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Introduction

Medical recipe (P.Köln. Χ 410). Papyrus scrap (6.8x8.2 cm) irregularly broken on all sides, with scarce remains of the lower (?) and of the left-hand margin. On the recto, it preserves a medical recipe, the ingredients of which are typical of ophthalmic remedies. In the first three lines, a horizontal bar is traced in the space between the ingredient and the right-hand lacuna, perhaps aimed at connecting the ingredient to its quantity or to mark the lack of quantiy, i.e. the absence of the ingredient from the intended composition. The last two lines are smaller in size and more compressed than above, perhaps to host the descriptive part of the prescription in a small space. The script is a semi-literary handwriting close to the "Biblical majuscule" style at its decadence (late 4th-early 5th cent. AD) and to the "Alexandrine majuscule" at its earlier stages (5th cent. AD).

(This papyrus has been digitally edited by Nicola Reggiani in the framework of the PRIN 2017 Project "Greek and Latin Literary Papyri from Graeco-Roman and Late Antique Fayum (4th BC – 7th AD): Texts, Contexts, Readers" funded by the Italian Ministry of Research (P.I. Prof. Lucio Del Corso, University of Cassino; Local Research Unit at the University of Parma, coordinator: Prof. Nicola Reggiani). The digital edition is mostly based on the previous edition (G. Azzarello, P.Köln. Χ 410).)

Notes

• 6.

  The mention of Cappadocia can be explained with the fact that ἅλς ἀμμωμιακόν (here at l. 7) was commonly associated to ἄλς καππαδοκικόν (e.g. [Gal.] Succ. XIX 724.7 K. ἀντὶ ἁλὸς ἀμμωνιακοῦ ἅλας καππαδοκικόν; Aet. VII 48 ἁλὸς ἀμμωνιακοῦ ἢκαππαδοκικοῦ). Otherwise, a misspelled reference to καταπότια "lozenges" would point to the pharmaceutical format of the medicament.