Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 578: Kalilah and Dimna
Language:
Arabic
Extent:
ff. 135
Dimensions:
305 Height (mm) and 210 Width (mm)
Approximate Date:
[ca. 1300 - 1399]
Provenance:
Given by W. T. Sandiford in 1796.
Table of contents:
Kalilah and Dimna
Description:
This manuscript contains an exceptionally beautiful copy of Kalila wa Dimna, the eighth-century Arabic text by Abdullah ibn al-Mugaffa. Ibn al-Mugaffas work was based on a third-century Sanskrit speculum principis text, which was transmitted to the Arab world by way of an intermediary sixth-century Persian translation. Kalila wa Dimna contains a series of instructive animal fables, which might be compared to Aesops Fables in the Greek tradition. CCCC MS 578 is a fourteenth-century manuscript, in a very fine hand, with superb illustrations characteristic of the Baghdad school. The manuscript was given to Corpus Christi College by W. T. Sandiford in 1796.
