Alexander Lykourgos and Simonides, 1855 correspondence about the CFA pages in Leipzig

[Steven Avery]

Il viaggio di Artemidoro (2010)
By Luciano Canfora
https://books.google.com/books?id=f5A8FING5iEC&pg=PP1

Proprietà letteraria riservata 2010 RCS Libri S.p.A., Milano Prima edizione digitale 2010 da edizione gennaio 2010
https://docplayer.it/72913284-Propr...e-digitale-2010-da-edizione-gennaio-2010.html

Lykourgas in the PDF - 2 spots ? reference this Simonides Sinaiticus Lykourgas issue

104
. Così scriveva Simonidis all allora amico Alessandro Lykurgos, verso la fine di agosto del La lettera datata 29 agosto è riprodotta quasi per intero dallo stesso Lykurgos nel volume del 1856, assai polemico verso l ex amico Simonidis, intitolato Enthüllungen über den Simonides-Dindorfschen Uranios (Rivelazioni sull Uranios di Simonides-Dindorf) e occupa le pagine Nel brano che abbiamo tradotto, e che si trova subito in principio della lunga lettera, Simonidis descrive con brevi tratti essenziali il suo usuale modo di procedere: quando giunge nelle capitali europee ricche di manoscritti la sua prima cura è entrare in contatto con le personalità della cultura per accedere poi alle maggiori biblioteche, e lì cercare e ricopiare manoscritti

Enthüllungen über den Simonides- of Lykurguos does not have friderico frederico or augustanus​

Il viaggio di Artemidoro p. 236
https://books.google.com/books?id=slC8ywpEIGQC&pg=PA236

105-106
..... infine Berlino e Lipsia, dove giunse il 15 luglio A Lipsia, come sappiamo dallo scritto polemico del conterraneo ed ex amico Lykurgos, fu sua cura chiedere e ottenere, al solito, la possibilità di ispezionare i manoscritti greci: in particolare gli interessavano i frammenti del Sinaitico portato in Germania da Tischendorf nel 1844. E dopo il celebre incidente dell Uranios (su cui torneremo) ci fu il soggiorno a Monaco, dove ebbe accesso alla Biblioteca Regia. Prima del viaggio a Occidente, Simonidis aveva percorso l ampia area che va da Odessa ad Alessandria d Egitto passando per l Athos, sua meta privilegiata, e sede di un suo memorabile soggiorno.

..... finally Berlin and Leipzig, where he arrived on July 15 (should be 1855) in Leipzig, as we know from the controversial writing of the countryman and former friend Lykurgos, it was his cure to ask and obtain, as usual, the possibility to inspect the Greek manuscripts: in particular He was interested in the fragments of the Sinaitic brought to Germany by Tischendorf in 1844. And after the famous accident of the Uranios (on which we will return) there was a stay in Monaco, where he had access to the Royal Library. Before the trip to the West, Simonidis had traveled the wide area that goes from Odessa to Alexandria, Egypt through Athos, his favorite destination, and the seat of his memorable stay.

Il viaggio di Artemidoro p. 252-253
https://books.google.com/books?id=f5A8FING5iEC&pg=PA253

116
A Lipsia egli non venne soltanto per offrire all attenzione dei dotti i suoi «inediti». Volle anche qui fare esperienza dei manoscritti greci della Biblioteca Universitaria. Come raccontò poi il suo ex amico e maestro privato di greco antico Lykurgos, gli interessavano i fogli del Sinaitico che Tischendorf aveva portato in Germania dopo il primo soggiorno a Santa Caterina del Sinai. Comunque, dopo l iniziale successo, Lipsia fu uno scacco, dal quale non uscì bene nemmeno il suo estimatore Dindorf.

In Leipzig he did not come only to offer his "unpublished" to the attention of the learned. He also wanted to experience the Greek manuscripts of the University Library here. As his former friend and private teacher of ancient Greek Lykurgos told him, he was interested in the sheets of the Sinaitic that Tischendorf had brought to Germany after his first stay in Santa Caterina del Sinai. However, after the initial success, Lipsia was a check, from which not even his admirer Dindorf came out well.

118-120

162-163
413 Già da questi cenni ci rendiamo conto che l originale Reisebeschreibung era molto più ampia delle tre dense pagine dell Epitome firmata col falso nome Callinico. Lo stesso Lykurgos, ovviamente, costituisce, in quanto riassume (Biographische Skizze, pp ) ciò che gli fu inviato, una fonte derivata da tale scritto. E anche il Biographical Memoir of Constantine Simonides [1859] di Charles Stewart (cui abbiamo già fatto cenno), soprattutto nella dettagliata descrizione iniziale dei viaggi di Simonidis, si baserà anch esso sullo stesso resoconto autobiografico di cui parla Lykurgos (la Reisebeschreibung). Diversamente dallo «schizzo biografico» fornito da Lykurgos (in tedesco) e dalla rielaborazione di Stewart (in inglese), l Epitome firmata Callinico è un excerptum in greco, che ci restituisce, sia pure selettivamente, le parole autentiche di Simonidis.

413 From these signs we realize that the original Reisebeschreibung was much larger than the three dense pages of the Epitome signed by the false name Callinicus. The same Lykurgos, obviously, constitutes, as it summarizes (Biographische Skizze, pp.) What was sent to him, a source derived from that writing. And even the Biographical Memoir of Constantine Simonides [1859] by Charles Stewart (to which we have already mentioned), especially in the detailed initial description of Simonidis' journeys, will also be based on the same autobiographical account as Lykurgos (the Reisebeschreibung). Unlike the "biographical sketch" provided by Lykurgos (in German) and the reworking of Stewart (in English), Callinico's Epitome is an excerptum in Greek, which gives us back, albeit selectively, the authentic words of Simonidis.

176-178

 

[Steven Avery]

looking for the Lycourgos source.

This should be in the book, or some letter extracts from Lycourgos.
Also we should check the Simonides apologetic for Uranios.

Enthüllungen über den Simonides-dindorfschen Uranios: Zu einem Geschichtsabriss über Simonides (1856)
( 2 Editions per Gennadius )
https://archive.org/details/enthllungenberd00lykogoog
https://books.google.com/books?id=3X2B-kaniakC
(note below, there are two Greek letters in the book, starting at p. 58, in the biographical sketch.)

Zweite, zu einem Geschichtsabriss über Simonides, den Hermastext und das Leipzig-Berliner Palimpsest erweiterte, sowie mit Berichten und paläographischen Erläuterungen Prof. Tischendorfs u. Anderer vermehrte Auflage (1856)
Alexandros L. LUKOURGOS (Archbishop of Syros and Tenos.), Karl Wilhelm DINDORF, Constantin von Tischendorf
https://books.google.com/books?id=dnxaAAAAcAAJ

«schizzo biografico» biographical sketch

Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung
Nr. 31 (6.2.1856) S. 253-254 (Stellungnahmen von Wilhelm Dindorf, Konstantin von Tischendorf und Alexandros Lykurgos, im Namen mehrerer Griechen).
Nr. 32 (7.2.1856), S. 264-265 (Alexandros Lykurgos, Zur Angelegenheit des K. Simonides).
Nr. 33 (8.2.1856), S. 273 (Rudolph Anger, Erklärung in Bezug auf den in Nr. 32 der DAZ enthaltenen Aufsatzes des Herren A. Lykurgos).
Nr. 34 (9.2. 1856), S. 279-280 (Richard Lepsius, Über den falschen Uranios des Simonides)

Simonides in England: A Forger’s Progress p. 111-112 in
Pasquale Massimo Pinto

This is how the story began in Simonides’ own words:

I arrived in England from the Canary Islands. On the twelfth of December of last year, we docked at Liverpool, a commercial city of England, where I stayed for nearly two months. Later, on the 6th of February of this year I moved to the city where I still am, the capital of the world, London, where I also found some calm. After a few days I was already acquainted with several learned Englishmen who live in London. I have also become a regular at the British Museum: I have read, copied and translated Egyptian antiquities that can be found abundantly there, thanks to the encouragement of many learned men, whose admiration increased day by day due to the correct interpretation that I provided of those monuments. This carried on until May. On the 25th of that month, I was introduced to the Royal Philological Society, where more than five hundred members were present, all very learned men: in the presence of such a numerous assembly I displayed the manuscripts that ignorant persons proclaimed to be fake, and here nobody, after seeing them, had anything to say against their authenticity.

These lines are from a letter of August 29, 1853 to Alexandros Lykurgos, a Greek living in Leipzig, who had been Simonides’ main connection to the German academic world and whom at that time Simonides still considered a friend.6

SA Note: For the Greek letter from Simonides, see:
Enthüllungen über den Simonides-dindorfschen Uranios:
https://archive.org/stream/enthllungenberd00lykogoog#page/n69/search/liepzig

6 The letter, in Greek, was published by Lykurgos 1856 2, 58-61. Lykurgos later became archbishop of Syros and other Greek islands, cf. Skene 1877; in this capacity he visited England in 1870, and was welcomed by those Anglicans calling for Orthodox-Anglican reunion, cf. Lykurgos 1871. On Lykurgos and Simonides, see Berger in this volume. -- (Berger p. 133 is interesting)

Lykurgos, Alexandras (1856-2), Enthiillungen iiber den Simonides-Dindorfschen Uranios, zweite zu einem Geschichtsabriss iiber Simonides, den Hermastext und das Leipzig-Berliner Palimpsest erweiterte, sowie mit Berichten und palaographischen Erlaute-rungen Prof. Tischendorfs u. Anderer vermehrte Auflage, Leipzig, S. 1-7 (Cod. gr. 9-10); S. 45-66 (biographische Skizze); S. 67-85 (verschiedene Texte Tischendorfs zum Uranios-Palimpsest)

===

Lykurgos, Alexander (1871), Report of His Grace the Archbishop of Syra and Tenos, on his Journey to England, London.

Friederike Berger
Konstantinos Simonides in Leipzig: Der Hirte des Hermas 127

====================================

Here is the first two pages of the 1853 Greek letters above, when Lycourgos and Simonides were friends, and before the Uranios controversies. (It is possible that Simonides asks Lycourgas from afar about the manuscript at the Leipzig library.)

And here is the 2nd 1853 letter:

====================================

Simonides did write a defense of the authenticity.

Ueber die Echtheit des Uranius, Volume 1 (1856)
Constantine Simonides
https://books.google.com/books?id=ALHKaDsZzt0C

 

[Steven Avery]

the book has a few references to Sinaiticus.

Il viaggio di Artemidoro (2010)
By Luciano Canfora
https://books.google.com/books?id=f5A8FING5iEC&pg=PA416

Non è superfluo ribadire che Callinico Ieromonaco è un personaggio inesistente. Ciò è risultato da due inchieste, tra loro indipendenti, condotte rispettivamente da John Hodgkin e da William Aldis Wright414 nel 1863, quando divampava la polemica intorno alla ‘bomba’ lanciata da Simonidis contro Tischendorf con la “rivelazione”, fatta dal grande falsario, di essere lui l’autore del Sinaitico della Bibbia. L’iniziativa volta a rintracciare Callinico nasceva dal proposito di verificare quanto Cal-linico scrive negli Autographa sul soggiorno di Simoni-dis al Monastero di Santa Caterina del Sinai: non si era posta attenzione, forse a causa della difficoltà della scrittura,415 al fatto che Callinico in realtà non è autore ma solo epilomalore: dunque la notizia relativa al Sinai in realtà veniva dallo stesso Simonidis. Ad ogni modo la ricerca approdò alla constatazione che questo «ieromo-naco» era un’invenzione. Persino John Hodgkin, l’amico e complice di Simonidis, si mise in moto e rintracciò il tipografo di Odessa che aveva avuto tra mano la stampa degli Autographa; ma di Callinico nessuna traccia.416 E quando Simonidis alla fine indicò lui un Callinico, costui scrisse ai giornali di non aver mai avuto a che fare con Simonidis.417

https://books.google.com/books?id=f5A8FING5iEC&pg=PA302

Convinto, a torto, di essere finalmente in una posizione di forza nei confronti dei critici (Tischendorf in primis) che avevano smascherato Uranios, Simonidis aveva fatto l’errore di scatenare, alla fine del 1862, un ‘contrattacco’: aveva lanciato sulla stampa inglese una campagna volta a dimostrare che il codice Sinaitico della Bibbia, sottratto al monastero di Santa Caterina nel Sinai appunto da Tischendorf e portato con grandi clamori in Europa, era in realtà opera sua: di un Simonidis giovane e, agli ordini dell’igumeno Benedetto, intento a fabbricare un magnifico esemplare antico della Bibbia per lo zar Nicola. L’«affare del Sinaitico», come è stato chiamato dal bravissimo J.K. Elliott (Codex Sinaiticus and thè Simonides Affair, 1982), creò qualche dissapore anche all’interno della cerchia inglese che proteggeva Simonidis. J.E. Hodgkin, come s’è già detto,317 avviò una riservata inchiesta a Odessa per appurare se le lettere di Callinico che confermavano la paternità ‘simonidea’ del Sinaitico, incluse da Simonidis in uno dei volumi litografali da lui stesso, fossero autentiche.

English

It is not superfluous to reiterate that Callinico Ieromonaco is a non-existent character. This was the result of two independent investigations conducted by John Hodgkin and William Aldis Wright414 respectively in 1863, when the controversy surrounding the "bomb" launched by Simonidis against Tischendorf flared up with the "revelation" by the great forger, being the author of the Sinaitic of the Bible. The initiative aimed at tracing Callinico was born from the purpose of verifying how much Callinico wrote in the Autographa on Simonidis' stay at the Monastery of Santa Caterina del Sinai: no attention was paid, perhaps due to the difficulty of writing, 415 to the fact that Callinico actually is not author but only epilomalore: therefore the news concerning Sinai actually came from Simonidis himself. In any case, the research came to the realization that this "ieromo-naco" was an invention. Even John Hodgkin, Simonidis's friend and accomplice, set off and tracked down Odessa's typographer who had had the Autographa press in his hand; but no trace of Callinicus.416 And when Simonidis at last indicated a Callinicus to him, he wrote to the newspapers that he had never had anything to do with Simonidis.417

...

Convinced, wrongly, that he was finally in a position of force against the critics (Tischendorf in the first place) who had unmasked Uranios, Simonidis had made the mistake of unleashing, at the end of 1862, a 'counterattack': he had launched in the press English a campaign to prove that the Sinaitic code of the Bible, removed from the monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai by Tischendorf and brought with great clamor in Europe, was actually his work: a young Simonidis and, under the orders of the Benedictine Benedict , intent on making a magnificent ancient copy of the Bible for Tsar Nicholas. The "Sinaitic affair", as it was called by the talented J.K. Elliott (Codex Sinaiticus and the Simonides Affair, 1982), created some disfavor even within the English circle that protected Simonidis. J.E. Hodgkin, as has already been said, initiated a confidential investigation into Odessa to ascertain whether the letters of Callinicus which confirmed the 'sympathetic' paternity of the Sinaiticus, included by Simonidis in one of his lithograph volumes, were authentic.

Canfora seems to overlook the various evidences for Kallinikos.

 

[Steven Avery]

Posted on a Luciano Canfora group on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/28315428049/posts/10156670439568050/

Greetings! I have a question about a reference that is in a book by Luciano Canfora. You can see some of the relevant text on the two urls.

Il viaggio di Artemidoro (2010)
https://books.google.com/books?id=slC8ywpEIGQC&pg=PA236

"... la possibilità di ispezionare i manoscritti greci: in particolare gli interessavano i frammenti del Sinaitico portato in Germania da Tischendorf nel 1844"

and

https://books.google.com/books?id=f5A8FING5iEC&pg=PA253
"Come raccontò poi il suo ex amico e maestro privato di greco antico Lykurgos, gli interessavano i fogli del Sinaitico che Tischendorf aveva portato in Germania dopo il primo soggiorno a Santa Caterina del Sinai."
There is a reference about Simonides and Lykurgos, in the context of the Codex Frederico-Augustanus (the white parchment part of Sinaiticus that went to Leipzig in 1844, before the bulk of the manuscript was coloured yellow and taken to St. Petersburg in 1859.) The ms. is called Sinaitico in the book where it makes this reference, which is a smidgen anachronistic

.

Having the full text of that part of the correspondence (probably Greek, published in a German book or Journal) would be very helpful for Sinaiticus historicity and authenticity.

While I have some leads on the various writings by and about Lykurgos, so far I have not pinned down this question, and I do not see a footnote.

Any help in tracking down the original source would be most appreciated. And I will share with anyone interested the details available to date, beyond those two quotes above.

Thanks!
Steven Avery

And next

In Elliott's book. Lykourgos is mentioned on eight pages.
(in 1856 he gave his age as thirty three years see Lycurgos’s Enthüllungen p. 45) - p. 33
Tischendorf translated from a Dec. 1862 letter to Allegemeine Zeitung.
5. A Greek, named Lycurgus36 published in the Leipsic and Berlin papers, articles against Simonides, and there arose some quarrel besides, in consequence of Simonides being carried to Berlin....
36. Alexander Lycurgos was later Archbishop of Syros and Tinos.
p. 128 -
letter from G. H. Pertz to Frederic Madden of the British Museum, 1863
38. A description or the Uranius affair and a selection of the correspondence on it by Dindorf, Tischendorf and Lycurgos is to be found in Simonides und Sein Prozess (Berlin, 1856). - p. 131
"Some of these also undertook to write my history during my lifetime-first. Professor Tischendorf; secondly, a certain Lycourgos, for a long time a spy of Tischendorf. living upon me; thirdly, a certain German, who had become a mercenary slave of Tischendorf; and fourthly, Mr. Charles Stewart, who undertook his work for truth's sake, but said nought to me of it until it had been sent to press, and the greater part already printed; thus even he committed not a few errors, for which I hold myself in no degree responsible, any more than for those of the other writers, some of whom (deriving (heir inspiration from sources unknown to me) state that I was bom on Mount Athos, whereas at Athos no women are to be found, neither is a woman allowed, under any pretence, to visit Mount Athos, because (his place was consecrated of old by the monks for retirement.... ,for I bought with my own money fifty copies of the trifles written against me be Lycourgos, inspired by Tischendorf, and other" - p. 173-174
Simonides letter to the Guardian, Jan 21, 1863
He soon became intimate with the German professors in that city— Anger, Gersdorf, and Dindorf—and then communicated to them his views, at which they expressed great delight. On the 27th of July, 1855, being in the University library of Leipsic with Professor Anger and M. Lycurgus, who interpreted between them, he showed to the Inspector of the Library the manuscripts he intended to publish first, which were works of the fathers of the Greek Church unknown till that time. Gersdorf, who was about to undertake the publication of them, having taken the manuscripts in his hands, discovered most unexpectedly a portion of the pastoral writings of the Apostolic Father Hennas. This discovery greatly delighted all present, and from that day they never ceased intreating Simonides to present the discovered portion to the University Library, promising that he should receive an equivalent return, and he, though he would not consent at first, was subsequently persuaded to accede to their request... A short time before the publication of the Hermas he communicated to Lycurgus the existence of another Hermaean manuscript, preserved in palimpsests. ... A controversy arose in consequence, in which Tissendorf was supported by Lycurgus; and Simonides, who was greatly enraged against Lycurgus, published a pamphlet under the title of «The Sycophant Lycurgus», and in which he explained the whole matter, and put his adversaries to shame by showing that the manuscript Hermas was correct and that the common Latin translations from which it differed had been made, not in accordance with the Greek originals, but to suit the views of the Latin translators, who had put into the mouth of the Apostolic Father Hermas doctrinal opinions quite inconsistent with the apostolical announcement, but eminently calculated to strengthen the position of the Church to which the translators belonged. 182-183 (and more on p. 184)
the Stewart Simonides bio
======================
None gives us the source, but the last one does put Lycourgos actually in the Leipzig University Library with Simonides.
"On the 27th of July, 1855, being in the University library of Leipsic with Professor Anger and M. Lycurgus, who interpreted between them, he showed to the Inspector of the Library the manuscripts he intended to publish."
======================
Steven
Fabio Rossetti
In 'Il viaggio..' the only work by Lykurgos mentioned is "Enthüllungen..", I've checked. A couple footnotes mention also 'J.K. Elliott, Codex Sinaiticus and the Simonides Affair, Patriarchikon Hidryma paterikon meleton, Thessaloniki 1982' - which could probably be of some help to your questions, as far as I can gather.. Canfora's email address should be luciano.canfora@uniba.it - I think that some of the members of this group have written him and received a reply, though not immediately


Steven Avery
Enthüllungen (including the 6 pages with Greek) has now been checked, and has no support for the two quotes in the OP.

"... la possibilità di ispezionare i manoscritti greci: in particolare gli interessavano i frammenti del Sinaitico portato in Germania da Tischendorf nel 1844"

"Come raccontò poi il suo ex amico e maestro privato di greco antico Lykurgos, gli interessavano i fogli del Sinaitico che Tischendorf aveva portato in Germania dopo il primo soggiorno a Santa Caterina del Sinai."

Could anyone with Il viaggio di Artemidoro check the bibliography and see if there are any other Lykourgos entries? Thanks! It is possible that the idea of looking at the ms. (which we now know is part of Sinaiticus) at Leipzig is in work related to Lykourgos.
Is it sensible to ask Luciano or one of his co-writers and researcher assistants directly?

Steven Avery
Thanks, Fabio.

Yes, the two quotes indicate a personal interaction, not necessarily correspondence, recorded by Alexandros Lykurgas (Lykourgas being one English spelling). If there is no record in one of his writings, it would be a conjecture or extrapolation rather than factual. (Not likely, but possible.)
Could you check the bibliography of .Il viaggio di Artemidoro and see if there are any other Lykurgos entries? If not, that would indicate that Enthüllungen is the source.

Enthüllungen does have two 1853 Greek correspondences on p. 58-61 and 63
https://archive.org/stream/enthllungenberd00lykogoog...
in a biographical sketch (biographische Skizze) section in p. 45-66.

Perhaps a good Greek reader could look for any reference to the Leipzig Library, St. Catherine's in Sinai, Tischendorf and/or a manuscript or fragment brought to Germany.. (I do have a friend preparing to look, although some here can probably read that Greek quite a bit easier.)

And I did do a little search
https://books.google.com/books?id=3X2B-kaniakC gave the best results on Tischendorf, 27 pages.
p. 8 - Uranios
p. 16-25
p. 28 - Tisch has "paläographischem Scharfblicke"
palaeographical perspicacity
p. 31-33
p 67 & 73 (Tisch correspondence)

Tonight I double-checked each reference, and can say confidently that the only spot possible in the book for the reference would be the Greek correspondence. "Google Mangle" (translate) is actually pretty good for German and Italian.

=======================

This may all seem like a minor point, however in the debates about who produced Sinaiticus the question of Simonides seeing the Codex Frederico-Augustanus in the Leipzig library was a major part of the "Tischendorf found an ancient manuscript" defense. Thus any historical notes about Simonides and that ms.,especially before 1859, can be highly signficant.
In the least decade, since the Codex Sinaiticus Project came online, evidences have come forth that point to actual Mt. Athos and Simonides involvement in the creation of the Sinaiticus (Simoneides) manuscript.
In studying the history, English, German, Greek, Latin, Russian, and Old Slavonian, French, Italian and Arabic are among the languages that come to play.

e.g. The notes from Porfiry Uspensky were only recently translated to English and are either missing or totally misrepresented in the history, and they falsify much of the Tischendorf account. Similarly the 1843 Epistle of Barnabas (and Star of the East blurb) from Simonides published at Smyrna became re-available. And what was discovered from the Codex Sinaiticus Project and British Library and BBC material is quite amazing.
In many areas involving Sinaiticus and Simonides, the writing of Luciano Canfora are far more robust than the common Tischendorf-based textual articles, which tend to have a parrot quality.

=======================

This is the first two pages, but they do read better at the url:
Enthüllungen does have two 1853 Greek correspondences on
https://archive.org/stream/enthllungenberd00lykogoog...
Steven

Fabio Rossetti
I have the book by Canfora. He doesn't refer directly to the correspondence between Simonidis and Lykurgos, probably because it's not available, or no more extant. He does refer however to two editions of a pamphelet by Lykurgos about Simonidis:"Enthüllungen über den Simonides-Dindorfschen Uranios". The good news is that the book has been digitized, and it is available in archive.org (just search for Simonides-Dindorfschen), the bad news, is that it's in german and that Canfora seems to doubt of the authenticity of some of the events narrated by Alexander Lykurgos himself.

 

[Steven Avery]

The traditional argument that Simonides should have seen the CFA ms. in the Leipzig Library

Journal of Sacred Literature (1863)
http://books.google.com/books?id=gnstAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA232
p. 232-233

http://books.google.com/books?id=gnstAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA478

 

[Steven Avery]

Simonides wanted to inspect Greek manuscripts in Leipzig, and by 1855 had a special interest in the CFA manuscript, according to his correspondence with Alexander Lykourgas, noted in his 1856 book. Very possibly Simonides wondered if this was from his aborted Athos-Constantinople-Sinai project.

Lykourgas and Simonides had Greek correspondence back in 1853 that is published, it should be checked for reference to the CFA, however so far I think not.

Simonides arrived in Germany in July 1855, and this quickly led to the Hermas publication and controversies, including his arrest and release.

Lepsius brings police for arrest in Leipzig, on Feb 1, 1856, taken to Berlin, released. So all through 1856 Simonides was in a very delicate position in Leipzig.

Tischendorf in December 1862, during the controversies, writes a letter that says that Simonides saw the manuscript in the Leipzig library (maybe, maybe not, Tischendorf is not a reliable source.) He combines this with weak reasons why Sinaiticus was not a recent production.

The Tischendorf letter is here:

Journal of Sacred Literature (1863)
https://books.google.com/books?id=gnstAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA478

As for the Leipzig library - could anybody off the street handle the ms.? How was it stored? What could be seen? What could be touched? Tischendorf was not anxious for too much examination of the manuscript, he wanted people to trust the science of his facsimile!

If Simonides had claimed it was his writing (or, more accurately, compatriots in Mt. Athos) Tischendorf says this "insane fancy" would land him in a "lunatic asylum". The Germans had shown the ability to arrest him, so this was no idle threat.

In addition, the CFA was no great shakes, unlike what we had later with the Sinaiticus New Testament, Barnabas and Hermas.

And Simonides in England later had friends to whom he had confided the production of the manuscript, who gave support. In Germany … nada.

(There is also possible collaboration at times between Simonides and Tischendorf.)

Conclusion: we simply do not not know if Simonides saw the manuscript in Leipzig, and if he did, what was his reaction.

 

[Steven Avery]

Lykurgos
Lykourgas
and Simonides and uncial script

https://forums.carm.org/threads/con...eaps-in-baskets-etc.13467/page-5#post-1114136

https://forums.carm.org/threads/cod...orge-the-codex-siniaticus.14468/#post-1127813

https://forums.carm.org/threads/codex-sinaiticus-the-facts.12990/page-54#post-1204702
Lykourgos, p82 "Prof. Lepsius often emphasizes that Simonides "of course had real models". On the other hand, it is highly probable to me that Simonides learned his uncial writing much less from old originals, which are of the highest rarity everywhere in European libraries and are by no means so easily made available for study, as from Montfaucon's Palaeography and similar books. Here, in fact, most of Simonides' palaeographical mistakes are represented in bad facsimiles. In addition, Simonides did not know that papyrus writing differs essentially and constantly from parchment writing, nor that many different old forms cannot be arbitrarily fused into one writing. How little he harmed himself in the eyes of most critics is clear enough. Incidentally, Simonides may have attained quite a different mastery of Greek minuscule writing; because the real models were available to him on Mount Athos for years, and he also used them to write the vast majority of his products."

https://forums.carm.org/threads/cod...dentity-fraud-theft.15475/page-2#post-1218609
OK, I concede Codex Laurensis (044) and Codex S (049), two eighth-century uncials and some others of circa the same period and later. But nothing resembling Sinaiticus. Oh dear. 4th/5th century uncial is quite unique.
And would Simonides have seen the stuff in the Lavra treasury and library, in the monastery of Dionysios etc? Would Simonides have been given access to these treasures? Anyway there is no evidence he managed to steal any uncials, so may be he didn't have access to them.

https://forums.carm.org/threads/the...garding-sinaiticus.11880/page-56#post-1237986

 

[Steven Avery]

Cjab refs p.82
https://archive.org/details/enthllungenberd00lykogoog/page/n81/mode/2up

Uranios
https://books.google.com/books?id=3X2B-kaniakC&pg=PA75

Hermas - but same book
https://books.google.com/books?id=dnxaAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA75

Pamplets

Pamphlets on patristic and Byzantine Greek

books.google.com

Also Google got these three from
"paläographisch damit geltend machen wollen"

• Page n82
  vfid Folg6r»ng«n. Man kikmte aber auch meifieii, nach iykufgischen £nl)iöilufigen sei es nicht schwer, Paiäographie zu Tisrslehen. Man könnte diese Meinung^ wenigstens äussern ^, trotzdem, dass weder der Käufer der Handschrift, der bis zum 22. December uiwerglekhllch mehr Ton diesen Enthüilufigen wusste als ich am 2d. Januar, und sie sogar plHchtschuldig in Berlin 2ur Kenntniss bi:achie, nchch auch die andern mit denselben Efi^üIlungeB längst vertraut gewordenen Gelehrten dadurch auch nur in den Stand gesetzt wurden, die paläograpfaischen Nachweise zu begreife. Allein die&e Angelegenheit hängt nicht vom fiin- und Herreden ab, sie lässt sieh vielmehr nooh^ jetzt rein wissenschaftlich entscheiden. Nur möchte ich den Lesern nicht ohne Weiteres Erörterungen über a und t und fx und i;, «Ueich theils als verfehlt in der «Form, theils als in iniietem Widerspruche mit den übrigea gebrauchten Formen betrachten muss, übex das Pergament, das gänzlich vom höchsten Altertbume abliegt, und aber Aebnliches zumiithen, sondern ich verweise, wer sieh dafür interessirt, darauf, dass dar Gegenstand in einem paläographisebeB Speisen zur Evidenz gebracht werden wird. Von meinen schon au^gesprodienen Behauptungen aber kann ich auch nicht das Geringste zurücknehmen; ich kaun nur wiederholen, dass für Jedes mit der Pafiiographie der ältesten grieehischen Pergamentbaadsebrifiben vertraute Auge die auf Täuschung der Niobt-PaHtographen allerdings meistcrball angelegte Schrift der Simonidiscben Palimpseste solehe innere Unmöglichkeiten vereinigt darstellt, dass die paläographisehe Wissenschaft auch dem Simonides und seinen Bewunderern gegenüber ihr volles ungeschmälertes Recht behält. Nur eins bemerke ich noch: Dindorfs so schnell berühmt gewordenes Argument, „dass doch jedes Wort im Uranios griechisch sei", ohne die moderne ^ Phrase xar ifxfiv i$iar, ä mon Idee, auszunehmen, das wird doch wohl Niemand auch paläographisch damit geltend machen wollen, dass doch jede Letterform darin grieehiseb sei.