Now It's the Vatican Terence

One of the most sumptuous picture books of late antiquity was handed to a team of scribes and artists under King Louis the Pious in France in the 9th century with a request to copy it faithfully.

That copy, now known as the Vatican Terence, is one of the world's most precious items of book art, since the original was lost. On November 14, the Vatican Library brought this treasure, Vat.lat.3868, online.

It contains the Latin comedies of Publius Terentius Afer, together with many wondrous illuminations. While far younger in date as an artefact, it is more sophisticated than the Vatican Vergil, a truly late antique codex that is also online (Vat.lat.3225), thanks to the variety and quantity of its pictures and the evidence they convey about the staging of classical theatre.

For an introduction, read the Wikipedia article, or Jeremy Norman 's outline which quotes extensively from a David Ganz book review.

Other copies of the late antique original do exist, and scholars have argued long and hard over their interrelationships. The Vatican owns one of these others, the 10th-century Basilicanus Terence, and it too is online as Arch.Cap.S.Pietro.H.19, but it is universally agreed that the Vatican Terence proper is the finest of them all.

A total of 67 manuscripts came online Nov 14. Here is the full list:

1. Arch.Cap.S.Pietro.H.49
2. Urb.lat.712
3. Urb.lat.839
4. Urb.lat.840
5. Urb.lat.943
6. Urb.lat.950
7. Urb.lat.953
8. Urb.lat.958
9. Urb.lat.993
10. Urb.lat.996
11. Urb.lat.998
12. Urb.lat.1006
13. Urb.lat.1008
14. Urb.lat.1013
15. Urb.lat.1034
16. Urb.lat.1037
17. Urb.lat.1045
18. Urb.lat.1048
19. Urb.lat.1049
20. Urb.lat.1059.pt.1
21. Urb.lat.1059.pt.2
22. Urb.lat.1060.pt.1
23. Urb.lat.1060.pt.2
24. Urb.lat.1062
25. Urb.lat.1120
26. Urb.lat.1121
27. Urb.lat.1130
28. Urb.lat.1138
29. Urb.lat.1139
30. Urb.lat.1140
31. Urb.lat.1141
32. Urb.lat.1145
33. Urb.lat.1147
34. Urb.lat.1151
35. Urb.lat.1153
36. Urb.lat.1155
37. Urb.lat.1157
38. Urb.lat.1158
39. Urb.lat.1159
40. Urb.lat.1160
41. Urb.lat.1164
42. Urb.lat.1165
43. Urb.lat.1166
44. Urb.lat.1169
45. Urb.lat.1170
46. Urb.lat.1173
47. Urb.lat.1174
48. Urb.lat.1175
49. Urb.lat.1180
50. Urb.lat.1192
51. Urb.lat.1193
52. Urb.lat.1194
53. Urb.lat.1198
54. Urb.lat.1205
55. Urb.lat.1207
56. Urb.lat.1219
57. Urb.lat.1236
58. Urb.lat.1237
59. Urb.lat.1244
60. Urb.lat.1245
61. Urb.lat.1265
62. Urb.lat.1266
63. Urb.lat.1269
64. Urb.lat.1275
65. Urb.lat.1284
66. Urb.lat.1293
67. Vat.lat.3868

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 79. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.