Cynegética - Treatise on Hunting and Fishing

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he work is divided into four parts.

The first part is preceded by a dedication to Caracalla and invokes Artemis. It includes a description about the hunters´ physical qualities, the equipment , arms and hours of the day in which it is recommended to practise depending on the catch and the kind of places where beasts live (air, land and water) and, therefore, the different ways of hunting, as well as the two animals that accompany the hunter in the hunt: the horse and the dog.

The second part begins with a prayer to Artemis, remembering the inventors of the hunt, and then goes on to discuss the lives of "hoofed animals", a desirable prey for all carnivores, which are in turn studied in part three.

The fourth part studies techniques on how to capture prey and particularly wild beasts.

The manuscript miniatures are designed to be commentaries on the text and they illustrate hunting scenes, fishing scenes, animals as well as mythological scenes and battles involving ancient heroes.

The paintings are in Byzantine style and by the hand of an artist who is not only a creative genius, but also an expert witness of reality, that makes them animated and naturalistic, taking care of every little detail.

A unique edition limited to 999 copies, all numbered and authenticated by public notary.

Complementary Study Volume by the following specialists:

Palaeographical Study: D. Guglielmo Cavallo, Professor of Historiographical Sciences and Techniques at theUniversity of "La Sapienza", Rome.

Historical-Artistical Study: D. Antonio Iacobini, Professor of Art History at the University "Di Urbino", Rome.

Codicological Study: Dña. Susy Marcon, Professor of Art History and Director of the Department of Manuscripts in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice (Italy).

Characteristics:

• Manuscript selected by the Apostolic Vatican Library and the Italian Culture and Environment Ministry for the Expo Bimillenary "Di Cristo" (Rome, 1996), considered to be the most important in the XXth century in manuscripts with paintings, in which it was displayed with a large number of the richest manuscripts in Europe.
• 150 splendid miniatures in Byzantine style.
• 140 pages size 235x190 mm. Written in Greek lower case letters.
• Kept in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice (Italy) Cod. Gr. Z. 479 (=881).

Also included is a poem devoted to the different techniques of hunting with dogs written by Oppiano de Apamea (Syria) for the Emperor Caracalla.

A Documentation Kit containing 2 sample pages, in the original size, from Cynegética is available for $US75-.

An Art Book is also available for $US140-.

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