Ptolemaic artabe, Phoenician kor, and how the signs are written
The Ptolemaic medimnos is one-and-a-half of the Attic, and it was composed of two artabai in the old time; for the artabe was of 4 Italian modii lock unrestored. Now, through the Roman use, the artabe transacts 3 modii. The Phoenician kor is of 30 sata; the saton is one-and-a-half of the modius; of the sata there are few differences. Three fingers seize 2 drachmas of the dry mixtures. The chous is the six-xestes measure: the weight of wine draws 10 litrai, that of oil 9 litrai, that of honey leads 15 litrai; and of every measurable matter there are many differences according to the weight. The ounce of pepper has 400 grains; the litra has grains 5.
So that we not, finding some symbolic notation in the findings of the drugs, err in the whole, we will subjoin what is shown through each of those listed. One must note the talent with the element xi having a line through the middle; the mina with the mu having the nu lying on it (the 50 mu-nu fifty minas; sometimes rho having a line through the middle signifies the same); the litra with the lambda having the iota lying in or beside it; the ounce with the gamma having the o lying on or under it; a sideways lambda having the keraiai upon the right makes a drachma; half of a drachma and of every kind is the same turned upon the left; the mu having the epsilon lying on it signifies a measure; the obol, the sixth of the drachma, like a long sigma, or an iota sideways; two obols, two of the same opposite; the triobol has the gamma nodding the keraia up above; and it is called by some a cheramis.
And: “when with vows and with supplications, tribes of the dead, I besought…” — the lock here prints the Odyssey nekromanteia (blood in the pit, the souls gathering) as it stands, with the print spaced and broken.
Greek
Ὁ Πτολεμαϊκὸς δὲ μέδιμνος ἡμιόλιός ἐστιν τοῦ Ἀττικοῦ καὶ συνέστηκεν ἐξ ἀρταβῶν τὸ μὲν παλαιὸν δύο· ἦν γὰρ ἡ ἀρτάβη μοδίων Ἰταλικῶν δʹ #161· νῦν δὲ, διὰ τὴν Ῥωμαϊκὴν χρῆσιν, ἡ ἀρτάβη χρηματίζει μόδια γʹ. Ὁ κόρος ὁ Φοινίκιος σάτων ἐστὶν λʹ· τὸ σάτον ἐστὶν ἡμιόλιον τοῦ μοδίου· τῶν σάτων ὀλίγαι διαφοραί. ∆άκτυλοι τρεῖς ἁρπάζουσιν τῶν ξηρῶν μιγμάτων δραχμὰς βʹ. Ὁ χοῦς ἐστιν τὸ ἑξάξεστον μέτρον· ὁ μὲν τοῦ οἴνου σταθμὸς ἕλκει ˉλˉι ιʹ, ὁ δὲ τοῦ ἐλαίου λίτρας θʹ, ὁ δὲ τοῦ μέλιτος ἄγει ˉλˉι ιεʹ· εἰσὶν δὲ πάσης ὕλης μετρητῆς κατὰ τὸν σταθμὸν πολλαὶ διαφοραί. Ἡ ὀγκία τοῦ πεπέρεως κόκκους ἔχει υʹ· ἡ λίτρα ἔχει κόκκους ε. Ἵνα δὲ μὴ ἐν ταῖς τῶν φαρμάκων εὑρέσεσιν συμβολικήν τινα σημείωσιν εὑρόντες εἰς τὸ πᾶν σφαλλώμεθα, τὰ δηλούμενα δι' ἑκάστου τῶν κατειλεγμένων ὑποτάξομεν. Τὸ μὲν τάλαντον σημειωτέον τῷ στοιχείῳ τῷ ξ διὰ μέσου γραμ μὴν ἔχοντι (#121), τὴν δὲ μνᾶν τῷ μ ἐπικείμενον ἔχοντι τὸ ν (μ6ν6) (τὸ νʹ μ6ν6 πεντήκοντα μνᾶς, ἐνίοτε δὲ ρ διὰ μέσου γραμμὴν ἔχον τὸ αὐτὸ σημαίνει #128), τὴν δὲ λίτραν τῷ λάμβδα ἐγκείμενον ἔχοντι ἢ παρακείμενον τὸ ἰῶτα (#117), τὴν ὀγκίαν δὲ τῷ γάμμα ἐπικείμενον ἢ ὑποκείμενον ἔχοντι τὸ ο (#106)· πλάγιον δὲ λάμβδα ἐπὶ τὰ δεξιὰ τὰς κεραίας ἔχον δραχμὴν ποιεῖ (#101), ἥμυσυ δὲ δραχμῆς καὶ παντὸς εἴδους τὸ αὐτὸ ἑπὶ τὰ εὐώνυμα ἐστραμμένον (#1337)· τὸ δὲ μ ἐπικείμενον ἔχον τὸ ε σημαίνει μέτρον (μ6ε6)· ὁ δὲ ὀβολὸς, τὸ ἕκτον τῆς δραχμῆς, οἷον σίγμα ἐπίμηκες (#1002) ἢ δὲ ἰῶτα πλάγιον (#1000), δύο δὲ ὀβολοὶ δύο τὰ αὐτὰ ἀντικείμενα (#1001)· τὸ δὲ τριώβολον ἄνω τὴν κεραίαν ἀνανεῦον τὸ Γ ἔχει (#1338); καλεῖταιδὲ ὑπ' ἐνίων «χηραμίς». Τοὺς δ' ἐπεὶ εὐχωλῇς ι λιτῇσί τε, ἔθνεα νεκρῶν, ἐλλισάμην, τὰ δὲ μῆλα λαβὼν ἀπεδειροτόμησα ἐς βόθρον· ῥέε δ' αἷμα κελαινεφές· αἱ δ' ἀγέροντο ψυχαὶ ὑπὲξ Ἐρέ βευς νεκύων κατατεθνηώτων νύμφαι τ' ἠίθ εοί τε πολύτλητοί τε γέροντες παρθενικαί τ' ἀταλαὶ νεοπενθέ' ἄωτον ἔχουσαι· πολλοὶ δ' οὐ τάμενο ι χ αλκήρεσιν ἐγχείῃσιν, ἄνδρ ες ἀρ ηίφατοι β εβ ροτωμένα τεύχε' ἔχοντες οἳ πολλ οὶ παρὰ βόθρον ἐφοίτων ἄλλοθεν ἄλλος θεσπε σίῃ ἰαχῇ· ἐμὲ δὲ χλωρὸν δέος ᾕρει. Αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ ξίφος ὀξὺ ἐ ρ υσάμενος παρὰ μηροῦ ἥμην, ο ὐδ' εἴων νεκύων ἀμενηνὰ κάρηνα αἵματο ς ἆσσον ἴμεν καὶ ἀμειβόμενος ἔπος ηὔδων·
About this text
Julius Africanus, Cesti (Embroidered Girdles): a miscellany of history, science, and craft, in the surviving fragments — books 7, 2, and 3 in full, with parts of books 4, 8, 9, and 13, and the colophon of Cestus 18. The older English translates his letters only. The book-2 table of contents and a book-7 appendix are not in this volume.
New English from locked PG 10 / Khazarzar Greek of the Cesti fragmenta through 9.5. Earlier lemma-led scaffold English was discarded. Book-2 pinax and book-7 appendix held. This lock is exhausted.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 10 Cesti fragmenta (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.