Introduction
Medical recipes (P.Grenf. I 52 = SB XVI 12329). Small oblong sheet (13.5 x 5.7 cm) written along the fibers on both sides. The fragment was cut from an already used sheet (see Youtie 1979, 149-50). The papyrus contains two separate prescriptions: the text arrangement makes it difficult to determine which side was intended to be the ‘recto’. The impression arises that the scribe had first written an ἀχάριστον recipe (ll. 1-5) and then started copying a μάλαγμα recipe, which nonetheless abruptly stops after only the first three lines, probably for space reasons (ll. 6-9); then, the same hand rewrote the entire text of the μάλαγμα on the other side of the fragment (ll. 9bis-11), appending an almost complete copy of the preceding ἀχάριστον immediately after it (ll. 12-13bis); for a detailed reconstruction of the whole text and its different sections, see I. Andorlini, πολλὰ ἰατρῶν ἐστι συγγράμματα. Scritti sui papiri e la medicina antica, ed. N. Reggiani, Florence 2017, 49-51. The script is a cursive hand assignable to the 3rd century AD.
(This papyrus has been digitally edited by Margherita Centenari 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. = B.P. Grenfell, P.Grenf. I 52; ed.alt. = L.C. Youtie, BASP 16, 1979, 149; ed.ter. = I. Andorlini, BASP 18, 1981, 1-25 = SB XVI 12329). Revised 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).)
DCLP transcription: 64213 [xml]
ἀχάριστον
καδμείας(*) vac. ? (δραχμαὶ) η
χαλκοῦ vac. ? (δραχμαὶ) η
ὀπίου vac. ? (δραχμαὶ) η
5κόμεως(*) vac. ? (δραχμαὶ) η
μάλαγμα
Κολοφωνείας
(δραχμαὶ) η
̣ρ̣ ̣ν̣(*) v
9a μάλαγμα Κολοφωνείας (δραχμαὶ) μ, κηροῦ (δραχμαὶ) κη, χαλβάνης (δραχμαὶ) ιβ̣
10μάλαγμα Κολοφωνείας (δραχμαὶ) μ, κηροῦ (δραχμαὶ) κη,
χαλβάνης (δραχμαὶ) ιβ, ὀποπάνακος (δραχμαὶ) β, πίσης(*) (δραχμαὶ) β
——
ἀχάριστον καδμείας(*) (δραχμαὶ) η, ὀπίου (δραχμαὶ) η,
χαλκοῦ κεκαυμένου(*)
13a χ̣α̣λ̣κ̣οῦ κεκαυμέ̣ν̣ο̣υ̣(*)
Apparatus
^ r.2. l. καδμίας
^ r.5. l. κόμμεως
^ r.9. or Ἥ̣ρ̣ω̣ν̣, ed.ter. : γί(νονται) ρνβ ed.pr., ed.alt.
^ v.11. l. πίσσης
^ v.12. l. καδμίας
^ v.13. χαλκοῦ η, κ̣ό̣μ̣μ̣ε̣ω̣ς̣ ̣ ̣ ̣ ̣ ed.pr.
^ v.13a. ed.ter. : [(δραχμαὶ) δ, ψ]ι̣μ̣ι̣θ̣ίο̣υ̣ κεκ̣α̣υμέν̣(ου) (δραχμαὶ) η (or [ -ca.?- ψ]ι̣μ̣ί̣θ̣ο̣υ̣ κεκ̣α̣υμ̣έ̣ν̣ο̣υ̣) ed.alt. : [ -ca.?- ]ου κε ̣ ̣ ̣ ̣ ̣[ -ca.?- ] ed.pr.
Editorial History; All History; (detailed)
© Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Notes
- 8.
η (8) is probably a mistake for μ (40), see ll. 9a-10 on verso.
- 9.
The interpretation of this line is tricky. Youtie’s hypothesis that we have a total of drug expended is not fully convincing: if so, the scribe would probably have taken note of both prices and weights. Moreover, some quantities remain uncertain, making it particularly difficult to ascertain the correctness of the sum. Grenfell’s tentative reading Ἥρων, annotated in the margin of the Ashmolean copy of P.Grenf. I and reported by J.R. Rea ap. ed.ter., could be appropriate: a physician named Heron was actually renowned for his treatment of eye diseases (cf. H. Gossen, Heron 8, RE VIII.1, 1912, 1080; M. Michler, Die alexandrinischen Chirurgen , Wiesbaden 1968, 63 and 108).
- 13.
χ̣α̣λ̣κ̣οῦ κεκαυμέ̣ν̣ο̣υ̣ is repeated at ll. 13 and 13a, probably because the text of l. 13 was scarcely readable (the surface of the papyrus is badly damaged throughout the line, with many dislodged fibres). The last ingredient of the ἀχάριστον, gum (κόμμεως, l. 5), was in all likelihood omitted by mistake.