Papyrology

This book is the edited proceedings from the conference 'The Art of Stesichorus' held at St John's College, Oxford, on June 29–30 2012. Contributors include: Ewen Bowie (Oxford), Chris Carey (London), Patrick Finglass (Nottingham), Richard Hunter (Cambridge), Adrian Kelly (Oxford), Ian Rutherford (Reading), Gerson Schade (Berlin), Laura Swift (Open University), Martin West (Oxford).

Pelling, C., Classics for All 2015/08/11

Die Wirtschaft der antiken Welt steht zunehmend im Mittelpunkt des Interesses der althistorischen Forschung. Obwohl seit Jahrzehnten vor allem um die quantitative wie qualitative Beurteilung des Handels in der Antike erbittert gerungen wird, wird in der Forschungsliteratur häufig nicht scharf zwischen Handel und Distribution differenziert. Um die Auswertung des antiken Quellenmaterials aus dem Mittelmeerraum mit dem aus dem Vorderen Orient zu verbinden, fand im April 2013 in Marburg eine interdisziplinäre Tagung statt, die sich der Thematik am Beispiel des Handels und der Distribution von Textilien vom 2. Jahrtausend v.Chr. bis ins frühe 2. Jahrtausend n.Chr. widmete.
Textilien eignen sich in besonderer Weise dazu, Einblicke in die Funktionsweise des antiken Warenaustauschs zu erhalten. Zwar gibt es bereits in vielen Disziplinen Forschungen zu Handel und Distribution von Textilien, aber diese werden häufig über die jeweiligen Fächergrenzen hinaus nicht wahrgenommen. Der zur Tagung gehörige Sammelband vereint daher Analysen internationaler Expertinnen und Experten aus unterschiedlichen Fachdisziplinen: Alte Geschichte, Altorientalistik, Archäologie, Textilforschung und Naturwissenschaften bilden den analytisch-methodischen Rahmen. Gerade der neuere Ansatz, dokumentarische Quellen mit archäologischen Funden und naturwissenschaftlichen Analysemethoden zu verknüpfen, erlaubt einen tief greifenden Einblick in die Funktionsweise antiker Warendistribution, der Auskunft über das „Wer?“, das „Wie?“ und das „Warum?“ gleichermaßen gibt. Überlegungen zu Absatz- und Beschaffungsmärkten, Warenpreisen und involvierten Akteuren (Institutionen) geben zudem entscheidende Informationen über den Warenaustausch im engeren Sinne hinaus.

A discussion of how G.R.S. Mead shaped 20th-century Anglophone discourse about Gnosticism decades prior to the Nag Hammadi discovery, through his interpretation of the Askew and Bruce Codices, and his popularization of the work of Berlin Coptologist Carl Schmidt. Thanks in part to Mead, the reception-history of the Askew and Bruce Codices goes straight through histories of esotericism, occultism, and magic in the twentieth century.

This study deals with the topography of al–Ušmūnain city, through Arabic papyri. In light of the information provided by these papyri, I have discussed the influence of the Islamic conquest on urban activity in al–Ušmūnain city and whether the Arabs inhabited the old city or created a new site. Also, the parts of the city, official and religious establishments, streets, market and cemetery after the Islamic conquest have been identified.

The research presented here examines two features of word order in the Aramaic and Hebrew documents from the Judean desert refuge caves: (a) subject-predicate > predicate-subject order (in verbal clauses); and (b) predicate (or infinitive)-complement order. It appears that the word order in the legal documents – both Aramaic and Hebrew – resembles the order in the eastern type of Official Aramaic, as described by E. Y. Kutscher: (a) the verb can either precede or follow the subject; (b) the predicate (or infinitive) can precede or follow its complements. The letters, however, show the “western” word order, the one accepted as the usual word order in Semitic languages, as represented in the western type of Official Aramaic, as well as in Old Aramaic, classical biblical Hebrew, and rabbinic Hebrew: (a) the verb precedes the subject; and (b) the predicate or infinitive precedes its complements. Namely, the legal documents follow an (eastern) legal tradition, and therefore do not reflect the word order of their scribes’ native tongue (Aramaic or Hebrew). The letters, on the other hand, are not bound to old traditions, and therefore reflect, to some extent, the natural languages of Judea between the first and the second revolts.

More than 2000 years ago, the Greek philosopher Philodemus (or one of his scribes) painstakingly inked a history of the country’s great thinkers, called History of the Academy, on a giant scroll of papyrus. A few decades later, Mount Vesuvius in what is now Italy blew its top, burying Pompeii and the nearby city of Herculaneum, where the scroll was kept, in ash. When archaeologists uncovered the scroll and many of its companions in the 18th century, the fragile rolls were charred and mostly unreadable. “It’s a black cat at midnight situation,” says Greg Bearman, a retired physicist who has studied ancient scrolls.

NOW IN PAPERBACK (June 2019) This is the only substantial and up-to-date reference work on the Ptolemaic army. Employing Greek and Egyptian papyri and inscriptions, and building on approaches developed in state-formation theory, it offers a coherent account of how the changing structures of the army in Egypt after Alexander’s conquest led to the development of an ethnically more integrated society. A new tripartite division of Ptole- maic history challenges the idea of gradual decline and emphasizes the reshaping of military structures that took place between c. 220 and c. 160 BC in response to changes in the nature of warfare, to mobiliza- tion and demobilization, and to financial constraints. An investigation of the socio-economic role played by soldiers permits a reassessment of the cleruchic system and shows how soldiers’ associations generated inter-ethnic group solidarity. By integrating Egyptian evidence, Chris- telle Fischer-Bovet also demonstrates that the connection between the army and local temples offered new ways for Greeks and Egyptians to interact.

In the frame of the discussion on the legal nature of the contractual clause ‘καθάπερ ἐκ δίκης’ (the most important legal formula used in Egyptian legal papyri during the Ro- man period) and on its hypothetical practical function, this paper offers what appears to be the first textual evidence of the executive legal effects of the clause.

The article describes the double documents from the Judaean Desert, on the one hand their material conditions and their lay out, on the other hand the relationship between the upper (inner) and the lower (outer) texts. There are three different forms: two widely identical texts, written one below the other on one side of a sheet; two such texts the first of which starts on the back of the sheet; and, third, documents with a noticeably shortened upper text. The upper text is often less carefully written. Both the lay out and some of the differences between the two texts point to the conclusion that the upper text was written first, while the lower text was copied from the upper one.

In the "Rise of a Capital: Al-Fusṭāṭ and Its Hinterland, 18/639-132/750", Jelle Bruning maps al-Fusṭāṭ’s development from a garrison town founded by Muslim conquerors near modern Cairo (Egypt) in c. 640 C.E. into a bustling provincial capital a century later. Synthesising contemporary papyri, archaeology and narrative sources, this book argues that al-Fusṭāṭ’s position in Egypt changed with the different policies of the Rightly-Guided and Umayyad caliphs and their provincial representatives. Because these policies affected the town’s centrality in the administration as well as in commercial and legal networks throughout Egypt, from Alexandria in the north to Aswan in the south, "The Rise of a Capital" offers valuable new insights into Egypt’s society during the first century of Muslim rule.

The Anonymus Londiniensis is a first-hand masterpiece in the History of Philosophy and Science. In this article my aim is to give an updated and critical account of the papyrus, and to expound the arguments which seem more appropriate to bolster the thesis that two works today lost served as the basis for the Londiniensis: a part of the second section of the Londiniensis papyrus would have been mainly shaped according to an Aristotelian text, whereas the third section of the papyrus would have relied on another different source.

Priests of the local Egyptian elite had access to higher posts in the administration or army and that Egyptian scribes, retrained as Greek notaries or village scribes, were enrolled into the social class of the Persians at Pathyris. These are, though, exceptional examples of social mobility, involving only a few inhabitants of the village who happen to belong to the local Egyptian elite.
After the Upper-Egyptian revolts, the king set up new camps in the South. Pathyris received a camp shortly before 161 BC. Local Egyptians who in the past were herdsmen and at times fulfilled military service as ‘man of Syene’ or similar, thus continuing an Upper-Egyptian tradition, were inscribed in the camps as soldier serving-for-pay and were enrolled into the social class of Persians, an intermediary class of second-degree Greeks, probably having some legal and fiscal privileges. Such enrolment lead to a certain degree of Hellenization and was hereditary: their sons and daughters became Persians.
In some periods, especially after 116 BC, several Persian soldiers serving for pay were unemployed and thus not paid by the government. Such Persians were labeled  ‘Persians of the epigone’ in Greek texts, ‘Greeks born in Egypt (among the children of the soldiers)’ in Demotic documents. The Persians of the epigone constituted a form of reserve troop from which soldiers serving for pay could be recruited for particular campaigns, for instance, during the Judean-Syrian-Egyptian conflict in 103-101 BC. When recruited, the Persians of the reserve (epigone) temporarily became Persian soldiers serving for pay, but could afterwards revert to the status of Persian of the reserve (epigone). Some Persians of the epigone probably remained non-active soldiers for their entire lives. Several made a living as herdsmen.
The enrolment of these locals into the social class of Persians involves social mobility on a much larger scale than was previously understood: not only the Egyptian elite could enjoy upward mobility. There are hardly any common Egyptians at Pathyris: the inhabitants are either priests or Persians. The Ptolemaic king thus aimed at mobilizing the Egyptian people for his cause, undoubtedly in order to avoid new native rebellions in the South.

This book explores what the Book of the Dead was to the ancient Egyptians, what it means to us today, what it was believed to do, how it worked, how it was made, and ultimately what happened to it. Edited by Foy Scalf, PhD, this volume includes fourteen essays showcasing the latest research on the Book of the Dead written by thirteen internationally renown experts as well as a complete catalog of the forty-five objects on display in an associated exhibit at the Oriental Institute Museum. Two famous Book of the Dead papyri, Papyrus Milbank and Papyrus Ryerson, are reproduced in their entirety with full-color photographs among nearly 400 illustrations for the first time. Discover how the ancient Egyptians controlled their immortal destiny and sought close association with the gods through the Book of the Dead.

This PDF contains the preliminary front matter to the volume. To download the entire volume, please visit:
https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/publications/oimp/oimp-39-book-dead

This article presents some new material on the Greek text of Melito. Nongbri describes the rediscovery of the first leaf of the Greek copy of Melito’s Peri Pascha in the Bodmer collection and discusses its place in the codex of which it is a part. Nongbri and Hall then jointly present a transcript of the text, supplemented where it is damaged with material from other sources and the published critical text. A new critical text follows, with notes in explanation. Finally we offer a new translation of the sections concerned.