The Archimedes Palimpsest – Most famous example of palimpsest in antiquity

Inside the Archimedes Palimpsest

  • By Lexi Krock

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In October 1998, a battered manuscript of parchment leaves sold for $2 million to an anonymous bidder at auction. The thousand-year-old manuscript contains the earliest surviving writings by Archimedes, the Greek thinker who is regarded as the greatest mathematician of antiquity. In this interactive, see how sophisticated technology uncovers Archimedes’ faded text and diagrams from beneath another Greek text that was written over it. Also, below, follow a time line that tells the fascinating story of the 174-page volume’s journey from its creation in Constantinople to the auction block at Christie’s in New York.

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From PBS on NOVA