Archaeologists have unearthed what is believed to be one of the oldest medical recipes that belonged to the “father of Western medicine”, Hippocrates. During restorations at St. Catherine’s Monastery in South Sinai, Egypt, monks claim to have found a 6th century manuscript that belonged to the ancient Greek doctor. Officials from both Greece and Egypt who worked with the researchers announced the find, which reportedly contained a medical recipe attributed to Hippocrates, as well as three recipes with pictures of herbs. The text was examined by researchers at the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library (EMEL), which has an ongoing partnership with St. Catherine’s Monastery.

EMEL uses spectral imaging to read palimpsests. The technique is able to reveal the text hidden beneath the second layer of text in the manuscript, thus revealing what can’t be seen with the naked eye.

Speaking with Egyptian newspaper Asharq Al-Aswat, Michael Phelps, a researcher at the EMEL, stated, “The manuscript, which contains three medical texts, will be enlisted among the oldest and the most important manuscripts in the world.”

The library itself contains an estimated 3,300 manuscripts that are primarily written in Greek; however, texts written in Christian Palestinian Aramaic, Syriac, Georgian, Arabic, and Latin have been recovered as well.

source: nationalgeographic.com