Archimedes was hiding under the lines of a prayer book

Open the palimpsest of Archimedes: what comes first is a Greek prayer book. Completed in the 13th century, it was made from parchments already in use. The previous texts were scraped, the sheets cut and turned, then a new text covered what seemed erased.

Among the disassembled books was a medieval copy of Archimedes’ treatises. Traces of these mathematics remain at right angles to the prayers. The volume also brings together fragments from other works, including texts by the orator Hyperides. A single material book therefore contains the remains of several intellectual libraries.

The word palimpsest refers precisely to this type of re-use. Here, it produces a paradox: the transformation that made the old texts almost illegible has also preserved their support. These are not pages written by Archimedes in person. These are later copies, which have become precious because some works have only reached us in this way.