The Origins of the Corpus Hippocraticum from Ancestors to Codices Antiqui: the Codex Vaticanus Graecus 276

Abstract

The Corpus Hippocraticum (C.H.) was originated by the collection of writing of late Greek medicine, mainly of Hippocratic School. The original works have been transmitted through rolls of papyrus or parchments as single treatise or small group of treatise until the IX-X century A.D., when in Byzantium were active scriptoria devoted to collect classical works of both religious and profane argument. Under the auspecies of Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenete (tenth century), the tendency to encyclopedism of that period induces large collections of thematic works, i.e. about classical philosophy, astronomy, mathematics or medicine, as may be argued by the content of the Encyclopedia Σουίδας  Λεξικόν (X century), Vetusti codices, susch as Vindobonensis med. iV ( ), Parisinus 2253 (A), Laurentianus 74.7 (B), Marcianus Venetus gr. 269 (M) and Vaticanus gr.276 (V) represent witnessing of the formation of the C.H.: codicological analysis suggests that these manuscripts have been handwrited in scriptoria of Byzantium's area, then carried in Western Europe. Since the first testimony of V is at the royal Court of Palermo , the Norman Kings played a relevant role in traying codices from Byzantium to Sicily, as well as Cardinal Bessarion to Rome and Venice.