Naples Dioscurides
4573625
177295779
2007-12-11T21:42:41Z
Wetman
21492
de-linked [[7th century]]: the text is not *about* the 7th century, merely mentions it; linked [[Schola Medica Salernitana]], alluded to in text
[[Image:NaplesDioscuridesMandrake.jpg|thumb|Folio 90v of the Naples Dioscurides with illustrations of the [[Mandrake]].]]
The '''Naples Dioscurides''' in the Biblioteca Nazionale, [[Naples]]<ref>It is Cod. Gr. 1.</ref>, is an early seventh century [[Greek language|Greek]] [[herbal]] based on the ''De Materia Medica'' of the first-century Greek military physician [[Dioscurides]]. The Naples Dioscurides does contain the descriptions of plants and their medicinal uses. Unlike ''De Materia Medica'', the text is arranged alphabetically by plant. The [[codex]] derives independently<ref>David H. Wright, "''Traditio'' and ''Inventio'' in Iconographic Transmission," Eighth Byzantine Studies Conference, Chicago 1982</ref> from the same model as the [[Vienna Dioscurides]], composed ca. 512 for a Byzantine princess, but differs from it significantly: though the illustrations follow the same infered model, they are rendered more naturalistically in the Naples Dioscurides. Additionally, in the Naples manuscript, the illustrations occupy the top half of each folio, rather than being full page miniatures as in the Vienna Dioscurides. The plant descriptions are recorded below the illustration in two or three columns. The [[Paleography|style of Greek script]] used in the manuscript indicates that it was probably written in Byzantine-ruled southern [[Italy]], where ancient Greek cultural traditions remained strong, although it is not known exactly where it was produced. Marginal notes indicate that the manuscript had contact with the [[Schola Medica Salernitana|medical school at Salerno]] in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
A luxurious facsimile has been published by Salerno Editrice, Rome, in collaboration with Akademische Druck of Graz, Austria, publishers of a comparable facsimile of the Vienna Dioscurides.
== Note ==
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==References==
*Crinelli, Lorenzo. ''Treasures from Italy's Great Libraries''. New York, The Vendome Press, 1997.
[[Category:7th century books]]
[[Category:Biology books]]
[[Category:Scientific illuminated manuscripts]]