Artemidoro sul Nilo (fr. 90 Stiehle): falsificazione umanistica o prodotto dell'officina di Fozio?

Artemidorus of Ephesus’ fr. 90 Stiehle, which describes the course of the Nile, is handed down among other geographical extracts in two fifteenth century manuscripts. Aubrey Diller claimed this fragment to be a fake, since he observed that some of the other extracts have a richer text than what we already know by different sources. A more careful examination of the manuscripts containing this collection of extracts lets us understand that it is not a fake, but the end point of a rather troubled tradition, which can be traced back to the activity of Photius’ circle: it seems to be a file that escaped the dispersion caused by Photius’ arrest and that, for some reason, did not enter the Library. The authenticity of the writings preserved in this collection must therefore be judged in the light of the study habits of Photius’ circle.