Konstantinos Minas

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Konstantinos Minas (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Μηνάς; 1788–1859) was a Greek manuscript collector and dealer who spent much of his life in France. He was born in the Macedonian region, likely Voltia near Thessaloniki, and studied philosophy and rhetoric under Athanasios Parios. He taught in Serres when the Greek War of Independence began.

Minas moved to Marseille in 1819 and to Paris in 1822, where he taught Ancient Greek literature and joined the Philhellenic Committee. In 1829 he failed to become the Greek chair at the Collège de France. From 1831 he worked at the Bibliothèque royale (now the Bibliothèque nationale de France) with Carl Benedict Hase on Greek manuscripts.

Between 1840 and 1855 Minas led three missions to collect Greek manuscripts for France. He found a 1840 manuscript of the Gymnasticus of Philostratus (published in 1858) and, in 1842, a Mount Athos manuscript of Babrius. The 1844 edition of Babrius, edited from a copy Minas made, caused a scholarly stir because Babrius was then known mainly from fragments.

Minas was honored as a chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in 1846 and was granted rights to live in France in 1847. In 1847 he was urged to sell his manuscript collection to a British buyer. The third mission began in 1850 and lasted longer than planned, keeping him away from France for several years; he returned in 1855 and died in Paris on 30 December 1859.

After his death, a sale of manuscripts was planned in 1860, but the collection was seized and later transferred to the Bibliothèque nationale de France in 1864. Minas’s reputation was controversial. Some criticized how he obtained manuscripts, access to them, and the lack of clear provenance for some copies. Later scholars questioned parts of the Babrius material he provided, suggesting forgeries or copies by others. Debates especially focused on a manuscript known as L (often called pseudo-Babrius). Some editions and purchases connected to this material were widely disputed, while others recognized the value of his discoveries. The manuscripts he gathered are now held by major libraries, including the French national library and the British Library.