RESTORATION AND INTERPRETATION OF THE EPISTLE TO TARASIO

The damage of the first sheet of codex Marc. gr. 450 (beginning of the X cent.) and its repair with a strip of parchement showing a medical text by an eleventh century hand. A critical edition of Photius' epistle to Tarasius (with new supplements for the lacunae in the text) and of his afterword from Marc. gr. 451 (with a textual recovery). The embassy to the "Assyrians" did take place, as shown by a letter of patriarch Nicholas Mystikos to an Arab chief. Cod. 252 (Vita Gregorii Magni) does not imply a later date. Kind and origin of the manuscripts at Photius' disposal. His reading method. The role of Photius' secretary in editing the "Bibliotheca". Gaps of lines in both Marciani codices due to identical end or beginning: their typology and the outcome for the stemma codicum. Photius' amusement with the polysemous word mu nu eta eta mu eta.