Material Description
The manuscript Ambr. A 181 sup. is a parchment codex, entirely palimpsest, measuring 316 x 238 mm. Its current composition consists of two paper flyleaves, one at the front and one at the back, and 102 parchment folios (I + 102 + I), each of which bears a recent parchment reinforcement in the lower inner corner. The foliation is modern, in Arabic numerals, written in pencil at the center of the lower margin and the upper outer corner of each recto. Each bifolium of the original manuscript corresponds to one in the new codex (ratio codex antiquior/codex recentior 1:1), and although the former was larger in size, the writing surface (240 x 165 mm) has survived intact.
Ruling: The ruling of the pars inferior, executed in drypoint, corresponds to type 20B1 Sautel-Leroy. The ruling system of the pars superior is more difficult to define, also because the bifolia were likely stretched during restoration. It appears somewhat discontinuous and not always executed. Where clearly visible (f. 11r), it is limited to double bounding lines in the outer and inner margins and two single lines delimiting the intercolumnar space (width variable: 70 mm f. 9r; 75 mm f. 31r; 80 mm f. 51r). This applies to the two columns containing the Homeric text. The hypotheseis for individual books, written full-page, adopt the inner bounding line closest to the gutter, while the use of the outer bounding line is inconsistent, sometimes coinciding with the outermost line (f. 14r hypothesis to Boeotia), other times with the inner one (f. 23r hypothesis to Iliad 5). No new ruling lines were drawn; rather, the existing ones were exploited, although the number of writing lines varies from page to page and tends to increase as the transcription progresses.
Quires: The codex currently consists of fourteen quires, nine of which are quaternions, four ternions (three of which have been augmented by one leaf), and one incomplete binion. However, the manuscript presents a lacuna between folios 67v and 68r: the tenth quire (ι´), containing Homeric verses 14.289-16.305, has been lost. The quires bear three types of signatures in Greek numerals, all predating the loss of ι: (a) in red ink, centered in the lower margin on the verso of the last leaf, sometimes visible, sometimes obscured by (c); (b) in black ink in the upper outer corner of the recto of the first leaf; (c) in black ink centered in the lower margin on the verso of the last leaf. The “Gregory’s Law” is almost never observed.
Binding and Restoration: The codex was restored at the Laboratorio Restauro del Libro of the Abbey of Grottaferrata, with work completed on December 15, 1962, as recorded on a label affixed to the back pastedown. The binding is a restoration, consisting of wooden boards with nailed edges, covered in brown leather, and a spine marked by four raised bands.
The pars inferior, written in minuscule and datable to the early 11th century, contains the remnants of a single Greek codex comprising the Homilies of John Chrysostom. The pars superior, executed by a single hand, contains the text of the Iliad accompanied by the Antehomerica (f. 2), the Iliad text arranged in two columns with marginal scholia framed around it. Only books 1 and 10 feature in the right column the so-called Pseudo-Psellian Paraphrase. The paleographic features of the scribe suggest dating the artifact to the first half of the 14th century, likely produced in Constantinople.
Brief History of the Manuscript
The circumstances leading to the manuscript’s arrival in the West are unclear. At some point, the artifact belonged to the humanist Giorgio Merula (d. 1494), who probably acquired it in Venice. According to his testamentary dispositions, his Greek manuscripts passed to Ludovico il Moro and, by the duke’s will, to his secretary Bartolomeo Calco, and from him to his son Girolamo, founder in 1574 of the Collegio dei Calchi, a school for poor pupils. From this institution, it was acquired by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, and it has been part of the Ambrosian Library since its foundation, as recorded in the oldest inventory of Greek manuscripts held there, compiled in 1607–1608 (Turco 2004).
A few marginal notes of an occasional nature, written in brown ink by humanistic hands, are present. For example, on folio 16r, the Virgilian verse Inarime Iovis imperiis imposita Typhoeo (Aeneid 9.716) is transcribed in the outer margin as a comment on Homeric verse 2.783 (εἰν Ἀρίμοις, ὅθι φασὶ Τυφωέος ἔμμεναι εὐνάς); and on folio 21r, the missing verses Il. 4.197–198 are supplied in the margin.
Wagner 1891 (on the Antehomerica contained in the codex); Leaf 1892, 246–247 (on the scholia text); Martini — Bassi 1906, 88–89 no. 74 (reference catalogue of Greek codices held in the Ambrosiana Library); Allen 1931, I 23, 122, 209–210 (on the manuscript tradition of the Homeric text: codex siglum M1); Severyns 1950–1951 (on the Antehomerica contained in the codex); Erbse 1960, 184–209 (on the scholia text); Erbse 1969, 24–25 (on the scholia text); Vassis 1991, 80–82, 196–198 et passim (on the so-called Pseudo-Psellian Paraphrase); Palla 2001, 179–181 (on the Homeric text); West 1998–2000, I XIII et passim (critical edition of the Iliad, codex siglum M); West 2001 (on the features of the Homeric text transmitted by the manuscript: codex siglum M); Turco 2004, 123 no. 188 (edition of the first catalogue of Greek manuscripts of the Ambrosian Library); Sciarra 2005, 8, 185, 255 (on the scholia text); Pasini 2007, 201 (complete bibliography on the manuscript up to 2006); Van Thiel 2014, 17 et passim (edition of the scholia D: codex siglum M); Pasquato 2015 (codicological, paleographic, and textual study).