page_title: Works of Demosthenes
section_title: Manuscript tradition
hierarchical_section_title: Works of Demosthenes / Manuscript tradition
caption_attribution_description: English: Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1377 - Princeton University Library, AM 9051 - Demosthenes, De Corona 167–169
context_page_description: Demosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute the last significant expression of Athenian intellectual prowess and provide a thorough insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece. The Alexandrian Canon compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace recognized Demosthenes as one of the 10 greatest Attic orators and logographers. Cicero acclaimed him as "the perfect orator" and the one who "has pre-eminence over all others", while Quintilian extolled him as lex orandi.
context_section_description: Demosthenes must have written down and put into circulation most of his orations. In the next generation after his death, texts of his speeches survived in at least two places: Athens and the Library of Alexandria (early-mid third century BC). During this period, Callimachus was responsible for producing the catalogue of all the volumes contained in the Library. Demosthenes' speeches were incorporated into the body of classical Greek literature that was preserved, catalogued and studied by scholars of the Hellenistic period. From then until the fourth century AD copies of his orations multiplied at a time when Demosthenes was deemed the most important writer in the rhetorical world and every serious student of rhetoric needed access to his writings. Texts of his speeches were in a relatively good position to survive the tense period from the sixth until the ninth century AD.
  Scholars have recorded 258 Byzantine manuscripts of Demosthenes' speeches and 21 of extracts. Modern editions of these speeches are based on four of these manuscripts: 
  The tenth-century Venetus Marcianus 416 (called F), including the sixty-one orations, which finally survived. The Aldine edition was based on three manuscripts of the same family as F, though not on F itself; so the customary order of the speeches is of this family.
  The tenth- or eleventh-century Monacensis Augustanus 485 (called A), which includes fifty-four speeches. Those omitted are 12, 45, 46, 52, 60 and 61.
  The tenth- or eleventh-century Parisinus 2935 (called Y), which includes twenty-nine speeches (1-21, 23, 22, 24-26, 59, 61 and 60 in that order).
  The tenth- or eleventh-century Parisinus 2934 (called S) considered to be the most reliable by many scholars. It omits item 12 (Philip's Letter) but includes the 60 speeches. A facsimile of the codex was published in 1892-93, in Paris, by H. Omont.
  Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 25, a third-century manuscript of De Corona;
  Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 26, a second-century manuscript of Prooimia Demegorica;
  Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 230, a second-century manuscript of De Corona;
  Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 231, a second- or third-century manuscript of De Corona.
caption: Demosthenes, De Corona 167–169. P. Oxy. 1377, 1st century BCE
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