Brève n° 126
New Layer of Ancient Greek Writings Detected in Medieval Book
Kate Ravilious for National Geographic News
26 avril 2007
At
first glance, the manuscript appears to be a medieval Christian prayer book. But
on the same pages as the prayers, experts using a high-tech imaging system have
discovered commentary likely written in the third century A.D. on a work
written around 350 B.C. by the Greek philosopher Aristotle.
The
discovery is the third ancient text to emerge from the layers of writing on the
much reused pages. In 2002 researchers had uncovered writings by the
mathematician Archimedes and the fourth-century B.C. politician Hyperides. Last
year one of the pages was found to contain a famous work by Archimedes about
buoyancy that had previously been known only from an incomplete Latin
translation. Project director William Noel, curator of manuscripts at the
Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, called the latest discovery a
"sensational find." The findings were presented today at a general
meeting of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Reuse, Recycle The book, known as the Archimedes Palimpsest, was first analyzed
in 1906, when a Danish researcher recognized that it contained works by the
ancient mathematician. In the 10th century a scribe had copied the ancient
Greek manuscripts from papyrus scrolls onto parchment—thin leaves of treated
animal skin. Later the writing was washed out using a solvent such as orange
juice and overwritten with new text—a process known as palimpsesting. "In
those days, parchment writing materials were so valuable that they were
commonly reused when the book was considered out of date or if the subject was
judged inappropriate or less valuable," Roger L. Easton, of the Rochester
Institute of Technology, wrote in an email. By the 12th century, pages from
five different earlier works had been erased, overwritten, and compiled into a
Christian prayer book, the Euchologion—what is now called the Archimedes
Palimpsest.
In
a New Light
Since
2002 scientists have been using a technique known as multispectral imaging to
take digital photographs of the book's pages at different wavelengths. The
images enable the researchers to pull hidden words out from behind the
religious writings. "There are seven quite large double-sided leaves of
new text. We have deciphered around half of this so far," said Robert
Sharples, project team member and a classicist at University College London. After
the Archimedes and Hyperides works were found, the team fine-tuned their
multispectral imaging technique. Revisiting some of the more difficult pages in
the book revealed the writings on Aristotle. "Even though I couldn't read
ancient Greek, just the fact that I could see the words gave me shivers,"
Easton told BBC News. Experts on ancient Greek texts are currently scouring the
newfound work. Clues, such as a name in the margin, indicate that the writings
are an early commentary on Aristotle's Categories, one of the foundations of
Western studies of logic. "If this is the case, then it is an immensely
significant find and very exciting," said David Evans, professor of logic
and metaphysics at Queens University Belfast in Ireland. The most likely author
of the new find is thought to be Alexander of Aphrodisias. "He was a
philiosopher in his own right and a very important and insightful
commentator," Evans said. Translation of the text so far suggests that it
may provide further insight into a debate on Aristotle's theory of
classification. "We have one book that contains three texts from the
ancient world that are absolutely central to our understanding of mathematics,
politics, and now philosophy," Noel, of the Walters Art Museum, told BBC
News. "I am at a loss for words at what this book has turned out to be. To
make these discoveries in the 21st century is frankly nutty—it is just so
exciting."
DATE DE PUBLICATION EN LIGNE : 19 septembre 2008