From antiquity, the compilation of various collections began, including small, mostly epigraphic, poetic works of various authors. It should be said that in the course of history collections were compiled not only from works of literature, but also, for example, music, cinema, etc. They were called anthologies. Such manuscripts have a certain resemblance to textbook materials. What is the meaning of the word "anthology"?
Terminology
The concept has Greek roots. What does the word "anthology" mean? Translated from ancient Greek - "flower garden", "collection of flowers." I must say that, in addition to poems, aphorisms or sayings, other selected works were collected. In ancient times, an anthology of thought was popular. It is thanks to these collections that today we know the statements of many sages. Who compiled the first anthology? What is it in the modern sense? Let's look at this in an article.
History
When was the first anthology composed? What is it, we found out above, and now we will give some historical information. The first compiler of such a collection was Meleager from Syria. It dates from the 60th year BC. e. Among the authors of antiquity, Phillippe of Thessaloniki, Straton of Sardis, and Diogenian of Heraclea should be named. However, all these collections, bearing various names, were not preserved. Until now, late meetings have reached. For example, in the 10th century, an interesting anthology was compiled by Konstantin Kefal (what philosophers knew by that time quite well). Konstantin used collections of his predecessors. In particular, the works of Agathius. The following collection was compiled by Maxim Planud. Many researchers came to the conclusion, when this anthology was studied, that this is really a tasteless collection. However, it included many interesting epigrams that related to works of art. Most famous was one of the first collections compiled by John Laskaris. Subsequently, the anthology was reprinted several times. Of all the existing ones, only the last version was reissued. He was composed by Henry Stepan. For this anthology, the author used a variety of sources.
Anthologia inedita
In 1606, Salmazius discovered in the Heidelberg Library a surviving copy of the list of anthologies compiled by Konstantin Kefal and compared it with the Planud collection. Having written out from the first all the poems that were not in the second, he composed a new manuscript. However, the work did not come out, as well as, in fact, the publication of d'Orville. During the Thirty Years War, the manuscript was transferred to Rome, and then to Paris (during the period of revolutionary wars). In 1816, the anthology finally returned to Heidelberg. Throughout this time, excerpts from the collection were published several times in fragments or in full under the title Anthologia inedita.
Oldest manuscripts
It should be said that all the material, which was subsequently supplemented by the idylls of poets, epigrams, fragments of works found in inscriptions and various works, was published in 1776 by Brunk. Then this manuscript was reprinted by Jacobs with some omissions and explanations. After that, the same author prepared the second meeting on the basis of a copy made in Rome in 1776. As part of this anthology, there is a collection of Konstantin Kefal with Planud's epigrams attached to it. In this edition in 1828-1829 he added additions taken from various sources, Welker. In Paris, according to a similar scheme with commentary and translation into Latin by Dubner (who died before the completion of the second volume) in 1864-1872. a new edition has appeared. Some selected passages were translated into German.
Literature of some nationalities
The eastern peoples have a lot of collections, which contain various excerpts from poetic works belonging to the same author, or excerpts on specific topics of the best writers or poets are collected. Often, biographical notes are added to them, which are set out in chronological sequence. The oldest known anthology is the people of China. This manuscript is entitled "Shi-Ching" and belongs to the canonical editions. Confucius is considered its author. There are few anthological collections in Sanskrit literature. Arabs in this regard are somewhat richer. From them, I must say, the tradition of compiling collections of favorites passed to the Persians. In turn, the Persian collections represented a model for Muslim Hindu, Ottoman, Turkic manuscripts.
Various collections of excerpts of works have a popular historical or pedagogical theme.
It should be said that in our time such meetings are compiled in different genres and for different age groups (for example, "The Anthology of Russian Literature for Children").
Roman manuscripts
It should be said that modernity does not have at its disposal a single ancient Roman collection. Compilation of anthologies began by writers of a later period. In the process of creation, they scooped up material from one large collection, which belonged to the 6th century, or took extracts from inscriptions and manuscripts. The first compiler, Scaliger, published an anthology in 1573. Subsequently, several works of Pitey were added to it. This publication, which was released in 1590, was used by Peter Burman (Jr.). He created a manuscript containing 1544 individual poetic works. Amended and revised, it was reprinted in 1835 by Mayer. And in 1869, Reese composed a new critical assembly, from which quite a lot was expelled. So, briefly we examined the concept of "anthology", what it is, and who were the first authors.