What did Sopater Read: Music, Drama, and Lost Historiography in Photius’ Bibliotheca Codex 161

Abstract

Photius, Bibliotheca Codex 161 is the only entry in his whole treatise that mentioned musical works; it preserves the sole surviving account of a twelve-book anthology, the Various Extracts (Ἐκλογαὶ διάφοροι), compiled by “Sopater the sophist”. Sopater’s work itself is now lost, making Photius’ 9^th-century précis the only witness to several otherwise unknown ancient histories of music, drama, and Rome. Among the most significant of these lost sources is a corpus of three large works: a Dramatic History, a Musical History, and a Roman History, attributed in the codex to an author named Rufus. This article provides a detailed philological and prosopographical analysis of Cod. 161, examines the scope and method of Rufus’ treatises in light of what Photius records, and interrogates the question of authorship. The article also offers a critically revised parallel Greek-English translation of Cod. 161, with corrections to earlier translations on key technical terms.