The Philinna Papyrus 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. In 1942 Paul Maas identified that the two fragments were part of the same roll. 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. The verso of the papyrus preserves parts of two further columns, in a cursive hand from about the first century AD. 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 in New York. P. Berol. 7504 was bought at around the same time by the Berlin StateMuseums.
Contents
The Philinna Papyrus is part of a collection of spells in hexameters. Each spell has a title with the name and nationality of the author and the ailment which the charm is intended to cure. The surviving portion of the papyrus preserves three spells. The first spell is damaged, and it is not certain what it was for. The text printed in PGM2 restores the heading as ς κεφαλη , but Robert Daniel suggests instead that "κεφαλη" is part of the nationality of the author, and the word should be restored as Κεφαλιη. This damaged spell is followed by two more: one attributed to a Syrian woman for inflammation, and one by Philinna of Thessaly for headaches.
Syrian woman's spell
Lines 4-12 of the papyrus are a spell "προς παν κατακαλαυμα", attributed to a Syrian woman from Gadara. The name of the Syrian woman does not survive. Another version of the same spell is known from a papyrus from Oxyrhynchus 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. The charm is of the type known as historiola, wherein a myth is told which is analogous to the desired outcome of the spell. In the story, seven maidens put out a fire with pitchers of water. 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.
