Papyrus Fragments Research Articles

Neighbors: Ethnocentrism in Antiphon and Montaigne

In the first book of his history, Herodotus interrupts his political narrative to offer a quick ethnographic survey of the Persians, wherein he remarks that Persians respect other ethnicities in proportion to their proximity to Persia and reserve their greatest disdain for the most distant peoples. For Herodotus and his 5th-century Greek audience, the Persian himself incarnates the category of the Barbarian, whose inferiority is a function of his distance from Greece. This article proposes to assess the role of ethnocentrism, and its correlation of proximity and superiority, in two of the most iconoclastic figures in the history of Western thought, the ancient Greek sophist Antiphon of Rhamnus and the French Renaissance author Michel de Montaigne. Recently excavated and edited papyrus fragments reveal tantalizing glimpses of Antiphon’s lost treatise On truth, which seems to formulate a very far-reaching critique of ethnocentrism within the framework of cultural relativism. In his renowned essay Des Cannib...

Ahiqar tra leggenda e rielaborazione letteraria. Una tradizione e i suoi riflessi

The legend of Ahiqar, Sennacherib’s powerful Prime Minister, is told in the homonymous History and Proverbs , whose the oldest witness is the Elephantine version (5 th century BC). The figure of the Assyrian wise came later in the book of Tobit as an important partner of Tobit; so, to give prestige to his book, the autor of Tobit has exploited the fame of the History of Ahiqar , and historicized its protagonist. This legend of court was also known to the Jewish communities of the Egyptian Diaspora –including that of Elephantine: in the Hellenistic period it was adapted to Jewish tradition, becoming a wisdom novel. Ahiqar also appeares in some writings in demotic: in two fragments of papyrus of the first century AD, and in the Instructions of Anchsheshonqy , but especially in an inscription found at Uruk-Warka in a Babylonian tablet (165 BC) which contains a list of ummānū , ‘scholars (of the court)’. Among them is Ahiqar, designated with an Aramaic name, Aḫu aqari . This is, therefore, an apocryphal identification: the ummānu Ahiqar is placed under Esarhaddon and in Assyria, by a spurious historicization, very similar to the one that made the author of Tobit .

Excavation, Dating and Content of Two Tombs in Daphne, Odos Olgas 53, Athens

Abstract On 13. and 14. May 1981, in the course of emergency excavations in Odos Olgas 53 in Daphne, Athens, two tombs were excavated, the second of which was heralded as the Tomb of the Musician by the press. The contents were transferred to the National Archaeological Museum and later, after restoration, to the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus. In Tomb I there were found the bones of an adult person in his or her 40s, together with four lekythoi, which can be dated by their shape and the style of the paintings to about 430 B.C. In Tomb II there were found the bones of a young adult in his or her early 20s, together with toys, tools, a writing case with stylus and inkpot, fragments of a papyrus scroll and five leaves of two different wooden note-books (polyptycha), together with the remains of a lyre, a harp and one tube of a pair of auloi with mouthpiece. On the papyrus fragments and the polyptycha scanty remains of writing in the Ionian alphabet can be read. Some mythical names point to poetry; musical notation, alleged by the inventory books to be detectable, could not be seen. The harp is an example of the type called the ‘spindle harp’, which is represented on vase pictures from 430 to 410.

Multispectral Imaging Documentation of the Findings of Tomb I and II at Daphne

Abstract A selection of the findings of Tombs I and II was examined using non-invasive multispectral imaging in visible and near-infrared radiation. This led to increased legibility of the text for several fragments of papyrus including underlayers, better distinction of script on tablets and better visualization of the drawings and pigment differentiation on the lekythoi.

Losing a Curious Christian Scroll but Gaining a Curious Christian Codex

Abstract British Library Pap. 2053 is a Greek papyrus fragment from Oxyrhynchus. Its two sides, written in distinctly different hands, were published separately in 1911 as P.Oxy. 8.1075 (Rahlfs 909, the last verses of Exodus) and P.Oxy. 8.1079 (P18, early verses of Revelation). The original editor of the piece, Arthur S. Hunt, described Pap. 2053 as part of a roll rather than a codex. He speculated that at some point after Exodus was copied along the fibers, the reverse was then reused for a copy of Revelation written against the fibers. I argue that, for at least three reasons, it is worth entertaining the possibility that Pap. 2053 is not part of a roll but rather a leaf from a codex. First, the amount of text and the format of the text on the papyrus are appropriate for a codex leaf. Second, we now have good evidence (unavailable to Hunt) for the existence of Christian codices with an eclectic mix of contents copied by different scribes. Third, when the back sides of rolls were reused, they were often rotated 180° such that the texts on the two sides of the papyrus were upside down relative to one another, rather than same-side-up, as the columns of Pap. 2053 are.

‘Keep Me, Lord, as the Apple of Your Eyes’: An Early Christian Child's Amulet

ABSTRACTAmong the Greek papyri in the John Rylands Library is a small, 5th century papyrus fragment, inscribed on both sides with non-continuous scriptural texts. Arthur S. Hunt, who catalogued this portion of the collection, described Papyrus Rylandensis 8 as a ‘liturgical fragment’ designed for ‘private devotional purposes.’ Several features of this papyrus, however, (its size, content, decoration, irregular orthography, use of nomina sacra, and possible fold pattern) suggest that it may have been an amulet designed for use by children. Although few such amulets have been securely identified, the writings of contemporary clerics attest to the widespread use of protective charms by Christians. Given that P. Ryl. 8 corresponds in many details to what we assume these amulets would have looked like, it should be reclassified as ‘probably an amulet.’

Papyrusfragmente, evtl. aus dem Wadi Murabbaʿat

Abstract The article is a publication of a lot of tiny papyrus fragments from the collection of the Museum of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem. The fragments are archaeologically unprovenanced, they might come from Wadi Murabbaʿat. Six of them have legible remains of letters. Two of them may be identified as fragments of Mur174 (from the same museum’s collection), one might be part of Mur115, one of Mur133. The appendix gives a few improved reconstructions of Mur115, by the late H. J. Polotsky.

Eine mythologische Erzählung in Hexametern. (P.Oxy. LXXVII 5104)

P.Oxy. LXXVII 5104 is a papyrus fragment of an unknown mythology in hexameters. Aphrodite has a grudge against mankind, shooting deadly arrows at them. But, in contrast to Aphrodite, Eileithyia works on behalf of man. An unknown divinity Thoosa appears and probably the Horai.

Fallax Imago: Ovid's Narcissus and the seduction of mimesis in Roman wall painting

In the late first century CE, the myth of Narcissus became one of the most frequently represented subjects in Roman wall painting. The well-known, often reproduced images from the House of Octavius...

A new tax list from hellenistic Egypt: A preliminary report

A preliminary report of the international research project on a Greek papyrus fragment from Ptolemaic Egypt (first half or middle of the second century BC) P. Vindob. G60514-60518.

Once Again on the Earliest Christian Arabic Apology: Remarks on a Palaeographic Singularity*

Previous articleNext article No AccessArticleOnce Again on the Earliest Christian Arabic Apology: Remarks on a Palaeographic Singularity*Juan Pedro Monferrer-SalaJuan Pedro Monferrer-SalaUniversity of Cordoba Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Near Eastern Studies Volume 69, Number 2October 2010 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/597764 Views: 18Total views on this site Citations: 2Citations are reported from Crossref © 2010 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Phillipus J. Buys, Samuel Nwokoro Communicating meaningfully with Muslims: Analysing the Melkite language shift in the light of Christian-Muslim relations in Northern Nigeria, In die Skriflig / In Luce Verbi 53, no.11 (Jan 2019).https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v53i1.2381Hannah Friedman, Tasha Vorderstrasse, Rachel Mairs, Russell Adams Fragments of an early Islamic Arabic papyrus from Khirbet Hamrā Ifdān, Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 28, no.22 (Nov 2017): 285–296.https://doi.org/10.1111/aae.12099

Syriac Papyrus Fragments Recently Discovered in Deir al-Surian (Egypt)

Syriac Papyrus Fragments Recently Discovered in Deir al-Surian (Egypt)

L'Hermes di Eratostene

Eratosthenes' short poem Hermes is to be regarded as a hymn, in which Hermes' deeds were narrated in the form of an epyllion: episodes from the god's childhood are the core, but, as it is suggested by POxy 3000, there are others possibly related to his later life and even to his descendants. The survival of the poem is studied, its content analysed and a full discussion is provided on all the excerpts preserved in scholia and learned works and on grossly multilated papyrus fragments (POxy 3000 and probably POxy 2521).

"Asking the Other Question": An Intersectional Approach to Galatians 3:28 and the Colossian Household Codes

This article pays attention to hierarchical reasoning and argues that the Roman Empire at the advent of Christianity was indeed a context of cultural complexity. I suggest that intersectionality, developed within recent race and gender research, may be the most fruitful way to investigate such complexity. The method of asking the other question provides tools to understand how various hierarchies produce ambiguous and negotiable identities. Cross-cutting ties, multiple loyalties, and diverse combinations of identities were elements of ancient discourses. Hierarchies overlapped and social categories did not operate in isolation but interacted with and influenced each other. Against this background I will interpret the relationship pairs in the Colossian household codes, by means of Gal. 3:28 and in dialogue with the Greek papyrus fragment Acta Isidori. Instead of paying attention to one of the relationship pairs in isolation (man/woman, slave/free, etc.), as is most common in commentaries, I ask how various categories interact and mutually construct each other. Finally I suggest that we cannot talk about identity, status, and hierarchy without paying attention to how ethnicity, class, gender, and age intersect in a number of different ways.

The vicissitudinous history of the Athenogenes-papyrus and its edition

This paper reveals the vicissitudinous history of the Athenogenes-papyrus and its edition by Eugène Revillout and other scholars. By reconstructing the sequence of events between 1888 and 1893 one can get a convincing explanation of disturbing features in the frames containing the papyrus fragments. Slight misallocations and dislocations due to the rushed final fixing had far reaching consequences in later editions of the famous Hyperides text until now. One of the most important new readings of the Athenogenes-speech partly due to the investigation of the first editions is given in the Appendix (Hyp. Ath . col. XVI. line 1).

A New Transcription of P. Oxy. 2383 (P69)

AbstractAlthough not listed in the critical apparatus of Luke 22:41-44 in NA27, P. Oxy. 2383 (P69) is an important early witness to the omission of these verses. Since the publication of the editio princeps in 1957 of this small papyrus fragment, no new editions have appeared. In light of recently completed images, this edition offers several significant new and improved readings, while at the same time confirming that this fragment witnesses the omission of Luke 22:41-44. Based on the new images, it is also apparent that the fragment was subject to subsequent scribal correction in at least two instances.

Personal Names in the Samaria Papyri

This paper records and analyzes the personal names found in the Samaria Papyri and papyrus fragments found in the Wâdī ed-Dâliyeh. The mixture of names of men and women, many belonging to a slave-owning elite, many belonging to slaves being bought and sold, together with names of Samaritan officials, gives a cross section of the onomasticon of the populace of Samaria, the city and the province. The largest single category of names consists of Yahwistic names, names compounded with yhw or yh. This characteristic belongs both to the names of owners and, surprisingly, of slaves. There are foreign (or pagan) names in the papyri, but no more than are found in Judaea in this late Persian period. The character of the personal names in the Samaria Papyri, and their heavy Yahwistic and Hebrew count, has direct bearing on questions of the historical accuracy of the Jewish polemic against the Samaritans, found both in the Bible and in even harsher terms in subsequent times.

An Unusual Book of the Dead Manuscript from TT 32

The analysis of three small hieratic papyrus fragments coming from a secondary burial place (Tomb B) in the outer courtyard of TT 32 shows that the otherwise rare custom of attaching the papyrus to the outer surfaces of mummy linen via a resinous substance was not only occurring in Ptolemaic Akhmim but is thus attested in Thebes too.

Seven papyrus fragments of a Greek manuscript of Exodus

AbstractThis article presents critical texts of seven previously unpublished fragments of Exodus in Greek, written in expert uncial script and employing standard nomina sacra and critical marks, dating from between the mid-fourth to the mid-fifth century CE, and containing portions of Exod 10:3-5, 8-9, 12-15, 17-22, 24-28; 11:2-5; 12:9-12, 15-18; 26:21-25, 30-33; 30:11-15, 18-21; 34:12-15, 20-24; 35:9-17, 22-25. These seven fragments show considerable independence of both Alexandrinus and Vaticanus and resist pre-Origenian recensional work bringing the readings in line with the Hebrew. The manuscript represented by the fragments recommends itself to textual critics on the basis of its antiquity, its independence, its non-revisionist character (in regard to the MT tradition), its tendency to preserve shorter readings rather than to expand the text, and its general avoidance of carelessness in reproducing its exemplar.

Are there any Early Fragments of the So-Called Gospel of Peter?

The first text in the Akhmîm codex discovered in Upper Egypt in 1886–87 was confidently identified as the Gospel of Peter, mentioned by Eusebius in his description of the activities of the second-century bishop Serapion. Although the Akhmîm text is dated palaeographically between the seventh and ninth centuries, it is seen as being a witness to a text that dates from at least as early as the second century. This position appeared to have been strengthened by the identification of a number of early papyrus fragments as belonging to the Gospel of Peter. This paper calls into question such identifications, and consequently suggests caution should be exercised before too quickly making the conclusion that the text from Akhmîm is to be identified with the second-century Gospel of Peter.