The Derveni Papyrus: The oldest 'book' of Europe
Unesco:The Derveni
Papyrus is of immense importance not only for the study of Greek religion and
philosophy, which is the basis for the western philosophical thought, but also
because it serves as a proof of the early dating of the Orphic poems offering a
distinctive version of Presocratic philosophers. The text of the Papyrus, which
is the first book of western tradition, has a global significance, since it
reflects universal human values: the need to explain the world, the desire to
belong to a human society with known rules and the agony to confront the end of
life.
