Details

Subjects:

Roman law.
Rome (Italy) -- Social life and customs.
Rome -- Religious life and customs.
Rome (Empire).
Rome -- History, Military.
History, Military.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Lecture notes.
Manuscripts, Latin.
Manuscripts, European.

Language:

Latin, with some phrases and passages in German throughout, and occasional words, phrases, or citations in Greek.

Biography/History:

Ernesti taught for his entire career at the University of Lepizig, beginning as an associate professor (Professor extraordinarius) of ancient literature in 1742. He was appointed full professor (Professor ordinarius) of rhetoric in 1756, and of theology in 1759.

Summary:

Notes taken by a student at the lectures on ancient Rome given by Johann August Ernesti at the University of Leipzig, with contemporary marginal notes. The marginal notes, predominately in Latin, mostly summarize the adjacent text. An introductory section (p. 1-2) includes a list of source works by Peter Burman, Konrad Peutinger, Fabricius, Apian and Amantius, Justus Lipsius, Janus Gruterus, Joseph Scaliger, and Thomas Reinesius. The work is divided into three parts, each of which is split into several chapters: part 1 (p. 3- 98) deals with the history, religions, calendar, holidays, games (including names of famous gladiators), the Roman Senate, and the Equestrian class; part 2 (p. 98-179) discusses magistrates, civil laws, courts, and a somewhat miscellaneous section, titled Omissions, including information on vestments, banquets, measurements, money, and funeral rites; part 3 (p. 179-199) concerns the military, focusing on general information, leaders, army formations, equipment, and rewards and punishments. The last few pages (p. 200-204) consist of notes in a different hand, concerning the study of all things Roman. The notes are divided within the sections, appearing as rubrics at the tops of pages. Marginal notes and underlining are written in a reddish-brown ink throughout.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from title page (p. i).
Pagination: Paper, i + 103 leaves; [i-ii], 1-199, [200-204]. Contemporary pagination in ink, modern pagination in pencil, upper outer corners.
Layout: Written in 40-44 long lines; wide margins sometimes used for rubrics and notes; upper horizontal bounding line ruled in ink, with title of the current section written above it on most pages.
Script: Written in a book script, with German passages in a German cursive script and Latin marginal notes and underlining in a different color.
Binding: Contemporary half-parchment (Zacour-Hirsch).
Origin: Written in Leipzig between 1742 and 1781.

Penn Provenance:

Formerly owned by C. L. Lenz, director of the Weimar Gymnasium; purchased in 1809 (inscription, inside upper cover: Besitzer ist C. L. Lenz, Dir. gymn. zu Weimar. 1809 gekauft für Rthlr.).
Formerly part of the library of Ernst von Leutsch (bookplate, inside upper cover), professor of classics at the University of Göttingen, purchased by the University of Pennsylvania before 1891.

Cited in:

Described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965), Supplement B, The Library Chronicle 45 (1981), p. 18 (Ms. German 97).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1421.

Contributor:

Lenz, C. L., former owner.
Leutsch, Ernst von, 1808-1887, former owner.
Universität Leipzig.

OCLC:

311509821

Access Restriction:

Access to this item is subject to staff review.