The Textual Tradition of Pollux’ >Onomasticon: Studies Towards a New Edition

This volume re-examines the manuscript tradition of Pollux’ Onomasticon, the ten-book Atticist lexicon that had the widest circulation in Medieval Byzantium and the Humanistic West. The important reference edition by Erich Bethe (1900-1937) paved the way for the study of the Onomasticon but is now almost a century old. The present volume provides (1) an up-to-date study of the manuscripts in the light of recent advancements in the fields of codicology and palaeography, which complements Bethe’s with new information and corrects some mistakes in his edition. (2) A proposal for a new subdivision of manuscript families and their relations based on a collation of textual samples and a thorough study of the Palaeologan and Renaissance manuscripts overlooked by Bethe. (3) A study of the paratextual material (marginalia, scholia, epigrams) contained in the manuscripts. (4) Suggestions for a perspective future edition of the text, based on a sample of newly edited text with comprehensive apparatuses of sources, loci similes, etc. This volume will be of interest to Classicists working on the manuscript transmission of erudite texts and historians of Atticism.

Jacopo Cavarzeran, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy.