fragment, probably part of a longer poem, is refined in style and technique, with descriptive
images and variations (e.g., persea fruit derives moisture from the Nile to survive the dry
season). The author possesses a good knowledge of epic models; metrical features suggest
the date.
Ed.: D.L. Page, Select Papyri. III. Poetry (Loeb 1941; repr. 1992) #124; Heitsch (1963–1964) 1.60.
D. Bonneau, La cru du Nil (1964) 49–50; A. Zumbo, “Considerazioni sul P. Oxy. 1796: De Plantis
Aegyptiis,” Analecta Papyrologica 4 (1992) 41–47; D. Fausti, “Il POxy XV 1796 verso: nuovi contribute
interpretativi,” in I. Andorlini et al., edd., Atti XXII Congr. Intern. di Papirologia (2001) 1.443–455.
Gianfranco Agosti
Papyrus Parisinus graecus 1 (now P. Louvre 2388 Ro + Paris, Louvre 2329 Ro)
(ca 200 – ca 165 BCE)
This opisthographic papyrus, found near Gizeh, has on the verso 12 lines of iambic tri-
meter, the first letters of which form an acrostic ΤΕΧΝΗ ΕΥ∆ΟΞΟΥ (meaning Art of
Eudoxos), which is often treated as the name of the papyrus. Around this poem are adminis-
trative documents (in later hands) indicating composition before 165 BCE. The assertion
(col. 22) that, according to E and K, the winter solstice falls on Athyr 19
or 20 holds for ca 190 BCE. The Dionysius addressed in the latest letter, perhaps a strategos
of Memphis, may have owned the papyrus.
On the recto, in the same hand as the poem and also containing sections in iambic
trimeter, are preserved 24 columns (including the end but not the beginning) of what
amounts to a rudimentary handbook in astronomy. The subjects broached include the day-
intervals between stellar phenomena; the course of the Sun; the annual variation in the
length of daytime – the author describes the scheme found in P. H 1.27 but has two
(should be three) days of longest daytime or summer solstice and three (should be four) days
of shortest daytime or winter solstice – the course of the Moon through the zodiacal signs;
the planets, their names and periods; the celestial sphere, its layout and motion; the risings
and settings of the fixed stars; the relation between the celestial sphere and the observer’s
latitude; the Moon, its shape and illumination; the oktaete ̄ris; the arcus visionis; lunar and
solar eclipses; the relative sizes of the Sun, Moon, and Earth; and the lengths of the seasons.
The papyrus does not derive from Eudoxos; moreover, the poem’s location and lack of
explicit connection to the text on the recto make the title “Art of Eudoxos” unlikely. Some
suppose that its author or final redactor was L (). The technical errors and the
repetition of passages columns apart suggest a careless compilation of two prose versions of
an original perhaps written in verse during the 3rd c. BCE.
A.-J. Letronne, with W. Brunet de Presle, Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Impériale 18.2
(1865) 25–76; F. Blass, Eudoxi ars astronomica (1887) 138–157; Neugebauer (1975) 686–689, 706.
Alan C. Bowen
Papyrus Ross. Georg. 1.20 (140 – 160 CE)
Proble ̄mata work on ophthalmology, mentioning glauko ̄ma (distinguished from cataract as
R in O, Syn. 8.49, CMG 6.3, pp. 266–267), staphulo ̄ma (cf. C
7.7.11), and pterugeion (cf. P. A 11 ).
Marganne (1994) 112–132.
PTK
PAPYRUS PARISINUS GRAECUS 1