page_title: Disjecta membra
section_title: Ancient and medieval poetry, literature, and manuscripts
hierarchical_section_title: Disjecta membra / Ancient and medieval poetry, literature, and manuscripts
caption_attribution_description: English: Procession of men and women with a carriage. Fragment of a Greek black-figured pyxis (?), 570–550 a.C. From the temple of Demeter Malophoros in Selinunte, Sicily. Museo archeologico regionale di Palermo (NI 1846). Italiano: Frammento di vaso greco (pyxis&#160;?) a figure nere con processione di donne e uomini, con un carro, 570–550 a.C. Dal tempio di Demetra Malophoros, Selinunte (Sicilia). Museo archeologico regionale di Palermo (NI 1846).
context_page_description: Disjecta membra, also written disiecta membra, is Latin for "scattered fragments" and is used to refer to surviving fragments of ancient poetry, manuscripts, and other literary or cultural objects, including even fragments of ancient pottery. It is derived from disiecti membra poetae, a phrase used by Horace, a Roman poet.
context_section_description: Fragments of ancient writing, especially ancient Latin poetry found in other works, are commonly referred to as disjecta membra. The terms disiecta membra and disjecta membra are paraphrased from the Roman lyric poet Horace (65 BC  – 8 BC), who wrote of disiecti membra poetae in his Satires, 1.4.62, referring to the "limbs of a dismembered poet".  In full, the term originally appeared as Invenias etiam disiecti membra poetae, in reference to the earlier Roman poet Ennius.
  Although Horace's intended meaning remains the subject of speculation and debate, the passage is often taken to imply that if a line from poetry were torn apart and rearranged, the dismembered parts of the poet would still be recognisable. In this sense, in the study of literature, disjecta membra is often used to describe the piecing together of ancient fragments of an identifiable literary source. Similarly, isolated leaves or parts of leaves from ancient or medieval manuscripts may also be termed disjecta membra.  Scholars have been able to identify fragments now held in different libraries that originally belonged to the same manuscript.
caption: Disjecta membra (a fragment of ancient Greek pottery)
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