Constantine Simonides
Encyclopedia
Constantine Simonides palaeographer, dealer of icons, man with extensive learning, knowledge of manuscripts, miraculous calligraphy. He surpassed his contemporaries in literary ability.
According to opinion of paleographers, he was the most versatile forger of the nineteenth century.
, on the coast of the Aegean Sea
in 1820 (or in 1824), and died in Egypt of leprosy.
Simonides lived in the monasteries on Mount Athos
between 1839 and 1841 and again in 1852, during which time he acquired some of the biblical manuscripts that he later sold. He produced a lot of manuscripts ascribed to Hellenistic and early Byzantine periods. He forged a number of documents and manuscripts and claimed they were the originals of the Gospel of Mark
, as well as original manuscripts of poems of Homer
. He sold some of these forgeries to the King of Greece. Greek scholars exposed his forgeries quickly and he left Greece and traveled from country to country with his forgeries.
He visited England between 1853 and 1855 and other European countries, and his literary activity was extraordinary. Some of his works were published in Moscow
, Odessa
, in England, and in Germany. He also wrote many other works which were never published.
From 1843 until 1856 all over Europe he offered for sale fraudulent manuscripts purporting to be of ancient origin.
He created "a considerable sensation by producing quantities of Greek manuscripts professing to be of fabulous antiquity – such as a Homer in an almost prehistoric style of writing, a lost Egyptian historian, a copy of St. Matthew's Gospel
on papyrus, written fifteen years after the Ascension (!), and other portions of the New Testament
dating from the first century.”
In 1854 and 1855 Simonides tried unsuccessfully to sell some manuscripts for the British Museum
and the Bodleian Library
. Thomas Phillips
was a less critical purchaser and bought for the Phillips Library at Cheltenham
some manuscripts. In 1855 he visited Berlin and Leipzig. He informed Wilhelm Dindorf that he owned a palimpsest of Uranius.
On 13 September 1862, in an article of The Guardian
, he claimed that he is the real author of the Codex Sinaiticus
and that he wrote it in 1839. According to him it was ‘the one poor work of his youth’. According to Simonides, he visited Sinai in 1852 and saw the codex. Henry Bradshaw
, a scholar, exposed the absurdity of his claims.
Simonides questioned many of official scientific positions accepted by scholars. He did not respect any scholars.
He interpreted Egyptian hieroglyphics in different ways than Champolion
and other Egyptologists
. He tried to prove that his method of interpreting Egyptian hieroglyphics was superior. He placed the death of Irenaeus
at 292 (c. 130 – c. 200). Also, in many other complicated questions he had his own, usually controversial, point of view, but after ascribing the authorship of the Codex Sinaiticus to himself, the rest of his credibility was destroyed.
Simonides produced manuscripts of Homer
in an almost prehistoric style of writing, a copy of the Gospel of Matthew
on papyrus, written fifteen years after the Ascension, and other portions of the New Testament dating by him to the first century. These productions were later exposed as forgeries.
. It was exhibited again in Berlin in 2008. It has been argued by Luciano Canfora that the manuscript is the work of Constantine Simonides. Richard Janko also believes that the roll is a forgery.
According to opinion of paleographers, he was the most versatile forger of the nineteenth century.
Life
He was born on the small Greek island of SymiSymi
Symi also transliterated Syme or Simi is a Greek island and municipality. It is mountainous and includes the harbor town of Symi and its adjacent upper town Ano Symi, as well as several smaller localities, beaches, and areas of significance in history and mythology...
, on the coast of the Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
in 1820 (or in 1824), and died in Egypt of leprosy.
Simonides lived in the monasteries on Mount Athos
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
between 1839 and 1841 and again in 1852, during which time he acquired some of the biblical manuscripts that he later sold. He produced a lot of manuscripts ascribed to Hellenistic and early Byzantine periods. He forged a number of documents and manuscripts and claimed they were the originals of the Gospel of Mark
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel According to Mark , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second book of the New Testament. This canonical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the three synoptic gospels. It was thought to be an epitome, which accounts for its place as the second...
, as well as original manuscripts of poems of Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
. He sold some of these forgeries to the King of Greece. Greek scholars exposed his forgeries quickly and he left Greece and traveled from country to country with his forgeries.
He visited England between 1853 and 1855 and other European countries, and his literary activity was extraordinary. Some of his works were published in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, in England, and in Germany. He also wrote many other works which were never published.
From 1843 until 1856 all over Europe he offered for sale fraudulent manuscripts purporting to be of ancient origin.
He created "a considerable sensation by producing quantities of Greek manuscripts professing to be of fabulous antiquity – such as a Homer in an almost prehistoric style of writing, a lost Egyptian historian, a copy of St. Matthew's Gospel
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
on papyrus, written fifteen years after the Ascension (!), and other portions of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
dating from the first century.”
In 1854 and 1855 Simonides tried unsuccessfully to sell some manuscripts for the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
and the Bodleian Library
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
. Thomas Phillips
Thomas Phillips
Thomas Phillips was a leading English portrait and subject painter. He painted many of the great men of the day including scientists, artists, writers, poets and explorers.-Life and work:...
was a less critical purchaser and bought for the Phillips Library at Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
some manuscripts. In 1855 he visited Berlin and Leipzig. He informed Wilhelm Dindorf that he owned a palimpsest of Uranius.
On 13 September 1862, in an article of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, he claimed that he is the real author of the Codex Sinaiticus
Codex Sinaiticus
Codex Sinaiticus is one of the four great uncial codices, an ancient, handwritten copy of the Greek Bible. It is an Alexandrian text-type manuscript written in the 4th century in uncial letters on parchment. Current scholarship considers the Codex Sinaiticus to be one of the best Greek texts of...
and that he wrote it in 1839. According to him it was ‘the one poor work of his youth’. According to Simonides, he visited Sinai in 1852 and saw the codex. Henry Bradshaw
Henry Bradshaw (scholar)
Henry Bradshaw was a British scholar and librarian.Henry Bradshaw was the son of Joseph Hoare Bradshaw, a banker. He was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, where he became a fellow in 1853...
, a scholar, exposed the absurdity of his claims.
Simonides questioned many of official scientific positions accepted by scholars. He did not respect any scholars.
He interpreted Egyptian hieroglyphics in different ways than Champolion
Jean-François Champollion
Jean-François Champollion was a French classical scholar, philologist and orientalist, decipherer of the Egyptian hieroglyphs....
and other Egyptologists
Egyptology
Egyptology is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century. A practitioner of the discipline is an “Egyptologist”...
. He tried to prove that his method of interpreting Egyptian hieroglyphics was superior. He placed the death of Irenaeus
Irenaeus
Saint Irenaeus , was Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire . He was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology...
at 292 (c. 130 – c. 200). Also, in many other complicated questions he had his own, usually controversial, point of view, but after ascribing the authorship of the Codex Sinaiticus to himself, the rest of his credibility was destroyed.
Simonides produced manuscripts of Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
in an almost prehistoric style of writing, a copy of the Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
on papyrus, written fifteen years after the Ascension, and other portions of the New Testament dating by him to the first century. These productions were later exposed as forgeries.
The Artemidorus Papyrus
In 2006 a papyrus book-roll was exhibited at Turin which appeared to be part of Book II of the lost Geographical Descriptions of Artemidorus EphesiusArtemidorus Ephesius
Artemidorus of Ephesus was a Greek geographer, who flourished around 100 BC. His work in 11 books is often quoted by Strabo, but only fragments of the work exist...
. It was exhibited again in Berlin in 2008. It has been argued by Luciano Canfora that the manuscript is the work of Constantine Simonides. Richard Janko also believes that the roll is a forgery.
See also
Some of very few authentic manuscripts which were bought from Constantine Simonides- Minuscule 110Minuscule 110Minuscule 110 , α 204 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment leaves. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 12th century...
- Minuscule 502Minuscule 502Minuscule 502 , 589 , ε 245 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. It was adapted for liturgical use...
- Minuscule 503Minuscule 503Minuscule 503 , ε 325 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 13th century.Scrivener labelled it by number 590...
- Minuscule 644Minuscule 644Minuscule 644 , α 476 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 14th century. The manuscript is very lacunose...
- Minuscule 2793Minuscule 2793Minuscule 2793 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on 1 parchment leaf . Dated paleografically to the 13th century . Only one leaf has survived.- Description :...
External links
- Beschreibung Simonides’ Tätigkeit für eine Ausstellung des Papyrusmuseums der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek
- William Osler, ‘‘Christianity’’, pp. 1888-1890.
- Forging ahead
- A Collection of Forgeries and Hoaxes
- Rassegna stampa sul portale Archaeogate
- Alexandros Lykourgos, Enthüllungen über den Simonides-Dindorfschen Uranios