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Introduction

Medical (?) catechism on physiology (anatomy?). Fragment of a page of a papyrus codex (6,5 x 6,4 cm): the recto preserves the left-hand margin (ca. 2,5 cm) and the beginnings of 14 lines, the verso conversely exhibits the right-hand margin (ca. 3 cm) and the ends of 15 lines. A hole on the extant blank margin might have belonged to the original binding of the codex book. The small, elegant literary handwriting points to a skilled scribe and allows to date the papyrus palaeographically to the late 2nd cent. AD. Lectional signs are used (a paragraphos between ll. r,5 and r,6, a filling mark at l. v,5). The content is of difficult understanding: whether we are dealing with a medical treatise about physiology rather than with a philosophical one is far from clear (so in the ed.pr. and in Andorlini, Apporto dei papiri, nr. 65); a bit more certain seems to be the question-and-answer format (see l. r,6).

(This papyrus has been digitally edited by Nicola Reggiani 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. Gerstinger, MPER I 32; ed.alt. = H. Harrauer - P.J. Sijpesteijn, MPER XIII 19))