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Vatican Mythographers

Anonymous authors of three Latin mythographical texts From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The so-called Vatican Mythographers (Latin: Mythographi Vaticani) are the anonymous authors of three Latin mythographical texts found together in a single medieval manuscript, Vatican Reg. lat. 1401.[1] The name is that used by Angelo Mai when he published the first edition of the works in 1831.[2] The text of the First Vatican Mythographer is found only in the Vatican manuscript; the second and third texts are found separately in other manuscripts, leading scholars to refer to a Second Vatican Mythographer and a Third Vatican Mythographer.

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Taken together, the works of the Vatican Mythographers provided a source-book of Greek and Roman myths and their iconography throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The texts, which were being copied in manuscripts as late as the 15th century, were parsed allegorically to provide Christianized moral and theological implications, "until in time the pagan divinities blossomed into full-fledged vices and virtues".[3] Their testimonia, sources, and parallel passages constitute central documents in the transmission of classical culture to the medieval world, which is a major theme in the history of ideas in the West—though the texts have also been described as "highly deceptive sources which should be used with much caution".[4]

Mai made many slips in rapidly transcribing the manuscript under difficult conditions, and he was in the habit of substituting euphemisms where the original was too sexually explicit to transcribe and publish, even in Latin. A revised, indexed edition of 1834, corrected by Georg Heinrich Bode[5] without access to the Vatican manuscript, is the version that replaced Mai's first edition and has been drawn on in popular 20th-century anthologies of Greek mythology, such as those by Edith Hamilton, Robert Graves, and Karl Kerenyi.

The work of the First Vatican Mythographer is essentially a pared-down "fact-book" of mythology, stripped of nuance, not unlike the Fabulae of Hyginus, who, however, had provided no Roman stories and so could not suffice. Classical authors are rarely quoted directly, but the author seems to have used the commentary on Virgil by Servius and the scholiasts on Statius as sources. A modern edition of the text was published in 1995 by Nevio Zorzetti. On the basis of the latest source cited in it and the date of the first source to cite it, Zorzetti dates the composition of the work between the last quarter of the 9th century and the third quarter of the 11th century.[6]

Nineteen manuscripts (including several fragments)[7] are known for the second text, and more than forty for the third. The work of the Second Vatican Mythographer, which draws on that of the first, though it is considerably longer, perhaps dates to the 11th century. A modern edition of it was produced by Péter Kulcsár in 1987. In 2014, Alena Hadravová identified two new, previously unknown copies of the Second Vatican Mythographer in the National Library in Prague: MS Prague, NL, IX C 3 (1401), and MS Prague, NL, III C 18 (late 14th or early 15th century). In 2017, she published editions of both copies in a Czech-English commented book.

The work of the Third Vatican Mythographer, which differs from the others by containing "extensive allegorical interpretations",[8] has often been attributed either to a certain Alberic of London, who is named in a number of the manuscripts, or to Alexander Neckam.[9]

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Stories

First Vatican Mythographer

Second Vatican Mythographer

  • Where Fable Got Its Name
  • On the Different Names of the Gods
  • On Saturn
  • On Jove
  • On the Eagle of Jove
  • On Juno
  • On Her Peacock
  • On Iris, Her Rainbow
  • On the Reason Why Juno Is Called Jove's Sister and Wife
  • Who First Made Temples for Her
  • On Neptune
  • On Pluto
  • On His Three-Headed Hound
  • On His Furies
  • On the Causes of the Plague
  • On the Spartans
  • A History
  • A History
  • A History
  • A History
  • On the Harpies of Jove
  • On the Parcae of Pluto
  • On His Wife
  • On the Elysian Fields
  • On the Nine Circles
  • On the Life of Jove
  • On Latona and Her Sister
  • On the Triple Power of Apollo
  • On His Various Names
  • On His Tripod, Bow, and Arrows
  • On His Four Horses
  • On His Raven
  • On His Laurel
  • On His Nine Muses
  • On Diana, the Sister of Apollo
  • Why She Is Called Dictynna
  • On the Temple at Carya
  • On Endymion
  • On Mars
  • On the Birth of Venus
  • The Story of Why the Myrtle Is Consecrated to Venus
  • On the Roses of Venus
  • On the Seashell of Venus
  • On the Doves of Venus
  • On Adonis
  • On Venus' Cupid
  • On the Three Graces
  • On Erichthonius
  • On Priapus
  • On Minerva
  • On Vulcan
  • [Untitled]
  • On the Mercuries
  • Why He Is Called Mercury
  • On the Lyre
  • On Orpheus
  • On Jove and Etna the Nymph
  • On Cybele
  • On Atalanta
  • On Pan
  • The Story of Aeneas
  • A History
  • On Faunus
  • On Nymphs
  • On Astraeus
  • On Aeolus
  • On the Titans
  • On the Decree of Jove
  • [Untitled]
  • A Story About Gallus
  • [Untitled]
  • The Story of Peleus
  • On Otus and Ephialtes
  • On Salmoneus
  • On Phaethon
  • On Lycaon
  • On Thetis
  • On Icarus (Icarius)
  • On Saturn and Philyra
  • On Prometheus
  • On the Sacrifice of Prometheus
  • On Jove and Thetis
  • On Cleobis and Bito
  • On Chelone
  • On King Proetus
  • On Antigone
  • On Arachne
  • On Niobe
  • On Glaucus
  • On Deucalion and Pyrrha
  • On Lycus and Antiope
  • On Epaphus
  • On Lycurgus
  • Whence Wrestling Was Invented
  • On Jove and Europa
  • A Repetition
  • On Agenor and His Sons
  • On Cadmus
  • On Juno and Semele
  • Palaemon
  • On Liber
  • On Autonoë
  • On Aristaeus
  • On Agave
  • On Tiresias
  • On Branchus
  • On Mopsus
  • On Sibyl
  • On Her Books
  • On Io
  • On Isis
  • On Osiris
  • On the Winnowing Fan of Father Liber
  • On Venus
  • On Proserpina
  • On Ceres
  • On Her Search
  • On the Immortality of her Nursling
  • On Triptolemus
  • On King Cepheus
  • On the Finding of Proserpina
  • On the Sirens
  • On Tantalus
  • On Danaus and Aegyptus
  • On Tityus
  • On Sisyphus
  • On Ixion
  • An Explanation of This Same Story
  • On Perithous
  • The Story of Amulius and Numitor
  • On the People of Phlegyae
  • On Acrisius
  • On Perseus
  • On the Gorgons
  • The Interpretation of This Same Story
  • On Atlas
  • On Minerva
  • On the Song of Apollo and Marsyas
  • The Story of Midas
  • The Explanation of This Same Story
  • On the Contest of Neptune and Minerva
  • On Minos
  • On Venus
  • On Androgeus
  • On Scylla
  • On Theseus
  • On Aegeus
  • On Taurus
  • On Sciron
  • On Theseus
  • On Oenopion
  • On Perdicca
  • On Bellerophon
  • On Jove and Leda
  • On Theseus and Perithous
  • On King Athamas
  • On Pelias
  • On Jason
  • On Medea
  • On the Nurses of Liber
  • On Pontia
  • On Amycus the King
  • On Venus
  • On Phineus
  • On Oedipus and the Monster That Was Called Sphinx
  • On Oeneus
  • On Harpalyce
  • On Oenomaus
  • On Mercury
  • On Jove and Alcmena
  • On Hercules
  • Why He Is Called Hercules
  • On Diomedes
  • On Geryon
  • On Evander
  • On Admetus
  • On the Snake Killed by Hercules
  • On Eryx
  • On Busiris
  • On Hercules
  • On Eurytus
  • On the Two Lions That Hercules Conquered
  • On Avernus and Lucrinus
  • On Erymanthus and Stymphalus
  • On the Golden Apples Presented to Jove by Earth
  • On Hercules and Deianira
  • On Lerna, the Marsh
  • On Antaeus and Hercules
  • On Oeneus
  • On the Death of Hercules
  • On the Arrows of Hercules
  • On the Sanctuary of Hercules' Grandsons
  • On Phorcys
  • On Glaucus
  • On Scylla, Beloved by Glaucus
  • On Charybdis
  • On the Tyrrhenians and Father Liber
  • On Arion of Lesbos
  • On Arethusa
  • On Polyphemus
  • On Ceyx
  • On Mergus
  • On Cyparissus
  • A Second Telling of the Same Story
  • On Priapus
  • On Lyriope
  • On the Boy, Hyacinth
  • On the Boy, Amaracus
  • On Pilumnus and Pitumnus
  • On Two Brothers Who Were Called Divine
  • On the Telchines, Three Brothers
  • On Tenes
  • On Ebalus
  • On Maleus
  • On Codrus
  • On Croesus
  • On Alcon
  • On Jove and Electra
  • On Laomedon
  • On Tithonus and Aurora
  • On Anchises
  • On Cassandra
  • The Story of Helenus
  • On Hecuba
  • On Ganymede
  • On Hercules and Hylas
  • On Aminoe (Amymone)
  • On Nauplius
  • On Dodona
  • On Leucas
  • On Pelorus
  • On Euboea
  • On Pachynus
  • On the Syracusans
  • On Tullus Hostilius
  • On Brutus
  • On Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud)
  • On Brenus (Brennus)
  • On the Civil War
  • On Fabius
  • On Marcellus
  • On the Shield (Ancile)
  • On the Rostra
  • On Agamemnon
  • On Jove and Aegina
  • On Aeacus
  • On Peleus and Thetis
  • The Explanation of This Story
  • On Diomedes
  • On the Priest of Neptune
  • On Pyrrhus
  • On Hecuba and Polymestor
  • On Idomeneus
  • On Circe
  • The Interpretation of This Story
  • On Picus
  • On Phyllis
  • On Laodamia
  • On Procris
  • On Tereus
  • On Leander and Hero
  • On Hymenaeus
  • On Licambes
  • On Bubalus
  • On Iarbita
  • On Mopsus
  • On Apicius
  • The Story of Opimius
  • On Alcinous
  • The Story of Ixion
  • A Narrative
  • On Responsive Song
  • The Accursed Hunger for Gold

Third Vatican Mythographer

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