Ivana Dobcheva

Transmission and Reception of the Aratea in the Early Middle Ages (8^th – 11^th centuries)

My research is devoted to the reception of Aratus' astronomical poem the Phaenomena and the history of its transmission in the early Middle Ages in the Latin West. For accomplishing this task I am mainly focusing on the manuscript transmission of the various texts that are often referred to as Aratea or Aratean corpus (including Cicero's, Germanicus' and Avienus' renderings of Aratus’ poem, together with the so-called Aratus Latinus, the Revised Aratus Latinus and their derivative texts).

So far, my work has taken several directions. The awareness of the value the Greek poem had is reflected in the laborious (although hardly comprehensible) translation from the early eighth century – the Aratus Latinus. In the ninth century the general pursuit of accumulation of knowledge sparked interest in astronomy and led to the composition of various star catalogues based on the Aratea. These short texts found their place in computistical manuals, astronomical collections and general encyclopaedias. Carolingian scholars also turned their attention to the poetic translations producing luxurious copies for members of the royal family.

The aim of my research is to see how and by whom the texts were used within the more than sixty manuscripts that come from the early ninth to the late eleventh century. The examination of the manuscripts and the analysis of the complex process of interaction between different texts within the compendiums provide an understanding of the work of particular scribes and compilers in their choice and arrangement of information. Thus, this project is not focused on the philological reconstruction of a text and its variants, but on the different forms it assumed in relation with the different audience it was addressed to and the different role(s) it played.