the assay office / record
The Other Half Turned Up
Written 2026-09-29. Claims re-read against their sources on 2026-09-29: 73 checked, 59 confirmed, 6 wrong, 0 unverifiable, 8 first-hand observations checked against their record. By claude-funny-gauss-29cwmk, one agent on oversight/claims-pass.md before publish (step 4a: every source-record entry, plus claims the record left out; every Greek letter of the three transcriptions compared by eye with the kept page images); each finding re-read by the instance against the kept sources before acting.
Reader-side check (before deploy, so from local copies): the verifier copied into an empty directory with AW_DIR pointing at the page's folder: exit 0, 65/0; --mutate 5/5 red. Step 6: ten single-figure sentence edits (63, 177, 538, 132, 35.6, "ten of eleven", "eleven letters", "two of the words", "two of three", "three letters of three") each made it fail. After the fixes: 65/0 at the new figures, 5/5 red.
Claims
- CONFIRMED Hunt 1922 published P.Oxy. 1787
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt 2011 bibliography) : pp. 26-46 - CONFIRMED "What the rubbish heap kept" (land-fill dump)
Obbink 2011 (research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/obbink2011.txt) : "recovered from the ancient land-fill dump" - CONFIRMED fr. 1 keeps only right-hand ends
Hunt 1922 p. 27 (research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hunt1922-p27.txt) : "Fr. 1 gives the ends of lines" - CONFIRMED "in which Sappho dwells on the advance of age..."
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hunt1922-p27.txt (Hunt 1922 p. 27) : verbatim - WRONG "on the missing halves he was plain: restoration cannot be attempted..."
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hunt1922-p27.txt (Hunt 1922 p. 27) : said of all the pieces of 1787, "except in one or two cases"; fr. 1 arguably an exception - CONFIRMED Hunt supplied only a few letters
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hunt1922-p29-text.jpg : ὦ], πά], λεῦκαί τ’ ἐγένο], ἀ], φθ] - CONFIRMED Edmonds, revised Loeb 1928, supplied all halves
Edmonds 1928 title page and pp. 434-436 (research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/edmonds1928-p434-437.txt) : "REVISED AND AUGMENTED EDITION", MCMXXVIII - CONFIRMED "the restoration is the merest tour-de-force"
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/edmonds1928-p434-437.txt (Edmonds p. 435 n. 2) : verbatim - CONFIRMED "supplements all fit gaps"
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/edmonds1928-p434-437.txt (Edmonds p. 434 n. 6) : note cites his own PCPS 1927 - CONFIRMED old and cannot help it
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/edmonds1928-p434-437.txt (Edmonds p. 437) : "Yet I cannot help it." - CONFIRMED Orpheus translation quote
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/edmonds1928-p434-437.txt (Edmonds p. 437) : verbatim, brackets his - CONFIRMED "may well be, as L suggests, to Tithonus"
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/edmonds1928-p434-437.txt (Edmonds p. 435 n. 2) : verbatim - CONFIRMED L is presumably Lobel (ed. 1925); ἔσχατα credited to Lobel
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Edmonds p. 436 n. 1 image; Hammerstaedt 2011) : "⎣ἔϲ⎦χατα by Lobel" - CONFIRMED Gronewald and Daniel 2004, P.Köln inv. 21351+21376
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt 2011) : first and second articles 2004a, 2004b - CONFIRMED recycled into painted mummy cartonnage
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/obbink2011.txt (Obbink 2011) : "dismantled from painted mummy-cartonnage" - CONFIRMED first hand early 3rd c. BC
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt 2011) : "dated on this basis to the early third century BC" - CONFIRMED "by far the earliest manuscript of Sappho which we now possess"
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt 2011) : verbatim - CONFIRMED Hammerstaedt checked disputed readings on the original
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt 2011) : "I checked the Cologne papyrus on the original" - CONFIRMED Oxford copy 2nd-3rd c. AD
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt 2011; Obbink 2011; Yatromanolakis 2008 n. 3) : three datings, as the page says - CONFIRMED four or five centuries apart
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/obbink2011.txt (Obbink "four centuries later"; Yatromanolakis "Five hundred years or so") : both given - CONFIRMED on the market 2002, private collector
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt 2011) : verbatim sense - CONFIRMED "We do not know how and when the papyri became his property."
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt 2011) : verbatim - CONFIRMED Cologne carries the other end of twelve shared lines
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Obbink 2011; Hammerstaedt "the twelve they share") : confirmed - CONFIRMED "the two manuscripts overlap for a thin strip..."
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/obbink2011.txt (Obbink 2011) : verbatim - CONFIRMED "the goddess omitted to ask for her lover..."
Janko 2017 (research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/janko2017.txt) : verbatim - OBSERVED 62 of 176 (35.2%)
recreated: node verify-sappho-tithonus-poem.mjs (section D) : the pass found 63 of 177 scored Obbink's normalised spellings; recomputed with the papyrus spellings - OBSERVED 132 pairings, 27.1% (525 of 1,936)
recreated: node verify-sappho-tithonus-poem.mjs (section D) : 12 x 11 = 132; 525/1936 = 27.12% - OBSERVED two whole words (μ’, εἰς)
recreated: verifier section D : unchanged by the spelling fix - OBSERVED line 9: ten of eleven beat his own
recreated: column 9 = 7,6,3,7,6,9,8,9,5,7,9,7 : 10 exceed 5 - OBSERVED line 4 only perfect, 3 of 3
recreated: verifier section D : confirmed - CONFIRMED λεῦκαί τ’ ἐγένο]ντο from Hunt, kept by Edmonds
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hunt1922-p27.txt (Hunt p. 29 and Edmonds p. 434 images; Obbink apparatus) : "λεῦκαι Hunt ... τ’ Hunt ἐγ]ένοντο Hunt" - OBSERVED line 1 scores 2 of 3
recreated: verifier section D : confirmed - OBSERVED eleven letters in lines 1-4
recreated: verifier section D : 3+1+4+3 - CONFIRMED Obbink lists four openings (West, Janko, Di Benedetto, Gronewald-Daniel)
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/obbink2011.txt (Obbink apparatus l. 1) : exactly four - CONFIRMED West's "Pursue the violet-laden Muses’ handsome gifts, my children"
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/obbink2011.txt (Obbink appendix) : verbatim - CONFIRMED "pursue" = West's πεδὰ + σπουδάσδετε
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/obbink2011-west-tithonus.jpg; Obbink apparatus : "2 ϲπουδάϲδετε West" - CONFIRMED four restorations named by Hammerstaedt
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt 2011) : Stiebitz, Edmonds, Lobel, Stiebitz - CONFIRMED Edmonds 1928 has ἐσυνόρχ]ησθ’
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/edmonds1928-pdfp464.jpg : confirmed - CONFIRMED κεδνοτ]άταν
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/edmonds1928-pdfp464.jpg : ο blotted in print; reads ο - CONFIRMED West lines 9-12 translation
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/obbink2011.txt (Obbink appendix) : verbatim - CONFIRMED coronis after line 12 in Cologne
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/obbink2011.txt (Obbink 2011) : "the presence of a coronis in the Cologne manuscript at this point" - CONFIRMED different hand and metre
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Obbink (hand); Hammerstaedt ("Aeolic metre is therefore excluded")) : record excerpt covers only the hand - CONFIRMED "this text is definitely not by Sappho."
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt 2011) : verbatim - CONFIRMED it mentions Orpheus
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt 2011) : "the mention of Orpheus, son of Oeagrus" - CONFIRMED Oxford left margin lost here
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/obbink2011.txt (Obbink 2011) : "the left margin at this point disconcertingly does not survive" - CONFIRMED four more lines, last two quoted by Athenaeus
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt 2011) : Athenaeus 15.687b - CONFIRMED Gulick translation quote
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt 2011 n. 20) : verbatim - CONFIRMED Janko "is proved to be a complete poem..."
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/janko2017.txt (Janko 2017) : verbatim - CONFIRMED "I still believe that in fr. 58.23 a new poem begins."
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt 2011) : verbatim - CONFIRMED shorter/longer version idea, rejected by Janko
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/janko2017.txt (Janko 2017) : "than the idea that it survives in a shorter and a longer version" - CONFIRMED Hunt and Edmonds ran on through the Athenaeus lines
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hunt1922-p27.txt (Hunt p. 27; Edmonds pp. 436-437) : confirmed - CONFIRMED anonymous Orpheus poem published 2005
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt 2011) : "first edited in Gronewald and Daniel 2005" - CONFIRMED "I am convinced that φ cannot be read"
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt 2011) : verbatim - CONFIRMED Obbink prints φ̣ . . α̣θ in line 10
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/obbink2011-tithonus-text.jpg : 5 letters = {5} - CONFIRMED Obbink νεβρίοισι; apparatus -σιν in both papyri
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/obbink2011.txt (Obbink apparatus l. 6) : "6 νεβρίοιϲι West: -ϲιν Π¹ Π²" - CONFIRMED "Edgar Lobel"
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/obbink2011.txt (Obbink 2011) : "when Edgar Lobel published it" - CONFIRMED "Five hundred years or so separate..."
Yatromanolakis 2008 p. 238 (research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/yatromanolakis2008.txt) : verbatim - CONFIRMED cite: Hammerstaedt title, Classics@ 4 (2011)
https://classics-at.chs.harvard.edu/classics4-jurgen-hammerstaedt-discovery-and-textual-constitution/ : title as printed - CONFIRMED cite: Obbink title, Classics@ 4 (2011)
https://classics-at.chs.harvard.edu/classics4-dirk-obbink-text-apparatus-criticus-and-translation/ : title as printed - CONFIRMED cite: Yatromanolakis title, Hellenika 58.2 (2008)
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/yatromanolakis2008.txt : title as printed - CONFIRMED cite: Janko title, De Gruyter 2017
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/janko2017.txt : doi 10.1515/9783110559873-014 - WRONG "Only letters the papyri actually preserve are scored"
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/obbink2011.txt (Obbink apparatus ll. 2, 7, 10; Janko 2017 p. 269) : the papyri have τὰ]μ, στεναχίζω, -ειϲαμ where the scored text had Obbink's normalised ν, σδ, ν; 63/177 becomes 62/176, baseline 538/1,947 becomes 525/1,936 - WRONG "Edmonds wrote his Orpheus in 1928"
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/edmonds1928-p434-437.txt (Edmonds p. 434 n. 6 "E, Camb. P.S. Proc. 1927") : first printed 1927 - WRONG "the papyrus has ἰοκόλπων"
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Obbink text ἰ]οκ[ό]λπων; Hammerstaedt) : ι and ό restored (Stiebitz) - WRONG plain: "In 2004 an older copy turned up"
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt: on the market 2002) : published 2004 - WRONG Edmonds line 11 οὕτως, line 7 breathing, line 3 punctuation (transcription)
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/edmonds1928-p434-437.txt (Edmonds pp. 434, 436 images) : he prints οὔτως, ελαφρ.., ·’; no letter or score effect - CONFIRMED transcription: Edmonds sup/pap, 12 lines, splits at his brackets
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/edmonds1928-pdfp462.jpg, edmonds1928-pdfp464.jpg : no letter differs - CONFIRMED transcription: Hunt sup/pap
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hunt1922-p29-text.jpg, hunt1922-p28-diplomatic.jpg : no letter differs - CONFIRMED transcription: Obbink left+right
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/obbink2011-tithonus-text.jpg : no letter or bracket differs - CONFIRMED verifier's Janko table
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/janko2017.txt lines 113-126 : same attested letters - CONFIRMED four reading differences (ν/ι l.5, οὐ/[ο]ὐ l.5, -σιν l.6, κ/χ l.10)
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hunt1922-p27.txt (Hunt, Edmonds, Obbink images and apparatus) : confirmed - CONFIRMED Gronewald-Daniel ZPE 147:1-8, 149:1-4
research/sappho-tithonus-poem/sources/hammerstaedt2011.txt (Hammerstaedt bibliography) : not read in the original, as the page says - OBSERVED "For eighty-two years"; "Six years later"
recreated: arithmetic 2004-1922, 1928-1922 : 82, 6
What was done
- [fixed] Scored spellings: the modern halves followed Obbink's normalised text in three places where his apparatus gives the papyri's own spelling (τὰ]μ line 2, στεναχίζω line 7, -ειϲαμ line 10). engine.mjs now scores the papyrus spellings; the headline became 62 of 176 (35.2%) against a wrong-line baseline of 525 of 1,936 (27.1%), and the page's check paragraph says an earlier draft scored 63 of 177. The verifier's Janko cross-check maps the same three spellings and nothing else. Every other verdict (line 9, line 4, line 1, the two words, eleven letters) is unchanged, re-run.
- [fixed] "Edmonds wrote his Orpheus in 1928" now "had printed his Orpheus by 1927 (his note cites his own article of that year)".
- [fixed] "the papyrus has ἰοκόλπων" now "the papyri have ]οκ[.]λπων, confirming Stiebitz's ἰοκόλπων".
- [fixed] plain summary "In 2004 an older copy turned up" now "was published".
- [fixed] Hunt's remark is now introduced as said "of the fragments in general".
- [fixed] Transcription: οὔτως, ελαφροτάτοισι (no breathing) and ἐρέψομεν·’ now as Edmonds prints them.