Thoughts on Antiquity, Patristics, putting things online, information access, and more
After scribbling about the Paris magical codex, and giving a link to a “preview only” version of Adolf Deissmann’s Light from the ancient East (1910), I wondered if a full version was around online. Perhaps I might scan that spell of pagan exorcism from it, I thought. Off I went to Google books; but no joy!
I’m so used to finding stuff there, that it was actually a shock to find so many “snippet” versions. So I went to Archive.org, and found it there. Relief!
After collecting a set of links to all the volumes of the PL online, Rod Letchford has done the same for the volumes of the Patrologia Graeca which are online:
http://cyprianproject.info/PG.htm
This again is fantastically useful, considering how awkward it can be to find particular volumes. Thanks Rod!
Rod Letchford has written to say that he has compiled a list of links to all the volumes of the Patrologia Latina available online. It’s here:
http://cyprianproject.info/PL.htm
Apparently they all work from where he is, in Australia.
Kristian Heal at BYU has been busy, and is doing some excellent work in making resources available. The following announcement appeared in Hugoye and in Nascas.
I am pleased to bring to your attention some additional resources now available on our website.
1. Manuscript catalogues
Almost 20 years ago, Professor Kent Brown from Brigham Young University coordinated an NEH funded project to microfilm and catalogue manuscripts from Cairo and Jerusalem. Our Center is working on a project to improve access to this important collection of manuscripts on microfilm. As a first step to improving access we have digitized the preliminary catalogues of the whole collection that were prepared by the late Dr. William Macomber.
The catalogues are now available for download here: http://cpart.byu.edu/?page=121&sidebar
Over the coming months we will be donating copies of the microfilms to 10 research centers in Europe and the United states in an effort to enable scholars to better work with this important collection.
2. Syriac and Garshuni Manuscripts from St. Mark’s Convent, Jerusalem
As part of our effort to improve access to Syriac resources in particular, we have prepared PDF copies of the manuscripts filmed at St. Mark’s Convent, Jerusalem. One of the conditions of usage is that a copy of any publications based on these manuscripts be sent to St. Mark’s convent.
The manuscripts can be freely downloaded here: http://cpart.byu.edu/?page=126&sidebar
The online manuscripts are a wonderful idea, no hesitation.
I have more hesitation about the copies of the microfilms. Now I have found it very difficult to get copies of material from BYU, so possible alternatives must be a good thing. But … the libraries that will hold them are bound to be places like the Bodleian, who will certainly see this merely as a chance for profit, and will charge incredible sums if they are allowed to get away with it. I can’t get material that I need from the Bodleian now.
I imagine that KH was unable to get clearance to simply digitise the collection and place it online. But it is a pity that his benevolence will probably be rendered useless by the greed of European library staff.
I’ve now finished skimming through James of Edessa, and straightening it out. I did about half of it in the last couple of days, interestingly. All those evenings in the hotel trying to do a page or two didn’t really achieve a lot.
The first draft of Origen’s 13th Homily on Ezekiel has arrived. With luck I’ll be able to comment and return it this evening.
A knock on the door downstairs tells me that the blasted American custom of “trick or treat” on middle-class estates on Halloween has started. It never happened when I was young; this is purely the effect of the mass media. I don’t have a door-bell, so they won’t be sure I heard. With luck I shan’t suffer any harm.
I’ve received a revised version of Origen’s 12th homily on Ezekiel, and paid for it, and apparently homily 13 is in an advanced state. So very good news here. I need to review it and comment, which I will do in a day or so.
Meanwhile my alchemical friends have transcribed the unpublished English translation of the 4th lecture by the 7th century philosopher Stephanos of Alexandria. They did a nice job. I’ve sent a copy of it to the editor of Ambix; and also invited someone who tells me he knows Greek and is interested in alchemy to revise it. Let’s see if he can!
I did a couple more pages of James of Edessa’s Chronicle today as well!
I’ve gone back to my occasional task of transcribing the 7th century Chronicle of James of Edessa, to put it on the web. This is a continuation of the Chronicle of Eusebius, and is important for early Islamic history. It is in tabular form, which is why it isn’t already online. Let me tell you, formatting the dratted thing in HTML is NOT amusing.
The text survives in some badly damaged leaves in the British Library (from the Nitrian desert in Egypt) plus quotations in Michael the Syrian. The publication was frankly bad; first E.W.Brooks published a first stab at it, in Syriac and English. But he didn’t format the English in tabular form. Then he tried again in CSCO 5/6, in Syriac and in Latin. This time the Latin was in tabular form, but he still couldn’t read chunks of it. And he supplemented it, rightly or wrongly, from Michael.
Still, after a very stressful couple of weeks it is quite soothing to do! At the moment I h ave reached the reign of Theodosius II, ca. 450; Olympiad 307, according to James.
Stephen C. Carlson kindly points out here that some of the GCS Greek texts have been transcribed and are available for free download here. I’ve translated the German:
Starting with vol. 7 NF (= Daniel-Kommentar des Hippolyt) a selection of reading texts from the editions in the GCS series is available for free download.
Release of the material is generally carried out at the same time as the release of the volume. Some other types of documents are also here, which are otherwise not available and complement our selection.
To read the file (PDF format) on your screen or print them, you need “Acrobat Reader” which can be found on the Internet free of charge.
Suggestions would be gratefully received.
Anonyme Kirchengeschichte (Gelasius Cyzicenus) = 1,1 MB (PDF)
Daniel-Kommentar Hippolyts = 501 KB (PDF)
Handschriften-Register zu Albert Ehrhard = 768 KB (PDF)
Martyrium Clementis = 1,35 MB (PDF)
Miraculum Clementis – Codex Parisinus graecus 1510 (D) = 44 KB (PDF)
This is truly excellent news, and the GCS are to be commended very highly indeed. Nor is this all; for there is more about the Hippolytus material here.
For an online presentation of the GCS the Daniel commentary of Hippolytus (GCS NF 7) was chosen and partly indexed.
The data processing of the Greek text and the translation from the Church Slavonic, each with their own apparatus, has been conducted by Arnd Rattmann (GCS). He was also responsible for decyphering the difficult manuscript originals of Marcel Richard († 1976), which led to the new edition of the text of Bonwetsch.
We would like to thank the publisher Walter de Gruyter for permission to place the works fully on the Internet. We should point out that the book may be ordered from the publisher. This contains the detailed indexes and other valuable information for usage of the text.
We should emphasize that we are dealing in this project of the month with a trial. We are grateful for suggestions and comments and positive feedback.
We should definitely give them feedback and encouragement! But … anyone got any ideas how?
UPDATE: I’ve found some email addresses here. The transcriber, Arnd Rattmann, is one of them. There’s a whole section for the GCS. I have buzzed an email at three people.
Tom Schmidt writes to say that he has started a translation of the Commentary on Daniel by Hippolytus, which he mentions here.
Fragments of the work appear in the ANF collection, but a nearly complete Old Slavonic version exists (used by the Sources Chretiennes) and likewise a Greek version, which was published by GCS. So this will be the first complete English translation.
When I look at older editions and translations of the classics, or indeed the fathers, I am sometimes struck by the way in which the authors make use of curious and recondite sources such as scholiasts. Never have I seen it explained, however, how they come to locate these.
Looking at 16th and 17th century editions, we quickly find that the indexes in these contain all sorts of references. How did they do it?