This research guide includes links to and information about the manuscripts of the original works of Virgil: Bucolica (often also called Eclogae), Georgica and Aeneis. All the information is based open databases and digital catalogs. All digitized documents presented here are openly accessible; they are indicated with an open green lock.
The critical editions of Virgil written in past 100 years are published as printed books and they are not openly accessible. This guide provides access to the older editions, which have been digitized. I have also included a variety of digitized translations.
The presentation of the earliest manuscripts relies on the signs that are commonly used. The signs were first introduced by Ribbeck. In the present scholarship, the signs refer to 11 manuscripts from from the 4th to 8th century and to 27 manuscripts from the 9th century. The papyri are classified following the presentation of Marius Geymonat in his printed edition of the works of Virgil (Publius Vergilii Maronis Opera; Roma 2008). I have identified six further papyri and presented them in a separate box.
Because of the strong case made for the superiority of the earliest evidence, the manuscripts from 10th and 11th centuries and fragments from 9th to 11th centuries have mostly been neglected in critical editions. I have listed them here in alphabetical order (city, library, signum). Furthermore, there are several manuscripts from the high and late middle ages (from 12th to 14th centuries), which I have presented country by country. The manuscript boom of the 15th century and the renaissance does not call for an exhaustive presentation. However, I have included the renaissance manuscripts, which I have found in the digital catalog of the French libraries. The dating of all these manuscripts, of course, still remains debatable.
I am grateful to the research team of Gruppo di ricerca sui manoscritti di Virgilio for allowing me to use their database Manuscripta Vergiliana. I do not imagine that my listing is exhaustive. Please kindly let me know of any shortcomings and mistakes you may find.
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