Transmission of the Corpus Demosthenicum

Abstract

Chapter 35 outlines the main stages and issues and introduces the main carriers of the transmission of the Corpus Demosthenicum. Demosthenes was a canonic writer from antiquity to the end of Byzantium. The wide reception of his works has led to the survival of a large number of copies, partly on ancient papyrus or parchment, partly on parchment or paper from the medieval period; moreover, quotations in other authors and paratexts offering snippets of text are plentiful. The heterogeneous process of transmission—starting with different editions in antiquity and later showing frequent contamination—thwarts any attempt at reconstructing a clear and simple stemma even of the main manuscripts.