Derveni papyrus

Derveni papyrus
Some fragments of the Derveni papyrus
The Derveni papyrus - Archaeological museum of Thessaloniki

The Derveni papyrus is an ancient Greek papyrus roll that was found in 1962. It is a philosophical treatise that is an allegorical commentary on an Orphic poem, a theogony concerning the birth of the gods, produced in the circle of the philosopher Anaxagoras in the second half of the 5th century BC, making it "the most important new piece of evidence about Greek philosophy and religion to come to light since the Renaissance" (Janko 2005). It dates to around 340 BC, during the reign of Philip II of Macedon, making it Europe's oldest surviving manuscript.[1][2] It was finally published in 2006.

Contents

Discovery

The roll was found at a site in Derveni, Macedonia, northern Greece, in a nobleman's grave in a necropolis that was part of a rich cemetery belonging to the ancient city of Lete. It is the oldest surviving manuscript in the Western tradition and one of very few surviving papyri found in Greece.[1] The roll is carbonized from the pyre of the nobleman's grave. The papyrus is kept in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki.

Content

The text is a commentary on a hexameter poem ascribed to Orpheus. Fragments of the poem are quoted. The poem begins with the words "Close the doors, you uninitiated", a famous admonition to secrecy, recounted by Plato. The theogony described in the poem has Nyx (Night) give birth to Heaven (Uranus), who becomes the first king. Cronus follows and takes the kingship from Uranus, but he is likewise succeeded by Zeus.

Zeus, having "heard oracles from his father", goes to the sanctuary of Night, who tells him "all the oracles which afterwards he was to put into effect." Upon hearing them, Zeus "swallowed the phallus [of the king Uranus] who first had ejaculated the brilliance of heaven."[3]

Recent reading

The text was not officially published for forty-four years after its discovery (though three partial editions were published). A team of experts was assembled in autumn 2005 led by A. L. Pierris of the Institute for Philosophical studies and Dirk Obbink, director of the Oxyrhynchus papyrus project at the University of Oxford, with the help of modern multispectral imaging techniques by Roger Macfarlane and Gene Ware of Brigham Young University to attempt a better approach to the edition of a difficult text. Meanwhile, the papyrus has been published by scholars from Thessaloniki (Tsantsanoglou et al., below), which provides a complete text of the papyrus based on autopsy of the fragments, with photographs and translation. More work clearly remains to be done (see Janko 2006, below).

Style of writing

The text of the papyrus contains a mix of dialects. It is mainly a mixture of Attic and Ionic Greek, however it contains few Doric forms, which need further explanation. Sometimes the same word appears in different dialectal forms e.g cμικρό-, μικρό; ὄντα, ἐόντα; νιν for μιν etc [4].

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Ancient scroll may yield religious secrets". The Associated Press. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13081639/. Retrieved 2006-06-01. 
  2. ^ "THE PAPYRUS OF DERVENI". Hellenic Ministry of Culture. Archived from the original on 2006-04-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20060428200149/http://www.culture.gr/2/21/215/21505/215052/e21505206.html. Retrieved 2006-06-01. 
  3. ^ Bowersock, G. W. Tangled Roots. From The New Republic Online 8 June 2005. Retrieved 6 June 2006.
  4. ^ For a full list, see Janko (1997) 62–3

Further reading

  • Gábor Betegh, 2004. The Derveni Papyrus: Cosmology, Theology and Interpretation (Cambridge University Press). A preliminary reading, critical edition and translation. ISBN 0-521-80108-7. (books.google.)
  • Richard Janko's Review of Betegh 2004
  • Janko, Richard. “The Physicist as Hierophant: Aristophanes, Socrates and the Authorship of the Derveni Papyrus,” Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik 118, 1997, pp. 61–94.
  • Janko, Richard, “The Derveni Papyrus (Diagoras of Melos, Apopyrgizontes Logoi?): a New Translation,” Classical Philology 96, 2001, pp. 1–32 .
  • Janko, Richard, “The Derveni Papyrus: An Interim Text,” Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik 141, 2002, pp. 1–62.
  • Laks, André, “Between Religion and Philosophy: The Function of Allegory in the Derveni Papyrus”, Phronesis 42, 1997, pp. 121–142.
  • André Laks and Glenn W. Most, editors, 1997. Studies on the Derveni Papyrus (Oxford University Press).(books.google.)
  • Most, Glenn W., “The Fire Next Time. Cosmology, Allegories, and Salvation in the Derveni Papyrus”, Journal of Hellenic Studies 117, 1997, pp. 117–135.
  • K. Tsantsanoglou, G.M. Parássoglou, T. Kouremenos (editors), 2006. "The Derveni Papyrus" (Leo. S. Olschki Editore, Florence [series Studi e testi per il "Corpus dei papiri filosofici greci e latini, vol. 13]). ISBN 88-222-5567-4.
  • Richard Janko's Review of Tsantsanoglou, Parássoglou, & Kouremenos 2006;Tsantsanoglou, Parássoglou, & Kouremenos' Response to Janko; Janko's Response.

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Derveni-Papyrus — Fotografische Reproduktion des Derveni Papyrus Der Derveni Papyrus ist eine antike griechische Schriftrolle und eine der ältesten bekannten literarischen Schriften Europas. Ihr Alter wird auf mindestens 2.500 Jahre geschätzt. Gefunden wurde der… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Papyrus de Derveni — Fragments du papyrus de Derveni (Musée archéologique de Thessalonique) Le papyrus de Derveni est un document trouvé en 1962 dans une tombe aristocratique de la nécropole de Derveni (Macédoine), dans le nord de la Grèce. Il s agit de fragments d… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Derveni — There are many places with the name Derveni. Contents 1 In Albania 2 In Greece 2.1 Related 3 Other In Albania Derveni, Albani …   Wikipedia

  • Papiro de Derveni — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Fragmentos del papiro de Derveni El papiro de Derveni, datado en el siglo V a. C., es un rollo de papiro que contiene el comentario de un poema órfico. Se le considera el manuscrito más antiguo de …   Wikipedia Español

  • ДЕРВЕНИЙСКИЙ ПАПИРУС —     ДЕРВЕНИЙСКИЙ ПАПИРУС, папирус, найденный в 1962 в местечке Дервени (Греция, Фессалия) в древнем погребении македонского воина; датируется 2 й пол. 4 в. до н. э. На обугленных листах папируса частично сохранился текст с аллегорическим… …   Античная философия

  • Orphiker — Orpheus von Tieren umgeben. Römisches Mosaik des 3. Jahrhunderts, Palermo, Archäologisches Regionalmuseum Orphiker (griechisch Ὀρφικοί Orphikoí) ist die Bezeichnung für die Anhänger der Orphik, einer religiösen Strömung der Antike, die sich ab… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Greek mythology — Bust of Zeus, Otricoli (Sala Rotonda, Museo Pio Clementino, Vatican) Topics in Greek mythology Gods …   Wikipedia

  • Orphism (religion) — Orphic mosaics were found in many late Roman villas Orphism (more rarely Orphicism) (Ancient Greek: Ὀρφικά) is the name given to a set of religious[1] beliefs and practices in the ancient Greek and the Hellenistic wo …   Wikipedia

  • Orpheus — For other uses, see Orpheus (disambiguation). Roman mosaic depicting Orpheus, wearing a Phrygian cap and surrounded by the beasts charmed by the music of his lyre. Orpheus ( …   Wikipedia

  • ОРФИЗМ —         др. греч, религ. движение, возникшее в 6 в. до н. а. в результате реформы культа Диониса: центр. ритуал дионисийских оргий омофагия («поедание сырого мяса» растерзанной в вакхич. исступлении животной жертвы) был переосмыслен как… …   Философская энциклопедия

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”