P. 8687

Most definitely, you have heard of Christmas, perhaps you often even celebrated it and sang carols while doing so. But what have thorns to do with Christmas? What was it like 1400 years ago? Were there the same religious traditions and topics as today and what did religious hymns look like? Are there any parallels to now and then? You can find out this and much more by looking at a papyrus with two Christian hymns on it, which is in the Berlin Papyrus Collection.

Three fragments of the original papyrus text have survived, whose position to each other is secured due to the text. The papyrus is broken on all sides; thus, no complete line has survived. Both sides were written in Greek. There are two sides, with 12 lines of remnants on the reverse (verso) side and 9 lines of remnants on the front (recto) side. The text on the recto is heavily rubbed and therefore not easy to read. Based on the writing, both texts can be dated to the 7th–8th century.

Two different writers have written the two texts on the papyrus. They begin on the verso with a Christmas hymn, which is written in a rather cursory, right-slanted and irregular script. From the eleventh line on the same page a hymn dedicated to the virgin Mary (theodokion) starts, which is probably continued on the other side of the papyrus. It was written carefully and in a small font. Striking is, that at the end of line 3 on the front page the last letters have been rewritten. The writer obviously used the rest of the ink in his calamus (pen) to write these letters, then picked up the ink and traced the same letters again.

The first is a Christmas hymn. This is indicated by several points that are to be located in the context of the birth of Jesus. For example, the virgin Mary is mentioned (l. 8). A celebration is called for (l. 10). Finally, it speaks of a joy for the world (l. 2) – presumably, because the Son of God now lives on earth. Episodes from the later life of Jesus Christ are mentioned, e.g. his forty-day retreat into the desert, where he resisted the temptations of the devil, which is recorded in the New Testament in the Gospel of Luke (4:2). In the text and its formulations, several parallels can also be found in other biblical texts, especially in the psalms.

Also interesting about this text are numerous markings that can be found over various letters and syllables. These could initially be accents or bookmarks. Presumably, however, this is a musical notation. This can also be recognized by the fact that numerous consonants have been written twice and the words thus orthographically incorrect. Letter doublings are typical for musical notations and indicate the rhythm in which the text was supposed to be sung. Normally, the vowels are duplicated, as for example in another Berlin papyrus with Christian hymns (P 16595) from the same time period. However, in this text the consonants are duplicated. This phenomenon is very rare. The musical notations occur mainly in the first text and less frequently in the second one.

The virginity of Mary, which is mentioned in the text (l. 8), is the main theme of the second text. Here the burning thorn bush from (Book Exodus 3:1–6) is mentioned, which was a metaphor for the virgin birth of Jesus in early Christian art. Just as the thorn bush withstood the fire, Mary remained a virgin even though she had become a mother. There are numerous parallels to other biblical text on this papyrus side as well. Due to its fragmentary state of preservation, the details of the text’s content can no longer be determined. Nevertheless: This text has survived once again on a papyrus in the Vienna collection and can therefore be interpreted with the help of this parallel.

Both texts are interesting examples of the prevalence of hymns in early Christian liturgy and the long continuity of Christian religious traditions to today. The musical notation as indications of the way the hymns were to be recited make this papyrus special despite its poor preservation.

SB XXII 15312 (P. 11702)

An odd drawing, a multiplication-table and a bird! All of this can be found on a Berlin papyrus and gives puzzles. What does that mean? In what context are these elements related to each other? What does a bird have to do with mathematics? Who wrote them?

The papyrus was acquired in the Middle Egyptian Ashmunein, the ancient Hermupolis, and came to the Berlin papyrus collection in 1908. It is likely, that the papyrus is from Hermupolis as well. Both sides have writing. However, no edges on the paper are preserved, so that the original extent of the text is no longer determinable. Because of the content of the text one can assume, that only a little part of the original papyrus has survived. Two columns in Greek have survived on both sides of the papyrus, along with drawings whose connection to the text remains unclear. The text can be dated to the 5th century due to the writing. At the end of the text, the writing becomes more and more hurried and careless. The spacing also decreases increasingly and appears more unstructured.

The text is a multiplication exercise, which shows us, from the writer’s perspective, the functioning of the decimal system. For this purpose, the writer of this exercise used the so-called Milesian numerals. For the digits, not own symbols are used, as it is done nowadays, but the letters of the alphabet and a few special characters. The tens and hundreds had their own letters and characters. Thus, α stood for 1, β for 2 and ξ for 60. Numbers, which were higher than nine, but were not tens or hundreds, were attached to the closest, smaller tens, hundreds, etc. and appended with the corresponding desired units. Therefore 63 was written with ξ for 60 and γ for 3.

The multiplication exercise is divided into several series and sections, some of which are marked by horizontal lines, so-called paragraphoi, at the beginning of the line. The remnants of the series with the factor 2, 3, 4 and 5 have survived. It can be assumed that the original list ranged up to a factor of ten. The series were divided into several sections, in which the first factor is multiplied with the numbers ranging from one to ten and the tenfold, hundredfold and thousandfold of this number. An entry has the following scheme: δ ϡ Γχ (in our digits: 4 900 3600, so 4 x 900 = 3600). The above already mentioned hastiness of the writer is thereby confirmed, that the second to last entry (ε ϡ Δφ[in our digits: 5 900 4500, so 5 x 900 = 4500]) was recognizably corrected.

On the right to the next column on the verso (back side) a 6 cm high and 2.4 cm wide drawing can be identified, which is neither part of a decorative strip, nor can it mathematically be explained. The drawing consists of two parallel, vertical lines, which are flanked on either side by irregularly jagged lines. The space between the prongs is filled with dots as well as semicircular ones. The drawing could be a cartographic depiction of the Egyptian eastern desert. The parallel lines would then be a wadi resp. a path, which demonstrate the jags flanking hills or mountains. The drawing must have been made after the multiplication list, as it partially overwrites it and the ink has a different iron content.

On the recto (front page) a frontal depicted bird, with raised wings, can be seen by looking at the bottom left of the multiplication exercise. Over the bird a small line can be found – an indicator for another, previous column or drawing. The drawing was carelessly drawn and due to the rough styling the zoological classification is very difficult. Possibly it’s the drawing of an eagle or a pigeon. Against an interpretation as a pigeon speaks that is represented in antiquity rather rarely frontal and with outstretched wings. On the contrary, eagles are often represented like this and symbolize something holy, like e.g. the revival of Jesus Christ. If the drawer was aware of this motive tradition can only be assumed, but normally he should have been aware of the meaning. The star above the head of the bird could, regarding this theory, be a christogram. The drawing of the bird and multiplication list were probably made in a timely manner, since there are no visible differences between the ink.

The correlation between the drawing and the multiplication list remain unclear. Mathematic and cartographic skills were needed in administration and the military in antiquity. Thus, this papyrus could be a reminder note or even a smear sheet from an apprentice in one of these areas. At last, the speculations remain uncertain and the papyrus a puzzle.

P. 16511 V

Anybody who is eager to determine the precise position of stars or planets in the sky, can nowadays open their computer and find everything they seek with a few clicks through modern software. In antiquity, this was a little harder. Astronomical data were used in first instance to determine the fate of kings and empires, later also for the construction of horoscopes for private individuals. In the Berlin Papyrus Collection, multiple horoscopes are preserved as well (see for instance the oldest preserved, Greek horoscope on papyrus).

The philosopher Sextus Empiricus (2nd century AD) described in his work Πρὸς ἀστρολόγους “Against the Astrologers” (26-28), how the Babylonians performed the observation of planetary positions during childbirth. An astronomer sat on a mountain peak, whereas an assistant sat next to the woman in labor. When the delivery occurred, the assistant sounded a gong and the astronomer directly noted all relevant observational data. This tale is embellished by fantasy, but does not correspond to reality. Observations were often impossible: not all planets are always visible. For this reason, algorithms were employed to create astronomical tables. The positions in the horoscopes were then computed using the tables.

Part of such a table can be found on the object presented here, a papyrus from Oxyrhynchus in Greco-Roman Egypt. The fragment consists of five columns with black lining and is written in a small, rapid, cursive documentary script from the 1st century AD. The table is broken on the left, bottom and right sides; the upper part however is complete. A second fragment of the same table, which consists of parts of columns 3, 4 and 5, is kept in Oxford. The reverse side, the front side of the papyrus, contains a legal proceeding. After this had lost its relevance, this astronomical table was written on the backside, until this as well had lost its importance and was thrown away. As all papyri from Oxyrhynchus, the papyrus originates from a landfill.

The third column consists of year numbers, which are represented by the Greek L-shaped ἔτος („year“) sign together with a number. The year numbers usually increase by 1, but sometimes also by 2. Thus, in the first four lines we find the years ιϛ, ιη, ιθ, κ: 16, 18, 19, 20. These are regnal years of Roman emperors, and in line 7 it also becomes clear of which emperors. Here column 3 does not contain a year number, but only Γαίου, which is clarified by the addition of κγ το κ(αὶ) α in column 2, which together means „23, also 1 of Gaius“. The described year is year 23 of emperor Tiberius’ reign, 37 AD, which is also year 1 of emperor Gaius’ (Caligula’s) reign. The remainder of the second column contains horizontal strokes only and, apparently, its function is to separate column 1 from the other columns.

Column 4 contains Egyptian month names in Greek script, with full spellings for short names such as Θωύθ „Thouth“ (line 2), Ἁθύρ „Hathyr“ (line 4) and Τῦβι „Tybi“ (line 5); as well as abbreviated ones for longer names such as Φαῶφ „Phaoph“ for Φαῶφι „Phaophi“ (line 3), and Φαρμο „Pharmo“ for Φαρμοῦθι „Pharmouthi“ (line 8). The ο in Φαρμο is written in superscript to indicate that the word is an abbreviation.

Column 5 always starts with a number between 0 and 29, followed by one or often more numbers. These indicate the days of the month and subsequent fractions of these days in the Babylonian sexagesimal system. This notation clearly results from computation and already shows that we are not dealing with a purely Egyptian table. Another unusual characteristic is the use of day 0, instead of day 30 of the preceding month, in lines 5 and 6.

In summary, each line contains a time entry, with intervals of around 13 months each. This time period is characteristic for the planet Jupiter and analysis based on modern data shows that the denoted dates are moments in which Jupiter is located at its so called first station: the place where the planet’s motion becomes retrograde. The letter α above the table could represent the number 1 and thus refer to this; this interpretation, however, is uncertain. Interestingly, for astronomical calculations the unreformed Egyptian calendar, which does not contain leap days, had been kept in use for a long time, as this calendar was easier for calculation. In everyday life, the reformed Egyptian calendar had been in use for a century and a half already at the time when this papyrus was written.

Most tables of this type did not only contain time entries, but also the related planetary positions, expressed in the zodiacal coordinate system. In this case, these positions were probably included in column 6 and the following. But what were the contents of the first column? It is evident that it contained numbers, but since the beginning is broken off and the numbers are mostly fractions, it is complicated to draw a conclusion. They could be related to another celestial phenomenon of Jupiter, or maybe represent positions of the same phenomenon, but prior to year 16 of Tiberius’ reign. The fact that the table begins arbitrarily with year number 16 without mentioning the name of Tiberius supports the hypothesis that something else may have preceded it.

It was surprising to find tables in Egypt which were created by Babylonian methods. Transferring Babylonian algorithms to Egypt is not trivial: the complicated Babylonian algorithms had to be adapted to the Egyptian calendar and local observations had to be used for the planetary positions due to the change in geographical location. This shows that there was advanced knowledge of Babylonian algorithms in Egypt. The table is also surprisingly accurate: the date never deviates from the phenomenon by more than 2 days, while Jupiter can be seen by observation up to about 10 days before or after the calculated date.

BKT IX 42 (P. 21141)

Reason in the head, bravery in the heart, desire in the liver – the famous ancient physician Galen tries to build a bridge between Hippocratic medicine and Platonic philosophy. A small fragment from this great work has been preserved in the Berlin papyrus collection.

This small papyrus fragment with remnants of four lines on the front and five lines on the back belongs to the lower margin of a codex leaf from which further fragments have been preserved in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich. The Berlin fragment can be directly matched to the Munich fragment. Due to the quite different state of preservation of the two fragments, it can be assumed that they were already separated in antiquity. Originally, it had a writing mirror on both sides, the height of which was twice as large as the width.

The codex leaf contains a copy of Galen’s writing „On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato“ (chapters 88, 29-31 and 90, 20-22 on the Berlin fragment). Galen, a physician from Pergamon in Asia Minor, wrote this work in nine books between 162 and 176 AD in Rome. Based on his own comments on this work in other writings, we know that Galen wrote the first six books between 162 and 166 AD in Rome on behalf of the former consul and later governor of the Roman province of Syria Palaestina Titus Flavius Boethus, who had a great interest in his medical research. Galen accompanied him to his province. After his return in 169 AD, he wrote the last three books of this work.

It is interesting to note that the copy on the papyrus fragments in Berlin and Munich, which was found in the Middle Egyptian town of Ashmunein, the ancient Hermupolis, can be dated to the first half of the 3rd century AD on the basis of the hand-writing. This makes it one of the oldest records of a work by Galen and thus provides valuable clues to the original form of the text.

As a follower of the teachings of the great and famous Greek physician Hippocrates of Cos, Galen deals with his teachings in this work and compares them with the ideas about the nature of the soul of the Greek philosopher Plato. In doing so, Galen is not at all concerned with playing philosophy and medicine off against each other and proving the correctness of one discipline over the other. Rather, he shows that he agrees with the statements of the philosopher and the physician on all points. His aim is to prove that the statements of the physician Hippocrates and the philosopher Plato can agree. He tries to fit Plato’s rather abstract opinions quite concretely into human physiology, which for him is based on Hippocrates‘ ideas.

It is therefore not surprising that in the few remains that have survived on the papyrus fragments we can read Galen’s description of the arteries in the lower parts of the body and the legs, even if the connection to Plato’s metaphysical ideas must remain unclear because this text passage has no longer survived.

Galen claims in his other writings that his works were already read in many provinces of the Roman Empire during his lifetime. This may be an exaggeration and confirmation of his own pride. However, the fragments in Berlin and Munich come from the Roman Hermupolis in Middle Egypt and from a time shortly after the doctor’s death. They may therefore not necessarily confirm Galen’s statements. However, they do show that his works were not only received in the great cultural centres of the Roman world such as Rome, Alexandria, etc., but were also disseminated much further afield.

This papyrus with a part of Gale’s work was on display in the exhibition „Au temps de Galien. Un médicin grec dans l’empire romain“ at the Musée Royal de Mariemont in Morlanwelz in Belgium.

BKT V.2, S. 123–128, Nr. XX A (P. 9772)

How to get an idea of what Greeks thought about marriage? Go to the anthologies! An anthology is a collection of selected literary passages by one or more authors. Greek papyri have provided us with several such collections, often bringing to light literature otherwise unknown. Among these is the papyrus presented here.

This papyrus, of which two fragments survive, was purchased on the Egyptian antiquities market by Otto Rubensohn for the Berlin Papyrus Collection in 1901, but we do not know where exactly it was found. On palaeographical basis, it can be dated to the 2nd century BCE.

The papyrus is very interesting from a material point of view. The recto side is a palimpsest: this means that it was first used to write a text, which was later washed away to write a new one. This is a not very common phenomenon in papyri, which usually underwent other types of reuse, such as writing on the side left blank. In our case, the previous text was washed away very roughly, so that it is still clearly visible although not completely readable. Of the new text, i.e. the anthology, remnants of two columns are preserved on the first fragment and four columns, three of which are intact, on the second. One more column is written on the verso of the second fragment, which also offers an example of how papyrus rolls were reinforced or repaired in antiquity: some strips from another papyrus were indeed attached to it with this purpose.

As for the content, the anthology includes passages from Greek comedy and tragedy, each introduced by the name of its author (Epicharmus, Menander, Euripides and so on). The selected texts are devoted to the blame and praise of women and are of gnomic type, that is, they contain moral precepts (such as not telling a woman a matter that you want to remain secret, because it would be like telling all the heralds in the assembly, or, on the other hand, that there is nothing better than a good woman). The general topic they refer to is marriage, which is the most represented in Greek gnomic literature.

Both the material aspect of the papyrus and the writing – a cursive very similar to that used in contemporary documents – make it unlikely that we are dealing with a product intended for the book trade. However, the precise purpose of the anthology escapes us: the passages could have been collected for the elaboration of an exercise on the subject “whether one should get married”, which was customary in schools of rhetoric, or more simply for personal use, to be read privately or in a sympotic context.

At any rate, the papyrus not only offers a fine example of how the topic of marriage was discussed in the Hellenistic age, but, most importantly, it has made an invaluable contribution to our knowledge of Greek literature, yielding some texts that were unknown before it was published.

FGrHist 533 F 2 (P. 11632)

Who can name all Seven Wonders of the World, let alone say, when and why they were built? With the Colossus of Rhodes, a papyrus can help us to understand its creation.

The papyrus was found in the village of Mellawi. Mellawi is in Upper Egypt, in the ancint administrative district Hermopolites. In 1912, the piece was bought by Wilhelm Schubart, who was the director of the collection at the time, alongside other pieces. The papyrus contains a literary text in Greek, which is dated to the 2. Century AD. In the 2. Century AD Egypt was under Roman rule.

The text consists of two columns with 24 lines each. It is historical prose and written in the ionic dialect. This could be because that was the dialect customary for historical writing. This convention exists because the first Greek historian, Herodotus, wrote in ionic. The text deals with an episode from the Wars of the Diadochi. After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC his followers, the Diadochi, fought over supremacy. Rhodes, too, was dragged into this conflict, which our piece reports.

The island Rhodes with the city of the same name is situated off the coast of Asia Minor. Originally, it was part of the Persian Empire, then, however, it fell under the influence of Alexander the Great. After Alexanders death, the island tried to stay independent and neutral. This worked for a while, but then the diadoch Antigonus subjected the whole of Asia Minor. Because of the spatial closeness, Rhodes was forced to help him. Several times, Antigonus demanded assistance from Rhodes. When they refused and also repulsed his fleet, he sent his son Demetrius Poliorcetes to Rhodes for a punitive expedition. This was in the year 305 BC. Very fittingly, the name Poliorcetes means besieger of cities.

In the first phase of the siege, he set up camp outside the city walls and blocked the city from the outside world. Demetrius then tried to breach the wall. 304 BC he could take the first circle of walls. However, the Rhodians had a second wall, behind which they could withdraw. When Demetrius broke through this second wall, the Rhodians had built a third one in the meantime.

But this one too Demetrius managed to breach eventually. Before he conquered the city completely, he aborted the siege, because he was called to help against Cassander by some Greeks. He made a peace treaty. The Rhodians thanked their patron, the sun god Helios, by building a colossal statue at the port. It is known today as the Colossus of Rhodes as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. So, one of the Seven Wonders of the World has a siege as history.

Diodorus, who wrote a historical work in the first century BC, is the one who predominately informs us about the siege of Rhodes. But our piece, too, is a source. Because our author and Diodorus write so similarly, the question arises whether our author copied Diodor or whether they both had the same source. Since they differ in terminology, the latter is more likely.

Our piece covers only a part of the siege of Rhodes. The beginning possibly is about the Rhodians capturing clothes which the wife of Demetrius sent him, because royal things are mentioned. Then the Rhodians refuse to release prisoners of war, even though Demetrius offers ransom. Therefore, he announces that he too will not release Rhodians in the future. Next, it is described how Demetrius tries to breach the first wall. He bribes Athenagoras of Milet, who was on the side of the Rhodians, to help him. He reveals the plan to the Rhodians. So, the Rhodians start to dig as well, and Demetrius’ plan fails. Additionally, Athenagoras handed over to the Rhodians a follower of Demetrius, Alexander. Athenagoras is rewarded and Alexander is saved from execution in the last moment by ransom.

What makes our text special, is the fact that it is an autograph, meaning the handwriting of the author himself. This can be recognised by the fact that the text is a draft. Again and again, words are crossed out, partly because of grammatical errors, partly because the author wanted to choose different words. We can watch the author work, so to speak. Autographs are extremely rare. Another specialty is the word μεταλλωρύχος. It is a Hapax legomenon, which means it attested only once.

The first editor of the text, von Gaertringen, concludes his essay with: “May the Egyptian soil offer more of such finds!”.