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Introduction

Surgical treatise. The papyrus (12 x 16 cm) belongs to a roll and consists of three columns of 22, 32 and 23 lines respectively, written on the recto along the fibres. The upper margin (± 2 cm) is preserved, the other margins are lost. The intercolumnium is about 1,5 cm wide. Some special signs mark different sections of text: three paragraphoi after lines II 5, II 23, III 11; a diple obelismene after line II 2; a slanting stroke at line II 18. Two possible horizontal strokes might have marked a title (ll. I 20-21). The second column, well preserved, contains part of a surgical treatise attributed to Archibios, mentioned at l. II 25 (ὁ Ἀρχίβιος ... l. 26 ἀπεφήνατο); the surviving text allowed K. Deichgräber to recognize Archibios as a member of the empirical school. The text deals with the distinction between medicine and surgery, the relevance of the episteme rather than theoretical studies, the definition of surgery and its roots. At ll. II 10-12 a sentence of Hippocrates is quoted (Aph. 4.1.1 L). The hand, which shows a cursive trend, is characterized by several ligatures (see αι αρ ει εν and ν π ξ), nevertheless it is easily legible; according to palaeography, the fragment can be dated to the end of the 1st century AD.

(This papyrus has been digitally edited by Francesca Bertonazzi 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. Schöne, BKT III pp. 22-6; ed.alt. = M.-H. Marganne, "Chirurgie", no. 2).)