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Document Details : Title: Autour du Vaticanus gr. 762 Subtitle: Notes pour l'étude des chaînes à présentation alternante Author(s): LORRAIN, Agnès Journal: Byzantion Volume: 90 Date: 2020 Pages: 67-95 DOI: 10.2143/BYZ.90.0.3288837 Abstract : While the layout of exegetical catena manuscripts with their commentary text arranged as a frame around the main text have captured scholarly interest by their unusual presentation, another type of layout, in which text and commentary alternate, is generally neglected. Nevertheless, this alternating presentation is found in various forms and points to the different uses of these Byzantine compilations. The Vaticanus gr. 762 is an alternating catena (for continuous reading) which offers the benefits of a frame presentation (for selective reading or consultation). From this example, along with a few others chosen from catenae on the Epistles of Paul, we highlight different visual factors which favor a particular use of different catenae. Given the variations found among copies of the same catena, is it possible to recover the original presentation and thereby uncover the reading logic as it was conceptualized by the compiler himself? The example of a manuscript whose text is nonsensical because of a poorly-executed change in layout, and its comparison with two copies whose text is identical, shows that the catena’s composition, in particular its manner of referring to the biblical lemma and how the scholia are arranged, presents a reading logic in itself. Beyond the possibility of recovering a probable original layout, the study of the textual and visual composition of catenae could lead to a better understanding of how they functioned as a way of ordering knowledge and transmitting ideas. |
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