Ο Πέτρος Ν. Παπαγεωργίου και η ιστορία ενός αριστοτελικού κώδικα της Φιλιππούπολης

Abstract

This paper presents and discusses certain documents from the Consulate General in Philippoupolis relating to the history of the Wartelle Codex (1664), from its discovery to its acquisition by the Prussian National Library in Berlin. This codex (now considered lost), which contained the works “On the Hea­ vens”, “On Generation and Corruption” and “On the Soul”, was found in the library of a local resident, Ioannis Siagounis, by Thessalonian philologist Petros Papageorgiou (1859-1914), then on the staff of the Zaripheion Dida- skaleion (Normal School). Papageorgiou, as it now appears, initially advised him to sell the codex to Prussia, although following the intervention of the Head of the Normal School, Georgios Konstantinidis, and the Greek Consul, Alexandras Logothetis, he was persuaded to press Siagounis to offer it to the (Greek) National Library instead. Negotiations foundered, however, when Siagounis refused to allow the Library to examine the codex. One odd feature of the whole affair is the fact that Konstantinidis published his own articles about the codex, although Papageorgiou lacked neither palaeographic skills nor publishing experience. The correspondence suggests that this was an arbitrary move on Konstantinidis’ part, made with the backing of the Consul and intended to convince the authorities in Athens of the value of the codex and thus persuade them to purchase it. This action, however, and the fact that in his initial correspondence with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the Consul had down-graded his role and his rights of publication, was denounced by Papageorgiou in a letter of protest to the then Foreign Minister (and later personal friend), Western Macedonian native Stefanos Dragoumis.