Papyrology; honours

Resources for Papyrology

Definitions

'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).

Documentary / Literary

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.

Organisation

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 available in the Ancient History Documentary Research Centre.

Bibliography

A papyrological bibliography from the present day back to the 1930's is distributed by the Brussels-based Fondation Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth. 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.

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.

Literary papyri

Printed Catalogues

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. Kirchenväter-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 littéraires juifs et chrétiens (Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 1976).

Web-Sites

Leuven Database of Ancient Books (LDAB)

Part of the Trismegistos Website ( http://www.trismegistos.org), this database is searchable by author, genre, date and other fields.
It contains records on virtually all Greek and Latin literary papyri.

http://ldab.arts.kuleuven.be/ldab_text.php

Centre de documentation de papyrologie littéraire de l'Université de Liège (CEDEPOL)

CEDEPOL is producing a successor to Pack (see above); many records are already online, but it is as yet 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

Paraliterary papyri

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

Documentary Papyri

The classic introduction to documentary papryi (still not superceded in its totality) is that of Ulrich Wilcken and Ludwig Mitteis, Grundzüge 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

Duke Databank of Documentary Papri (DDBDP)

Allows seaching for Greek words in documentary papyri, and the browsing of most Greek documentary papyri on-line:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Texts/papyri.html

Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis der griechischen Papyrusurkunden Ägyptens (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

American Papyrological Information System (APIS)

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

Leuven Homepages of Papyrus Archives and Collections

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).

Archives: http://www.trismegistos.org/arch.php

Collections:http://www.trismegistos.org/coll.php

Prosopographia Ptolemaica

A growing resource which gives information on individuals who appear in Ptolemaic papyri:

http://prosptol.arts.kuleuven.ac.be/

Demotic Papyri

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