A page long thought lost from one of the most important surviving manuscripts of antiquity has now been identified in a French museum, offering fresh insight into both ancient science and medieval book culture.
Researchers have confirmed that a leaf from the Archimedes Palimpsest—a medieval manuscript preserving works by the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes (c. 287–212 BC)—has been located at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Blois, in central France. The discovery was made by Victor Gysembergh of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and published the most recent issue of Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik.
The newly identified leaf corresponds to page 123 of the Palimpsest and contains part of Archimedes’ treatise On the Sphere and the Cylinder, specifically Book I, Propositions 39 to 41. Much of the mathematical text remains legible, despite later alterations to the manuscript.
The Archimedes Palimpsest itself is a tenth-century Greek manuscript that preserves several of the mathematician’s works. During the Middle Ages, however, parts of the original text were erased so that the parchment could be reused. This recycling process, known as creating a palimpsest, was common in medieval manuscript culture.
Over time, the manuscript passed through Jerusalem and Constantinople before being studied in the early twentieth century. In 1906, the Danish scholar Johan Ludvig Heiberg photographed the manuscript, creating a crucial record of its contents. These photographs would later prove essential, as the manuscript subsequently changed hands several times and some of its leaves disappeared.
The Archimedes Palimpsest is now housed at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. For decades, scholars relied on Heiberg’s photographs to study it. In the early 2000s, however, multispectral imaging made it possible to reveal major texts by Archimedes as well as previously unknown fragments of ancient literary and philosophical works.
Earlier studies of the same manuscript have also demonstrated the power of advanced scientific techniques. Researchers used methods such as X-ray fluorescence imaging to recover erased writing hidden beneath later additions, revealing texts that had been invisible for centuries. These breakthroughs have fundamentally changed how scholars approach palimpsests and other reused medieval manuscripts.
Despite these advances, three leaves documented in the 1906 photographs were missing and believed lost. The page now identified in Blois is one of these.
Gysembergh confirmed the leaf’s identity by comparing it with Heiberg’s photographs, now preserved at the Royal Danish Library. The match was clear, allowing the page to be securely identified as leaf 123.
The manuscript page reflects its complex history. On one side, medieval prayers partially cover the earlier Greek text and geometric diagrams. On the other side, a twentieth-century illumination depicting the Prophet Daniel surrounded by lions obscures the underlying writing, which remains inaccessible using conventional methods.
Researchers are now planning further study of the leaf. Subject to authorisation, imaging campaigns are expected to begin within a year. These will combine multispectral imaging with synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence analysis, techniques that may reveal the text concealed beneath the later illumination.
The discovery has also renewed interest in re-examining the Archimedes Palimpsest as a whole. With advances in imaging technology since the early 2000s, scholars hope to revisit the manuscript and recover passages that were previously unreadable.
As this newly identified page shows, medieval manuscripts continue to yield unexpected discoveries—linking the intellectual achievements of antiquity with the material practices of the Middle Ages.
The article, “A leaf from the Archimedes palimpsest rediscovered in Blois,” by Victor Gysembergh, is published in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik.
A page long thought lost from one of the most important surviving manuscripts of antiquity has now been identified in a French museum, offering fresh insight into both ancient science and medieval book culture.
Researchers have confirmed that a leaf from the Archimedes Palimpsest—a medieval manuscript preserving works by the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes (c. 287–212 BC)—has been located at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Blois, in central France. The discovery was made by Victor Gysembergh of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and published the most recent issue of Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik.
The newly identified leaf corresponds to page 123 of the Palimpsest and contains part of Archimedes’ treatise On the Sphere and the Cylinder, specifically Book I, Propositions 39 to 41. Much of the mathematical text remains legible, despite later alterations to the manuscript.
The Archimedes Palimpsest itself is a tenth-century Greek manuscript that preserves several of the mathematician’s works. During the Middle Ages, however, parts of the original text were erased so that the parchment could be reused. This recycling process, known as creating a palimpsest, was common in medieval manuscript culture.
Over time, the manuscript passed through Jerusalem and Constantinople before being studied in the early twentieth century. In 1906, the Danish scholar Johan Ludvig Heiberg photographed the manuscript, creating a crucial record of its contents. These photographs would later prove essential, as the manuscript subsequently changed hands several times and some of its leaves disappeared.
The Archimedes Palimpsest is now housed at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. For decades, scholars relied on Heiberg’s photographs to study it. In the early 2000s, however, multispectral imaging made it possible to reveal major texts by Archimedes as well as previously unknown fragments of ancient literary and philosophical works.
Earlier studies of the same manuscript have also demonstrated the power of advanced scientific techniques. Researchers used methods such as X-ray fluorescence imaging to recover erased writing hidden beneath later additions, revealing texts that had been invisible for centuries. These breakthroughs have fundamentally changed how scholars approach palimpsests and other reused medieval manuscripts.
Despite these advances, three leaves documented in the 1906 photographs were missing and believed lost. The page now identified in Blois is one of these.
Gysembergh confirmed the leaf’s identity by comparing it with Heiberg’s photographs, now preserved at the Royal Danish Library. The match was clear, allowing the page to be securely identified as leaf 123.
The manuscript page reflects its complex history. On one side, medieval prayers partially cover the earlier Greek text and geometric diagrams. On the other side, a twentieth-century illumination depicting the Prophet Daniel surrounded by lions obscures the underlying writing, which remains inaccessible using conventional methods.
Researchers are now planning further study of the leaf. Subject to authorisation, imaging campaigns are expected to begin within a year. These will combine multispectral imaging with synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence analysis, techniques that may reveal the text concealed beneath the later illumination.
The discovery has also renewed interest in re-examining the Archimedes Palimpsest as a whole. With advances in imaging technology since the early 2000s, scholars hope to revisit the manuscript and recover passages that were previously unreadable.
As this newly identified page shows, medieval manuscripts continue to yield unexpected discoveries—linking the intellectual achievements of antiquity with the material practices of the Middle Ages.
The article, “A leaf from the Archimedes palimpsest rediscovered in Blois,” by Victor Gysembergh, is published in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik.
See also: X-Ray Imaging uncovers hidden ancient text in medieval manuscript
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