DCLP

Introduction

Osteological fragment. A small, rectangular piece (5.5x4 cm) containing remains of five lines of text on the recto. Only the upper margin survives, to a height of just under 1 cm. The other side contains no writing, but there is a patch of smudged ink which appears to have been partially wiped off. The presence of the terms γόμφωϲιϲ and ϲύμφυϲιϲ, and the association of the former with the teeth, indicates that the text drew on ancient classifications of the various forms of joint in the body (possible sources: Gal. De ossibus [2, 732–39 K]; ps.-Gal. Introd.s.medic. 12 [14, 720–25 K]; Clearchus of Soli Περὶ ϲκελετῶν, frr. 106–10 Wehrli). The earliest references to the technical terms for these joint types are found in P.Lit.Lond. 167, 2nd cent. BC or AD; PUG 2.51, 1st cent. AD; ps.-Gal. Def.Med. 470, 474–5 (19, 460–61 K), 1st cent. AD ex.; Gal. De libr. propr. 4.15 (19, 26 K). Beyond its general osteological content, there is little discernible thematic continuity in what survives, and there may have been a fairly extensive loss of text. The text is written in a medium sized, semi-cursive hand dating back to the 2nd or 3rd cent. AD, with little attempt at bilinearity and the letters generally upright, some tending slightly to the right.

(This papyrus has been digitally edited by Andrea Bernini 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 edition (D. Leith, P.Oxy. LXXIV 4974.))

Apparatus

Notes

• 1.

  νευροχοντρώδη: there is no indication as to which part of the body it describes here. This term is generally used of a particularly hard and dense type of ligament (σύνδεσμος: see Gal. Temper. 2.3 [1, 602.17-603.1 K]) and is associated especially with those ligaments which bind a joint from within, such as the ligamentum teres in the hip, as opposed to those which surround the joint (see Gal. Anat.admin. 2.9 [2, 328–9 K], 2.10 [2, 332 K]).

• 2.

  At the break, a small trace of a descending diagonal survives, consistent with alpha. The phrase is closely paralleled by ps.-Gal. Introduct. 12 [14, 722 K]. κατ]ὰ̣ δὲ: its repetition at ll. 2,4 perhaps indicates that the text offered a list of the various joint types, illustrated by examples. A similar construction is used in ps.-Gal. Introduct. 12 [14, 720–22 K].

• 3.

  ἁπλοῖ: of the second letter, two straight verticals, with a missing fibre at top which could have contained a thin cross-bar; the traces do not suit eta. It seems possible that this refers to a distinction between teeth which have a single or multiple roots, as ennumerated by Gal. De ossibus [2, 753 K], though he does not use this term. ϲυμφύϲεωϲ: according to Gal. De ossibus [2, 734 K], the type of joint κατὰ σύμφυσιν is characterised by a sort of ‘natural union’ which in some way combines two bones effectively into a single unit. It is unclear how the reference to ϲύμφυϲιϲ here is related to the discussion of γόμφωσις, but it is suggestive that Galen explicitly compares the two types of joint at Gal. De ossibus [2, 738 K].

• 5.

  ]ν ὀϲτέον: there are many possible restorations, and the context offers no obvious means of reducing them. κατά: it might be read as introducing a further type of joint, though in this case it is possible that the preposition refers simply to the location of the anatomical feature under discussion.