Manuscripts and Repositories of the Works of Aeschylus in Ancient Greek

Aeschylus' works survive in a relatively small number of ancient Greek manuscripts compared to other classical authors like Homer or Euripides. Below is a list of the most important manuscripts preserving his plays in the original Greek:

Key Manuscripts of Aeschylus:

1. **Codex Mediceus (Laurentianus 32.9, "M")** – 10th–11th century
- The most important manuscript, containing all seven surviving plays:
- *Agamemnon*
- *Choephoroe (Libation Bearers)*
- *Eumenides*
- *Persians*
- *Seven Against Thebes*
- *Suppliants*
- *Prometheus Bound* (now considered possibly spurious)
- Held in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence.

2. **Codex Florentinus (Laurentianus 31.8, "F")** – 13th–14th century
- Contains scholia (ancient commentaries) and some textual variants.
- Also in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.

3. **Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1334 ("V")** – 14th century
- Contains *Prometheus Bound* and fragments of other plays.
- Held in the Vatican Library.

4. **Codex Parisinus Graecus 2786 ("P")** – 14th century
- Contains *Persians* and *Seven Against Thebes*.
- Held in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

5. **Codex Neapolitanus (Neap. II.F.31, "N")** – 14th century
- Contains *Agamemnon*, *Choephoroe*, and *Eumenides* (the *Oresteia*).
- Held in the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III, Naples.

6. **Codex Venetus Marcianus Graecus 468 ("U")** – 14th century
- Contains *Prometheus Bound* and fragments.
- Held in the Biblioteca Marciana, Venice.

7. **Codex Palatinus Graecus 287 ("G")** – 14th century
- Contains *Seven Against Thebes* and other fragments.
- Held in the Vatican Library.

8. **Papyrus Fragments (Oxyrhynchus, etc.)**
- Various papyri from Oxyrhynchus and other sites preserve fragments of lost plays (e.g., *Myrmidons*, *Niobe*).

**Notes:**
- The **Mediceus (M)** is the most authoritative source for Aeschylus' surviving works.
- Many other medieval manuscripts exist but are derivative or contain only excerpts.
- Some plays, like *Prometheus Bound*, have disputed authorship, and their manuscript traditions may differ. References and Further Reading Oxford Classical Texts: Aeschyli: Septem Quae Supersunt Tragoedias - Aeschylus - Oxford Scholarly Editions Smyth, H. W. (1933). Catalogue of the Manuscripts of Aeschylus. Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 44, 1–62. https://doi.org/10.2307/310679
https://www.jstor.org/stable/310679

Turyn, A. (1942). THE MANUSCRIPT TRADITION OF THE TRAGEDIES OF AESCHYLUS. Bulletin of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, 1(1), 107–111. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24724502

The collation and investigation of manuscripts of Aeschylus : Dawe, R. D. (Roger David) - Internet Archive