Bibliotheca Graeca (Fabricius)


Bibliotheca Graeca is a bibliographic and historical work on classical and medieval Greek writings, written in Latin by the German librarian, classical philologist, bibliographer, and theologian Johann Albert Fabricius. It was published in Hamburg in the early 18th century.

Composition and content

The first edition of the first volume appeared in 1705; the series index, included in the "fourteenth volume," was published in 1728. The work was conceived by Fabricius as a comprehensive account of Greek literature and scholarship, written entirely in Latin.
Fabricius’s principal achievement remains the 14-volume Bibliotheca Graeca, later revised and continued by Gottlieb Christoph Harleß. Contemporary scholars described it as maximus antiquae eruditionis thesaurus.
The Bibliotheca Graeca is organized thematically and chronologically. Its major divisions are marked by Homer, Plato, Jesus, Constantine the Great, and the Fall of Constantinople in 1453; a sixth section is devoted to Canon law, Jurisprudence, and Medicine.

Significance

The Bibliotheca Graeca is regarded as one of the most important bibliographical and literary-historical works of the 18th century on Greek literature. It combines extensive source knowledge with a systematic presentation of ancient and Byzantine scholarship.

Sequence

Earlier editions arranged mainly by books

Liber 1 de auctoribus ante-Homericis et mythicis Liber 2 ab Homero usque ad decem oratores Atticos Liber 3: de scriptoribus qui claruerunt a Platone usque ad tempora nati Christi sospitatoris nostri Liber 4: de... scriptoribus claris a tempore nati Christi salvatoris ad Constantinum magnum usque
  • *
  • * Liber 5: de scriptoribus Graecis Christianis, aliisque qui vixere a Constantini m. aetate ad captam... a Turcis Constantinopolin
  • * de scriptoribus a saeculo I usque ad IV p.C.n. cum supplementis nonnullis
  • * de auctoribus annalium et historiae ecclesiasticae ac Byzantinae, necnon eroticis scriptoribus
  • * de grammaticis Graecis, de poëtis Christianis, etc.
  • * de philosophis posterioribus etc.
  • * de scriptoribus qui vitas sanctorum monachorumque composuere etc.
  • * de Etymologico Magno et ceteris lexicis Graecis Liber 6
  • * collectiones Canonum et Conciliorum
  • * de medicis Graecis etc.
  • vol. XIII
  • Paralipomena et index generalis

Fourth edition

Fourth edition, arranged in twelve volumes, under the direction of Gottlieb Christoph Harless; with the supplements by Christoph August Heumann.
  • vol. 2
  • vol. 4
  • vol. 7
  • vol. 8
  • vol. 10
  • vol. 11

Editions