DCLP

Introduction

Illustrated herbal (P.Johnson + P.Ant. 3.214). Six fragments belonging to an illustrated herbal on papyrus codex, written along the fibers on both sides. The fibers indeed run horizontally on both sides, showing that two papyrus sheets have been glued together to form each page of the codex: a very rare and peculiar feature that testifies to the quality of the product. The bigger fragment (12 x 23 cm) is known as P.Johnson after his discoverer (John de Monins Johnson, Antinoupolis 1904) and was published by C. Singer in 1927; the five smaller pieces were later discovered at Antinoupolis as well and described as P.Ant. III 124. Of the latter, only fr. d bears few traces of writing; the others preserve only parts of the illustrations (detailed descriptions can be found in the editions). Each page of the codex was made up of a coloured picture of a plant, followed by a title in eisthesis containing the name of the plant itself, and a caption describing its medical virtues and uses. The few extant portions of text have been supplemented first by Daniela Fausti (ed.alt.) on the ground of parallels found in Dioscorides (especially 4.10,2; 4.102,1; 2.178 RV 1,5 Wellmann), then improved by David Leith (ed.ter.), who recognized the striking similarities with the medical information provided by the Hermetic astrological treatise De virtutibus herbarum, dating before AD 400 (ed. H.-V. Friedrich, Thessalos von Tralles, Meisenheim am Glan 1969; especially 1.4 and 2.7). As argued by Leith, it seems very likely that this treatise was an ultimate source for the basic format and surviving text of the Antinoupolis herbal, from which at some time the astrological material had been removed altogether, and the therapeutic sections paraphrased and reorganised. The handwriting is an upright majuscule bookhand, strictly bilinear, dated between the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 5th 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. = Ch. Singer, P.Johnson = JHS 47, 1927, pp. 31-3 + J.W. Barns - H. Zilliacus, P.Ant. III 214; ed.alt. = D. Fausti, Estratto Provvisorio CPGM, Firenze 1998, pp. 43-58, then Testi medici su papiro, Firenze 2004, pp. 131-50; ed.ter. = D. Leith, ZPE 156, 2006, 141-56).)

PJohnson
side A
side B
PAnt214 a
side A
side B
PAnt214 b
side A
side B
PAnt214 c
side A
side B
PAnt214 d
side A
side B
PAnt214 e
side A
side B

Apparatus

Notes

• 1.

  σύμφυτον "larkspur" (Consolida) is said to heal several types of wounds and hemorrhages (cf. Dsc. MM 4.9,2; 10,2; Plin. NH 27.42), and so P.Johnson and (in more details) De virt. herb. 1.4 (= pp. 89-99, 103-4 Friedrich).

• 6.

  Fausti's supplement is based on Dsc. MM 4.10,2; Leith's new proposal on De virt. herb. 1.4,4.

• 1.

  φλόμος "mullein" (Verbascum) is said to be similar to the σύμφυτον according to the botanical tradition (cf. Dsc. MM 1.28,1 and 4.10,1; Plin. NH 26.137 and 148). Similar healing properties are recorded e.g. by Dsc. MM 4.103,3, and so P.Johnson.

• 2-6.

  The ingredients listed here form a recipe for an akopon paralleled by De virt. herb. 2.7,1. Akopa were remedies intended to relieve various kinds of fatigue or pain in the bodym as well as to treat certain neurological conditions (cf. Gal. Comp.med.gen. 7.11 = 13.1005-9 K). There is a recipe recorded by Galen (ibid. 7.13 = 13.1034,17-1035,6 K), attributed to Andromachus the Younger (1st cent. AD) and taken from a certain Philokles, which resembles very much the one from De virt. herb. and from P.Johnson, in employing ἔλαιον (oil), κερός (wax), τερεβινθίνη (turpentine resin), μυελός ἐλάφειος (deer marrow), χαλβάνη (galbanum, Ferula galbaniflua), σάμψυχον (marjoram).

• 6.

  ποιεῖ φάρμακον was added by a later scribe, likely to highlight the end of the first (pharmacological) section of the caption (see below, l. 9).

• 9.

  θεραπεύει was added by the later scribe, likely to indicate the end of the second (therapeutic) section of the caption. The following X-like mark is perhaps connected to the similar sign traced in the lower margin.

• 10.

  Apparently traces of an X-like mark, perhaps used to indicate the end of the book.

• 1.

  Tentative supplement based on De virt. herb. 2.1

• 1.

  Leith's tentative supplement is based on De virt. herb. 1.12,4, where ἀρσενικός appears along with σανδαράκη in a recipe for an ointment under the entry for the plant ἀριστολοχία. However, the extant sequences of letters may point to ἀρμάρακον "marjoram" (cf. Dsc. MM 3.39) and ἄρρην/ἄρσην "male" (in De virt. herb. 1.12,2 the plant ἀριστολοχία is divided into a female and a male type. A further possibility is that the sequence forms part of the ingredient λίβανος ἄρρην, mentioned in a recipe for a plaster in De virt. herb. 2.5,4 under the entry for the plant πευδέκανος.