1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Minas

MINAS [MINOÏDES] (c. 1790–1860), Greek scholar, was a native of Macedonia. During the Greek War of Independence he migrated to Paris, where he tried to enlist the sympathies of Europe on behalf of his countrymen and to promote the study of ancient and modern Greek. But his chief claim to recognition consists in his discovery of two important MSS. (amongst others) in the monastery of Mt Athos during his exploration of the libraries of Turkey and Asia, at the instance of M. Villemain, minister of public instruction in France. One of these contained the last part of a treatise on the Refutation of all Heresies, now generally admitted to be the work of Hippolytus (q.v.), the other the greater portion of the Fables of Babrius.