Papyrus fragment P. Fouad inv. 218University of Liège/N.Carlig
Posted on 04/13/2026 8:34:49 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
According to a statement released by the University of Liège, a 2,000-year-old fragment of papyrus recovered from the archives of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo preserves 30 previously unknown verses written by Empedocles of Agrigentum, a Greek philosopher who lived in the fifth century B.C. The work of Empedocles had been known only through quotes recorded by later authors, such as Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch. Papyrologist Nathan Carlig of the University of Liège realized that the papyrus fragment, labeled P. Fouad inv. 218, was an unknown fragment of Physica, a poem written by Empedocles. These verses concern the philosopher's thoughts on particle effluvia and sensory perceptions, particularly vision. Carlig and his colleagues suggest that the newly discovered material could reposition Empedocles in the history of philosophy as a precursor to the ancient Greek atomists, who proposed that the universe is made up of fundamental components that are indestructible, unchangeable, and too small to be seen. To read about the discovery of previously unknown verses from two plays by the tragedian Euripides, go to "Lost Greek Tragedies Revived."
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
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Papyrus fragment P. Fouad inv. 218University of Liège/N.Carlig
Well u of liege, what did the lines exactly say?...
..”.cause I’m the Pompatus of love?”
Or, “give me dolma or death?”
I dunno...its all Greek to me...
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-previously-unpublished-verses-empedocles-papyrus.html
https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/75792
Roses are
Violets are
You are
And I Lo
We will never know, but we now know THIS MUCH MORE!
Huh huh. Thirty new lines is a lot, given the age of the material and the fragility of the medium.
Pre-Socratic. 500 BC and they were considering the idea of atoms. That is incredible.
I hope they find more.
Have they translated more of the scrolls from Herculeium ? Maybe there is more lost works there.
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