Codex Bembinus is the oldest surviving manuscript containing the comedies of the Roman playwright

Terence Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a Roman African playwright during the Roman Republic. His comedies were performed for the first time around 166–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought ...

. It dates back to the 4th or 5th century, and is stored in the Vatican Archives. It is written in

Rustic capitals Rustic capitals ( la, littera capitalis rustica) is an ancient Roman calligraphic script. Because the term is negatively connoted supposing an opposition to the more 'civilized' form of the Roman square capitals, Bernhard Bischoff prefers to call ...

. The manuscript was once owned by

Bernardo Bembo Bernardo Bembo (19 October 1433 – 28 May 1519) was a Venetian humanist, diplomat and statesman.Angelo Ventura and Marco Pecoraro"Bembo, Bernardo" in ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'', Volume 8 (Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 1 ...

, and subsequently

Fulvio Orsini Fulvio Orsini (11 December 1529 – 18 May 1600) was an Italian humanist, historian, and archaeologist. He was a descendant of the Orsini family, one of the oldest, most illustrious, and for centuries most powerful of the Roman princely families, ...

, before entering the archives in 1600.

References

{{reflist 4th-century manuscripts