The Artemidoros Papyrus

This chapter concentrates on the so-called Artemidoros Papyrus, a papyrus roll covered in texts and images that was published only in 2008. While discussions of the papyrus have been dominated by a fierce debate concerning its authenticity, this chapter adopts a different approach. Starting from the assumption that the papyrus is ancient, much of the chapter is devoted to discussing the labelled animal drawings on the verso (reverse side) of the roll. It is argued that these drawings provide important new insights into the world of Hellenistic natural science, but that the papyrus itself probably originated in a comparatively modest social milieu. The connections between the animal drawings and the other contents of the papyrus are also examined, with significant results.