Papyri.info

Introduction

Medical treatise. Three fragments from a papyrus codex: all surfaces have been badly stripped and right as well as left margins are entirely lost; upper and lower margins cannot be perceived with certainty, although traces of ink appear on the fibers below line 9 in A recto (it is likewise possible that writing continued to the bottom of the papyrus; the verso is blank). The treatise remains anonymous; isolated words deal with topics discussed by Galen and subsequent medical writers but the contents preserved are too scarse for a decision in the matter, except for l. 1-3 on fragment B recto, where a quotation from Galen (Nat. fac. I 2, 102.1-3 Helmreich) has been recognized. Letters are thick, often lack in formal uniformity and strict bilinearity isn't observed. Nevertheless, the writer was a professional scribe, whose hand looks similar to others assigned to the late fourth and fifth centuries.

(This papyrus has been digitally edited by Letizia Rivera as part of the Project "DIGMEDTEXT - Online Humanities Scholarship: A Digital Medical Library based on Ancient Texts" (ERC-AdG-2013, Grant Agreement no. 339828) funded by the European Research Council at the University of Parma (Principal Investigator: Prof. Isabella Andorlini). The digital edition is mostly based on the previous editions (ed.pr. = H.G. Ioannidou, BKT IX 81; ed.alt. = A.E. Hanson, Text and tradition. Studies presented to J. Kollesch, 1998, pp. 154-159; ed.ter. = A.E. Hanson, GMP I 9; descr. A.E. Hanson, CPF I.2.1 14,4T).)

Notes

• Fr. A, r, 2.

  The ν written between lines 2 and 3 seems to correct line 2 rather than the following. Conjecturing ]ρε̣ι̣νον, it would be an itacistic form of -ρινον. Yet while the two substances ἴρινον ἢ ναρκισσίνον are often paired in medicaments, the traces of the letter following more likely resembles ω. Hence ]ρε̣ι̣νον ̀ν̣ ́ ἡ νάρκω̣[σις ο ἡ ναρκώ[δης.

• 3.

  The expression ἡ κοίλη φλέψ, frequent in medicine, do not really absorb the letters here.

• 5.

  The masculine singular might introduce a quotation or paraphrase from some medical writer, anyway the meaning "conversant with" or "familiar with" is also possible and the referent less determinable (cf. Plato, Phaedrus 250e 5).

• 7.

  The letter following κ is joined at top by ligature and traces remain of its vertical, although φ̣λεγματισμ̣[ου seems impossible on paleographical evidence.

• 8.

  The phrase is not common in preserved medical writers, although found in Arataeus and Stephanu's commentary to Galen (Ad Glauconem de med. meth.; 243.28 Dietz).

• Fr. B, r, 1.

  ll.1-3, see Gal., Nat. fac. I 2, 102.1-3 Helmreich.

• 5.

  ]φορ̣ου̣ν̣τ̣[ looks more likely than ]φονον[ since the tail of ρ is clearly visible; also, the letter following the second ο is represented by a vertical trace at bottom. Perhaps a form of διαφορέω.

• 6.

  Alternately, ]τω̣ν δε̣[ but less likely.

• 7.

  ]Π̣α̣ν̣δ̣ε̣[ seems to represent the traces better than ]τ̣ο̣̣ν δ̣ε[ but the latter is not impossible.

• Fr. B, v, 3.

  Perhaps the ν written between lines 3 and 4 was meant to correct τ]εθναι to τ]εθνάν̣[α]ι̣.

• 6.

  There seems to be a mark of aspiration above η.

• Fr. C, r, 2.

  Galen employs φαμέν on four occasions in the first chapters of Nat. fac. I, but there aren’t any traces of the sequence ]σμου̣[ before any occurrence nor of the sequence ]ιωρειτα̣[ following any occurrence. Several verb forms (ἔφαμεν, φάμενος) are also liberally spread all over the author’s writings.

• 3.

  The verb αἰωρεῖσθαι, “be suspended”, is not infrequent in Galen although it does not occur in Nat. fac.

• Fr. C, v, 3.

  In the case of ]αϊσε̣ —[ the middle bar of ε is extended as a line filler.