The Palatine Anthology (or Anthologia Palatina), sometimes abbreviated AP, is the collection of Greek poems and
epigrams discovered in 1606 in the Palatine Library in Heidelberg.[1] It is based on the lost collection of
Constantinus Cephalas of the 10th century, which in turn is based on older anthologies. It contains material from the 7th century BC until 600 AD and later on was the main part of the Greek Anthology which also included the Anthology of Planudes[2] and more material.
The manuscript of the Palatine Anthology was discovered by
Saumaise (Salmasius) in 1606 in the
Palatine library at
Heidelberg[1] (Codex Palatinus 23). In 1623, after the
Thirty Years' War, it was sent with the rest of the Palatine Library to Rome as a present from
Maximilian I of Bavaria to
Pope Gregory XV and it was kept in the
Vatican Library. In 1797 it was taken to
Paris by order of the French Directory and in 1816 it was returned to Heidelberg when the war ended, but one (smaller) part of it remained in Paris (Parisinus Suppl. Gr. 384).[3][4]
The manuscript
The manuscript of the Palatine Anthology consists of 709 pages. The section of the manuscript which is kept today at the
Library of the University of Heidelberg (MS Pal. gr. 23) consists of pages 1–614, and the other part, housed in the
Bibliothèque nationale de France, (Par. Suppl. gr. 384) comprises the remaining 94 pages (pp. 615–709).[5]
It was written by four scribes around 980. One of the scribes made comments and additions and part of the manuscript was corrected by a Corrector.
^
abNiall Livingstone, Gideon Nisbet (2010).
Epigram. Classical Association (Great Britain), Cambridge University Press. p. 12.
ISBN9780521145701. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
^Niall Livingstone, Gideon Nisbet (2010).
Epigram. Classical Association (Great Britain), Cambridge University Press. p. 13.
ISBN9780521145701. Retrieved October 2, 2011. "The Greek Anthology as we have it today consists of the fifteen Books of the Palatine Anthology followed by a 'Planudean Appendix' of 388 poems occurring in Planudes but not in the Palatine manuscript..."