List of manuscripts of Plato's dialogues

Some 250 known manuscripts of Plato survive.[1] The following is a partial list of manuscripts of Plato's dialogues:

Medieval minuscules

• Codex Oxoniensis Clarkianus 39 — 895 AD; first six tetralogies, designated B.[2]
• Codex Parisinus graecus 1807 — circa 900 AD; last two tetralogies and the apocrypha, designated A
• Codex Venetus Marcianus graecus appendix classis 4, I, designated T
• Codex Vindobonensis 54, supplementum phil. Gr. 7, designated W

Papyri

• Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 228 — Laches, fragment
• Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 229 — Phaedo, fragment
• Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 3509 — Republic, fragment containing 330a2–b4[3]
• Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 3679 — Republic, fragment
• Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 2662 — Meno, fragment
• Papyrus 187, British Library — Laches, fragment
• Papyrus 2048, British Library — Phaedrus, fragment
• Papyrus 2993, British Library — Sophist, fragment
• Papyrus 3051, British Library — Statesman, fragment

Versions

• Nag Hammadi library – Republic 588A–589B, Coptic version

Tetralogies

The traditional division of the works of Plato into tetralogies was done by Thrasyllus of Mendes.[4] The list includes works of doubtful authentitcity, and includes the Letters.

• 1st tetralogy
  • Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo
• 2nd tetralogy
  • Cratylus, Theatetus, The Sophist, The Statesman
• 3nd tetralogy
  • Parmenides, Philebus, Symposium, Phaedrus
• 4th tetralogy
  • Alcibiades, Alcibiades II, Hipparchus, (Rival) Lovers
• 5th tetralogy
  • Theages, Charmides, Laches, Lysis
• 6th tetralogy
  • Euthydemus, Protagoras, Gorgias, Meno
• 7th tetralogy
  • Hippias A, Hippias B, Ion, Menexenus
• 8th tetralogy
  • Clitophon, Republic, Timaeus, Critias
• 9th tetralogy
  • Minos, Laws, Epinomis, Letters

Notes

1. JSTOR 40858970
2. Complete photographic facsimile in Allen, T. W., Codex Oxoniensis Clarkianus 39 Phototypice editus, 2 vols. Leiden 1898–9.
3. Slings, S. R., Platonis Rempublicam (Oxford University Press, 2003), xxii.
4. "Thrasyllus and the division of the Platonic dialogues into tetralogies". Encyclopedia of Plato.