Classics and Antiquity

Special Collections holds a very wide range of materials for studying ancient Rome and Greece. Along with facsimiles of important authors (e.g., Cicero, Terence or Virgil), there are medieval and early modern manuscripts and a large number of early printed editions of ancient Roman authors, including Juvenal, Ovid, Cicero, Virgil, Terence, Livy, Seneca, and many more.

Highlights

Manuscripts

• 5th-century papyrus fragment in Coptic (AARB 42)
• Juvenal, 15th-century (MacGregor Ms. 1)
• Latin grammar, 15th-century (SJU Ms. 4)
• 17th-century copies of Christian texts in Greek (Kacmarcik Ms. 9 and Kacmarcik Ms. 10).

Facsimiles

• The Book of the Dead (1899)
• Greek Papyri in the British Museum (1893-1974)
• Cicero’s De Re Publica which survives as the lower layer of a palimpsest
• Works of Virgil, Catullus, or Terence

Printed Works

Scholars of the 15th and 16th century established much of what became the canon of Greek and Latin literature in their early printed editions. The early 16th century saw a blossoming of the so-called scholar printers, who published classical texts based on careful research and often with expansive commentaries. Other authors represented in 16th-century editions (not listed separately below) include Lucan, Valerius Maximus, Cornelius Nepos, Pliny the Elder, Aulus Gellius, and Flavius Vegetius Renatus. In addition to early textual editions, HMML Special Collections holds several works on ancient Rome and Greece, such as Antonio Bosio’s Roma sotteranea (editions from 1632, 1651 and 1659) and guidebooks to Rome from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Early printed editions

• Apuleius. L. Apuleii Opera, Venice: Philippus Pinzius, 1493.
• Aristotle (Works in Latin and Greek), Lyons: Laemarius, 1590 (Vol. 1).
• Caesar, Julius. C. Ivlii Caesaris Commentariorvm de bello gallico, libri IIX, civili Pompeiano, libri III, alexandrino, lib. I, africano, lib. I, hispaniensi, lib. I: eivsdem, fragmenta, Venice: In Aedib. Manutianis, 1571.
• Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Opera M. Tullii Ciceronis. Paris: Carolus Stephanus (Estienne), 1555. Other editions of works by Cicero are available from 1494, 1523, 1539, 1543, 1547, 1557, 1569, and 1584, along with several commentaries on his works.
• Diodorus. Diodori Siculi Scriptoris graeci libri duo:. Primus, De Philippi Regis Macedoniae: Aliorumq[ue] quorundam Illustrium Ducum : Alter de Alexandri Filij rebus gestis, Venice: Georgius de Rusconibus Mediolane[n]sem,1518. Other editions of his works available from 1531 and 1559.
• Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Antiquitates romanae (in Greek), Paris, 1546-1547 (and a 1586 edition of his works).
• Dioscorides Pedanius. Pedanij Dioscoridis Anazarbei, De medicinali materia libri sex. An important Herbal by Dioscorides (printed 1549).
• Herbal by Pietro Andrea Mattioli (printed 1573), a glimpse of medical knowledge from the 16th century.
• Euclid. Euclidis Optica & Catoptrica (and other works, in Greek and Latin), Paris: Wechel, 1557.
• Goltzius, Hubert. C. Ivlivs Caesar: sive Historiae imperatorvm Caesarvmqve romanorvm ex antiqvis nvmismatibvs restitvtae liber primvs; accessit C. Ivlii Caesaris vita et res gestae, Bruges: Hubertus Goltzius, 1562 (1563); and another work by Goltzius (1557).
• Juvenal. Iu. Iuuenalis Aquinatis Satyrographi Opus, Venice: Ex aedibus Ioannis Tacuini de Tridino, 1522 (with Kelmscott library ownership label); other editions available from 1498, 1515, 1531,and 1551.
• Livy. T. Livii Decades, Venice: Philippus Pincius for Luca Antonio Giunta, 3 November 1495; other editions from 1532, 1548, 1555, and 1578.
• Ovid. P. Ouidii Nasonis libri De tristibus cum luculentissimus commentariis reuerendissimi domini Bartholomei Merulae apostolici protonotarii [et] aliis additio[n]ibus nouis nuper in luce[m] emissis apti, Venice, 1515?; other editions of Ovid’s works from 1509, 1534, 1537, and 1587, some with woodcut illustrations and extensive printed commentaries.
• Plutarch. Plutarchi Vitae: nuper q[uam] diligentissime recognitae: q[ui]bus tres uirorum illustriu[m] vitae aditae fuerunt: & in fine uoluminis apositae, Venice: Doninus Pincius, 1502; other works by Plutarch from 1565 and 1568.
• Quintilian. Oratoriarum Institutionum libri xii, Paris: Coline, 1541; other editions of Quintilian’s works from 1506, 1522, and 1542.
• Seneca. Tragedie Senece cum duobus commentariis, Venice: Philippus Pincius, 1510; other editions of works by Seneca from 1517, 1560, and 1576.
• Suetonius. C. Suetonij Tranquilli XII Caesares, Antwerp: Officina Plantiniana, 1591; other editions of Suetonius’ works from 1535 and 1543.
• Terence. Pub. Terentii Aphri comoediae VI, Lyons: S. Gryphius, 1536; other editions of Terence from 1529, 1534, 1547, and 1552.