Introduction
Papyrus fragment (13x9.7 cm) from the upper right-hand side of a papyrus sheet written in a black ink on the recto along the fibers in a slanting semi-literary hand similar to that of P.Berol. inv. 364 (Upper Egypt, 5th-6th cent. AD). The lower (3.9 cm), upper (0.5 cm), and right-hand (variable width) margins are preserved, the left-hand margin is lost. The verso is blank. It was unearthed during Otto Rubensohn's excavations at Ashmunein (Hermoupolis) in January 1905 (cf. Berl.Pap. 4465 ). The title, occupying the first line except for a blank space at the end, and the ingredients listed in the following lines, separated by dikola from each other, already allowed the first editor, William Brashear, who published the text in 1990 with crucial suggestions by Isabella Andorlini ( Brashear 1990 ), to recognize a medical recipe for eye wounds, particularly of the typology called πιλάριον. A small diple obelismene closes the text before the lower margin. Similar graphical devices ( dikola dividing the ingredients and a closing diple obelismene ) are found in another medical fragment from 5th-6th AD: BKT III, pp. 32-3 (parchment).
(This papyrus has been digitally edited by Francesca Corazza 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. = W.M. Brashear, JAC 5, 1989, pp. 151-8; ed.alt. = H.G. Ioannidou, BKT IX 176). Revised and commented 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: 64848 [xml]
[ -ca.?- χαλ]κ̣οῦ(*) ∶ κρόκου ∶ ὄπιου ∶ τ̣ρ̣αγακάνθης
[ -ca.?- ζμύρ]ν̣ης(*) ∶ ἀνὰ (οὐγκίας) 𐅵 ∶ ἀμύλου(*) [(οὐγκίαν)] α´
[ -ca.?- ] ∶ ἀνάλα[βε](*) καὶ ποίησ[ον -ca.?- ]
5[ -ca.?- ] ̣ρα( ) ̣ [ ̣ ̣ ̣] ̣ ̣ ̣ τ̣ηχ[ -ca.?- ](*)
[ -ca.?- ] ̣κ̣α(*) καὶ χρ̣[ῷ -ca.?- ](*).
[ -ca.?- ] ⤚
Apparatus
^ 2. N. Reggiani from photo (via PN) : [ -ca.?- ] ̣ου prev. ed.
^ 3. N. Reggiani (via PN) : [ -ca.?- καδμίας κεκαυμέ]ν̣ης (or [ -ca.?- ζμύρ]ν̣ης) prev. ed.
^ 3. ed.pr. : ἀμύλλου (l. ἀμύλου) ed.alt.
^ 4. or ἀναλα[β(ὼν)]
^ 5. N. Reggiani from photo (via PN) : ̣ ̣ ̣ ̣ηχ[ -ca.?- ] prev. ed.
^ 6. or λ̣α, N. Reggiani from photo (via PN) : [ -ca.?- ] ̣λ̣α (or ̣κ̣α or ̣χ̣α) ed.alt. : [ -ca.?- ] ̣λ̣α ed.pr.
^ 6. or χρ̣[ῆσις -ca.?- ]
Editorial History; All History; (detailed)
© Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Notes
- 1.
It is possible that the name or the reference to the typology of the medicament was indicated in the lost part of the line. The ingredients lead to think of a so-called πιλάριον ("compress"), an ophthalmic remedy of the κολλύριον type. Medical attestations of πιλάρια are not frequent. They are not mentioned by Galen, while we find some references in the later authors (Paul. IV 14.3.4-5 ποιεῖ δὲ πρὸς τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ τὸ πιλάριον τὸ δι' ἑλκύσματος καὶ ἡ δι' ᾠῶν ὁμοίως; VII 16.11.1 πιλάριον πρὸς ἕλκη; 17.16.1 = Orib. Ecl. 89.23.1-2 = Aet. XV 39 πιλάριον δι' ἑλκύσματος πρὸς ἀποσύρματα καὶ τὰ ὅμοια; Aet. VI 1.44-5 ὠοβραχὲς δὲ ἔριον ἐπιτιθέσθω καὶ πιλαρίῳ σκεπάσθω τὸ κεφάλαιον; XV 12.37-8 πτύγμα ἐρίου ὠοβραχὲς ἐπιτιθέσθω καὶ πιλαρίῳ σκεπέσθω ἡ κεφαλή. In particular, there are strong similarities with the recipe of πιλάριον πρὸς ἕλκη provided by Paul. VII 16.11 (πιλάριον πρὸς ἕλκη· καδμίας, ψιμυθίου ἀνὰ 𐅻 κδ, ἀκακίας, ὀπίου ἀνὰ 𐅻 ιη, κόμμεως, τραγακάνθης, ἀμύλου ἀνὰ 𐅻 θ, σμύρνης 𐅻 γ, χαλκοῦ, κρόκου ἀνὰ 𐅻 α 𐅵ʹ· ὕδατι ἐκλείου) and with those preserved by SB XIV 11964 (5th-6th AD), cf. Youtie 1975 . Most intertesting is the documentary attestation of πιλάρια in a private letter from the Arsinoites (?) dated to the 2nd cent. AD: PSI XV 1541 .2 πεμ]φθῆναί σοι τάχειον τὰ πειλάρια, though it must be noted that there existed the part of an irrigation machine called after the same name, cf. SB XX 14402 r.3, 9, v.3, 21 πιλαρ(ίων) (cf. Worp 1991 , 260-2) and that πιλάριον can be understood also as a small felt cap (S. Russo ap. PSI XV 1541, 2 n.).
- 2.
χαλ]κ̣οῦ: despite the first editor's doubts, the traces visible on the edge of the lacuna are fully compatible with κ as traced in this papyrus, so that the supplement of "copper", one of the standard ingredients of the parallel πιλάρια, is almost certain.
- 3.
Between the two possible alternatives proposed in the ed.pr., καδμίας κεκαυμέ]ν̣ης is not attested in the parallel formulations of πιλάρια, so that ζμύρ]ν̣ης looks like the most probable integration here.
ἀμύλου: ed.alt. prints double λ but a single λ is clearly visible on the papyrus, so that the transcription of ed.pr. is to be restored.
- 5.
] ̣ρα( ): after the lacuna, traces of a horizontal stroke in the upper part of the line were already noted by the ed.pr.
τ̣ηχ[ in this context certainly points to a form of the verb τήκω "melt", since it was the usual way of using πιλάρια (and κολλύρια in general). Perhaps it was preceded by the indication of substance with which the compound had to be melted, see e.g. Dsc. MM II 171.2.7-8 σὺν ἐλαίῳ ζεσθὲν ἢ σὺν ῥητίνῃ τηχθὲν ἐπιτίθεται. The traces before τ̣ may be compatible with ω̣.