Philinna Papyrus

The Philinna Papyrus (PMG XX) is part of a collection of ancient Greek spells written in hexameter verse. Three spells are partially preserved on the papyrus. One is a cure for headache, one probably for a skin condition, and the purpose of the third spell is uncertain. Two fragments of the papyrus survive, in the collections of the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, and the Berlin State Museums.

Papyrus

The Philinna Papyrus is made up of two fragments: P. Amh. 11, published by Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt in 1901, and P. Berol. 7504, published by Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff in 1907.[1] In 1942 Paul Maas identified that the two fragments were part of the same roll.[1] The surviving piece is 10 x 8.2 cm in total, with parts of two columns surviving, written in a hand dating to the first century BC.[2] The verso of the papyrus preserves parts of two further columns, in a cursive hand from about the first century AD.[2]

P. Amh. 11 was purchased by Grenfell and Hunt on behalf of Lord Amherst between 1897 and 1900. In 1913 it was acquired by the J.P. Morgan Library (now the Morgan Library & Museum) in New York. P. Berol. 7504 was bought at around the same time by the Berlin State Museums.[2]

Contents

The Philinna Papyrus is part of a collection of spells in hexameters.[3] Each spell has a title with the name and nationality of the author and the ailment which the charm is intended to cure.[4] The surviving portion of the papyrus preserves three spells.[5] The first spell is damaged, and it is not certain what it was for.[5] The text printed in PGM2 restores the heading as [ προ]ς κεφαλη(ς) [πονον ] ("spell for a headache"[6]), but Robert Daniel suggests instead that "κεφαλη" is part of the nationality of the author, and the word should be restored as Κεφαλιη(νιδος) ("of Kefalonia").[5] This damaged spell is followed by two more: one attributed to a Syrian woman for inflammation, and one by Philinna of Thessaly for headaches.[7]

Syrian woman's spell

Lines 4–12 of the papyrus are a spell "προς παν κατακαλαυμα" ("for any inflammation"), attributed to a Syrian woman from Gadara.[6] The name of the Syrian woman does not survive.[8] Another version of the same spell is known from a papyrus from Oxyrhynchus[8] The inflammation that the spell treats is probably a sort of skin condition, though the word κατακαλυμα is also used in ancient Greek medical texts for fever.[9]

The charm is of the type known as historiola, wherein a myth is told which is analogous to the desired outcome of the spell.[10] In the story, seven maidens put out a fire with pitchers of water.[11] No other version of this story is known in Greek mythology, though there are parallels with an Egyptian myth about Isis and Horus, and even earlier Egyptian and Mesopotamian healing magic.[12]

Philinna's spell

Lines 13–19 are a spell for headaches, attributed to Philinna the Thessalian.[13] This Philinna may be the same as the Philinna from Larissa who was the mother of Philip Arrhidaeus, one of the sons of Philip II of Macedon and half-brother of Alexander the Great.[14]

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References
  1. Maas 1942, p. 33.
  2. Maas 1942, p. 34.
  3. Faraone 1996, p. 98.
  4. Maas 1942, p. 35.
  5. Daniel 1988, p. 306.
  6. Betz 1986, p. 258.
  7. Faraone 1996, p. 99.
  8. Plant 2004, p. 114.
  9. Faorone 1996, n. 71.
  10. Faraone 1997, p. 48.
  11. Maas 1942, p. 37.
  12. Faraone 1997, p. 49.
  13. Betz 1986, p. 259.
  14. Dickie 1994, p. 121.

Works cited
  • Betz, Hans Dieter, ed. (1986). The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation Including the Demotic Spells. University of Chicago Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Daniel, Robert W. (1988). "A note on the Philinna Papyrus (PGM XX 1–2)". Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 73.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Dickie, Matthew W. (1994). "The Identity of Philinna in the Philinna Papyrus ('PGM2' XX.15; 'SH' 900.15)". Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 100.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Faraone, Christopher A. (1996). "Taking the "Nestor's Cup Inscription" Seriously: Erotic Magic and Conditional Curses in the Earliest Inscribed Hexameters". Classical Antiquity. 15 (1): 77–112. doi:10.2307/25011032. JSTOR 25011032.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Faraone, Christopher A. (1997). "Salvation and Female Heroics in the Parodos of Aristophanes' Lysistrata". Journal of Hellenic Studies. 117: 38–59. doi:10.2307/632549. JSTOR 632549.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Maas, P. (1942). "The Philinna Papyrus". The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 62: 33–38. doi:10.2307/626711. JSTOR 626711.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Plant, I. M., ed. (2004). Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: An Anthology. University of Oklahoma Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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