Anonymus is the Latin spelling of anonymous, traditionally used by scholars in the humanities for any ancient writer whose name is not known, or to a manuscript of their work. Such writers have left valuable historical or literary records through the ages.

Anonymus may also refer to:

Authors edit

  • Two separate writers both known as Anonymus Valesianus or Anonymus Valesii, authors of two texts, late fifth century and ca. 527 of a vita of Constantine and a fragmentary chronicle, the Excerpta Valesiana
  • The Anonymus of Ravenna (Anonymus Ravennatis), author of the Ravenna Cosmography, a Late Antique geographical work
  • The Anonymus (notary of King Béla III of Hungary) of the Gesta Hungarorum, the author of a medieval work on the history of Hungary
  • Gallus Anonymus, early 12th century, the author of the first history of Poland
  • The Anonymus of Turin (often referred to by the Italian Anonimo di Torino), writer of a catalogue of churches of Rome
  • The Anonymus Banduri, the author of the Πάτρια Κωνσταντινοπόλεως, a 10th‑century topography of Constantinople
  • The Anonymus de Rebus Bellicis, author of a Late Antique work on warfare
  • The Anonymus Ανταττικιστης (the Anti-Atticist Anonymus), an opponent of Phrynichus Arabius, valuable for the study of ancient Greek vocabulary
  • The Anonymus Seguerianus, of the 3rd century, whose work is useful for the study of 1st century rhetoric
  • The Anonymus Gestorum Francorum, author of the Gesta Francorum, an account of the First Crusade
  • The Anonymus of York (or The Norman Anonymous), author of an 11th‑century religious/political tract on the right of kings
  • The Anonymus of Dubrovnik, author of 15th‑century Annals of that city
  • Anonymus I and Anonymus II, the authors of commentaries on the Phaenomena of Aratus

Manuscript copyists edit

  • Sometimes Anonymus refers not to an author, but to a manuscript copyist. Few manuscripts were signed, so the list might be extended almost indefinitely, but some manuscripts can be said to have transferred some of their importance to the copyist; in the manuscript tradition of Phaedrus, for example, it is common to refer to the Anonymus Nilanti, a 13th-century copyist named after the scholar who edited him in 1709.
  • An Anonymus de antiquitate Urbis, stated by Christian Hülsen to be a copyist of the Roma Instaurata of Flavio Biondo

Other edit

See also edit