Greek scholars have been battling to try to recover a rare 10th Century copy of Archimedes' theories due to be sold at Christie's in New York on October 29th 1998.
The famous theories Archimedes published during the third Century B-C. survived thanks to scribes who reproduced his writings. There were only three ancient transcriptions of these. One disappeared during the 16th century after it was copied several times between 1490 and 1550, the second, known until 1311, was used for medieval translations of Archimedes theories in Latin.
The piece to be sold by Christie's is the only surviving transcription. Copied during the first quarter of the 10th Century it is in quite poor condition as its 174 leaves were erased and used two centuries later for the transcription of a religious text. As a result it can be only deciphered with the help of ultra-violet light. However, it has been estimated between $ 800,000 and 1,2 million because of its historic value, far greater than the Leonardo da Vinci's Codex which was acquired by Bill gates for US $ 28 million.
This copy, produced by a Greek scribe in Byzantium contains 55 diagrams and geometrical figures. It is believed to have transited in Palestine during the 15th Century before finding its way back to Turkey in the Metochion library of Istanbul during the 19th Century. The library moved from Turkey to Athens during the First World war but the manuscript was sold to a French diplomat. Now his heirs have offered it for sale at auction but several scholars in Athens have asked the Greek Ministry for Culture to acquire it so that it finds its way back to its native land.
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