The Derveni Papyrus

The burnt scroll from Derveni (Greece) is one of last century’s most interesting finds. Dating back to the 4th century b.C., it proves to be a precious witness to the history of orphism, religion and Greek philosophical thought. This is the first, complete and official edition of the Derveni scroll, with papyrology section, translation, comment and index of words. The complete reproductions of the scroll, hereby published for the first time, are of extreme importance.

Il rotolo carbonizzato di Derveni (Grecia) costituisce uno dei più interessanti reperti dello scorso secolo. Databile al IV sec. a.C., si rivela un prezioso testimone per la storia dell’orfismo, della religione e del pensiero filosofico greco. La presente edizione è la prima – integrale e ufficiale – del papiro di Derveni, con apparato papirologico, traduzione, commento e indice delle parole. Di estrema importanza le riproduzioni complete del rotolo, qui edite per la prima volta.

The Derveni papyrus is a most interesting new document of Greek literature. It is perhaps the only papyrus to have been found on Greek soil, and is, if not the oldest Greek papyrus ever found, no doubt the oldest literary papyrus, dated roughly between 340 and 320 B.C. Its name derives from the site where it was discovered, some six miles north of Thessaloniki, in whose Archaeological Museum it is now preserved. It was found among the remnants of a funeral pyre in one of the tombs in the area, which has also yielded extremely rich artifacts, primarily items of metalware. After the exacting job of unrolling and separating the layers of the charred papyrus roll, and then of joining the numerous fragments together again, 26 columns of text were recovered, all with their bottom parts missing, as they had perished on the pyre. The book, composed near the end of the 5th century B.C., contains the eschatological teaching of a mantis; the content is divided between religious instructions on sacrifices to gods and souls, and allegorical commentary on a theogonical poem ascribed to Orpheus. The author’s outlook is philosophical, displaying, in particular, a physical system close to those of Anaxagoras, the Atomists, and Diogenes of Apollonia. His allegorical method of interpretation is especially interesting, frequently reminiscent of Socrates’ playful mental and etymological acrobatics as seen in Plato’s Cratylus. The identification of the author is a matter of dispute among scholars. Names like Euthyphron of Prospalta, Diagoras of Melos, and Stesimbrotus of Thasos have been proposed with varying degrees of likelihood. --Kyriakos Tsantsanoglou