Homer, Iliad, a fragment

12th c.

parchment

1 ff.

230 × 150 mm

Greek

1 (ff. 1r–1v) Homerus, Ilias Ilias 23, 555–598

Rubric: None

Incipit: Ὣς φάτο, μείδησεν

Explicit: περὶ σταχύεσσιν ἐέρση

Note: Line 565 is not present, as in P⁹ P¹³ b g k A B C N¹ T V¹ V¹⁶ V³² according to Munro’s OCT text; West has relegated line 565 to the apparatus, where it signals: ‘(cf. 624, 797) add. D F h R^m G: deest in 9 13 1521 Ω*’. Line 577 was the first line of the verso, and has been cut off entirely; line 578 is only partially preserved.

Physical Description

Support

Textblock

Support 1

Locus: ff. 1r–1v

Support: Parchment

Leaf dimensions: 230 × 150 mm

Folding: Folio

Parchment of medium thickness; the leaf was cut on two sides and folded in half for reuse as a flyleaf or wrapping for a document. The cut in the recto has removed the last few letters from each line of text, while the cut in the upper part of the leaf has removed the margin and the one whole line from the top, while partially also damaging the next line.

Foliation

The fragment is not foliated. The shelfmark number 19 is written in pencil in the upper right corner of the verso.

Condition

The parchment leaf has been folded in half, provoking a deep furrow in the thirteenth line of the text. The outer margin also displays a triangular cut corresponding to the middle where the folded sheet was fitted or attached to a binding. The recto is worn by rubbing, and the ink is paler as a result; there are brown stains on both sides of the parchments, and two small holes in the lower part of the text.

Layout

Layout 1

Locus: ff. 1r–1v

Columns: 1

Written lines: 21

Written area: 180 × 125 mm

Note: The original number of written lines was 22, whereas in the extant portion there are only 21 lines left. Likewise, the measures given here for the written surface equal what is left after cropping.

Script

Textblock

Hand 1

(ff. 1r–1v) Calligraphic minuscule pendant from the line; minuscule deltas with long curved verticals extending in the wide interlineum are a feature; thetas and zetas, on the contrary, are squashed below the line. The ink on the recto is better preserved, and displays simple initials in carmine enlarged within the vertical parallel ruling. The angular shape of the rough breathings is more evident also. On the verso, some standard abbreviations are used.

Hand 2

(f. 1r) In the lower margin a reference in black ink to the passage Ψ v. 555 seqq. of the Iliad, possibly in the hand of Erik Benzelius the Younger.

Decorations

Rubrication: initials in carmine placed at vv. 555, 563, 570 (not corresponding to paragraph divisions). A corrector’s hand has added some accents and punctuation in black ink on the recto.

History

Origin

12th c. dating on palaeographical grounds.

Provenance

Provenance unknown. There is perhaps a name written along the external margin of the recto. The leaf was reused for binding purposes.

Acquisition

The fragment’s present place is in a collection of 63 separate parchment leaves and wrappers, Samlingsband 24. It may have arrived by way of the Erik Benzelius the Younger estate, which the library acquired partly in 1757, partly in 1789. The stamp of Linköping Diocesan Library is placed in the lower margin of the recto.