The Principles of Selection and Arrangement of the Letters of Basil the Great in the Aldine Edition of the Ancient Greek Epistolographers

Abstract

This article examines the principles of selection and arrangement of the letters of Basil the Great in the Aldine edition and in the major manuscript families. It argues that the ordering of Basil’s letters in them was mainly based on the content of the letters, whether thematical or by addressee. The article concludes that the ancient and medieval thematical orderings of the letters are helpful for our understanding of the contents of a large collection such as that of Basil, compared to the modern reconstructed chronological order presented in the editions.