The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology

by Roger S. Bagnall

Thousands of texts, written over a period of three thousand years on papyri and potsherds, in Egyptian, Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew, Persian, and other languages, have transformed our knowledge of many aspects of life in the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology provides an introduction to the world of these ancient documents and literary texts, ranging from the raw materials of writing to the languages used, from the history of papyrology to its future, and from practical help in reading papyri to frank opinions about the nature of the work of papyrologists. This volume, the first major reference work on papyrology written in English, takes account of the important changes experienced by the discipline within especially the last thirty years. Including new work by twenty-seven international experts and more than one hundred illustrations, The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology will serve as an invaluable guide to the subject.

712 pages, Hardcover

First published June 15, 2009

Reviews

[Mikey · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In a broad sense, papyrology is a discipline concerned with the recovery and exploitation of ancient artifacts bearing writing and of the textual material preserved on such artifacts...

For the most part it focuses on what can be called the spectrum of everyday writing rather than forms of writing intended for publicity and permanence..."

Papyrology as a systematic discipline arose from the accidental discovery of large caches of well-preserved papyri by fertilizer farmers in the 1890s. These early, enormous troves of Egyptian papyri were a veritable pandora's box. This discovery of (some) early christianity texts, enticed academic investment into archeology allowing for the establishment of a systematic, scientific discipline of archeological analysis and preservation. This excitement likewise stimulated a burgeoning (and ongoing) black market for undocumented antiquities and illicit excavation.

These exploitative and/or academic excavations over the last 130 years has led to the acquisition of 1,500,000 known papryi texts; at a rate greatly outpacing translation, with only 80,000 documents translated over the same period. Without continued discovery, it is estimated to take at least another millennium (1000 years) for the remaining translations. Notwithstanding, the small quantity of published (translated/corrected) papyri is transformative in our knowledge of ancient life during the Ptolemaic (305BC-30BC), Roman (30BC-AD641), and Byzantine eras (639–AD646).

The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology provides an expert overview, analysis and reference into real-life "lore" of ancient documents and literary texts.