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Document Details :

Title: Physiognomy in Context
Subtitle: Marginal Annotations in the Manuscripts of the Physiognomonica
Author(s): DEVRIESE, Lisa
Journal: Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales
Volume: 84    Issue: 1   Date: 2017   
Pages: 107-141
DOI: 10.2143/RTPM.84.1.3212077

Abstract :
Pseudo-Aristotle’s Physiognomonica is one of the main authorities in the field of physiognomy. In the 13th century, Bartholomew of Messina translated this text from Greek into Latin. This Latin translation (nowadays preserved in 129 manuscripts) had a wide dissemination: besides the many medieval commentaries on this treatise, one third of the preserved manuscripts contain marginal annotations. This contribution studies these marginalia, which offer a unique insight in the reception history of this pseudo-Aristotelian text during the Middle Ages. Attention is paid to structural observations in the margins, to medieval innovations in the discipline of physiognomy, and to the sources used by medieval readers of the Physiognomonica.

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