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Image Credit: Blois, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Inv. 73.7.52. Photography IRHT-CNRS
Lost Page from the Archimedes Palimpsest Identified in a French Museum
Researchers have identified a page long believed to be missing from the famous Archimedes Palimpsest, one of the most important surviving manuscripts of antiquity. The page was discovered at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Blois in central France.
Initial analysis confirms that the parchment corresponds to page 123 of the manuscript and contains part of Archimedes’ mathematical treatise On the Sphere and the Cylinder, specifically propositions 39–41 of Book I. The discovery was reported in the academic journal Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik.
The Archimedes Palimpsest is a tenth-century Greek manuscript preserving several works by the Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse. During the Middle Ages, sections of the original text were partially erased so the parchment could be reused for other writings, a common practice because parchment made from animal skin was expensive.
The manuscript was historically kept in Jerusalem and later in Constantinople. In 1906, photographs of the text were taken for scholarly study, documenting pages that were later separated from the manuscript. Over time, several leaves recorded in those photographs disappeared and were believed to be lost.
By comparing the Blois parchment with these early photographs preserved in the Royal Danish Library, researchers confirmed that it matches one of the missing pages. On one side, a medieval prayer text partially covers geometric diagrams and Archimedes’ mathematical writing, much of which remains visible.
The reverse side contains a later illustration added in the twentieth century depicting the biblical figure Daniel surrounded by lions. This added image currently prevents scholars from examining the ancient writing beneath it using conventional techniques.
Researchers plan to apply multispectral imaging and X-ray fluorescence analysis in the future to reveal the hidden text without damaging the parchment. These methods may allow scholars to recover additional portions of Archimedes’ work concealed beneath later layers.
The identification of this page has renewed interest in re-examining the entire Archimedes Palimpsest using modern technologies, which may uncover further details from one of the most remarkable scientific manuscripts of the ancient world.
Published on: 09-03-2026
Edited by: Abdulmnam Samakie