Doctor Curmudgeon The Oldest Surviving Book
By Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D. FAAP Doctor Eisman is in Family Practice in Aventura, Florida with her partner, Dr. Eugene Eisman, an internist/cardiologist
I had spent a quiet afternoon seated in a comfortable chair, enjoying a book. For me, a book is something physical, something I can touch. Of course, I am aware of e-books, but there is nothing quite like burying my nose in a good book.
But where did the first book come from? Apart from cave writing, what made people think about writing stuff on something that could be passed around more easily than a slab of stone?
The Derveni Papyrus is the oldest readable manuscript ever found in Europe. It was discovered at an archeological dig in 1962 by two archaeologists, Petros Thermelis and Maria Siganidou and is named for the site at which it was unearthed. Derveni is near Thessaloniki and the papyrus was covering the tomb of a nobleman
Dating back to around 350 BC, it is amazing that the papyrus survived.
The document was discovered as a black mass covering a funeral pyre over the tomb. Although partly charred, it was still legible. The charring may have actually helped its survival, by preventing the document from completely disintegrating.
As the oldest surviving manuscript in Europe, it has been studied by many scholars. I can’t even imagine how difficult it was to unroll the charred manuscript, cautiously separate the layers and assemble the fragments.
Ant then, it needed to be translated from an Ancient Greek language.
The real author is unknown. The text is a philosophical-religious commentary on a poem by Orpheus. The commentary indicates that the poem is an allegory analyzing the creation of the universe, and the origin of the gods. Scholars have interpreted a section which comments on the origin of the universe. Uranus, the god of the sky had his penis chopped off by his son, Cronus. And then Zeus came along and swallowed it, becoming pregnant with the universe and thus giving birth to everything. A fundamental theme in the poem is that the universe is guided by a divine force that imbues everything with life—not actually Uranus’ ejaculate.
The opening sentence of the papyrus is “Close the doors, you uninitiated.” This has been interpreted as a hint that Orpheus is really using allegory and is not to be taken as a literal narrative.
The Derveni papyrus is not some relic of the past. It is the oldest readable manuscript that has been found in Europe, and is a link to the intellectual thinking of ancient Greece.
Dr. Curmudgeon suggests “Bitter Medicine”, Dr. Eugene Eisman’s story of his experiences–from the humorous to the intense—as a young army doctor serving in the Vietnam War.
Bitter Medicine by Eugene H. Eisman, M.D. –on Amazon
Doctor Curmudgeon® is Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D., a physician-satirist. This column originally appeared on SERMO, the leading global social network for doctors.
SERMO www.sermo.com
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