The Archimedes Codex
In 1998 at an auction at Christie’s in New York, an anonymous American book collector purchased a 13th century prayer book for 2 million dollars. The prayer book is a palimpsest, a book that was written over older words that had been scraped off the animal skin or parchment pages. In this case, the prayer book was written over 10th century manuscript copies of treatises by the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes (287-212 BC). The anonymous bidder deposited the manuscript with the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and has funded a 10-year project to read the works under the prayer book. Along with discov
William Noel talked about the book he co-authored, The Archimedes Codex: How a Medieval Prayer Book Is Revealing the True Genius of Antiquit… read more
William Noel talked about the book he co-authored, The Archimedes Codex: How a Medieval Prayer Book Is Revealing the True Genius of Antiquity’s Greatest Scientist, published by Da Capo Press. Mr. Noel displayed the palimpsest and many photographs. He also described the Archimedes Palimpsest Project which he directs. Mr. Noel was interviewed in his office at the Walters Art Museum.
In 1998 at an auction at Christie’s in New York, an anonymous American book collector purchased a 13th century prayer book for 2 million dollars. The prayer book is a palimpsest, a book that was written over older words that had been scraped off the animal skin or parchment pages. In this case, the prayer book was written over 10th century manuscript copies of treatises by the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes (287-212 BC). The anonymous bidder deposited the manuscript with the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and has funded a 10-year project to read the works under the prayer book. Along with discov close
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