Prime indagini sulla tradizione manoscritta delle "Epistole" di Flavio Filostrato: la questione della doppia redazione

This paper focuses on a little-explored but fundamental aspect of the tradition of Flavius Philostratus’ Epistles, namely the presence in the manuscripts of two versions of certain letters – one shorter and the other longer. Over a century ago, K. Münscher (1907) refuted the theory of a dual authorial redaction proposed by C.L. Kayser (1844), arguing that the shorter version was the result of a later abridgment process, and that only the longer version could be considered authentic. Since then, the issue has remained largely neglected until the publication of D.K. Raios’ two-volume work, which presented the results of a new collation of manuscripts, some of which had been unknown until then (1992 and 1997). The data gathered by Raios provided further support for the abridgment theory, which continues to be widely accepted by scholars. Building on Münscher’s observations and Raios’ invaluable work, this study aims to focus on some complementary and less explored issues related to the modus operandi, purposes, and chronology of the anonymous scribe who likely produced the abbreviated version preserved in the first family of manuscripts.