Reconstructing P.Herc. 1670 (Philodemus, On Providence)
Claudio Vergara
P.Herc. 1670 contains the remains of the final part of the so-called On Providence by Philodemus. The poor state of conservation of the papyrus led previous editors to consider each surviving fragment as being isolated from the others. By virtue of current methodologies for the virtual reconstruction of Herculaneum papyri, new light can be shed on the relationship between fragments of P.Herc. 1670.
In this paper, after an examination of the order of the fragments, I will focus on how those belonging to the latter portion of the papyrus can be matched in order to recover nearly complete text columns.
The matching will be supported by material, bibliological, and textual evidence.