Unique Mythography Text Online

The Vatican Library has just surpassed 15,000 codices or maps imaged and placed online. The two uploads that pushed the portal over the line were Reg.lat.1439 (12the century, possibly French), which contains Macrobius's Commentary on the Dream of Scipio as well as Cicero’s Laelius de Amicitia, and Reg.lat.1313, the Colloquium heptaplomeres (Colloquium of the Seven about Secrets of the Sublime).

Of especial great interest in the latest group is a unique 9th-century text in Reg.lat.1401 which relays and parses Greek and Latin mythology for a medieval audience. It is by the first of three anonymous medieval authors who are now known as the Mythographi Vaticani. The writings of Mythographer 2 and Mythographer 3 (found elsewhere as well) are also compiled into this precious and irreplaceable codex.

The profound knowledge of classical myths in the Middle Ages -- and their huge role in Renaissance art -- largely goes back to these three texts. For more information, see Wikipedia and the 1947 article by Kathleen Elliott and John (JP) Elder.

Here is my list of 16 new volumes released in the first part of this week:

1. Reg.lat.199, Isidore of Seville, Sententiae (HT to @gundormr)
2. Reg.lat.1079
3. Reg.lat.1081
4. Reg.lat.1191
5. Reg.lat.1313
6. Reg.lat.1326
7. Reg.lat.1439
8. Reg.lat.1348
9. Reg.lat.1382
10. Reg.lat.1401, the Three Vatican Mythographers (above)
11. Reg.lat.1425
12. Reg.lat.1433
13. Reg.lat.1448
14. Reg.lat.1450, John de Wesalia, see eTK for more.
15. Reg.lat.1460
16. Reg.lat.1463

Meanwhile color versions keep replacing old, low-quality black and white scans. For example, an Apollonius of Perga math text, Reg.lat.1253, has just shown up in hi-res.

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 133. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.