The Derveni papyrus is an ancient Greek papyrus scroll which 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 fifth century B.C., 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 B.C., during the reign of Philip II of Macedon, making it Europe's oldest surviving manuscript.^[1][2] It was finally published in 2006. Note: This article contains special characters. ... Papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus at Kew Gardens, London Papyrus is an early form of paper made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that grows to 5 meters (15 ft) in height and was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. ... The head of Orpheus, from an 1865 painting by Gustave Moreau. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Theogony Wikisource has original text related to this article: Theogony (in Greek) Theogony is a poem by Hesiod describing the origins of the gods of ancient Greek religion. ... Anaxagoras Anaxagoras (Greek: Αναξαγόρας, c. ... Philip II of Macedon: victory medal (niketerion) struck in Tarsus, 2nd c. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Discovery

The scroll 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 book in the Western tradition and one of very few surviving papyri found in Greece. ^[1] The scroll is carbonized from the pyre of the nobleman's grave. There are places that have the name Derveni: In Albania Derveni, Albania In Greece Derveni, a village in the prefecture of Achaia Derveni, a village in the southwestern part of the prefecture of Arcadia Derveni, a town in the northwestern part of Corinthia Derveni Related Chani Derveni, a place located... View of the Etruscan necropolis of Banditaccia, in Cerveteri, Italy. ...

The papyrus is kept in the Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum. The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki was built in 1962 and it was largely restored in 1980, 2001 and 2004. ...

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 Night give birth to Heaven (Uranus), who becomes the first king. Cronus (time) follows and takes the kingship from Uranus, but he is succeeded by Zeus. The head of Orpheus, from an 1865 painting by Gustave Moreau. ... For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ... In Greek mythology, Nyx (, Nox in Roman translation) was the primordial goddess of the night. ... Uranus is the Latinized form of Ouranos, Greek name of the sky. ... Cronus (Ancient Greek Κρόνος, Krónos —of obscure etymology, perhaps related to horned, suggesting a possible connection with the ancient Indian demon Kroni or the Levantine deity El; or to the word χρόνος, Chronos, meaning time), also called Cronos or Kronos, was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of... The Statue of Zeus at Olympia Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in Ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th century engraving In Greek mythology, Zeus (in Greek: nominative: Ζεύς Zeús, genitive...

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). According to the publisher A. L. Pierris the late professor Tsantanoglou of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki was not capable of publishing it but also did not wish to allow anyone else to take the glory. A team of experts was assembled in autumn of 2005 led by A.L Pierris of the Institute for Philosophical studies, 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 at last been published by scholars from Thessaloniki (Tsantsanoglou et al., below), in an edition which lacks an apparatus criticus to record the contributions of various scholars but at least provides a complete text of the papyrus based on autopsy of the fragments, with photographs and translation, after so long a wait. More work clearly remains to be done (see Janko 2006, below). The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, named after the philosopher Aristotle, is the largest university of Greece. ... Oxyrhynchus (Greek: Οξύρυγχος; sharp-nosed; ancient Egyptian Per-Medjed; modern Egyptian Arabic el-Bahnasa) is an archaeological site in Egypt, considered one of the most important ever discovered. ... Papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus at Kew Gardens, London Papyrus is an early form of paper made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that grows to 5 meters (15 ft) in height and was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Brigham Young University, often referred to as BYU, is the flagship university of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). ...

Notes

1. ^ ^a b Ancient scroll may yield religious secrets. The Associated Press. Retrieved on 2006-06-01.
2. ^ THE PAPYRUS OF DERVENI. Hellenic Ministry of Culture. Retrieved on 2006-06-01.
3. ^ Bowersock, G. W. Tangled Roots. From The New Republic Online 8 June 2005. Retrieved 6 June 2006.

2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... June 1 is the 152nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (153rd in leap years), with 213 days remaining. ... The Hellenic Ministry of Culture (official name) or Greek Ministry of Culture, located in Athens, Greece, was founded in September 1971. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... June 1 is the 152nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (153rd in leap years), with 213 days remaining. ... June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (160th in leap years), with 206 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... June 6 is the 157th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (158th in leap years), with 208 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Further reading

• André Laks and Glenn W. Most, editors, 1997. Studies on the Derveni Papyrus (Oxford University Press)
• 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

Richard Janko, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2005

• 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, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2006