In the Name of the Rose: Searching for Unknown, Lost, and Forgotten Greek Manuscripts and Texts

Burri, Renate (30 September 2021). In the Name of the Rose: Searching for Unknown, Lost, and Forgotten Greek Manuscripts and Texts (Unpublished). In: International Workshop “In the Name of the Rose: Searching for Unknown, Lost, and Forgotten Ancient Texts". Istituto Svizzero di Roma. 30.09.-01.10.2021.

This paper presents first results of a search operation for unknown, lost, and forgotten Greek manuscripts and texts in the holdings of one of the largest repositories of Greek and Byzantine manuscripts worldwide, the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. This search, conducted within the frame of a short-term project supported by the programme Spark of the Swiss National Science Foundation, focused on manuscripts which have not been described in printed catalogues so far and for the better part still are barely known and/or studied. My examination concentrated on a series of manuscripts of the Vaticani graeci collection which contain predominantly theological texts and have been identified as particularly promising objects of investigation.
The quantity and relevance of the output of this research project was not predictable. The best-case scenario, i.e. the discovery of an unknown or the rediscovery of an allegedly lost text or manuscript, did not happen yet. Still, the harvest was far more bountiful than expected as many small but exciting findings demonstrate. They range from a metaphrasis of poems by Gregory of Nazianzus over a medical treatise on a skin disease to a short text on why Sunday is called Sunday, to name but a few examples which will be discussed in this presentation.

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