Anthology of Planudes

The Anthology of Planudes, c. 1300

The Anthology of Planudes (also called Planudean Anthology, in Latin Anthologia Planudea or sometimes in Greek Ἀνθολογία διαφόρων ἐπιγραμμάτων ("Anthology of various epigrams"), from the first line of the manuscript), is an anthology of Greek epigrams and poems compiled by Maximus Planudes, a Byzantine grammarian and theologian, based on the Anthology of Cephalas. It comprises 2,400 epigrams.

The Anthology of Planudes starts with the text: «Ἀνθολογία διαφόρων ἐπιγραμμάτων, συντεθειμένων σοφοίς, ἐπί διαφόροις ὑποθέσεσιν ...» (Anthology of various epigrams, created by wise people, about different subjects ...) and consists of seven books.

It can be found in an autograph copy of Planudes in Biblioteca Marciana (codex Marcianus gr. 481) in Venice but also in two apographs, one in an incomplete edition (in London, British Library Add MS 16409) and the other in the final edition of the anthology (which is only in fragmentary form, in Paris, Paris B.N. gr. 2744), as well as in several printed editions.[1]

Several printed copies of the Planudean Anthology were made, as it was the only known anthology of Greek epigrams and poems until 1606, when the Palatine Anthology manuscript was found.

The anthology is today part of the corpus of texts known today as the Greek Anthology. The 397[2][3][4] epigrams not found in the Palatine Anthology (also mentioned as 395[5] and often as 388[6][7][8]) are usually included in the Greek Anthology as the Appendix Planudea.[2][6]

  1. ^ Κατσιαμπούρα Γιάννα, «Μανουήλ / Μάξιμος Πλανούδης, "Ανθολογία"», 2003, Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=5201>
  2. ^ a b J. W. Mackail (1890). "Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology". Longmans, Green, and Co. pp. Introduction, III. Retrieved September 3, 2011. «The Planudean Anthology contains in all three hundred and ninety-seven epigrams, which are not in the Palatine MS. of Cephalas.»
  3. ^ Hellenic civilization, George Willis Botsford, Ernest Gottlieb Sihler, σελ. 703, Columbia University Press, 1929, «The Planudean manuscript is our only source for 397 epigrams, and these are now usually printed as a supplement...» [1]
  4. ^ A short history of Greek literature from Homer to Julian, Wilmer Cave France Wright, American Book Company, σελ. 445, 1907 «based his work on that of Cephalas adding 397 poems and omitting many, especially the work of the older poets»
  5. ^ The Classical Tradition, Anthony Grafton, Glenn W. Most, Salvatore Settis, Harvard University Press, 15 Jan 2010 «...Planudes drew on Cephalas' collection, but not the manuscript of the Palatine Anthology, and added 395 further epigrams....»
  6. ^ a b Nigel Guy Wilson (2006). Encyclopedia of ancient Greece. Routledge. p. 53. ISBN 9780415973342. Retrieved December 18, 2011. «The 388 poems unique to this compilation usually collectively called "the Planudean Appendix" or incorrectly book 16 of the Palatine Anthology...»
  7. ^ An Anthology of Alexandrian poetry, Jerry Clack, σελ. XXVI 1982 «while the sixteenth book is devoted to 388 poems which appear in the Planudean Anthology but are not represented in the Palatine Anthology»
  8. ^ Byzantinische Sprachkunst, Martin Hinterberger, Elisabeth Schiffer, Walter de Gruyter, page 204, 2007 «This makes a total of c.388»