DCLP

Introduction

Two medical prescriptions (P.Princ. 3.155). Papyrus scrap (3x6 cm) written on both sides by the same hand. Recto and verso were interchanged in the ed.pr., so the current "recto" is actually the verso and vice versa. Each side bears a medical recipe; they were regarded as lists of drugs with their prices by the ed.pr. The recipe on the "recto" has been republished by L.C. Youtie (ed.alt.): it belongs to the well-known "achariston" type, a kind of eye-salve, and is further specified as indicated for children. Youtie announced a re-edition of the "verso" as well, but it does not seem to have ever appeared. The papyrus is dated to the 2nd or 3rd cent. AD.

(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. = A.C. Johnson - S.P. Goodrich, P.Princ. III 155; ed.alt. = L.C. Youtie, SB XIV 12086).)

Apparatus

Notes

• 1.

  παιδικόν sc. κολλύριον, "a children's eye-salve" (cf. e.g. Aet. 7.103, p. 359).

• 2-8.

  The ingredients are those typically contained in the eye-salves of the "achariston" type (cf. Andorlini 1981 with further bibliography)

• 3-4.

  The horizontal stroke indicates two alternative amounts. This method is unique in the prescriptions on papyri as well as in the works of the medical authors. It was usually employed the phrase ἐν ἄλλῳ before the second numeral, i.e. "in another recipe, or copy of the same recipe".

• 10.

  The word γλοιός "machine-oil (?)", although frequently found in the medical writers to indicate some kind of consistency (see e.g. Gal. 12.436, 491, 686, 833), is rare in papyri (see P.Oxy. 9.1220,16; SPP 20.15,9; P.Oslo 3.145,4). In the medical works, it is usually opposed to honey.