Ancient History Honours Program. 1st Semester 2005
Methods: Papyri
In the context of the discipline of papyrology, the term 'papyri' includes not only texts on papyrus itself, but also those on ostraca, parchment (vellum) and wood: they are written (not inscribed) and moveable (although there are of course holes in this catagorisation, e.g. wax tablets inscribed with a stylus).
On
the history of the discipline see P. van Minnen, 'The Origin and Future of
Papyrology. From Mommsen and Wilamowitz to the Present, from
Altertumswissenschaft to Cultural Studies' Proceedings of the 20th
International Congress of Papyrologists (Copenhagen,
1994) pp. 35-41; idem, 'The Century of Papyrology (1892-1992)', BASP
30 (1993) pp. 5-18.
For introductions to the discipline see:
R.S. Bagnall, Reading Papyri,
Writing Ancient History (London - New
York, Routledge, 1995).
P.W. Pestman, The New Papyrological
Primer. Second Edition, Revised
(Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1994) (cf. earlier editions by Davd and van Groningen).
E.G. Turner, Greek Papyri. An
Introduction. 2nd edition (Oxford,
University Press, 1980).
H.-A. Rupprecht, Kleine Einfhrung in die Papyruskunde. (Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1994).
Customarily divided into 'documentary' and 'literary' papyri. Literary texts are works of literature etc. written for publication or a wider audience. Documentary texts are the documents of everyday life: letters, tax records, petitions, etc. Many texts do not fir this classification, most obviously educational and magical texts, and thus various other categories such as 'sub-literary' or 'para-literary' are recognised, although there is frequently disagreement about what they comprise.
Papyri are referred to by 'P-Siglum'; P. (or O. for ostraca, more rarely T. for tablet) followed by a word or abbreviation which relates to where the papyri were found, where they are now, or what they concern.
These abbreviations are resovled in the Checklist of Editions of Greek, Latin, Demotic and Coptic Papyri, Ostraca and Tablets, online at:
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/papyrus/texts/clist.html
Various printed editions of the Checklist are held in the reference section of the library (the latest at Z6604 .C47, others at PA 3301.O15).
Most editions of Greek papyri are held in MUL, and can be found under their editor's name or title. A concordance, listing where many editions are held in the Library is in the lever arch file on top of the Brussels Bibliography Card-files.
Bibliography
A papyrological bibliography from the present day back to the 1930's is distributed by the Brussels-based Fondation gyptologique Reine lisabeth. The 'Brussels Bibliography' is available in searchable electronic (Filemaker Pro) form on the Doc Centre IMac: see the folder 'Brussels Pap.Bibl' on the Desktop, with the file 'BP1932->.FM' inside. Most journal abbreviations are resolved in the accompanying 'Concordance' file.
A less complete version of the bibliography (but with additional notes added by MQ scholars over the years) is available in hard copy in the card file in the Doc Centre Seminar Room.
The database is organised according to a numerical system, the headings of which are listed in a Folder on top of the Card file. The Card files are organised by these numbers: editions of papyri are under number 141, in the order of the sigla as in the checklist. In the electronic version, subjects may be searched for by these numbers; one can also search by author, title, subject searches, or for treatments of a particular papyrus.
K. Aland, Repertorium der griechischen christlichen Papyri. I. Biblische Papyri: Altes Testament, Neues Testament, Varia, Apokryphen (Berlin - New York, W. de Gruyter, 1976).
K. Aland and H.-U. Rosenbaum, Repertorium der griechischen christlichen Papyri. II. Kirchenvter-Papyri (Berlin - New York, W. de Gruyter, 1995).
R.A. Pack, The Greek and Latin Literary Texts from Greco-Roman Egypt. Second Revised and Enlarged Edition (Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press, 1965).
J. van Haelst, Catalogue des papyrus littraires juifs et chrtiens (Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 1976).
Searchable by author, genre, date and other fields. Contains records on nearly all Greek and Latin literary papyri.
http://ldab.arts.kuleuven.ac.be/ldabsearch.html
Centre de documentation de
papyrologie littraire de l'Universit de Lige (CEDEPOL)
Producing a successor to Pack; many records online, but not as complete as the LDAB or as searchable.
http://promethee.philo.ulg.ac.be/cedopal/index.htm
Corpus dei Manoscritti Copti Letterari (CMCL)
Data, some texts, and background information, on Coptic literary manuscripts. The database is password protected, and the password must be obtained from the Reference librarian; see the 'Database' section of the Library Web-site for more information
Further bibliography on Christian literary papyri is available at:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/GrandLat/research/christianpapyriNoTable.htm
Catalogue
Of Paraliterary Papyri
A searchable database giving detailed information on 'paraliterary' texts (commentaries, lists of words, glossaries, mythological texts, and many others):
http://perswww.kuleuven.ac.be/%7Eu0013314/paralit.htm
The
classic introduction to documentary papryi (still not superceded in its
totality) is that of Ulrich Wilcken and Ludwig Mitteis, Grundzge und
Chrestomathie der Papyruskunde, I
Band. Historischer Teil, II Halfte
Chrestomathie II Band. Juristischer
Teil, II Halfte Chrestomathie (Leipzig-Berlin 1912). In English, see the general
introductory works listed above (esp. Bagnall and Pestman).
Web-Sites
Allows seaching for Greek words in documentary papyri, and the browsing of most Greek texts on-line:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Texts/papyri.html
Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis der griechischen Papyrusurkunden gyptens (HGSV / GSV)
A
searchable online database with basic information (date provenance, contents)
on all published documentary papyri.
http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~gv0/gvz.html
Contains records on most papyri in major US collections (documentary and literary), giving basic data (date, provenance, contents), and in many cases English translation and image. Links to the host collection often provide further information.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/projects/digital/apis/index.html
Information on ancient archives of papyri (date, what languages they are in and what texts they contain); information on modern collections (where they are, what they contain, contact details, links to web-sites).
http://lhpc.arts.kuleuven.ac.be/
Prosopographia
Ptolemaica
A growing resource which gives information on individuals who appear in Ptolemaic papyri:
http://prosptol.arts.kuleuven.ac.be/
Demotic Texts on the WWW, a guide to internet resources on papyrus, papyri, Egypt, Demotic, Greek, Roman, Greco-Roman, Graeco-Roman, Hellenistic, Ptolemaic and post-Pharaonic Egypt, and Egyptian language material, scans of papyri:
http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/RA/ABZU/DEMOTIC_WWW.HTML
See also M. Depauw, A Companion to Demotic Studies (Bruxelles, Fondation gyptologique Reine lisabeth, 1997).
The Annual Egyptological Bibliography can be searched on CD ROM in the Library, ask at the Research and Reference Desk on Level 3. The Recent years of the Bibliography are online at http://www.leidenuniv.nl/nino/aeb.html
http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/
http://www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk/papyri/the_papyri.html
'Papyrology Page'
http://www.pohick.org/sts/papyrolo.html
http://www.rassegna.unibo.it/papiri.html
http://siba2.unile.it/images/papiri/csp.html
Trier PapyrusSammlung
http://digipap.uni-trier.de/default.htm
http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/NRWakademie/papyrologie/
Fondation Martin Bodmer - Bibliothque et Muse
http://www.fondationbodmer.org/
http://bcs.fltr.ucl.ac.be/Papy.html
See also the various American
papyrological collection web-sites
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/papyrus/papyrology.html
http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke/aboutpap.htm
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/papyrus/
http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~tebtunis/
Pick one of the topics below.
Give a critical review of modern literature in English (and other languages if you are able), and provide a list of what you consider to be the most important papyri; this may be all the relevant papyri or a selection, depending on the question chosen (details are given under each topic). The list should be annotated with the provenance and date of each text. This should be accompanied by a discussion as indicated in each question. Note that 'papyrus' in this context includes wood, pot sherds (ie ostraca) and parchment (vellum).
Total length: 2000 words.
Due Date: 4pm, 5th June
More information on each topic will be provided in the first class, where tools to locate papyrological bibliography and relevant papyri will also be discussed.
Topics
Liturgies (Compulsory Public Services)
Provide a short general discussion of the liturgical system as it operated in Roman Egypt (1st Š 3rd century AD), then a detailed discussion of one liturgy; this should include detail on the functions of the office, term of office, and how it was chosen.
Provide a list of the papyri you consider to be most relevant to the discussion. NB. Unless the liturgy you choose is extremely little known, you do not need to list every papyrus which mentions the official.
Choose one of the following
The Strategos in Ptolemaic
Egypt (down to 30 B.C.)
Discuss the development of the office of strategos under the Ptolemies. Provide a list of the papyri you consider to be most relevant to the discussion. NB. you do not need to list every papyrus which mentions a strategos.
The Strategos and Exactor in
Roman Egypt (3rd Š 5th Century AD)
Discuss of the development of the
office of Strategos and its successor
the exactor under the Later
Roman Empire (3rd Š 5th century
AD). Provide a list of the papyri you consider to be most relevant to the
discussion. NB. you do not need to list every papyrus which mentions a strategos or exactor.
Provide a general discussion of what is known about Christian buildings and architecture before 400 AD (including through archaeology), a detailed discussion of the papyrological evidence for Church buildings and a list of all relevant papyri
Provide a discussion of Christian clergy (especially Bishops, priests, deacons & readers)in Egypt before 400 AD, including a list of all relevant papyri.
Provide a general discussion of Graeco-Egyptian religion in Egypt after the accession to sole rule of the Emperor Constantine (324 AD), a list of papyri which attest pagan temples after that date, and a list of all relevant papyri.
Provide a discussion of the Theban 'Magician's Library' which lies at the core of the so-called 'Greek Magical papyri'. Give a list of all papyri thought to come from the horde, noting (as well as their date and provenance) the language(s) in which they are composed.
Choose any Greek or Roman author whose works are found in more than 20 papyri. Provide a discussion of the papyrological survival of the author, including a list of all relevant papyri Your discussion should include the following:
- the chronological and geographical spread of the papyri
- the sort of contexts the author is found in (e.g. with other authors, in educational contexts; in copies which show scholarly activity)
Choose any New Testament text found in more than 20 papyri. Provide a discussion of the papyrological survival of the work down to the Arab conquest (642 AD), including a list of all relevant papyri. Your discussion should include the following:
- the chronological and geographical spread of the papyri
- the sort of contexts the work is found in (e.g. with other authors, in educational contexts; in copies which show scholarly activity)
Assoc.Prof. Alanna Nobbs (9850 8844; a_nobbs@hotmail.com)
Dr Malcolm Choat (9850 7561; mchoat@hmn.mq.edu.au)