13th-Century Monk's Palimpsest Preserved Lost Archimedes Works
In 1229 Jerusalem, Greek Orthodox monk Johannes Myronas created a prayer book by erasing and overwriting pages from a 10th-century Greek manuscript containing unique copies of Archimedes' mathematical treatises, including the Stomachion and The Method of Mechanical Theorems. This palimpsest, now known as the Archimedes Palimpsest, was only fully deciphered using late 20th- and early 21st-century imaging technology under the direction of William Noel of Baltimore's Walters Art Museum. The document sold for $2 million at Christie's in 1998 to an anonymous tech figure (not Bill Gates). The recovered texts reveal Archimedes' early work in combinatorics and calculus-like methods, demonstrating his advanced understanding of Greek mathematics.
Key facts
- Johannes Myronas was a Greek Orthodox monk in Jerusalem in 1229.
- He erased existing text from parchment to write prayers for the dead, repentance, Easter blessings, and prayers for the unreasonably excluded.
- The erased pages were a 10th-century Greek compilation containing the only known copies of certain Archimedes works.
- The palimpsest includes Archimedes' Stomachion, a puzzle related to combinatorics, and The Method of Mechanical Theorems, which describes calculus-like procedures.
- The Archimedes Palimpsest was sold for $2 million at Christie's in 1998 to a tech figure who is not Bill Gates.
- William Noel, director of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, led the conservation and imaging project.
- The text was deciphered using late 20th- and early 21st-century technology.
- The palimpsest shows Archimedes pushed Greek mathematics further than previously known.
Entities
Artists
- Johannes Myronas
- Archimedes
- William Noel
- Ben Syversen
- Colin Marshall
Institutions
- Walters Art Museum
- Christie's
- Open Culture
Locations
- Jerusalem
- Israel
- Baltimore
- United States
- Seoul
- South Korea