Liber Memorialis

For the medieval monasticlibri memoriales,seeConfraternity book.

TheLiber Memorialisis an ancient book inLatinfeaturing an extremely concise summary—a kind of index—ofuniversal historyfrom earliest times to the reign ofTrajan.It was written byLucius Ampelius,who was possibly a tutor or schoolmaster.

Description

The book is dedicated to a Macrinus, who may have been theemperorwho reigned 217–218, but that name was not uncommon, and it seems more likely he was simply a young man with a thirst for universal knowledge, which the book was compiled to satisfy.

The book's object and scope are indicated in its dedication:

Since you desire to know everything, I have written this 'book of notes,' that you may learn of what the universe and its elements consist, what the world contains, and what the human race has done.

TheLiber Memorialisseems to have been intended as atextbookto be learned by heart. This little work, in fifty chapters, gives a sketch ofcosmography,geography,mythology(Chapters I-X), and history (Chapters X to end). The historical portion, dealing mainly with therepublicanperiod, is untrustworthy and the text in many places corrupt; the earlier chapters are more valuable, and contain some interesting information.

Chapter VIII (Miracula Mundi) contains the following, the only reference by an ancient writer to the famous sculptures of thePergamon Altar,which were discovered in 1871, excavated in 1878, and are now inBerlin:

At Pergamum there is a great marblealtar,40 feet (12 m) high, with colossal sculptures, representing a battle of thegiants

Date

Nothing is known of the date at which the work was written; the times of Trajan,Hadrian,Antoninus Pius,the beginning of the 3rd century have all been suggested. However, in Chapter V De Orbe Terrarum (The World), Ampelius refers to the "Tigris and Euphrates in Parthia," which suggests that Ampelius wrote before theSassaniansoverthrew the Parthians in 224.

Editions

The first edition of theLiber Memorialiswas published in 1638 byClaudius Salmasius(Saumaise) from the Dijon manuscript, now lost, together with theEpitomeofFlorus.An 1873 edition by Wölfflin was based on Salmasius's copy of the lost codex. The more recent editions are

• Erwin Assmann'sTeubneredition of 1935
• Nicola Terzaghi's edition, published by Chiantore in Turin ca. 1947 (preface dated 1943)
• Marie-Pierre Arnaud-Lidet's 1993 edition for theCollection Budé(includes French translation)

References

• Glaser,Rheinisches Museum,ii. (1843)
• Wölfflin,De L. Ampelii Libro Memoriali(1854)
• Zink,Eos,ii (1866)
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Ampelius, Lucius".Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

• Liber Memorialis(Wölfflin's Latin text) atLacusCurtius
• Liber memoralis(Erwin Assmann's BT-edition) atBibliotheca Augustana