A page long believed lost from the Archimedes Palimpsest, one of the most important surviving manuscripts from antiquity, has been identified in central France by a researcher from France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).
The page was discovered at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Blois by Victor Gysembergh, a researcher at the Centre Léon Robin for Research on Ancient Thought, a joint research unit of CNRS and Sorbonne University. Scholars confirmed that the leaf corresponds to page 123 of the Archimedes Palimpsest.
Early analysis shows that the page contains a passage from Archimedes’ treatise “On the Sphere and the Cylinder.” The surviving text corresponds to Book I, Propositions 39 to 41, along with geometric diagrams linked to the mathematical arguments.
The discovery is detailed in a study scheduled to appear in the academic journal Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik.
The Archimedes Palimpsest and its historical significance
The Archimedes Palimpsest is a tenth-century Greek manuscript containing several mathematical works by the ancient Greek scholar Archimedes of Syracuse, who lived in the third century BC.
The manuscript is called a palimpsest because its original writing was partially erased during the Middle Ages so the parchment could be reused. At the time, parchment made from animal skin was expensive and difficult to produce.
Scribes often scraped older texts from the material before writing new religious content over them. This process left parts of Archimedes’ writings hidden beneath later layers of text.
A page long believed lost from the Archimedes Palimpsest has been identified in France.
Researchers confirmed the leaf contains part of Archimedes’ treatise On the Sphere and the Cylinder. The discovery could help reveal more hidden text using advanced imaging technology. pic.twitter.com/aYemygoK7r
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) March 9, 2026
The manuscript itself has traveled widely through history. It was first preserved in Jerusalem and later moved to Constantinople, where it remained for centuries.
In 1906, Danish philologist Johan Ludvig Heiberg recognized the importance of the manuscript. He arranged for photographs to be taken of its pages, allowing scholars to study faint traces of the underlying Greek writing.
Lost leaves of the manuscript
Over time, the manuscript passed through several private collections. During these transfers, parts of the document disappeared. Three leaves that appeared in Heiberg’s photographs later went missing and were considered lost by scholars.
Gysembergh identified the page in Blois as one of those missing leaves. He confirmed the identification by comparing the leaf with Heiberg’s 1906 photographs, which are now preserved at the Royal Danish Library. The comparison showed that the page corresponds exactly to leaf 123 of the Archimedes Palimpsest.
Layers of medieval writing and modern artwork
The rediscovered leaf contains several layers of writing. On one side, a medieval text of prayers partially covers geometric diagrams and sections of Archimedes’ mathematical work. Despite the overwriting, much of the ancient Greek passage remains visible.
The reverse side of the page presents a different challenge. It is covered by a twentieth-century illumination depicting the Prophet Daniel standing between two lions. Because of this later painting, the ancient writing beneath that side of the page remains hidden from conventional examination methods.
New technology may reveal hidden text
Researchers now hope to recover the concealed writing using advanced imaging technology. Subject to authorization, Gysembergh plans to begin imaging studies within the next year. The research will combine multispectral imaging with synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence analysis, a technique that can detect chemical traces of ancient inks. These methods may reveal text that remains invisible beneath the later illustration.
The discovery has also renewed interest in re-examining the entire Archimedes Palimpsest using newer and more powerful imaging tools.
Earlier imaging campaigns in the early 2000s revealed major works by Archimedes and fragments of previously unknown ancient texts. However, some sections of the manuscript remained difficult to read with the technology available at the time.
Researchers believe that modern techniques may now allow scholars to recover additional passages that were once considered permanently lost.
