa 515
Codicology and Paleography
Language(s) of text: Greek, Arabic, HebrewScript: Greek Byzantine Minuscule, 15th century Arabic and Hebrew
Abbreviations: No
Textual corrections
Contemporary: No
Later: No
Marginal commentary
Contemporary: No
Later: Plant names in Arabic have been added.
Rubrication: Yes, title atop page is rubricated, although the original red color has faded.
Instructions for scribe: No
Instructions for rubricator and/or artist: No
Provenance
Marks of ownership: The largest mark of ownership is the manuscript's original dedication portrait on folio 6v where Anicia Juliana, the manuscript's first owner, is pictured.Previous owners: After Anicia Juliana owned the manuscript, it passed into the possession of the imperial hospital of Constantinople. When Constantinople fell, the manuscript was then owned by Moses Hamon, physician to the Ottoman sultan Suleiman. The manuscript was eventually purchased by the Flemish diplomat Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq for his employer Emperor Ferdinand I of the Austrian Hapsburgs. The book has remained in the Austrian National Library ever since.
Mise en page
Columns: OneLines per column: 39
Decoration (in hierarchical order)
Gilding: NoSmall ink initials: Yes, at the starts of paragraphs.
Pen flourished initials: No
Painted initials: No
Gold initials: No
Foliate initials: No
Zoomorphic initials: No
Anthropomorphic initials: No
Historiated initials: No
Miniatures: Yes, unframed illustrations.
Marginal Illustrations: No
Full page illustration: No
Other Information
This book is copied from an earlier version of De Materia Medica from approximately 65 AD. This is the earliest version of the manuscript to survive. In addition, the portrait of Anicia Juliana is the earliest surviving example of a dedication portrait.Further readings
Demaitre, Luke E. Medieval Medicine: The Art of Healing, from Head to Toe. , 2013. Print.- The actual practice of medieval medicine, for context.
- Translation of De Materia Medica which is helpful if you, like me, do not speak Greek.
- History and context of medical manuscripts' illustrations. The "Materia Medica" section is especially useful.
- Commentary of De Materia Medica (in German).
This page has paths:
- Lit 150 Winter Quarter Kristy Golubiewski-Davis
