Issue 3, 2023


A. E. Sonina

Novyi vzgliad na pis'mo Markiana k Isaku (P. Ross. Georg. III 9) [A New Look at Markianos’ Letter to Isak (P. Ross. Georg. III 9)]



The article offers a new interpretation of the letter from the collection of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. The letter was first published in the third volume of “Papyri russischer und georgischer Sammlungen”, ed. by Grigory Filimonovich Zereteli and Pyotr Viktorovich Jernstedt. The letter was written by Markianos and can be dated to the 4th century AD. The main topic of the letter is the request to receive some goods in Memphis: fumaria, black pepper, lupins and palm wine. We propose to interpret this list of goods as a list of ingredients required by Markianos or his addressee Isak for pharmacological purposes. The letter, therefore, appears to be a new piece of evidence of Memphis remaining a center of trade and medicine in late antiquity.

Keywords:
pharmacology, medicine, palm wine, Memphis, G. F. Zereteli, P. V. Jernstedt.

Original language — Russian.

DOI: 10.24412/2686-9276-2023-00012.

Referring: Sonina A. E. A New Look at Markianos’ Letter to Isak (P. Ross. Georg. III 9) [in Russian] // Egypt and neighbouring countries 3 (2023): 84–93. DOI: 10.24412/2686-9276-2023-00012.

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