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Fulgentius Placiades, Fabius (fl. 5-6th century CE) Enarrationes Allegoricae Fabularum.
Milan: Uldericus Scinzenzeler, 23 April 1498.
Folio, a-d8, e4, f5 (lacking f6 blank), g6; this copy with added marginal notes and numbers in a contemporary hand in red and brown ink throughout, some manuscript notes just touched, wide margins; bound in full later limp parchment; lacking blank f6; some worming, a little marginal damage; generally nicely preserved; bookplate of the Vermonter Harry Bates Thayer, onetime president of Western Electric and AT&T; 11 1/4 x 8 in.
Four extant works come down to us from antiquity and the pen of Fabius Planciades Fulgentius. This, his work of mythography, was treasured during the Middle Ages, although lesser known now. Scholars believe, based on self-referential statements in his work, his knowledge of Greek, and Latin style, that Fulgentius was educated in North Africa, although his references to African culture indicate that he was in the region before the Muslim invasion of the 7th century. He writes about the Berber language, describing its script, and characterizing it as part of his own heritage. This attribution suggests the author's ethnic identity as African.
In this work, his aim is to strip ancient Greek mythology of its extraneous details, leaving the bare interpreted bones of allegory. He covers fifty classic myths and digs into their deeper meanings by analyzing character names using their etymological roots.
