Konstantinos Minas

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Konstantinos Minas , even Minou ( Greek Κωνσταντίνος Μηνάς or Μήνου ; in adulthood usually [Κωνσταντίνος] Μηνάς Μινωίδης [Konstantinos] Minas minoides or Μηνωίδης minoides even Μηνάς Μηναΐδης Minas Minaides or Μινωίδης Μηνάς minoides Mynas  - so mostly in German, French name forms: Constant Minadi , Constant Ménas , [Constant] Minoïde Mynas ; * December 1, 1788 in Edessa ; † December 30, 1859 in Paris ) was a Greek philosophy and rhetoric teacher, philologist, translator, poet and manuscript buyer.

Life

1788 to 1819: Education and career in Greece

Minas attended the Ελληνομουσείον (Ellinomousion) of his hometown Edessa and then the Athonite Academy and the Greek School of Chios . One of his teachers was Athanasios of Paros . His education, which is in the Byzantine tradition, included grammar , rhetoric , poetics , philosophy ( logic , ethics , metaphysics ), mathematics and theology . After completing his studies, he returned to Macedonia in 1811 and first became a teacher, then also head of the Meleniko school . There was Anastasios Polyzoidis one of his students. In 1815 he taught at the School of the People ( Σχολή του Γένους Scholi tou Genous ) in Thessaloniki and took over in the same year at the invitation of Chrysanthos , the then Metropolitan of Serres , the management of the school in Serres. He taught rhetoric and philosophy there from 1815 to 1819, but was also gifted with mathematics. During this time he also compiled a catalog of the manuscripts of the monastery of Timios Prodromos von Serres ( Μονή Τιμίου Προδρόμου Σερρών Moni Timiou Prodromou Serron ), was in correspondence with Adamantios Korais and translated the mathematics of Louis-Benjamin Francoeur into Greek (he also had a Translation of a work by Jean-François Callet planned on the logarithms ). In Serres, Minas had also brought together a private library of 182 volumes.

1819 to 1840: Professional activity in Paris and political involvement in the Greek struggle for independence

In 1819 Minas traveled to Paris via Marseille . Presumably the political situation in Greece forced him to take this step; According to his statements, part of his family perished during the massacre ordered by Yussuf Pasha . In Paris, with the official permission of the Ministry of Education from 1822, he gave classes in ancient Greek and literature and wrote philological treatises on the correct pronunciation of Greek and on Greek grammar. Nevertheless, he was evidently relatively unfamiliar with Western scholarship in the Graecist field. After various efforts to get a job, he was commissioned in 1831 with research work and manuscript collations under the direction of Karl Benedikt Hase in the Bibliothèque Royale. During this time he was also in contact with the Comité Philhellénique of Paris and wrote pamphlets in support of the Greek struggle for independence . After its success, he supported Ioannis Kapodistrias in his dispute with Adamantios Korais about the establishment of an educational system in the new state. He had great influence on the French foreign policy of the time. During this time, Minas worked as a translator for the French Foreign Ministry . For his services to the French state, Charles X made him Knight of the Legion of Honor. Minas composed a Καρολιάς (Karolias) on the king and wrote a Pindarian poem in ancient Greek with the title Canaris on the Greek sea hero Konstantin Kanaris , which was dedicated to a Hellenophile patron, the Swiss banker Jean-Gabriel Eynard .

1840 to 1855: Three trips to Greece on behalf of the French Ministry of Education for the purpose of buying manuscripts

In the period from 1840 to 1855, Minas undertook three scientific trips to research manuscripts in the possession of Orthodox monasteries on the official order and for the account of the Ministère de l'Instruction publique . In 1838 he himself had submitted an application to support a research trip to the monasteries of Mount Athos, Macedonia and Thessaly . This request was granted in 1840 under the Hellenophile Minister Abel-François Villemain . Similar trips to Constantinople and Greece were already made by Pierre Gilles in the 16th century under King François Ier , François Sevin in the 17th century, Michel Fourmont in 1728, Jean-Baptiste Gaspard d'Ansse de Villoison from 1784 to 1786 and Karl Eduard Zachariae carried out by Lingenthal shortly before Minas from 1837 to 1838; after him, for example, Emmanuel Miller went on a journey of discovery.

The journeys took place from February 1840 to March 1843 to Constantinople, Thessaloniki , Macedonia (in Serres he should unexpectedly find his private library, which he had entrusted to friends, in strange hands), to Mount Athos and via Constantinople back to Paris, from May 1844 to December 1845 via Constantinople to Trebizond and the surrounding monasteries and from May 1850 to November 1855 to Samos and Patmos . Minas visited Athens , Constantinople , Thessaloniki, Serres and Mount Athos as well as the island of Samos. Minas owed his scientific success on these trips to his good contacts with the Greek Orthodox Church.

On his first trip in 1841, Minas discovered a Greek manuscript in a library on Mount Athos, which is now known as Refutatio omnium haeresium or Philosophumena . The Colophon ascribes Books 4–10, which the find contained, to Origen. Likewise, the first book was already ascribed to Origen, while books 2 and 3 are lost. However, Origen's work is unanimously rejected in the current discussion; however, the frequently represented authorship of Hippolytus of Rome is also controversial. The editio princeps was published by Emmanuel Miller in 1851 .

In 1842 Minas bought a manuscript of the mythiambes of Babrios , the so-called Codex Athous, in the monastery of Megisti Lavra on Mount Athos . The editio princeps of the newly discovered fables was presented by Jean-François Boissonade . For philological reasons, however, the copy was viewed by Carel Gabriel Cobet , Johann Friedrich Dübner , John Conington and Otto Crusius as a forgery by Minas himself, until Alphonse Dain based on another manuscript (cod. Paris. Suppl. Gr. 1245 = Mq) a striking one Argument for the authenticity of the material handed down in manuscript L. John Vaio, however, was able to prove this manuscript (Mq) to be a forgery, possibly by the hand of Minas.

One of the outstanding finds was Philostratus' work on gymnastics , a detailed description of the common sports with particular reference to the Olympic Games from the beginning of the 3rd century AD, which was followed by the re-establishment of the Olympic Games in the modern age Evangelos Zappas and then by Pierre de Coubertin played no insignificant role.

In addition, Minas bought the cod. Paris. suppl. gr. 635, the only text witnesses for Galen's introduction to logic ( Εἰσαγωγή διαλεκτική Isagogi dialektiki  - Institutio logica ). The attribution of the text to Galen is now generally accepted, although it has been questioned on various occasions. The manuscript also contains another script attributed to Galen, which was not published by Minas, but by Karl Kalbfleisch .

In his work Plato's Diagram of the Creation of the World , Minas presents his own hypothesis on number theory based on an alleged find of a manuscript by Timaeus of Lokroi , with which Plato is said to have explained the creation of the world in the eighth book of the state .

Another find concerns one of the philosophical writings of Georgios Scholarios , also called Gennadios Scholarios, the first ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople (1454–1464) under Turkish rule. Aristotle had defended Aristotle on various occasions against the attacks of the Platonist Gemistos Plethon , for example in the text Against Plethon's doubts about Aristotle that was found by Minas .

In addition to various other finds, Minas also came across a manuscript by Greek war writers ( cod. Paris. Suppl. Gr. 607 ).

The third trip was to lead Minas to the monasteries of Sinai and Alexandrias, on Patmos, Cyprus, Rhodes and Crete, Mount Athos, Thessaly, Phocis, Thrace and Asia Minor and should not last longer than eight months. However, Minas stayed in Greece for more than five years without making any noteworthy finds. During this trip he published under the pseudonym Jakobos Hieromonachos from the Vatopedi monastery ( Ιάκωβος Ιερομόναχος εκ Βατοπεδίου Iakovos Ieromonachos ek Vatopediou ) in 1852 a paper in which he disapproved of the church policy of Theoklitosillakidis . He also condemned the "Bavarokratie", the rule of the Bavarian King Otto in Greece . The Minister Villemain was not satisfied with the results of this trip, with the result that Minas found himself in a financially precarious position on this trip from 1854 to September 1855.

1855 to 1865: Retired in Paris

Minas returned from his last trip to Paris in November 1855. The French state of Minas awarded him a narrow life annuity for his achievements. Probably for this reason Minas sold the codex Athous des Babrios to the British Museum in 1857 (= BM Add. Ms. 22087). Of a second manuscript from Mount Athos (L), he also only sold a handwritten copy, since, according to his own statements, he had to refrain from buying it due to the price demanded by the monks (the copies can be found in the Codices Parisini suppl. Gr. 727 and 1256). Finally, a defense by the Greek Consul General in Vienna, Georg Simon von Sina, dates from this time .

characterization

Minas is generally regarded as an unreliable source of information and even a forger. He does not always give the exact location, his editorial decisions as well as the assignments were often questioned and he was even accused of intervening in the text collection and writing additions, especially in the case of Babrios. His text editions of Philostratus, Galen and Georgios Scholarios were soon replaced by more competent hands. Last but not least, for existential reasons, he offered manuscripts that he had acquired on his travels to the French National Library and the British Museum for sale. Nevertheless, his efforts owe his knowledge of various Greek texts of great value.

Fonts (selection)

Minas himself offers a complete catalog of his writings in his edition of Georgios Scholarios's work On Plethon's Doubts in Relation to Aristotle (see below), 201–211.

Translation of a mathematical work

  • (Transl.): Louis-Benjamin Francoeur, Μαθηματικά του Λουδοβίκου Βενιαμίν Φραγκέρου (1819).

Pamphlets on the Greek struggle for freedom

  • Τοις κραταιοτάτοις εν Ευρώπηι βασίλευσιν , στα ελληνικά και στά γαλλικά. Paris, May 28, 1821. - ("To the most powerful kings in Europe")
  • Σύντομος επίστασις εις την τον τής Αυστρίας Μηνιστηρίου πολιτικήν ως προς την Ελλversάδα - Coup d'oeil sur la politique du la autège. Paris 1826 (Modern Greek, with French translation by A. le Vte. De Ludre).
  • Προς τους Γερμανούς και τα λοιπά έθνη τής Ευρώπης πρόσκλησις εις βοήθειαν τών Ελλ'aveur des Greupων - Appel à la nation de allemande et aux peurEupcsope Paris 1826 (Modern Greek, with French translation by A. le Vte. De Ludre).
  • Έλεγχος προδοτών ή πραγματικός προς τους Έλληνας . Paris 1831. - ("Criticism of the traitors or wise speech to the Greeks")
  • La Grèce constituée et les Affaires d'Orient. Merklein, Paris 1836, online .

Confrontation with Adamantios Korais

  • Μενέδημος, ή απάντησις προς τάς του Χίου Κοραή κατά των Ελλήνων και του Καποδιστρίου κατηγορίας . Paris 1827.

Publications on the pronunciation and grammar of Greek

  • Orthophonie grecque, ou traité de l'accentuation et de la quantité syllabique avec quelques considération sur la ponctuation et sur les chapîtres et sur les paragraphes; suivie de Notes sur les différences qui se remarquent entre le Grec ancien et le Grec vulgaire . JS Merlin, Paris 1824, online
  • Calliope, ou traité sur la véritable prononciation de la langue grecque. Bossange, Paris 1825, online (PDF). - Collective review in: Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung 1828–1829, online .
  • Θεωρία περί της Ελληνικής Γραμματικής και Γλώσσης / Théorie de la grammaire et de la langue grecques . Bossange, Paris 1827, online
  • Grammaire grecque, contenant les dialectes et la difference avec le grec vulgaire . Bossange, Paris 1828, online

Poems

  • Κανάρις , άσμα Πινδαρικόν / Canaris , chant pindarique. Ελληνιστί Γαλλιστί. Borée et Hingray, Paris 1830, online
  • Καρολιάς . Bibliothèque Nationale de France, manuscript section, cod. Suppl. Grec 1147 (not previously published).

Travel reports for the French Ministry of Education and other travel documents

  • Identical versions of the report on the first trip can be found in: Rapport adressé à M. le ministre de l'instruction publique par M. Mynoïde Minas, chargé d'une mission en Orient , in:
    • Emmanuel Miller (ed., With Joseph Adolphe Aubenas): Revue de bibliographie analytique 5, 1844, pp. 80-92, online .
    • Le Moniteur Universel , January 5, 1844.
  • Report on the second trip: Report adressé à M. le ministre de l'Instruction publique par M. Minoïde-Mynas, chargé d'une mission en Orient . [Dated: 28 février 1846], online .
  • Minas' travel diaries, notes and correspondence are kept in the Bibliothèque Nationale under various numbers (cod. Paris. Suppl. Gr. 731–733: travel notes and letters from the first trip; suppl. Gr. 736: travel diary; suppl. Gr. 1251 : Correspondence from the first trip).

Text editions

  • Ευρημένων το Β΄: Φιλόστρατος, Περί Γυμναστικής από χειρόγραφο ανακαλυφθέν στο Άγιο Όρος. Paris 1844.
    • Philostrate, Sur la gymnastique . Ouvrage découvert, corrigé, traduit en français et publié pour la première fois par Minoide Mynas. Bossange, Paris 1858.
  • Γαληνού εισαγωγή διαλεκτική . Paris 1844.
  • Του και Γενναδίου πατριάρχου Σχολαρίου Γεωργίου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως κατά των Πλήθωνος αποριών επ Αριστοτέλει . Σύγγραμμα ευρεθέν εν αντιγράφω τέως αγνώστου, διορθωθέν και εκδοθέν νυν πρώτον μετά περί Ενώσεως ανεκδότου Αριστοτέλους , και παρεμβολών / Georges Scholarius surnommé Gennadius patriarche de Constantinople, contre les Doutes de Plethon sur Aristote  : Ouvrage trouvé dans un manuscrit, corrigé et publié pour la première fois , avec un fragment inédit d 'Aristote sur le Mélange, et avec des notes par Minoide Mynas. Hector Bossange et Fils, Paris 1858.

Monograph on Platonic Number Theory

  • Diagrams de la création du monde de Platon découvert et expliqué en grec ancien et en français après 2,250 ans. Franck, Paul Masgana, Paris 1848, online (PDF). - Contains a list of the works of Minoides.

Confrontation with Theoklitos Pharmakidis

  • Ιάκωβος Ιερομόναχος εκ Βατοπεδίου (pseudonym): Φαρμακίδου Αντίδοτον . Constantinople 1852, online .

Defense of George Simon of Sina

  • Έλεγχος των κατηγόρων της εν πρεσβεία αξιώσεως του κυρίου Σίνα . Paris 1858, online . - ("Criticism of the plaintiffs in the matter of the efficiency of the Lord of Sina during his delegation")

Awards

literature

  • Δημήτρης Γ. Αποστολόπουλος: Ανάγλυφα μιας τέχνης νομικής. Βυζαντινό δίκαιο και μεταβυζαντινή «νομοθεσία». 'Αθήνα 1999 (Εθνικό ΄Ιδρυμα Ερευνών / Κέντρο Νεοελληνικών' Ερευνών, άρ. 69) , pp . 33-35.
  • Ferdinand Höfer : Nouvelle Biographie Générale, depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours, avec les renseignements bibliographiques et l'indication des sources a consulter. Didot, Paris, Vol. 35, 1861, Sp. 599-601, online (PDF).
  • Γιώργος Κουτζακιώτης: Η βιβλιοθήκη του Κ. Μηνά Μηνωίδη στις Σέρρες (1815–1819) και η τύχη της , in: Ερανιστής 23, 2001, 219–252, download online .
  • Ζήσης Μελισσάκης: Η διασπορά χειρογράφων του Αγίου Όρους σε βιβλιοθήκες. Η περίπτωση του Κωνσταντίνου Μηνά-Μινωΐδη . Diss. University of Thrace 2002, abstract .
  • Henri Omont : Minoïde Mynas et ses missions en Orient (1840-1855), in: Mémoires de l'Acadèmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 40, 1916, pp. 337-419; also as brochure, Klincksieck, Paris 1916; online . - Review by Henri Dehérain, in: Journal des savants 14, 1916, pp. 430-431, online .
  • Henri Omont: Manuscrits grecs du Mont-Athos provenant des missions de Minoïde Mynas, in: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 63.4, 1919, 308-313, online
  • Μάχη Παΐζη Αποστολοπούλου: «Χασμάτων πλήρωσις». Η εμπλοκή του Μηνά Μηνωίδη και του Μανουήλ Γεδεών στα χειρόγραφα , in: Ερανιστής 25, 2005, 301–319, download online (PDF).
  • Γεώργιος Παπάζογλου: Ο Κωνσταντίνος Μηνάς Μηνωίδης και ένας κατάλογος χειρογράφων της μονής του Τιμίου Προδρόμου Σερρών in: Παρνασσός 33, 1991, 65-79.
  • Γεώργιος Ρουμελιώτης: Ο νέος ελληνισμός στην Έδεσσα (Βοδενά) του πρώτου μισού του ΙΘ΄ αιώνα. Έκδοση: Λαογραφική Εταιρεία Νομού Πέλλας 2000 , pp . 67-78.
  • Hermann Schöne : About the Mynas Code of the Greek war writers in the Paris National Library , in: Rheinisches Museum 53, 1898, 432–447, online (PDF).
  • Γεώργιος Τουσίμης: Κωνσταντίνος Μηνάς, Μηνωίδης, ένας Έδεσσαΐος λόγιος του 1821 , in: Μακεδόνικα 11, 1971.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For the name forms cf. H. Omont 1916, 337-338; Γ. Κουτζακιώτης 2001, 219 note 1; the archaic name formation with the suffix -ίδης was in fashion in learned circles in Greece at the beginning of the 19th century, cf. Γ. Τουσίμης 1971, 403; The spelling with Latin y is due to the similarity of the printed y with the handwritten Greek letter η , according to Julius Jüthner : Der Gymnastikos des Philostratos. A text -historical and text-critical investigation , in: Session reports of the philosophical-historical class of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, Vol. 145, 1I. Abhandlung, Vienna 1903, p. 4 note 2, online .
  2. ↑ The life dates cited in Höfer 1861, 599: "né vers 1790, mort en février 1860" are imprecise and inaccurate. For more detailed information about the ambiguities, which apparently go back to Minas himself, see H. Omont 1916, 338.
  3. ↑ The biographical information in the section on life is essentially based on H. Omont 1916, 337–340; Γ. Κουτζακιώτης 2001, 219-222.
  4. ↑ See the entry on www.orthodoxwiki.org under the keyword Αθανάσιος ο Πάριος .
  5. ↑ On the source, a letter from Minas to Prosper Faugère, the secretary of Minister Villemain, see H. Omont 1916, 338.
  6. ↑ See H. Omont 1916, 343-344; Γ. Κουτζακιώτης 2001.
  7. ↑ See the detailed information from Julius Jüthner 1903, pp. 5-12, online ; Δημήτρης Γ. Αποστολόπουλος 1999, 33-35.
  8. ^ John A. Cerrato: Hippolytus Between East and West: The Commentaries and the Provenance of the Corpus . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2002, p. 94, excerpts online .
  9. ↑ See Émile Egger: Examen des nouvelles fables de Babrius découvertes en Grèce par M. Minoïde Minas et publiées, sous les auspices de M. Villemain, ministre de l'instruction publique, par M. Boissonade, Professeur de littérature grecque à la Faculté des lettres de Paris et au Collège de France , in: Journal général de l'instruction publique 1844, online (PDF).
  10. ↑ Alphonse Dain : Un recueil Byzantin des Fables de Babrios , in: Hellenica suppl. 9.3, 1958, 103-104; ders .: Sur deux recueils de Babrios trouves par Minoide Mynas , in: Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budé 1960, 120–121.
  11. ^ John Vaio: A New Manuscript of Babrius: Fact or Fable? , in: Illinois Classical Studies 2, 1977, 173-183, online (PDF); JStor .
  12. ↑ The leading critical edition with translation and commentary comes from Julius Jüthner (ed.): Philostratos on gymnastics. Grüner, Amsterdam 1969 (reprint of the Leipzig 1909 edition). For the history of the Olympic Games, cf. Steve Georgakis: Sporting Left. The Greek Diaspora and the Modern Olympic Games , in: Modern Greek Studies 11, 2003, 270-278; David C. Young: The Modern Olympics: A Struggle for Revival. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1996, pp. 14 and 18.
  13. ↑ The leading edition is: Γαληνού εἰσαγωγή διαλεκτική - Galeni Institutio logica . Edidit Carolus veal. BG Teubner, Leipzig 1896 (Bibliotheca Teubneriana), online .
  14. ↑ Karl Kalbfleisch (Ed.): The Neoplatonic font lichρὸς Γαῦρον περὶ τοῦ πῶς ἐμψυχοῦται τὰ ἔμβρυα , incorrectly ascribed to Galen , published for the first time from the Parisian manuscript. Royal Academy of Sciences, Berlin 1895, online .
  15. ^ Therese Schwager: Military Theory in Late Humanism. Cultural transfer of tactical and strategic theories in the Netherlands and France (1590–1660) . De Gruyter, Berlin 2012, p. 376 note 87, online ; Hermann Schöne 1898.
  16. ↑ H. Omont 1916, 339-340.
  17. ↑ See the above-cited essays by Alphonse Dain and John Vaio; also Charles Dudley Warner: A Library of the World's Best Literature , Vol. III: Auerbach – Bancroft , 1896, online .
  18. ↑ Cf. Walther Ludwig: Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff's unknown lecture “Introduction to Philology” , in: Academy of Sciences in Göttingen (ed.), Studies in Philology and Musicology . De Gruyter, Berlin 2009, pp. 53-102, there p. 70, online .
personal data
SURNAME Minas, Konstantinos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Minoides Mynas; Minoïde Mynas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek philosophy and rhetoric teacher, philologist, translator, poet and manuscript buyer
DATE OF BIRTH December 1, 1788
PLACE OF BIRTH Edessa
DATE OF DEATH December 30, 1859
Place of death Paris