I fondamenti materiali della tradizione degli opuscula di Cipriano: la tarda antichità

The earlier stages of Cyprian’s transmission can be reconstructed by combining the paleographical, bibliological and textual analysis of codices antiquiores (in particular Par. lat 10592 and Taur. G V 37) with the study of literary sources (especially Cyprian’s epistolary and Vita Cypriani drawn up by deacon Pontius). On the basis of these evidences, it becomes possible shedding light both on the various physical settings of the oldest editions of Cyprian’s opuscula and on the different textual selection and order of its contents. The material and textual profile of these ancient collections is a consequence of books practices, conservation manners and circulation strategies of bishop’s writings put in place in the author’s milieu when he was still alive or shortly after his martyrdom, but also in early Christian communities. Therefore, the high degree of contamination in Cyprian’s manuscript tradition and the configuration of medieval recensio rooted both in synchronic circulation of different treatises editions and in structural instability of these late antique corpora.