Siegecraft - TerpConnect - University of Maryland
Siegecraft - TerpConnect - University of Maryland
Siegecraft - TerpConnect - University of Maryland
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Introduction<br />
The Anon. Byz.’s new method <strong>of</strong> presentation is intended to improve<br />
his readers’ understanding <strong>of</strong> classical engineering descriptions, while<br />
his inclusion <strong>of</strong> tenth-century material indicates his awareness <strong>of</strong> innovation.<br />
The contemporary value <strong>of</strong> such a book is also attested by the<br />
remark <strong>of</strong> Constantine VII, in describing for his son the items to be<br />
included in the imperial baggage: “books on mechanics, including siege<br />
machinery and the production <strong>of</strong> missiles and other information relevant<br />
to the enterprise, that is to say wars and sieges” (bibl¤a mhxanikã,<br />
•lepÒleiw xonta, ka‹ belopoiÛkå ka‹ ßtera èrmÒdia tª Ípoy°sei ≥goun<br />
prÚw pol°mouw ka‹ kastromax¤aw). 50 At the same time, however, it is<br />
clear that some items in the text would seem to have only antiquarian<br />
interest (e.g., the ram <strong>of</strong> Hegetor, the largest from antiquity) and others,<br />
although derived from the classical sources, are <strong>of</strong> questionable value<br />
(e.g., the inf latable leather ladder from Philo Mechanicus and the raft <strong>of</strong><br />
Apollodorus). The utility <strong>of</strong> the works is also compromised by the Anon.<br />
Byz.’s errors.<br />
Editorial Principles<br />
K. K. Müller’s and Alphonse Dain’s studies <strong>of</strong> the manuscript tradition<br />
<strong>of</strong> the two texts associated with “Heron <strong>of</strong> Byzantium” convincingly<br />
established the archetype value <strong>of</strong> Vat. gr. 1605; it led Dain to recommend<br />
a new edition based on it. Dain also noted the sound state <strong>of</strong> the<br />
text in the Vaticanus and proposed that there were few intermediaries<br />
between the original and this copy. His description <strong>of</strong> Vat. gr. 1605,<br />
coupled with those <strong>of</strong> Müller and Cyrus Gianelli, leaves little to be<br />
added. 51 The manuscript is parchment, 258 mm x 210 mm, with 58<br />
50 Trans. J. Haldon, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Three Treatises on Imperial Military<br />
Expeditions (Vienna, 1990), 106, lines 196–98.<br />
51 C. Gianelli, Codices Vaticani Graeci: Codices, 1485–1683 (Vatican City, 1950),<br />
260–62. Gianelli noted that the final folio contains the designation “AND,” taken to be<br />
the bookmark <strong>of</strong> Charles <strong>of</strong> Anjou, suggesting that Vat. gr. 1605 may have been among<br />
the books given to the pope after the battle <strong>of</strong> Beneventum; see also P. Canart, “Le<br />
livre grec en Italie méridionale sous les règnes Normand et Souabe: aspects matériels<br />
et sociaux,” Scrittura e civiltà 2 (1978), 103–62, esp. 149 n. 113, and N. Wilson, Scholars <strong>of</strong><br />
Byzantium (Baltimore, Md., 1983), 214. However, A. G. Bagliani, “La provenienza<br />
‘angioina’ dei codici greci della biblioteca de Bonifacio VIII,” Italia medioevale e umanistica<br />
26 (1983), 27–69, esp. 43–44, has argued persuasively that the abbreviation is not to be<br />
connected with Charles <strong>of</strong> Anjou and “sembra essere destinata a rimanere misteriosa e<br />
sibillina.” I am grateful to an anonymous reader for this last reference.<br />
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