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OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 19/08/22, SPi
Studies on the Derveni Papyrus
Volume 2
Studies on the
Derveni Papyrus
Volume 2
Edited by
G L E N N W. M O ST
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,

United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
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© Oxford University Press 2022
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First Edition published in 2022
Impression: 1
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contained in any third party website referenced in this work.
Contents
Notes on Contributors vii

List of Illustrations ix
List of Tables xv
Abbreviations xvi
Introduction xvii
Glenn W. Most
PA RT I T WO E D I T IO N S O F T H E F I R S T C O LUM N S
1. The Derveni Papyrus, Columns 41–7 (formerly I–VII):

A Proekdosis from Digital Microscopy 3
Richard Janko
1a. Methodology and Criteria of Reconstruction 3
1b. Diplomatic Transcript and Palaeographical Commentary 16
1c. Text, Translation, and Apparatus Criticus 38
1d. Postscript 54
2. The Derveni Papyrus, Columns -2–VII: A Critical Edition from
Digital Microscopy 58
Valeria Piano
2a. Methodology and Criteria of Reconstruction 58
2b. Diplomatic Transcript and Palaeographical Commentary 84
2c. Text, Translation, and Apparatus Criticus 119
PA RT I I Q U E S T IO N S O F U N I T Y
3. The Cult of the Erinyes, the Villa of the Mysteries, and the Unity
of the Derveni Papyrus 151
Richard Janko
4. The Opening Lemmas 182
David Sedley
PA RT I I I H E R AC L I T U S A N D T H E D E RV E N I AU T HO R
5. Cosmic Order, the Erinyes, and the Sun: Heraclitus and

Column IV (44) of the Derveni Papyrus 211
Gábor Betegh and Valeria Piano
vi contents
6. Heraclitus in the Opening Columns (III–VI (43–6)) and in Columns

XI (51) and XX (60) of the Derveni Papyrus 247
Vojtěch Hladký
PA RT I V O T H E R A SP E C T S O F T H E PA P Y RU S
7. Notes to Derveni Papyrus, Column XXI (61) 277

Alberto Bernabé
8. Practices of Interpretation in the Derveni Papyrus and the
Hippocratic Text On Dreams (Vict. 4) 291
Mirjam E. Kotwick
9. Orphism in Macedonia: The Derveni Papyrus in Context 313
Angelos Boufalis
Bibliography 349
Index of Passages in the Derveni Papyrus and in Other Ancient Authors 371
Index of Names 384
Index of Subjects 389
Index of Greek Words Discussed 396
Index of Words in Janko’s Edition of the First Columns 398
Index of Words in Piano’s Edition of the First Columns 403
Notes on Contributors
Alberto Bernabé is Emeritus Professor of Greek Language and Literature at the

Universidad Complutense, Madrid. He is editor of Poetae Epici Graeci (19962) and
Orphicorum Fragmenta (2004–7, 3 vols.) in the Bibliotheca Teubneriana and the author of
several books and many articles on Orpheus and Orphism.
Gábor Betegh is Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge.

He works on ancient philosophy, in particular on ancient metaphysics, cosmology, the
ology, and the connections between ancient philosophy and the history of religions. He
published The Derveni Papyrus: Cosmology, Theology and Interpretation (2004).
Angelos Boufalis is an archaeologist. He holds a PhD in Greek epigraphy from the Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki. He has published or has forthcoming studies on subjects such
as Greek epigraphy, archaeological epistemology, and modern ethnography. He is now
preparing an edition, with commentary, of the pre-Hellenistic inscriptions of ancient
Macedonia.
Vojtěch Hladký is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and History of Science at the Charles
University in Prague. He works on ancient and Renaissance philosophy and partly also on
French epistemology. He is author of The Philosophy of Gemistos Plethon: Platonism in Late
Byzantium, between Hellenism and Orthodoxy (2014).
Richard Janko is Gerald F. Else Distinguished University Professor at the University of

Michigan. He has written on the Aegean Bronze Age, Homer and the early epic tradition,
Empedocles, the Derveni papyrus, and Aristotle’s Poetics, and has reconstructed and pub-
lished Books I–IV of Philodemus’ On Poems from carbonized papyri. He was elected a
Foreign Member of the Academy of Athens in 2017.
Mirjam E. Kotwick is Assistant Professor of Classics at Princeton University. She has pub-
lished articles and books on Greek philosophy and literature and their textual traditions,
including Alexander of Aphrodisias and the Text of Aristotle’s Metaphysics (2016) and Der
Papyrus von Derveni (2017).
Glenn W. Most retired as Professor of Greek Philology at the Scuola Normale Superiore di
Pisa in 2020 and is a regular Visiting Professor on the Committee on Social Thought at the
University of Chicago and an External Scientific Member of the Max Planck Institute for
the History of Science in Berlin. He has published books and articles on Classics, ancient
philosophy, and other fields.
Valeria Piano is Assistant Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Florence. She
has published extensively on the Derveni papyrus and edited several Greek and Latin liter-
ary papyri, including P. Herc. 1067, which contains part of the historical work by the Elder
Seneca. She is on the editorial board of the Corpus dei Papiri Filosofici Greci e Latini.
viii notes on contributors
David Sedley retired as Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of

Cambridge in 2014. His books include The Hellenistic Philosophers (1987, with A. A. Long),
Plato’s Cratylus (2003), The Midwife of Platonism: Text and Subtext in Plato’s Theaetetus
(2004), and Creationism and Its Critics in Antiquity (2007), based on his 2004 Sather
Lectures.
List of Illustrations
1. Black and White Plates (after p. 150)
1. Derveni papyrus KPT col. II, frr. G6+G5a juxtaposed to show mismatch in fibres lower
down (montage by Juliet Christin and Araceli Rizzo of infrared photographs by Spyros
Tsavdaroglou). © Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry of
Culture and Sports/Archaeological Resources Fund (Law 3028/2002).
2. Derveni papyrus col. 41, to show location of kollesis in frr. F10+F14+F19 and join in
fibres in frr. F14+F18 (montage by R. Janko of infrared photographs by Spyros
3a. Derveni papyrus col. 42, frr. G11+F5a juxtaposed to show match in fibres (montage
by R. Janko of infrared photographs by Spyros Tsavdaroglou). © Archaeological
Museum of Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports/Archaeological
Resources Fund (Law 3028/2002).
3b. Derveni papyrus cols. 42–3, frr. G5a and F9 juxtaposed to show match in fibres (montage
by R. Janko of infrared photographs by Spyros Tsavdaroglou). © Archaeological
4a. Derveni papyrus cols. 43–4, frr. G5b and F7 juxtaposed to show possible match
in fibres (montage by R. Janko of infrared photographs by Spyros Tsavdaroglou).
© Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports/
Archaeological Resources Fund (Law 3028/2002).
4b. Derveni papyrus cols. 44–5, frr. H46+F15 and G12 juxtaposed to show possible
match in fibres (montage by R. Janko of infrared photographs by Spyros
5. The portions of the Derveni papyrus-roll. The black lines in bold mark the different
portions into which the papyrus-roll broke. The letters correspond to the glass cases
in which the fragments are currently kept: the letter which classifies a fragment,
therefore, is indicative of the position that the fragment originally occupied in the
unopened roll. Besides the seven glasses, A–G, there are also glasses H and I: they
contain the (tiny) fragments whose position in the unopened roll is unknown.
© Leo S. Olschki Editore, Florence (courtesy of G. M. Parássoglou and
K. Tsantsanoglou).
6. Derveni papyrus, relocation of fr. F5a in col. VII (Piano ed.). The image shows the
analogy of the shape of the F-sections in cols. VII (47) and VIII (48) in Piano’s edi-
tion. The area occupied by fr. F5a (end of col. VII (47)) in Piano’s edition is almost
x list of illustrations
entirely preserved in the F-section of the next circumference (col. VIII (48)), as indi-
cated by the rectangle: the relocation of fr. F5a as proposed by Piano (which is
slightly different from the one proposed by Janko) recreates a shape of the F-section
placed at the end of col. VII (47) which, in light of the shape of the F-section placed
at the beginning of col. VIII (48), is closer to the one expected. Montage by V. Piano
of infrared photographs by Makis Skiadaressis. © Archaeological Museum of
Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports/Archaeological Resources Fund
(Law 3028/2002). © Leo S. Olschki Editore, Florence (courtesy of G. M. Parássoglou
and K. Tsantsanoglou).
7. Derveni papyrus, new join of fr. F17 in col. IV (Piano ed.). Left: the image shows the
analogy of the shape between the F-section as reconstructed by Piano at the end of col.
IV ((44), frr. H46+F15+F17 in background) and the F-section placed at the beginning
of col. III ((43), frr. F9+F8, outlined by the black line in foreground): the placement of
fr. F17 in col. IV (Piano ed.) recreates a similar shape to the one assumed by the
F-section in the earlier circumferences, since the shape of fr. F17 resembles that of the
bottom part of fr. F8. Right: the image reproduces the F-sections placed in three con-
tiguous circumferences and shows their similar shapes. Montage by V. Piano of infra-
red photographs by Makis Skiadaressis. © Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki,
Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports/ Archaeological Resources Fund (Law
3028/2002). © Leo S. Olschki Editore, Florence (courtesy of G. M. Parássoglou and
K. Tsantsanoglou).
8. Derveni papyrus, gG-sections in cols. I–III (Piano ed.). The frr. in foreground constitute
the gG-sections which occupy (in sequence) cols. I–III in Piano ed. They have been super-
imposed on frr. g12G1 (the best-preserved fragments of the same series), outlined in
background and in transparency, in order to show the level they occupy in the recon-
structed roll. Frr. G6 and G5 are placed in two consecutive circumferences because the
left-hand part of fr. G5 has the same shape as fr. G6 (as indicated by the broken rectangle).
Fr. G5a is a sovrapposto of G5 and, thus, must be placed one circumference later and at the
same height it occupies on fr. G5 (as indicated by the broken line). Montage by V. Piano of
infrared photographs by Makis Skiadaressis. © Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki,
Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports/Archaeological Resources Fund (Law 3028/2002).
© Leo S. Olschki Editore, Florence (courtesy of G. M. Parássoglou and K. Tsantsanoglou).
9. Derveni papyrus, gG-sections in cols. -1–I (Piano ed.). The fragments in foreground
constitute the gG-sections which occupy (in sequence) cols. -1–I in Piano ed. They
have been superimposed on frr. g12G1 (the best-preserved fragments of the same
series), outlined in background and in transparency, in order to show the level they
occupy in the reconstructed roll. Fr. G6a (sottoposto to G6) has been placed between
frr. g17G8: the resultant pair G6a+G8 is compatible with the size of G1 (in transpar-
ency and in background). Frr. g19 and g17 show the same crack on the left-hand edge
(marked by the circle), and therefore they have been relocated at the same level (as
indicated by the broken line). Montage by V. Piano of infrared photographs by Makis
Skiadaressis. © Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry of Culture
and Sports/Archaeological Resources Fund (Law 3028/2002). © Leo S. Olschki
Editore, Florence (courtesy of G. M. Parássoglou and K. Tsantsanoglou).
list of illustrations xi
10. Derveni papyrus, gG-sections in cols. -2–-1 (Piano ed.). The fragments in foreground
constitute the gG-sections which occupy (in sequence) cols. -2–-1 in Piano ed. They
have been superimposed on frr. g12G1 (the best-preserved fragments of the same
series), outlined in background and in transparency, in order to show the level they
occupy in the reconstructed roll. The grey fragment in the middle of the columns is
the best-preserved fragment among those of the F/E series (fr. E1): it indicates here
only the areas in which fragments F have to be placed. The broken line indicates a
crack that is shared by the three g fragments placed in sequence: g18, g20, g19; the
same crack occurs also in fr. g17 (cf. Plate 9), placed at the end of col. 0, i.e. one circum-
ference later than the one occupied by fr. g19. Montage by V. Piano of infrared photo-
graphs by Makis Skiadaressis. © Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Hellenic
Ministry of Culture and Sports/Archaeological Resources Fund (Law 3028/2002). ©
Leo S. Olschki Editore, Florence (courtesy of G. M. Parássoglou and K. Tsantsanoglou).
11. A wingless Poinē flogging Sisyphus, Apulian red-figure volute-crater, Underworld
Painter, Munich Antikensammlung 3297, c.330–310 bc. Staatliche Antikensammlungen
und Glyptothek, Munich; photograph by Renate Kühling.
2. Colour Plates (after p. 150)
1a. Derveni papyrus col. 39 l. 5 (fr. G16), to show ⌊θ⌋υμὸς ἱκά̣⌊νοι⌋, the end of the first line
of Parmenides’ poem (montage of near- infrared digital microphotographs by
R. Janko). © Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry of Culture
and Sports/Archaeological Resources Fund (Law 3028/2002).
1b. Derveni papyrus col. 46 (formerly VI) ll. 13–15 (fr. H18), to show Ο _ in left margin
between ll. 14 and 15, which begins ϕό̣β̣ου (montage by G. Ryan of digital microphoto-
graphs by R. Janko). © Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry of
2a. Derveni papyrus col. 46 (formerly VI) ll. 10–11 (fr. G3), to show small Ο in margin just
above l. 11, which reads ϕ[ο]ρτ̣ |ίον (montage by G. Ryan of digital microphotographs
by R. Janko). © Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry of Culture
2b. Derveni papyrus col. 45 (formerly V) upper margin (fr. G1), to show absence of
column-numbering (montage by G. Ryan of digital microphotographs by R. Janko).
Scale (at left) in mm. © Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry of
3a. Derveni papyrus col. 43 l. 6 (fr. G6), to show the tips of the Σ of τιμάς overlapping the
kollesis (digital microphotograph by R. Janko). Scale (at left) in mm. © Archaeological
3b. As previous in infrared spectrum (near-infrared digital microphotograph by R. Janko).

xii list of illustrations
4a. Derveni papyrus col. 43 l. 9 (fr. G6), to show the Ο of ]υτο[ overlapping the kollesis
before the upper surface of the lower sheet breaks away to expose vertical fibres from
the backing (digital microphotograph by R. Janko). © Archaeological Museum of
(Law 3028/2002).
4b. Derveni papyrus col. 43 l. 8 (fr. G6) in infrared spectrum, to show the Ο of ]στο[
overlapping the kollesis before the upper surface of the lower sheet breaks away to
expose vertical fibres from the backing (near-infrared digital microphotograph by
R. Janko). © Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry of Culture
5a. Derveni papyrus col. 41 l. 3 (fr. F10), to show ΚΑ[ overlapping the kollesis (digital
microphotograph by R. Janko). © Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Hellenic
Ministry of Culture and Sports/Archaeological Resources Fund (Law 3028/2002).
5b. Derveni papyrus col. 41 l. 7 (fr. F14), to show tips of Κ in ϕυσικ[ overlapping the
kollesis (digital microphotograph by R. Janko). © Archaeological Museum of
(Law 3028/2002).
5c. Derveni papyrus col. 41 l. 11 (fr. F19), to show line of kollesis before the ΝΑΙ in ε[̣ ἶ]ναι (digital
microphotograph by R. Janko). © Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry
of Culture and Sports/Archaeological Resources Fund (Law 3028/2002).
6a. Derveni papyrus, the omicron on fr. H18 (Piano ed.). Cols. V–VI: the omicron visible on
fr. H18 (bottom left-hand part of col. VI) is aligned with the level of l. 15 in col. V (red line).
Montage by V. Piano of infrared photographs by Makis Skiadaressis. © Archaeological
Resources Fund (Law 3028/2002). © Leo S. Olschki Editore, Florence (courtesy of
G. M. Parássoglou and K. Tsantsanoglou).
6b. Derveni papyrus, the omicron on fr. H18 (Piano ed.). Microphotograph in ultraviolet
spectrum. The green circle marks the possible relics of ink before the omicron (τ?); the
red rectangle marks the prominent fibre under the omicron. Digital microphotograph by
V. Piano. © Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and
Sports/Archaeological Resources Fund (Law 3028/2002).
7. Derveni papyrus, presence of a sottoposto under fr. G6 (Piano ed.), entire fragment (left)
and details (right). Microphotographs under visible light; the letters break off in coinci-
dence with the vertical line close to the right-hand edge of the fragment. Top right:
G6 l. 1: ΣΙΝ: only the first stroke of nu is visible: the second stroke breaks off in coincidence
with the beginning of the lower layer. Right, second from top: G6 l. 2: ΑΣ: the tips of the
sigma break off in coincidence with the beginning of the lower layer. Right, second from
bottom: G6 l. 4: ΤΟ: the omicron seems almost entirely written on the upper layer.
Bottom right: G6 l. 5: ΥΤΟ: the omicron breaks off in coincidence with the beginning of
the lower layer (only the left-hand part is visible). The lower layer shows traces of ink
which are not compatible with the right-hand half of the omicron (coloured in red).
Digital microphotographs and montage by V. Piano. © Archaeological Museum of
list of illustrations xiii

(Law 3028/2002).
8. Derveni papyrus, fr. G9 and its sovrapposto fr. G9a (Piano ed.). 8a. The infrared
photograph, by Makis Skiadaressis, reproduces fr. G9 in its entirety: the right-hand
half is occupied by a sovrapposto (fr. G9a). © Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki,
Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports/Archaeological Resources Fund (Law
3028/2002). © Leo S. Olschki Editore, Florence (courtesy of G. M. Parássoglou and
K. Tsantsanoglou). 8b. Fr. G9, first line. Microphotograph in infrared spectrum. The
red line marks the beginning of the sovrapposto. The blue circle indicates the letters
written on the main layer (G9: ] κ ̣ α
̣ ̣[), the green rectangle the letters written on the
sovrapposto (G9a). 8c. Fr. G9, last line. Microphotograph under visible light. The
green rectangle marks the letters written on the sovrapposto (G9a). Before the ο
(right-hand edge of the fr.), the right half of π is visible: the ink is close to the preced-
ing ϕ, and there is not enough room to restore the left part of the letter: ϕ and π
belong to two different layers. Digital microphotographs and montage by V. Piano.
© Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and
Sports/Archaeological Resources Fund (Law 3028/2002).
9. Derveni papyrus, fr. F19: absence of kollesis (Piano ed.). 9a. Fr. F19, infrared photo-
graph by Spyros Tsavdaroglou. The arrow marks the point at which R. Janko detects
the line of the kollesis. The fibres, however, are continuous all over the fragment.
9b. Microphotographs of fr. F19 (visible light). The inspection with USB digital
microscope confirms the continuity of the fibres all along the fragment and also in
the portion delimited by the red rectangle, which marks the area of the presumed
kollesis detected by R. Janko. Digital microphotographs and montage by V. Piano.
10. The mysteries of Dionysus: a winged demoness distracted from flogging an initiate,
fresco from the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii (photograph by Elaine Gazda, follow-
ing the cleaning and restoration of 2014–15). By concession of the Ministero per i
Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo, Parco Archeologico di Pompei (all rights
reserved).
11. A winged Erinys in short chiton and high boots with a wingless companion, Apulian
red-
figure volute-
crater, circle of the Lycurgus Painter, c.350–340 bc. Badisches
Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, B4; photograph by Thomas Goldschmidt.
12a. Derveni papyrus col. 45 (formerly V) l. 5, to show letters ]ουκαι[̣ in ἐκ τ]οῦ καὶ ̣
(montage of digital near-infrared microphotographs by R. Janko of fr. G10).
Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports/
Archaeological Resources Fund.
12b. Derveni papyrus col. 44 (formerly IV) l. 7, to show correction ]ρειτα⟦κ̣ν⟧`ν̣΄ [ in

κατ[ατιμω]ρεῖ τἄν[ισ]α (montage of digital microphotographs by R. Janko of fr.
G13). Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and
Sports/Archaeological Resources Fund.
xiv list of illustrations
Figures
9.1 Orphism in Macedonia: sites and regions referred to in the text. Map in the
public domain (Wikimedia Commons), cropped and annotated by the author. 348
List of Tables
1.1 Widths of kollemata in the Derveni papyrus, based on state of model

in March 2020 12
1.2 Directly measurable widths of kollemata in Philodemus, On Poems 2 13
6.1 The sacrificial ritual for the Erinyes/Eumenides 259
8.1 Allegorical interpretation in the Derveni papyrus 299
8.2 Allegorical dream interpretation in Vict. 4 311
OUP CORRECTED PROOF –OUP
FINAL,
CORRECTED
19/08/22, SPiPROOF – FINAL, 19/08/22, SPi
Abbreviations
Epigraphical abbreviations follow the conventions of the List of Abbreviations of

Editions and Works of Reference for Alphabetic Greek Epigraphy of the
Association Internationale d’Épigraphie Grecque et Latine; abbreviations of
ancient Greek and Latin literary texts mostly follow those in H. G. Liddell and
R. Scott, A Greek–English Lexicon: With a Revised Supplement, 9th ed. (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1996) and the Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2012).
BÉ Bulletin épigraphique, in Revue des études grecques (Paris, 1888– ).

BGU W. Schubart and E. Kühn, eds., Ägyptische Urkunden aus den Staatlichen
Museen zu Berlin. Griechische Urkunden, 9 vols. (Berlin: Weidmann,
1892–1937).
DK H. Diels and W. Kranz, eds., Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, vols. 1–3 (Berlin:
Weidmann, 1951–26).
IG Inscriptiones Graecae (Berlin, 1873– ).
Janko ed. Richard Janko’s edition of the Derveni papyrus, cols. 41–7 in this volume.
KPT Th. Kouremenos, G. M. Parássoglou, and K. Tsantsanoglou, eds., The Derveni
Papyrus. Studi e testi per il Corpus dei papiri filosofici greci e latini, vol. 13
(Florence: Olschki, 2006).
LIMC Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (Zürich: Artemis Verlag,
1981–2009).
LM A. Laks and G. W. Most, eds., Early Greek Philosophy, vols. 1–9 (Cambridge,
MA, and London: Harvard University Press, 2016); French ed.: Les Débuts de
la philosophie grecque (Paris: Fayard, 2016).
OF O. Kern, Orphicorum Fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922).
OP Fragments of the Orphic theogony in D. Sider, ‘The Orphic Poem of the
Derveni Papyrus’, in I. Papadopoulou and L. Muellner, eds., Poetry as Initiation
(Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University Press, 2014), 225–53.
OTF A. Bernabé, ed., Poetae Epici Graeci II: Orphicorum Graecorum et Orphicis
similium testimonia et fragmenta (Munich and Leipzig: Saur; Teubner, 2004–5).
Piano ed. Valeria Piano’s edition of the Derveni papyrus, cols. -2–VII in this volume.
SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum (Leiden: Brill, 1923– ).
SVF J. von Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, 4 vols. (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner
Verlag, 1905).
Introduction
Glenn W. Most
Science progresses, if at all, only by fits and starts. Perhaps no other case in the
modern study of the ancient Greek world confirms this truism more strikingly
than does the Derveni papyrus. For difficulties of all sorts—from the lamentable
condition of its material preservation, to the profound perplexities posed to our
understanding by its contents and intentions, to delicate issues of scholarly
propriety and international cooperation—have caused notorious delays and
unfortunate misunderstandings in the history of the scholarship on this unique
document. Its discovery in 1962 at Derveni, a locality some ten kilometres north-
east of Saloniki in northern Greece, was reported, widely, prominently, and very
quickly, in numerous scholarly journals, often together with photographs of parts
of the papyrus,1 and a first preliminary edition was published as early as 1964.2
But the intense interest throughout the scholarly world that had thereby been
stimulated was frustrated by the fact that years, and then decades, went by with-
out a definitive scholarly edition appearing—indeed, the editio princeps of the
papyrus was not published until 2006.3 The inevitable result was that various
unauthorized partial transcriptions circulated privately, and eventually one was
published anonymously in 1982,4 thereby supplying a basis for research that was
of doubtful legality and of unverifiable authority, and impairing the international
scholarly cooperation that was a prerequisite for any further progress. For years,
some scholars used the available materials for teaching or for private studies, but a
cloud of uncertainty made joint public work impossible. Eloquent testimony to
this fact is provided by the relative paucity of detailed publications and the
complete absence, as far as I know, of any scholarly conferences on the Derveni
papyrus, during this whole period.
With this in mind, André Laks and I organized an international colloquium at
Princeton University in 1993; the results of that colloquium were published by us
as Studies on the Derveni Papyrus in 1997.5 This volume provided for the first
1 Hood (1961–2: 15 and fig. 14); Blake (1962); Daux (1962: 793–4 and figs. 4, 5); Hunger (1962);
Vanderpool (1962: 390 and fig. 4); Makaronas (1963); Ochsenschlager (1963: 246 and fig. 1); Picard
(1963: 179 and figs. 1, 2); Kapsomenos (1963, 1964b).
2 Kapsomenos (1964a). 3 KPT. 4 Anonymous (1982).
5 Laks and Most (1997a).
xviii Glenn W. Most
time a reliable basis for study of the papyrus by supplying an English translation,
prepared by the editors and revised with the help of Kyriakos Tsantsanoglou, of
as much of the papyrus as had been reconstructed at that time. In addition,
Prof. Tsantsanoglou presented the very first evidence for the opening columns of
the papyrus, which had been almost entirely unknown previously, thereby estab-
lishing the numeration of the columns that has been the standard one and, until
recently, the only one; and he checked the articles in that volume against his read-
ings of the papyrus. The result was an extraordinary, immediate, and uninter-
rupted increase in the publication of editions, commentaries, monographs, and
articles devoted to all aspects of the papyrus. While there remains for now (and
doubtless will forever remain) much controversy about many fundamental and
detailed issues regarding the meaning, context, and purposes of the Derveni
papyrus, at least the textual basis for most of its columns seems to be relatively
secure since the publication of KPT in 2006; and at last the numerous scholars
who disagree vigorously with one another about so much else about the meaning
of this text are largely in agreement about what precisely the text is that they are
disagreeing about.
But if this is largely true for the better-preserved later columns, whose existence
and approximate text were already known long before 1997, it is far from being
the case for the extremely fragmentary opening columns, of which, in a moment
of unforgettable drama at the beginning of his Princeton lecture, Prof.
Tsantsanoglou suddenly pulled out photographs and transcripts from his leather
briefcase. These first columns present profound difficulties both in their content
and in their text. In content, they appear to be of a very different character from
cols. VII (47) to XXVI (66): for whereas the latter part of the text is devoted
entirely, with the single perplexing exception of col. XX (60), to the detailed alle-
gorical interpretation, in terms of a type of physical cosmogony reminiscent of
certain early Greek philosophers, of a theogonic poem ascribed to Orpheus, the
first columns instead discuss such religious phenomena as the Underworld, ritual
sacrifices, Erinyes, and daimones, without any obvious or explicit relation to a spe-
cific text. What is the relation between these two parts of the Derveni text? In
1997, André Laks and I described the task of ‘reach[ing] a deeper understanding
of the relationship between the two parts of the papyrus’ as one of the questions
that at that time had ‘perhaps not yet sufficiently engaged scholars’.6
If this assessment remains largely true more than two decades later, this is
doubtless due to the fact that the material condition of the text in the first
columns, which must serve as the foundation for any interpretative hypotheses
about it, is vastly inferior to that in the rest of the surviving columns. Anton
Fackelmann’s heroic conservation and restoration of the carbonized remains of
6 Laks and Most (1997a: 5).

INTRODUCTION xix
the Derveni papyrus in 1962 was far more successful for the relatively well-
protected inner layers of the papyrus roll, which he was able to restore in an
astonishingly legible form, than it was for the outer ones, which were reduced by
the original cremation and by the later excavation to a very large number of
mostly very tiny fragments, whose wording, original position, and arrangement
can in many cases no longer be determined with complete certainty. The
immediate result is that, while there can be such a thing as a single generally
accepted standard edition of the later columns, this has not yet become possible
for the opening ones. Given the exiguous material basis for any such edition of
these columns and the very large number of imponderables that determine how
that scanty evidence is to be assessed, too much depends not upon generally
recognized ‘objective’ scientific data, but upon individual ‘subjective’ qualities of
judgement and taste, imagination and experience, interpretation and expectation,
for consensus on a certain number of crucial but controversial issues to be
attainable yet. Even the numeration of the columns that had been traditional
since 1997 has been called into question in recent years: depending on whether a
single sign in the margin of one of the columns is read as a stichometric indica-
tion meaning 15 and interpreted as designating line 1500, or is understood differ-
ently, the extant columns must be numbered either from -1 to XXVI or from
39 to 66 (hence in this volume both numerations are employed).
The resulting situation seemed to me to raise the danger of a degree of
fragmentation and lack of communication among members of the international
Derveni scholarly community that might once again impede further progress.
With this in mind, I organized, with the help of Dr Leyla Ozbek, a colloquium at
the Scuola Normale Superiore (Pisa, Italy) on 2–3 March 2018, which sought to
bring together a number of scholars who had worked on the opening columns of
the Derveni papyrus and to lay the basis for a more fruitful international collabor
ation in the future. Partial funding for the conference was provided by the Scuola
Normale Superiore.
After an introductory session in which various interpretative hypotheses
regarding the beginning of the papyrus were proposed for group discussion, the
rest of the first day was devoted to an intense and prolonged examination by all
the participants of high-quality digital photographs of the fragments of the first
columns. The second day was given over to lectures and discussion. The following
scholars, in alphabetical order, participated in the conference; if they delivered
lectures, the titles of those lectures are indicated:
Guido Bastianini
Gábor Betegh
Franco Ferrari, ‘Attori dei riti nelle prime colonne del papiro di Derveni’
Maria Serena Funghi
Richard Janko, ‘The Cult of the Erinyes and the Unity of the Derveni Papyrus’
xx Glenn W. Most
Mirjam E. Kotwick, ‘Practices of Interpretation in the Derveni Papyrus, Plato’s

Gorgias and the Hippocratic Text On Dreams’
Glenn W. Most
Dirk Obbink
Leyla Ozbek
Valeria Piano, ‘Criteri di ricostruzione del rotolo di Derveni: premesse
metodologiche per una nuova edizione’
David Sedley, ‘The Opening Lemmas of the Derveni Papyrus’
The present volume arises from that Pisa colloquium, but it is not simply a
reflection of it. On the one hand, for various reasons it turned out not to be
possible to include in this book all the papers that were delivered on that occasion:
to those scholars who enriched the conference by their oral and written
contributions but who are not represented here explicitly, I express my thanks.
On the other hand, I have added a number of essays to the present volume that
were not discussed at the Pisa colloquium but which I hope, together with the
Pisa papers, will provide a somewhat broader panorama of the contemporary
state of scholarship on the Derveni papyrus and thereby make this volume of
greater usefulness to readers.
This book falls into four sections.
The first part offers two separate editions of the first columns of the Derveni
papyrus, which have been prepared by the two leading textual scholars working
on it at the present time, Richard Janko and Valeria Piano. While these two
scholars did their work in constant and collegial exchange with one another, they
have arrived at results that are too different in many regards for it to have been
possible for them to prepare together a single joint edition. Their editions
naturally coincide to a large degree, but there are also a considerable number of
divergences in detail and in general conception, of which only the most obvious
example is the difference in numeration: Piano, like many scholars, follows the
KPT numeration indicated in Roman numerals, but adds some further columns
(numbered with negative Arabic numerals) before KPT’s col. I; Janko’s columns
have numbers that are higher by 40 and are indicated in Arabic numerals. The
differences between their editions are based upon not only personal style and
taste, but especially upon the interpretation and evaluation of physical traces that
are extremely uncertain, mostly incomplete, and highly ambiguous; and these
differences are, at least for now, irreducible.
Both Janko and Piano provide detailed introductory essays to their editions,
explaining their methodology and general procedures. In each case, the edition
itself is divided into two parts.
First, each provides a diplomatic transcript and a comprehensive palaeographic
commentary for the columns in question. Janko’s edition covers cols. 41 (I) to
47 (VII), Piano’s -2 (38) to VII (47). The diplomatic transcript is intended to
INTRODUCTION xxi
communicate to the reader as clearly and as unambiguously as possible exactly

what traces of writing can be found on the papyrus—only those letters that can be
regarded as certain (in the case of Janko) or as highly probable (in that of Piano),
i.e. traces that, however incomplete they are, nonetheless are such that they
(respectively either certainly or else with a high degree of probability) cannot be
any other letter than the one that is indicated in the text. Dots under letters mean
that the letter printed is not the only one that is compatible with the traces. The
accompanying palaeographic apparatus provides the detailed justification for
the interpretation of those traces, explaining the degree of probability of those
readings that have been chosen and what other possible readings the exiguous
traces permit, and with what degree of probability. The differences between the
two transcripts derive principally from the editors’ divergent interpretations of a
certain number of traces and from their disagreement about the placement of a
certain number of fragments. Our hope is that these two transcripts will provide
all interested readers, and not only professional papyrologists, with a secure basis
for understanding what is known about the first columns of the papyrus, for
assessing what can be known about them, and for estimating the probabilities of
what can only be guessed about them. We hope that readers will be encouraged to
undertake this challenging (perhaps better, daunting) task and will be assisted in
doing so by the thirteen high-quality colour images from digital microphotography
of some of the fragments of these columns that Richard Janko has made available
with his edition in this volume and by the ten plates that accompany Valeria
Piano’s introductory essay to her edition.
Second, both editors then supply an edition of the text of these columns,
accompanied by a translation and apparatus criticus. Their editions are based
upon the interpretations of the traces that are documented in their diplomatic
transcript and palaeographic commentary; but, unlike these, the editions present
their results not as a series of letters but rather as a prose text of ancient Greek
literature, insofar as the scanty traces can be understood in this way. The letters
are interpreted as parts of words as far as possible; the translation indicates how
these words and the sentences to which they belong are to be understood
according to the editor; the apparatus criticus is limited to proposals that are
compatible with the traces as these are established in the corresponding diplo-
matic transcript.
It should be evident that the two editors’ results depend not only upon their
extraordinary precision and meticulous exactitude of observation, but also upon
their highly disciplined activity of imaginative interpretation and supplementation
and their intimate familiarity with Greek papyri and with Greek philosophical
prose. I am sure that all those who are interested in the Derveni papyrus will
share my gratitude to Richard Janko and Valeria Piano for their unremitting and
indefatigable labour and will make judicious use of their work in moving ahead
in the coming years in interpreting this precious document.
xxii Glenn W. Most
The essays that follow exemplify some of the ways in which this material can be
deployed in dealing with central questions raised by this text.
In their contributions, both Richard Janko and David Sedley address directly
the fundamental question of the relation between the opening columns and the
rest of the Derveni papyrus. There is no papyrological reason to think that these
two sections do not form a continuous part of the very same treatise, in spite of
their apparent differences in content, indicated above; but if that is so, then how
are we to understand their connection with one another? Janko and Sedley take
two complementary, indeed specular approaches to this conundrum.
Janko argues that the Orphic text that we find cited and interpreted in the latter
columns played an essential role as a constituent part of the rites of mystical
initiation to the Orphic mysteries that are referred to in the opening ones. It is
well known that many ancient religious rituals combined certain actions that
were performed (ta drōmena) with certain verbal utterances that were pronounced
(ta legomena); and, on Janko’s account, in the case of the Derveni papyrus the first
columns would correspond to ta drōmena of the Orphic initiation rite, the last
ones to ta legomena. In a certain sense, Janko refunctionalizes the exegetical
portions of the text by conceiving them performatively within the context of the
practice of the initiatory ritual: to the philosophical and philological comparanda
that have most commonly been deployed by scholars as parallels for understanding
these allegorical and etymological hermeneutic practices, he now adds the reli-
gious comparanda furnished by a wide-ranging collection of testimonia, combin-
ing both textual evidence (recently discovered papyri as well as the more familiar
Greek and Latin authors) and pictorial evidence (especially the Villa of the
Mysteries at Pompeii). To both the initiation rites and the Orphic poem that was
used in these rites, the Derveni author applies the same kinds of techniques of
symbolic interpretation in order to ferret out their hidden meanings, of which
most adepts are unaware; but beyond this general continuity of method, it is the
Orphic ritual itself that provides the link that unifies the treatise. What makes
that treatise unique within our extant (and manifestly very incomplete) body of
evidence is that it combines within a single text both a mystical discourse that
tells a story about the gods and a physical discourse that interprets that mystical
one in terms of the physical origins of the world.
If Janko approaches the problem of the papyrus’s unity by assimilating the later
exegetical columns to the ritual described in the opening ones, Sedley proceeds in
a complementary manner by assimilating the earlier columns that discuss rituals
to the later ones that interpret the Orphic theogony. That is, he suggests that the
highly fragmentary discussion of Erinyes, souls, and ritual practices in the
opening columns was not a free-standing disquisition about these matters on
their own terms, but instead the remnants of a continuous commentary on the
first verses of the same Orphic theogony as the one interpreted in the later
columns, verses in which either these matters were explicitly mentioned as such
INTRODUCTION xxiii
or else other ones were discussed in such a way that the interpreter could feel
authorized to interpret them in these terms. Sedley contextualizes the practice of
the Derveni author within the broad evidentiary canon provided by the numerous
surviving ancient Greek commentaries on philosophical and other texts; and he
ingeniously analyses the remains of the first columns and offers detailed
reconstructions of their hypothetical original form, with the goal of reconstructing
opening verses of the underlying Orphic hymn such that all the surviving papyrus
fragments can be understood as interpretations of lemmas derived from it. His
bold reconstruction is intended not as a definitive statement of the actual original
language of these columns but diagnostically as a stimulus to encourage readers
to reflect on the degree to which the extant traces of these columns are compatible
with a different interpretation of their meaning that takes into greater account
what we know of ancient commentary practice.
The chapters by Janko and Sedley stand in a relation of complementarity to one
another in the most general terms of their approach, but they evince substantial
disagreements on many questions of detail and on the whole structure, contents,
and purpose of the treatise. Yet it is not entirely impossible that in their general
direction they might both to a certain degree be on the right track: the present
state of our evidence does not allow us to exclude the possibility that the whole
treatise might have interpreted the same Orphic theogony and that it might have
done so by discussing in its earlier sections ta drōmena of the Orphic initiation
ritual for which its latter part provided ta legomena.
In the course of their discussion of the question of the unity of the papyrus,
both of these chapters also pay particular attention to issues raised by Heraclitus’
philosophical views and their place in the treatise, as is only natural, given that
the Derveni author cites and discusses Heraclitus prominently in col. IV (44)—
this may well be the earliest surviving named reference to Heraclitus and
quotation from his works. It is these issues that are the central object of the two
following studies, one by Gábor Betegh and Valeria Piano and the other by
Vojtěch Hladký.
Betegh and Piano devote a remarkably detailed analysis to col. IV (44) itself
from papyrological and philosophical perspectives. This passage has been an
important focus of interest in studies on the papyrus for many years; here it is re-
examined with the closest possible attention not only to the latest advances in our
understanding of the text of the fragmentary first columns, as these have been
proposed and discussed, especially very recently, by these two scholars and by
others, but also to the ways in which various more and less probable textual
hypotheses bear upon what we can infer both about the nature of the Derveni
author’s treatise and his philosophical views and about Heraclitus’ own doctrines
about the world. The Derveni papyrus, the Derveni treatise, and Heraclitus are each
made extremely difficult for us to understand by all kinds of perplexities; the tri-
angulation of all three of them, such as it is performed in this chapter, must be
xxiv Glenn W. Most
conducted with the most scrupulous precision and the greatest awareness of the
tentativeness of interpretative hypotheses and of the availability of alternatives.
Nonetheless, the authors succeed in arriving at conclusions that are attractive, for
all their uncertainty: among these, that the form in which the Derveni author
quotes as a single text a passage from Heraclitus, which is also transmitted in its
two parts separately and without any connection by two later authors, is truer to
Heraclitus’ original wording than the versions of these later authors are; and that
the Derveni author has an ambiguous view of Heraclitus’ status, respecting his
authority but not hesitating to accuse him of having fundamentally misunder-
stood the roles of fire and of air in the formation of the cosmos.
Betegh and Piano concentrate on the column containing the sole explicit
mention of Heraclitus, but they take care to establish connections between that
passage and a number of other ones in the treatise. Hladký broadens the
discussion of Heraclitus in the Derveni treatise further by focusing attention not
only on col. IV (44) but also on other sections that may demonstrate a more
extensive influence of Heraclitus on the Derveni author than previous scholars
have noticed. He finds motifs reminiscent of Heraclitus’ thought and language
elsewhere in the papyrus, especially in cols. XI (51) and XX (60), and brings to
bear upon the Derveni treatise a number of other, later texts that were certainly
influenced by Heraclitus but have tended to be marginalized in recent scholarship
on both Heraclitus and the Derveni papyrus. In particular, Clement of Alexandria’s
Protrepticus and several of the inauthentic epistles transmitted under the name of
Heraclitus, while they were certainly composed centuries later and bear the
unmistakable traces of a variety of different philosophical schools, show specific
affinities in their conception and wording, even when they discuss such appar-
ently disparate issues as politics or medicine, with fragments from Heraclitus and
passages from the Derveni author; interpreted judiciously, they can be made to be
fruitful for understanding both of these early Greek philosophers. In the course
of his argument, Hladký also discusses the unusual ritual practices that are
referred to in the other early columns of the papyrus and suggests that a passage
in Clement’s Protrepticus might contain a hitherto unrecognized fragment of
Heraclitus. Finally, he raises the question of whether two short passages in cols.
XI (51) and XX (60) that are marked by paragraphoi and hence, given the way this
symbol is used elsewhere in the papyrus, might be expected to contain quotations
from writers other than the Derveni author, could in fact be two previously
unrecognized fragments from Heraclitus.
The final section of this volume brings together three papers, by Alberto
Bernabé, Mirjam E. Kotwick, and Angelos Boufalis, which examine issues that are
connected with other aspects of the Derveni papyrus, and not primarily with its
opening columns, but which do so also wherever possible in terms of the progress
that has been made in recent years in understanding not only those columns in
particular but also the treatise and its context in general.
INTRODUCTION xxv
Bernabé recently published together with Piano an online edition of the

Derveni papyrus,7 and he is currently engaged together with her in preparing a
collaborative commentary to accompany that edition. As a specimen of this
forthcoming work, he provides here his preliminary version of col. XXI (61). This
column, from the later and better-preserved part of the papyrus, is of great inter-
est philosophically: it describes a crucial phase in the cosmogonic process, in
which the elementary particles of existing things find other ones with which they
are compatible and unite with them to create more complex composites. The
corresponding verses of the underlying Orphic theogony are lost; but they can be
hypothetically reconstructed from the Derveni author’s interpretation of them
and can be presumed to have told how Zeus’s ejaculation produced the birth of
Aphrodite Ourania and of two goddesses associated with her, Persuasion and
Harmonia. By means of allegoresis, etymology, and synonymy, the Derveni author
transforms (and indeed, defuses) this highly sexual myth into a mechanical
account of material processes. In his analysis of this column, Bernabé demon-
strates that the author makes erudite use of doctrines associated not only with
Anaxagoras, but also with Empedocles and the Atomists.
Kotwick focuses in her exploration of the intellectual character of the Derveni
author, and of the kind of cultural situation out of which we may suppose him to
have arisen, not so much upon the contents of his treatise, as scholars have often
tended to do, but rather upon the interpretative methods he deploys in his
explications of ritual practices and the Orphic theogony. In particular, she shows
that his allegoresis relies on similarities that he observes between the elements of
his Orphic text and the genesis, development, and structure of the natural world;
these similarities can take the form of linguistic resemblances that he points to
between various words, or qualitative resemblances between various things. She
suggests that an important and hitherto unnoticed parallel to this methodology is
offered by the Hippocratic text On Regimen (dated to c.400 bce), and especially
by its fourth book, which provides a series of interpretations of dreams intended
to help diagnose the dreamer’s state of health. The analogies between the
exegetical methods in the two treatises, together with various affinities in contents
and philosophical references, suggest that the Derveni author, far from being an
isolated outlier, may have belonged to an intellectual context that was similar to
that of the Hippocratic author, and that perhaps he may even have derived his
own method from that of the professional interpreters of dreams.
While Kotwick seeks above all to establish affinities between the Derveni
author and a contemporary intellectual milieu, Boufalis investigates the religious
and cultural dimensions specific to the Macedonian context of the Derveni
papyrus itself. Local cults of Demeter, Persephone, Hecate, Orpheus, and other
7 Bernabé and Piano (online).

xxvi Glenn W. Most
divinities associated with mysteries provide the religious background for a

number of Orphic burials in Macedonia during the Classical and early Hellenistic
periods. Boufalis’s comprehensive collection of the archaeological evidence for
these burials demonstrates the remarkable degree of interest among members of
the local elite during the later fourth century bce in Bacchic and Orphic beliefs
regarding the afterlife and their desire to document their initiation into a mystery
cult that promised them a favoured status after their death. Three Appendices
present this evidence, consisting of gold lamellae, wall paintings and mosaics, and
other objects such as the spectacular Derveni crater, richly decorated with
Dionysiac scenes, in which the ashes of a relative of the man who owned the
Derveni papyrus were buried. Boufalis concludes by considering possible reasons
for the decision to burn the papyrus at its owner’s funeral and the question of the
functional relationship between that papyrus and the golden lamellae or pictorial
representations of papyri rolls that are found at other Macedonian graves. He
hypothesizes that the owner of the Derveni papyrus was a member of a smaller
intellectual elite standing in an ambiguous relation to the religious views of the
larger socio-economic elite to which he belonged.
Individually, all these papers demonstrate the continuing, indeed steadily
increasing vitality of contemporary studies on the Derveni papyrus; taken all
together, they show that constant collaboration and exchange among scholars is
crucial, and will continue in the future to be so, if we are to have any hope of
resolving some of its many mysteries. In 1997, André Laks and I concluded our
introduction to the first volume of Studies on the Derveni Papyrus by stating,
‘Fortunately, many questions remain open.’ Almost a quarter of a century later,
that statement, fortunately, is still true.
PART I
T WO E DIT ION S OF T H E
F IR ST C OLUM NS
1
The Derveni Papyrus, Columns 41–7
(formerly I–VII): A Proekdosis from
Digital Microscopy
Richard Janko
For Despina Ignatiadou,

who enabled this restudy of the papyrus
1a. Methodology and Criteria of Reconstruction
1a.1 Techniques of Reading: Ink, Fibres, and Burning
It is a pleasure to present here the current state of my text of these columns of the
papyrus, with palaeographical notes and an explanation of the technology that
has allowed me to read and photograph the papyrus, alongside a reconstructed
text, translation, and apparatus criticus. The edition that follows is provisional, in
the sense that work on the papyrus continues; however, since we are being visited
by the daimones of global pandemic it seems best to share it in its present state.
Scholars’ interest in the papyrus is so great that it has repeatedly been the object of
premature publication. My earlier work on it ceased in 2008, when I understood
that further progress was impossible unless the papyrus itself could be restudied.
At the generous invitation of Despina Ignatiadou, I was able to study it in person
in the Conservation Laboratory of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki
for three weeks in 2014 and 2015. The staff of the Museum kindly enabled me to
obtain high-resolution scans of nearly all the old infrared photographs of it
(a couple seem lost). These are very important, because they preserve the fragments
I warmly thank Ori Bareket for working so hard on the digital model of the papyrus that I could pre-
sent these results (almost) by the editor’s deadline, and above all the American Council of Learned
Societies for the Fellowship that is now giving me the time to undertake this laborious task. Even so,
my text was not really ready by his deadline of March 2020; for later improvements, down to
September 2020, see my Postscript at the end. I am grateful to all the participants at Pisa for sharing
their views, to Dirk Obbink for letting us see some of the multispectral images that he helped to prod
uce in 2005, and to Glenn Most for bringing together our results in the present volume.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Going to the Lecture at Independence Hall.
The next morning, on returning from a walk with one of the foreign
secretaries of the Young Men’s Association, we stood for some time
upon the steps of Miss Sontag’s house discussing the decision of the
day before. All the excuses for the Korean attitude toward any
endeavors to help them which could, even in the remotest way, be
connected with their anti-Japanese prejudices, were admitted; they
were indeed “natural” (in the much-abused meaning of the word), but
they were neither reasonable nor Christian. Besides, they were
rendered particularly unmanly by the fact that these same Koreans
were ready enough to profit, individually and collectively, by
Japanese money and influence; and they were eager and crafty to
use the religious institutions afforded them by Christian money, for
the furthering of heathenish purposes and even criminal designs.
The best thing which the “guest of Marquis Ito” could, therefore, do
for the Koreans themselves was to let them know how, in his
judgment, they were to be measured by the standards of morals and
religion which they had professed to adopt. On going in to tiffin,
somewhat late from this discussion, I found by my plate the cards of
five Korean gentlemen, prominent in Christian circles, who had
called in my absence. The next day information was received that
these gentlemen had come to thank me for my previous work in their
country’s behalf and to suggest their wish to have the work
continued.
As a consequence of this implied invitation, one more public
address was advertised for a Korean audience in Seoul. It was to be
in the Association Hall, and its topic—“The Seven Cardinal Virtues.”
On the evening of Friday, May 3d, some four hundred were present,
including the Roman Catholic Archbishop, whose acquaintance I had
made only two days before. Either because of the hot weather, or of
the character of the address, or of the audience, the interest seemed
less than at any of the previous lectures. The time to terminate the
series of talks on topics so little stimulating and satisfying to the
desire for “look-see,” and for emotional excitement, had plainly
arrived. Probably, eight addresses on such serious topics, with an
attendance averaging perhaps 500 to 600 each, ought at the present
time in Korea to be gratifying to any speaker. However this may be,
the address of May 3d was the last of my experiences with Korean
audiences in Seoul.
Meantime, however, other invitations to speak in the capital city of
Korea had been received and were waiting for their turn. Soon after
our arrival, one of the Japanese pastors called to say that it had
been arranged for me, by one of the teachers, to address the
patronesses of a school for Korean girls bearing the name, and
profiting by the favors, of Lady Om. Although other plans had
previously been made, in order to save her reputation with the
“leading lady” of Korea, a rebuke was sent to this teacher for
engaging her speaker without first consulting him; but the invitation
was accepted. [In justice to the Koreans, it should be said that the
person guilty of this indiscretion was a Japanese. Indeed, to pledge
the speaker, and even to select his time and topic for him, is a sort of
morally doubtful enterprise, out of which even the New Japan has
not as yet wholly emerged]. The talk at Lady Om’s School was in no
respect a success. Although both substance and style were made as
simple as possible, the Korean girl who had studied abroad and was,
therefore, thought competent to interpret, completely failed in this
office. And when the Japanese pastor, who had mediated the
invitation, followed with an address in his native language which was
to convey the substance of the same thought to the Japanese
teachers and patronesses of the school, he delivered so prolonged
and brilliant an oration that the speaker whose few simple words
served as a text for it all, was obliged to commit a breach of etiquette
by leaving before the customary sequence of cakes.
In addressing Japanese audiences in Seoul, as elsewhere in
Korea and all over Japan, I felt entirely at home. It was characteristic
of them in this foreign land, as it was in the home country at the
same time, that they were, above all, desirous to hear the subjects
discussed about which I most desired to speak. The day when the
nation had expected a full salvation from “science” and military
prowess, without morals, has happily gone by. Its leaders, whether in
educational circles or in the army and navy, in civil service, and
largely, too, in business, are becoming convinced that the “spirit” of
Japan must be revived, retained, made more comprehensive,
purified, elevated; if the triumphs of war are to be followed by the
wished-for successes in the ensuing peace. Thus in Korea, as
everywhere from Nagasaki to Sapporo, in primary schools,
commercial schools, and in the university, I found the interest of the
Japanese in ethical subjects supreme.
When, then, an invitation was received to be present at a banquet
given by the “Economics Club,” of which Mr. Ichihara (manager of
the Dai-Ichi Ginko or branches of the First Bank of Japan in Seoul) is
president, and to speak there, I was glad of the opportunity—not only
to meet friends, but also to express certain cherished thoughts on
the relations of ethics and economics. The Marquis Ito was present
at this meeting of the club for the first time. In a lengthy address,
spoken with his usual careful “picking of words,” the Marquis
emphasized the need that the Japanese should set before the
Koreans an example of honesty and fairness in their economic
relations. He dwelt upon the thought that the one hundred and
seventy who were present, and who represented the principal
Japanese business interests in Korea, should show how the
Japanese national policy is based upon the principle of
unselfishness; and how Japan has declared for, and means to stand
for, “the open door.” In welcoming me he repeated, on this public
occasion, what he had said in the privacy of the interview at Kyoto,
with the following words: “Taking advantage of his visit to Japan, I
have invited Professor Ladd, whom I have the honor and the
pleasure of considering as a friend of several years standing, to
come over here and favor me with his frank and independent views
on the situation. What I want is independent views. I trust he knows
this very well. I trust his observations will be of great help to me.”
In replying to the address of His Excellency, after apologizing to
President Ichihara for criticising the school of economics in which he
had been trained (Mr. Ichihara studied this subject in the United
States), for failure to emphasize the important and unalterable
relations which exist between moral principles and economical
policy, I expressed my gratification at the triumph of the newer
school which builds on history, psychology, and ethics. I then spoke
of the importance of regarding moral principles as fundamental in all
practical ways, for the most successful handling of the delicate
political and economical, as well as social interests, of both Japan
and Korea. The observations of both speakers to the same effect
were seriously listened to and heartily commended by this influential
group of Japanese financiers in Korea. Between these gentlemen
and the unscrupulous and mischievous rabble of their countrymen,
who poured into Korea at the close of the war with Russia, a grave
distinction must constantly be made by those who would understand
the situation there.
The Japanese ladies in Seoul have formed themselves into
several flourishing societies, the most important of which, perhaps, is
the “Ladies’ Patriotic Association.” This Association is not only useful
as an organ for benevolent work among the widows and orphans of
the Japanese soldiers, and among the soldiers now on service in
Korea, but it has already done much to break down the barriers
which exclude Korean women of the upper classes from similar
offices, as well as those which separate the women of the two
nationalities. It is, therefore, admirably adapted to further indirectly
the purposes of the Resident-General in maintaining the honor and
welfare of Japan by promoting the good of Korea. On Wednesday of
the week following the address before the Economics Club, I spoke
to some sixty Japanese ladies, and about the same number of
gentlemen, under the auspices of this Association. The theme was
the importance and value of relations of friendship between the two
countries, as an appeal to the patriotism of those who must be relied
upon to bring about these relations. A few Korean ladies also were
present at this gathering. And when, at a collation which followed in
the Japanese Club-House of Seoul, Mrs. Ladd made a short address
to the ladies, a response in few words was made in Japanese by
Mrs. Megata, the wife of the Financial Adviser to the Korean
Government, and a yet longer one, in the same language, by Mrs. Yi
Chi-yung, the wife of the then acting Korean Minister for Home
Affairs. Such incidents as these may seem trivial, but they are really
noteworthy as the beginnings of what may well grow into a
satisfactory practical solution of the difficult problem of establishing a
Japanese Protectorate over Korea in a way to secure the honor and
welfare of both nations.
The remaining two addresses to Japanese audiences in Seoul
were not particularly significant as bearing upon the interests I was
trying to serve. They were, however, suggestive as to certain
changes going on in Korea which are destined to assist in the
redemption of the country. These were an address on an educational
topic to about sixty teachers who met in the fine, large brick school-
building which marks conspicuously the Japanese ideal in this
matter; and a talk on the relation of religion to social reform, given in
one of the Japanese churches to an audience of a union character,
representing the Christian work among their own countrymen by
pastors imported from Japan. An address at the annual meeting of
the Bible Society, an address at a meeting of the Asiatic Society, and
one or two other talks, completed my work of this character, so far as
the city of Seoul was concerned.
It will be remembered that the more important work in which the
Japanese Resident-General in Korea hoped I might be of some
assistance could not be done merely by making public addresses,
however well received by the Koreans themselves. It was evident
that his plans for uplifting by pacific measures the economical and
educational condition of the Korean people were being
misunderstood and hindered, not only by those foreigners who had
selfish interests to promote, but also by some who ought to co-
operate in every unselfish way. These “anti-Japanese” foreigners
were of several nationalities (so far as the diplomats and business
men were concerned); but the missionaries were, for the most part,
my own countrymen. In the complaint of Marquis Ito, there was
never at any time the least trace of bitterness, although the fact was
obvious that he felt the credit of his nation, as well as of his own
administration, to be deeply concerned. But surely, if both Marquis
Ito and the missionaries were striving to promote what was best for
the cause of the Korean nation and of humanity in the Far East, the
disclosure of this fact ought to make more easy the adjustment of the
delicate relations involved in the different kinds and methods of their
benevolent work. I knew that the Marquis desired this friendly
understanding and cordial co-operation. I thought it right that foreign
missionaries should be not less moved than was the Resident-
General by the same desire. Union and sympathy, rather than
opposition or indifference, ought to prevail between the industrial and
educational interests and the more definitively moral and religious.
The larger aspects of the missionary problem in Korea will be
briefly treated in another connection. At present it is enough to
describe the conclusions on this subject at which I was forced to
arrive, and to tell something of my personal experiences. There had,
doubtless, been much provocation to form a poor opinion of the
character and intentions of the Japanese populace which had
crowded into the cities of Seoul and Pyeng-yang during and after the
war with Russia. They had cheated and maltreated the Koreans and
had brought suspicion and, in some instances, disgrace upon the fair
fame of Japan. None of the other foreigners were readier to make
accusation of this than were the reputable Japanese to confess and
deplore the same thing. But all the robbery and oppression by these
unfriendly foreigners was as nothing compared with what the
Koreans had suffered from their own countrymen through hundreds
of years. Moreover, at this very time, almost without exception, a
Korean was to be found back of, or associated with, a Japanese in
each scheme for swindling and in each act of injustice or oppression.
On the other hand, the conduct of some of the missionaries had
not been altogether judicious or even fair and just. As a body they
seemed inclined to be over-credulous and easy to deceive by the
falsehoods and exaggerations of their own converts. Not unnaturally,
but it would seem unwisely, they had been somewhat too
extravagant in praise of the negative virtues of the Koreans, and
somewhat too sparing in demanding the more manly moral qualities
of sincerity, courage, veracity, and sturdy loyalty to justice and to
truth. And—to quote expressions heard from the lips of some of the
ladies—there had been too much talk with foreigners and before the
natives, about the “dear Koreans”; and “We do not love the
Japanese.” That certain letters home—in part private and not
designed for publication by the writer, and in part written by
missionaries themselves for the press, or by chance visitors or
newspaper correspondents to make public stories told to them by the
missionaries—had created strong impressions unfavorable to the
success of the Japanese Protectorate, was not a matter of merely
private information. Moreover, the connection, both implicit and
obvious, between these workers in the moral and religious interests
of Korea and the enterprises of Mr. Homer B. Hulbert and his
colleagues in the alleged political interests of the Korean Court,
could not fail to be interpreted by both foreigners and Koreans as
hostile to the policy of the Japanese Government. Even as late as
August, 1907, an open letter—than which anything more insulting or
abusive of the Japanese nation has seldom been published—was
written by a Church of England missionary.
Dr. Jones and I had talked over the situation and the policy of the
missionary body, as touching the real and lasting advance of morals
and religion in Korea, many times before the hour when the point of
turning was reached. I had found him always frank, fair, and
sympathetic with the difficult and complicated interests of both
peoples. He had assured me that, personally, Marquis Ito was
steadily gaining in the confidence of all the foreigners, including the
missionaries, and even of the Koreans themselves. But the prejudice
and bitterness of feeling toward the Japanese generally remained
unchanged; and every one seemed to be doubting whether the
policy of the Resident-General could win its way. I had steadily
maintained the position that, whatever might have been true in the
past, the welfare of Korea and the success of missions there,
depended upon a positive and hearty co-operation of all the factors
common to both forms of good influence. I had previously told
Marquis Ito that, in my judgment, the Christian movement now in
progress would be the most important help toward the success of his
policy in uplifting the Korean people. His Excellency, I had said to Dr.
Jones, had held out the hand to the missionaries; for them, through
fear of losing influence among the Koreans, or especially at the
Korean Court, to refuse to take this hand, seemed to me not only
unwise but in a measure un-Christian. Without the success of the
powerful influence wielded by the Resident-General for the
economical and educational improvement of Korea—for developing
its industries, founding schools and hospitals, making the conditions
of life more comfortable and sanitary, purging the corrupt court, and
securing law, order, and the administration of justice in the country
magistracies—preaching, Bible-teaching, and colporteurage, must
remain forever relatively unavailing. Moreover, I was becoming
convinced that a large proportion of the present interest of the
Koreans in the missionary movement had, either in pure or mixed
form, political motives behind it.
It was on Thursday, May 2d, that the Korean Daily News—the
paper whose most obvious purpose seemed to be, in its English
edition, to foster prejudice against the Japanese and to obstruct the
policy of the Resident-General, and in its native edition to mislead
the Koreans and excite them to sedition—published the following
“telegrams about Korea from American papers” as likely to “prove of
local interest” (sic). [It should be remembered that this date was only
some ten days after the assassination of the Minister of the
Household Department, Mr. Pak Yong-wha, and somewhat more
than a month after the attempted assassination of the Minister of
War.] “American missionaries writing from Korea recently tell of a
most intolerable state of affairs in that country where the Japanese
have been acting in such a high-handed manner as to cause even
the humble native to revolt. The Emperor is held a prisoner and
appears to be in daily terror of his life. Nor have the aggressions of
the Japanese been confined to the natives of Korea. Americans,
engaged chiefly in mining enterprises, had it plainly demonstrated
that Korea is no place for them and that they would better move out.
A representative of these mining interests” (the true story of this
‘mining representative’ will be told elsewhere) “is now either at or on
his way to Washington to see if they cannot obtain redress from their
government. This latest development in the Korean situation, the
boycott, will doubtless precipitate matters in Korea.”
These “telegrams,” published May 2d in Seoul, bore date of San
Francisco, April 1st. It so happened that Dr. Jones came to my office
on the early morning of the date of this publication. Finding that he
had not read the article in the Korean Daily News, I called his
attention to it; and I then spoke more plainly about the urgent
necessity of a change of attitude on the part of the missionaries than
I had ever spoken before. It was apparent, I urged, that the negative,
non-committal position would no longer suffice. Instead of its being
justifiable under the plea of not engaging in politics, the very reverse
was true. The missionaries in Korea, either unwittingly or half-
willingly, were being used, both in Korea and in the United States, to
foster anti-Japanese feeling as supported by exaggerations,
falsehoods, and only half-truths. They were thus, I feared, helping to
encourage the very worst and most dangerous elements in both
countries. There was real danger that, if this course was persisted in,
the peaceful policy of Marquis Ito, with its patient and generous effort
to promote the development of the Korean people, might be
discouraged. And if the mailed fist were invited, or seemed
necessary, to maintain the reasonable and unalterable intention of
Japan never again to leave Korea to be a prey to foreign intrigues
against herself and to the degradation of its own corrupt government,
the cause of Christian missions in Korea surely would not fare better
than it easily could by establishing friendly relations of co-operation
with the existing Protectorate. The events of October, 1895, and of
the following years, ought not to be so easily forgotten.
Two days later the following, under the heading of “Marquis Ito and
Christian Missionaries,” appeared in the Seoul Press. “His
Excellency Marquis Ito received Dr. George Heber Jones and Dr. W.
B. Scranton on Thursday afternoon. The work of the churches in
Korea was discussed and the visitors assured His Excellency that
the reports, reproduced from American papers, claiming that the
Christian missionaries were antagonistic to the Resident-General
and his policy in Korea, neither represented their personal
sentiments nor those of their colleagues; that His Excellency might
feel assured of their sincere sympathy and co-operation in all
measures looking toward the betterment of the Korean people. The
missionaries make it a rule to stand aloof from political matters,
finding in the moral and spiritual uplift of the Korean people full
scope for activity.”
“His Excellency assured the visitors that he gave no credence to
the reports thus circulated, and that he entertained no suspicion nor
doubt of the missionaries in Korea. He fully recognized the value of
the work they were doing for the moral and spiritual betterment of the
Koreans, and wished them every success.”
This public announcement of the establishment of friendly
relations between the Marquis Ito and an influential portion of the
missionary body in Korea was drawn up in semi-official fashion. The
gentlemen who undertook the duty of making the advances toward
the Resident-General were convicted—as is every one who comes
into anything approaching familiar relations with him—of the
complete sincerity of his purpose toward the people of Korea, and of
his frank and fair-minded policy toward all foreign interests. The
Marquis himself, after the interview, requested that the substance of
it might be made known to the public. Each party prepared with care
the few words which declared this unselfish alliance between the
representative of His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Japan, in
Korea and these representative teachers of religion, in the common
effort to promote the industrial, educational, moral, and religious
welfare of a hitherto unhappy nation. Such an alliance—as we may
reasonably hope—will contribute to the reputation for wisdom and
unselfishness of both parties to it. At any rate, as soon appeared, the
immediate results were in the direction of an enlarged future good.
CHAPTER IV
LIFE IN SEOUL (CONTINUED)
The winter and spring of 1907 in Korea were, from the point of
view of one interested in this kind of politics, a very lively period,
even for a country traditionally accustomed to similar performances.
Four attempts at assassination of the Ministry—one of which was
successful; daily disclosures of intrigue, plot and counter-plot; revolts
against the country magistrates which took the form of refusal to pay
taxes, of attacks upon the police, and of highway robbery; plans for
plundering the resources of the nation under plausible pretence of
schemes for “promoting” the nation’s resources; foolish excitements
selfishly fostered by writers for the press who had their own interests
to secure; and quite as foolish, but less selfish, endeavors for
increase of public welfare, by those benevolently inclined; secret
arrangements for the despatch of the unfortunate delegation to the
Hague, accompanied by stealings from the impoverished royal
treasury to the extent of several hundred thousand yen; and, finally,
a change, not only in the personnel of the Ministry but in its very
constitution and mode of procedure, which amounted to a bloodless
revolution—these and other like events were crowded into this one
half-year. Meantime, especially after the return of the Resident-
General, the foundations of a new industrial and educational
development were being laid; and the arrangements for a systematic
administration of law and justice were quietly made ready. An
extensive religious revival was in progress—with phenomena
corresponding to those familiar to students of such subjects, when
the moral power of a higher religion first makes itself felt among a
people who are ignorant devil- and spirit-worshippers and are
habitually negligent or corrupt in respect of the manliest virtues. All
this ferment was both caused, and pervaded in its characteristics, by
the Korean national hatred of the race that was destined to subdue
and, as we hope, redeem them.
During Marquis Ito’s absence in Japan those opposed to the
workings of the recently established Japanese Protectorate over
Korea were indeed busily engaged. Their various enterprises took
the several forms mentioned above. As to assassination, one
unsuccessful attempt had been made some time before the Marquis’
return to Korea. A beautiful box of nickel was sent as a present to
acting Prime Minister Pak. No one of the Korean Court, being wise in
their generation, ventured to examine its contents or even to raise
the lid of the box. Subsequently the Resident-General examined it
himself. It proved to be an ingenious contrivance by which the
turning of the key and lifting the lid would pull the trigger of a pistol
and explode the powder with which the box was filled. Both box and
pistol were of American manufacture. The intention of the pretended
present, which it was doubtless hoped would be the more eagerly
accepted and naïvely dealt with, since it ostensibly came from so
“friendly” a country, needs no investigation. The precise source of
the murderous gift will perhaps never be accurately known.
The day but one before our arrival in Seoul another unsuccessful
attempt at political murder was made—this time in daylight and upon
one of the principal thoroughfares. The object of attack was Mr.
Kwon, the Minister of War, who was riding in a jinrikisha surrounded
by his official guard. The following account is taken from the Seoul
Press of Friday, March 29th:
The Korean Minister of War had a narrow escape on

Monday from a daring attempt on his life. The would-be
assassins—there were two or probably more—succeeded in
getting away from the Japanese policeman in the Korean
service, who seems to have had a most desperate struggle
with them and some people who came to their assistance
(that is, the assistance of the assassins). He, however,
succeeded in taking the pistol, which had been fired twice
upon the Minister, happily without any effect. One of the
accomplices was shortly after arrested by another Japanese
policeman in the Korean service in the vicinity of the
Minister’s residence. According to a statement made by this
prisoner, he belongs to a band of eighteen men from South
Korea, who are alleged to have recently entered Seoul for the
purpose of assassinating the Cabinet Ministers. These men
are further alleged to be the remnants of the so-called
“volunteer” insurgents of last year. There seems, however,
reason to suspect the truth of this statement; it is not unlikely
that motives of a political character have been adduced to
cover a crime prompted by personal enmity or rivalry. Such
things have constantly occurred in this country in recent
years. Rumors are rife as to the true origination of the
dastardly attempt on Mr. Kwon’s life, but we do not consider it
necessary to take any notice of them; they are mostly of such
an extraordinary character that they will certainly be
dismissed as utterly inconceivable by anybody not
accustomed to the peculiar ways of politics in Seoul.
One remark should be added to complete this public account; and

one other to enable the observer to read between the lines. There
were Korean body-guards and policemen and citizens at hand; but
only one Japanese policeman made any attempt to save the
Minister’s life or to arrest the assassins. The rumors rife, so
inconceivable to “anybody not accustomed” to the “politics” of Seoul,
suggested, as usual, that it would be well not to examine too closely
into the plot, lest some one might be uncovered who stood “higher
up” in the court circles of Korea.
The third attempt at assassination was limited to the discovery and
immediate flight of the intruder as he was trying to climb the wall of
the enclosure of acting Prime Minister Pak. But the fourth attempt did
not terminate so harmlessly. In brief, the history of this political
murder was as follows (its date was April 21st):
On Sunday evening, Mr. Pak Yong-hwa, Director of the

Audit Bureau of the Imperial Household Department, was
assassinated at his house. On that evening Mr. Pak had
nearly a dozen visitors, and while he was conversing with
them shortly after ten o’clock, the card of another visitor, not
known to him, was brought in. Mr. Pak saw the man in a
separate room, and no sooner had he begun to talk with him
than another man rushed into the room through a window and
stabbed Mr. Pak in the right breast, inflicting a wound four
inches deep. Seeing their victim drop mortally wounded, the
assassins hurriedly left, discharging a few shots from their
revolvers to prevent pursuit. They are said to have been
attired in foreign dress, and from their accent it is inferred that
they are most probably from Keng-Sang-do.
The unfortunate Minister died from his wound while in the

palanquin on the way to the Japanese hospital. Marquis Ito,
supposing from the news received by telephone that acting Prime
Minister Pak was the victim, started at once for the hospital; but
learning, before reaching there, of the real name of the victim, and of
his death, he returned to the Residency. The next day H. M. the
Emperor caused a chamberlain to pay a visit of condolence to Mr.
Pak’s residence; but the city of Seoul and the country of Korea went
about its business of intrigue or its work of tilling the fields, as though
nothing unusual had happened. The distinction between such events
here and in Russia should be borne in mind by one trying to estimate
their significance. In Korea there is no immediate tangible interest,
affecting life, liberty, or property, for the individual, at stake, to justify
violence. Where the real reasons are not thoroughly selfish and
corrupt—as indeed in most cases they are—a misguided patriotism,
with a large mixture of hypocritical sentimentality, is the motive for
the political murders of Korea. The real patriots, if their feeling is
intense enough and their courage sufficient, commit suicide; and
those of less degree of intensity refuse to accept office under a
foreign protectorate!
In general, it had hitherto been only the court officials themselves
who much cared as to what persons were selected by the Emperor
for the different high offices in Seoul itself. They, too, had been
chiefly interested in the more serious question as to who it is of these
officials that gets himself assassinated. The peasants and pedlers,
who are the travelling merchants in the country districts, care only
about the local magistrates and about the bearable amount of their
“squeezes.” But under the administration of Marquis Ito
assassination of officers whose character and official acts sustain
such important relations to the vital interests of both Japan and
Korea, cannot now be allowed its traditional impunity. Investigation
into the authors and promoters of this plot, therefore, quietly began
and was carried as far upward as seemed desirable or necessary.
According to the Korean Daily News, the three Koreans—La In-yung,
Aw Ki-ho, and Kim In-sik—who on April 1st “went to the Supreme
Court in Seoul and gave themselves up, stating that they were the
ones who had tried to kill the Minister of War,” “seem to have been
actuated by no selfish impulses.” The same paper calls attention to
the claim that the plan was to kill all the five Cabinet Ministers “who
signed the last treaty with Japan”; and also to the fact that these
same men had been to Japan to memorialize the Japanese Emperor
with reference to the condition of Korea under the protectorate of the
empire whose head was His Majesty himself. This is as far as the
paper cared to go at this time in apologizing for the attempt at
wholesale murder; but there is no doubt that the attempt itself was
not at all displeasing to the court officials of the other party than the
one in power or to the people generally.
The truer story is as follows: The searchings of the police after
those who attempted the assassination of the Minister of War
resulted in picking up a number of them from various quarters.
These rascals were cross-questioned and one of them confessed
and implicated as back of the plot financially, no less important a
personage than the ex-Minister of the Imperial Household, Yi Yong-
tai. This is the man who was once prevented by foreign influence, on
account of his thoroughly evil reputation, from going to Washington
as Minister from Korea. He is known as a past-master in all kinds of
craft and corruption, thoroughly untrustworthy; although he had
formerly been elevated by the Emperor to the position of Minister of
the Interior. Now, it so happened that at the very time of the
examination of the assassins, this same gentleman was in an
adjoining room where he and those with him could easily hear
everything said in answer to the cross-questioning. It is no wonder,
then, that Mr. Yi Yong-tai confessed that he himself was indeed one
of the band of patriots who had attempted the gallant measure of
paying hired assassins to make way with their political rivals—as I
have already said, a recognized, legitimate political measure
throughout Korean history.
The progress and result of the investigations into this plot of
assassination are so significant that this summary account from the
Seoul Press is well worthy of reflective consideration:
The authors of the late unsuccessful attempt on the life of

Mr. Kwon, the War Minister, have at last been established.
The plot is of much greater magnitude than originally
supposed, and more than thirty men are now under arrest.
The leaders of the conspiracy are two South Chul-la-do men,
La In-yung and Aw Ki-ho by name. It is stated that they are
men of learning and command some respect among their
neighbors. Some days ago they surrendered themselves to
the Supreme Court and confessed all that had happened.
From their own statements it appears that the events which
led them to the dastardly attempt are rather historical than
temporary. Since the days of the Japan-China war they have
been imbued with the idea that the peace of Korea could be
preserved only through the separate independence of Japan,
China, and Korea. Guided by this idea they did all things in
their power to prevent Russia from gaining ascendancy in this
country after that war; and on the outbreak of the Russo-
Japanese war they prayed, so they say, for the victory of
Japan, as her Imperial declaration of war made reference to
the maintenance of the territorial integrity of the peninsula. In
June, 1905, the two men, with one Yi, a school teacher, went
over to Tokyo and made representations to the Household
Department and Cabinet Ministers, petitioning for Korea’s
independence. On learning from the Japanese press that the
conclusion of a treaty was on the tapis between Japan and
Korea, which would transfer the conduct of Korean foreign
affairs into the hands of the former, they immediately wired to
Mr. Pak, the Premier, requesting him not to sign the
Convention, even if his life were threatened. The Convention,
however, soon became an accomplished fact in November,
1905, and the three left Tokyo for home in the next month. But
they soon found it impossible to enjoy tranquillity at home.
Japan began steadily to perform that which the Convention of
November, 1905, provided for, and they again crossed to
Japan, in April, 1906. They vainly attempted to persuade
some Japanese politicians to start a movement for the
realization of their cherished ideal. Discouraged by another
failure, they once more returned to Seoul, and on the initiative
of La In-yung, they came to the terrible decision that the
Premier and four Ministers of State, who were responsible for
the conclusion of the Convention, should be assassinated in
order to admit of the present Government being replaced by a
new administration, composed of men of greater ability and
capable of forcing Japan to restore to Korea the conduct of
her own affairs. They were thus awaiting the advent of a good
opportunity.
On the other hand, a survivor of the Chi Ik-hyun rebellion,
named Pak Tai-ha, with Kim Tong-pil, arrested on Tuesday,
and a few others discontented with the present régime, were
conspiring here to raise another rebellion; and La and Aw,
happening to come in contact with these men, a special
friendship was soon contracted between them. Pak and his
associates were prevailed upon by La and Aw to abandon
their own plan and join the plot against the Government in
power. Here stepped in another person, by name Kim In-sik,
hailing from North Chul-la-do. Having many acquaintances
among the officials of the Government, especially among
those now out of power, Kim was asked to raise a fund
necessary for the achievement of their common cause; and
he succeeded in drawing a sufficient sum from the
discontents. Yi Yong-tai, ex-Minister of the Imperial
Household, now under arrest, headed the subscription list by
contributing 1,700 yen, and this was followed by 1,200 yen by
Min Hyung-sik, Vice-Minister of Education, who was arrested
on Thursday night, through the medium of Chi Ik-chin, Chief
of the Accounts Section of the Imperial Guards Bureau in the
Household Department, who, in turn, was also arrested on
Thursday night. A few minor contributions were made by ex-
officials, making a total of 3,400 yen.
The date originally fixed for the assassination of the five
Ministers was the 1st of the first moon, when all the high
dignitaries proceed to the Palace to offer their congratulations
to the Emperor. They hired a number of men in Chul-la-do
and Kyöng-sang-do for the purpose; but the plan miscarried
owing to the belated arrival of these men. The 25th of May
was then chosen. Some fifty men came up to town in time
from the above two provinces, and five bands, each under the
command of a leader, were posted along the roads leading to
the Palace from the respective residences of the Premier,
Ministers of the Interior, War, Education and Justice, and Mr.
Yi Kun-tak. The company commanded by Aw Ki-ho, which
was to do away with Mr. Pak, failed through the hesitation of
the hired men; but Yi Hong-tai’s company, charged with the
killing of the War Minister, had courage enough to make an
attempt. Their efforts, however, proved abortive, and led to
the detection of the plot.
An analysis of this group of Korean officials and commoners, bent

on wholesale political murder of their own countrymen in office,
because the latter were avowedly committed to a reform of the
economical and judicial condition of Korea, without distinction as to
the ill success, or even, in certain particular cases, the unfaithfulness
of these “reformers” shows it to have been composed of three
classes of persons. There were, first, the high-class officials who,
with one exception, were themselves at the time among the party of
the “outs”; and who undoubtedly found in this fact the chief crime of
the Japanese administration against themselves. There were,
second, the misguided patriots who, beginning with an honorable but
vain unwillingness to admit the incapacity of their country to manage
its own affairs, had sunken to the condition of prejudice and hatred
which made them plan to murder their own cabinet ministers,
because the latter had, however reluctantly, admitted this incapacity
and acted accordingly. And there was, third, that basest of all
criminals, the cold-blooded, unprincipled, hired assassin.
The administration of justice in an even-handed manner is
peculiarly difficult in Korea; and, indeed, until recently no serious
attempt at such a thing has ever been made. In the case of this
complicated plot for assassinating the entire Korean Cabinet, it
should be borne in mind that several of its chief promoters were very
highly connected; they were, indeed, connected well up towards His
Imperial Majesty on his throne. Considering this fact, the issue when
reached showed a marked improvement already established in
judicial affairs. It was indeed rumored—and perhaps correctly—that
Mr. Min Hyung-sik, the Vice-Minister of Education, underwent
preliminary examination, in the old-fashioned Korean style, by being
cruelly beaten. And the anti-Japanese press tried to make it count
against Marquis Ito’s measures for judicial reform that he had not
prevented the traditional Korean mode of torturing suspects! But this
way of examining criminals was still legal in Korea. It was also said
that Mr. Yi Yon-yung, chief of the Supreme Court, sent in his
resignation, on the ground that, as his younger brother was one of
the five ministers who were doomed to death by the assassins, it
would not be fair for him to try the case.
At the time of our leaving Seoul the trial of these conspirators was
not finished. But on Wednesday, July 3d, at 4 p. m., the Supreme
Court returned judgment upon twenty-nine persons who had been
tried and convicted of connection with the plot to assassinate those
Korean officials who took part in the Japanese-Korean Convention of
November, 1905. Three of the hired murderers who, besides this
crime, were found to have been previously guilty of armed robbery,
were sentenced to death. The others received sentences of exile (a
penalty feared more than death by many Korean officials), for
periods of from five to ten years. Among those to whom the longest
sentence of exile was measured out, were the notable names of Yi
Yong-tai, ex-Minister of the Imperial Household; Soh Chang-sik, ex-
Minister Resident, and my auditor at the lectures on education, Min
Hyung-sik, Vice-Minister of Education.

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Studies on the Derveni Papyrus,

volume II Glenn W. Most (Editor)

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Studies on the Derveni Papyrus

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,

Notes on Contributors vii

1. The Derveni Papyrus, Columns 41–7 (formerly I–VII):

5. Cosmic Order, the Erinyes, and the Sun: Heraclitus and

6. Heraclitus in the Opening Columns (III–VI (43–6)) and in Columns

7. Notes to Derveni Papyrus, Column XXI (61) 277

Alberto Bernabé is Emeritus Professor of Greek Language and Literature at the

Gábor Betegh is Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge.

Richard Janko is Gerald F. Else Distinguished University Professor at the University of

viii notes on contributors

David Sedley retired as Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of

1. Black and White Plates (after p. 150)

2. Colour Plates (after p. 150)

3b. As previous in infrared spectrum (near-­infrared digital microphotograph by R. Janko).

xii list of illustrations

list of illustrations xiii

Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports/Archaeological Resources Fund

12b. Derveni papyrus col. 44 (formerly IV) l. 7, to show correction ]ρειτα⟦κ̣ν⟧`ν̣΄ [ in

xiv list of illustrations

1.1 Widths of kollemata in the Derveni papyrus, based on state of model

Epigraphical abbreviations follow the conventions of the List of Abbreviations of

BÉ Bulletin épigraphique, in Revue des études grecques (Paris, 1888– ).

xviii Glenn W. Most

6 Laks and Most (1997a: 5).

Mirjam E. Kotwick, ‘Practices of Interpretation in the Derveni Papyrus, Plato’s

communicate to the reader as clearly and as unambiguously as possible exactly

xxii Glenn W. Most

xxiv Glenn W. Most

Bernabé recently published together with Piano an online edition of the

7 Bernabé and Piano (online).

xxvi Glenn W. Most

divinities associated with mysteries provide the religious background for a

For Despina Ignatiadou,

1a. Methodology and Criteria of Reconstruction

1a.1 Techniques of Reading: Ink, Fibres, and Burning

The Korean Minister of War had a narrow escape on

One remark should be added to complete this public account; and

On Sunday evening, Mr. Pak Yong-hwa, Director of the

The unfortunate Minister died from his wound while in the

The authors of the late unsuccessful attempt on the life of

An analysis of this group of Korean officials and commoners, bent

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Notes on Contributors vii

1. The Derveni Papyrus, Columns 41–7 (formerly I–VII):

7. Notes to Derveni Papyrus, Column XXI (61) 277

3b. As previous in infrared spectrum (near-infrared digital microphotograph by R. Janko).