Last year I wrote about the manuscripts of Rodosto, now modern Tekirdag, which once contained a copy of Eusebius’ work against Porphyry, now lost. There is a statement in Harnack’s edition of the fragments of Porphyry’s Against the Christians, p.30:
A listing of manuscripts in Rodosto, written between 1565 and 1575, on p.30b: Eusebiou tou Pamphilou Kata Porphuriou (s. Forster, De antiquitatibus et libris ms. Constantinopolitanis, Rostochii, 1877; cf. Neumann in Theol. Lit. Ztg. 1899, col. 299). In 1838 a great fire broke out in Rodosto.
I’ve had an email about this, in connection with medical mss., and I have done a search back in my inbox. I found this in an email from 2006, after a query on LT-ANTIQ:
To track down Greek manuscripts, the principal reference is Jean-Marie Olivier, Repertoire des Bibliotheques et des Catalogue des Manuscrits Grecs, 3 ed. (Turnhout: Brepols, 1995). Theologische Literaturzeitung
Tekirdag is listed on pp. 78-79. Briefly, what is says is that a number of mss. derived from the Metropolitan see of Heraclea were stored at the Metropolitan see of Rodosto together with 5 mss. from the school of Rodosto. There was a fire in which some mss. were destroyed in 1842 and during the course of the nineteenth century the collection was dispersed; the location of 3 mss. is known today.
Again, I need to see if I can find out more. How do we know all this, for instance?
UPDATE: Forster’s work is De antiquitatibus et libris manuscriptis Constantinopolitanis commentatio. In: Vorlesungsverzeichnis der Universität Rostock. Rostock 1877, pp. 8–10. But it doesn’t seem to be online. The Theologische Literaturzeitung article is one I can’t find either. Anyone any ideas?
UPDATE: The ThLZ 1899 is here (search for editions:HwYoAQAAIAAJ). He says:
Verlorene Widerlegungsschriften antichristlicher Polemik mögen, ganz oder in Fragmenten, noch sehr wohl verborgen sein und wiederaufgefunden werden. Ein von R. Foerster, De antiquitatibus et libris manuscriptis Constantinopolitanis, Rostochii 1877 veröffentlichtes, zwischen 1565 und 1575 (nicht 1465—1475) geschriebenes Verzeichnis von Handschriften in Rodosto nennt p. 30b Eu)sebi/ou tou~ pamfi/lou kata\ porfuri/ou. Vielleicht ist diese Handschrift erst 1838 bei dem Brande in Rodosto untergegangen, über den man im Theol. Literaturblatt XV, 1894, S. 65—67 Auskunft findet; dieser Brand hat wirklich stattgefunden, was ich mit Rücksicht auf Texte und Untersuchungen VI 1 S. 5 bemerke.
I.e.
The lost refutations of anti-Christian polemics may still exist, in whole or in fragments, hidden away somewhere, and be retrieved. An index of manuscripts at Rodosto, published by R. Forster, De antiquitatibus et libris manuscriptis Constantinopolitanis, Rostochii 1877, and written between 1565 und 1575 (not 1465—1475), lists on p. 30b a Eu)sebi/ou tou~ pamfi/lou kata\ porfuri/ou. Perhaps this manuscript perished in the fire of 1838 at Rodosto, discussed in Theol. Literaturblatt XV, 1894, pp. 65—67. This fire really did happen, as I learn from Texte und Untersuchungen VI 1 p. 5.
Raidestos (as we Greeks call it) was a very vibrant Greek majority city in Eastern Thrace before the Lausanne Treaty. It was where the ship that carried my grandfather’s fellow inhabitants of the city of Trigleia across the Sea of Marmara docked when carrying the inhabitants of Trigleia that were fleeing Kemal’s hordes. Kemal never invaded Eastern Thrace, the region was given to him as a gift in the Lausanne treaty since Great Britain wanted both side of the Sea of Marmara part of the same country so as to deny it to the Russians along with an exit to the Mediterranean. While in Asia Minor my ancestors fled the chaos with whatever they could carry on their backs, in Eastern Thrace it was much more orderly, they knew months in advance and packed whatever they could on their carts. It is very likely that the manuscripts from the monasteries that were abandoned found their way either to the National Library of Athens or the Patriarchal Library of Constantinople. Having visited Asia Minor several times I can say that the churches and monasteries did not survive the lack of interest of their know occupants, if they were not turned into mosques or houses or cultural centers or hotels or even night clubs they have mostly collapsed. Over time some descendants of the refugees have visited their ancestral houses (where mostly refugees of the other side are housed) and have even recovered at times hidden treasures from 1922 that their grandfathers were talking about (I know of one case from Apollonias in Bithynia), for the most part though whatever was left in Asia Minor, if it was not used by the new inhabitants was lost
Useful to know that the name is “Raidestos”. But I do wonder whether there are any sources on the evacuation that could be consulted on such things. Do you have any suggestions?
There is a very large body of literature written by refugees in Greek where they describe the situation as they saw it from the Young Turk movement of 1908 until the evacuation and also their miserable conditions in Greece. However you would actually have to go to the library of the Greek Parliament or the National Library of Greece to find it, in many cases we are talking about some homesick refugee writing his tale during his old age and self publishing at 300 copies or so. New Raidestos is part of the municipality of Thermi in Thessaloniki. I tried a google search to see if their refugee association has a website, it seems they do not. I am certain that literature exists, the google search brings up pictures of refugees waiting at the port of (old) Raidestos for boats to evacuate them but as I said most likely only in Greek and hard to find even inside Greece
I’ve been hunting around today for information on Raidestos, or Nea Raidestos where at least some of the residents went after 1923. Not a lot so far.
But all this story needs to be collected and properly referenced. No-one knows anything about it.
There is actually a facebook page http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58434068490 which is open to everyone (something good since I am NOT on facebook). It is in Greek though
In the website of the municipality of Therme they have a section on the cultural society of New Raidestos. Here it is
Νέα Ραιδεστός- Κέντρο Πολιτισμού
Τηλέφωνο – φαξ: 2310 465607
Στη Νέα Ραιδεστό οι δράσεις στεγάζονται σε κτίριο πολλαπλών χρήσεων 640τ.μ, που περιλαμβάνει βιβλιοθήκη, γυμναστήριο, αίθουσα διδασκαλίας μουσικών οργάνων, αίθουσα διδασκαλίας εικαστικών, μικρό λαογραφικό μουσείο.
Ιδιαίτερη εκδήλωση
Φεστιβάλ Παραδοσιακών Παιδικών Χορευτικών Συγκροτημάτων, διοργάνωση που πραγματοποιείτε από το 2004 με μεγάλη επιτυχία στη Νέα Ραιδεστό. Συμμετέχουν παιδιά ( μαθητές δημοτικών) από όλη την Ελλάδα.
Στο Κέντρο πολιτισμού Νέας Ραιδεστού λειτουργούν τα τμήματα:
Μουσικής
Μουσικοκινητική ρυθμική αγωγή
Ζωγραφική
Τμήμα ζωγραφικής ενηλίκων
Τμήμα ζωγραφικής παιδιών
Λαϊκή τέχνη – Κεραμική
Χορωδία
Τμήμα χορωδίας ενηλίκων
Παιδική χορωδία
Τμήμα παραδοσιακών χορών ενηλίκων:
1 τμήμα αρχαρίων νήπια – α΄ δημοτικού
3 τμήματα για παιδιά δημοτικού
1 τμήμα γυμνασίου
Χορός:
Μπαλέτο
Μοντέρνος χορός
Λατιν
Κλακέτες
In English:
New Redestos-Cultural Center
Telephone – Fax: 2310 465607
In New Raidestos operations are housed in a building multipurpose 640t.m, including library, gym, classroom musical instruments, visual arts classroom, a small folk museum.
Special event
Children’s Festival of Traditional Dance Groups, event organized since 2004 with great success in New Raidestos. Participating children (elementary students) from all over Greece.
The Cultural Centre of New Redestou operating segments:
Music
Music and rhythmic
Painting
Department of Adult Painting
Department of Child painting
Folk Art – Pottery
Choir
Adult choir
Children’s Choir
Section traditional dances of adults:
Section 1 beginner toddlers – a grade
3 courses for primary school children
Section 1 high school
Dance:
Ballet
Modern dance
Latin
Tap Dancing
If there is anyone that can help track the history of the resettlement, they are the ones most likely to help you find them.
Thank you very much for getting hold of these details and translating them.
I learned tonight, tho, that the report of the Eusebius volume there is in the same context as a report of a Hegesippus there. I don’t believe the latter for a moment. Worse yet, there is some evidence that book lists were concocted to draw in Western buyers, eager to buy; and then do a bait-and-switch on them. This is the third mention of a Hegesippus known to me, you see.
But I also learned that the fire was in 1842, not 1838. Not sure where that info comes from.