The Papyrus Graecus Holmiensis (also known as the Stockholm papyrus) is a collection of craft recipes compiled in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

. It is written in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

. The Stockholm papyrus has 154 recipes for dyeing, coloring gemstones, cleaning (purifying) pearls, and imitation gold and silver. Certain of them may derive from the

Pseudo-Democritus Pseudo-Democritus is the name used by scholars for the anonymous authors of a number of Greek writings that were falsely attributed to the pre-Socratic philosopher Democritus ( 460–370 BC). Several of these writings, most notably the ...

Zosimos of Panopolis Zosimos of Panopolis ( el, Ζώσιμος ὁ Πανοπολίτης; also known by the Latin name Zosimus Alchemista, i.e. "Zosimus the Alchemist") was a Greco-Egyptian alchemist and Gnostic mystic who lived at the end of the 3rd and beginning ...

, an Egyptian alchemist of , gives similar recipes. Some of these recipes are found in medieval Latin collections of technological recipes, notably the Mappae clavicula.

Leyden papyrus X The Leyden papyrus X (P. Leyden X) is a papyrus codex written in Greek at about the end of the 3rd century A.D.E.R.Caley, ''The Leyden Paprus X: An English Translation with Brief Notes''p.1149 "These two papyri have, however, upon the basis of unqu ...

derives from the same (or very similar) sources, and is written in a similar (possibly the same) hand, using chemically identical ink. The Stockholm papyrus and Leyden papyrus X were both found in Thebes by

Giovanni Anastasi Giovani Anastasi ( Senigallia, 20 March 1653 - Macerata, 13 March 1704) was an Italian painter, mainly of religious and history paintings. References He painted portraits in Senigallia of Cardinal legates Giacomo Cantelmo (1690) and Altieri (169 ...

, who donated the Leyden papyrus to the Dutch government in 1828 and the Stockholm papyrus to the Swedish government in 1832. The Stockholm papyrus was first published by Otto Lagercrantz in 1913. Whereas Leyden papyrus X deals with metallurgy, the Stockholm papyrus deals with gems, pearls and textile dyeing.

References

Sources

* Caley, E. R. (1927) “The Stockholm Papyrus : An English Translation with brief notes” ''Journal of Chemical Education'' IV:8 : 979–1002.
Lagercrantz, Otto (1913) ''Papyrus Graecus Holmiensis'', Uppsala: Almquist and Wiksells (Edition and German Translation)

External links

* Alchemical documents Art technological sources Chemistry literature Egyptian papyri Greek alchemy {{AncientEgypt-stub