DOI article:
Grenfell, Bernard P.; Hunt, Arthur S.: Egypt Exploration Fund: graeco-roman branch (excavations for papyri in the Fayûm; the position of Lake Moeris)
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11173#0029
Graeco-Bomax Branch.
15
and archaeological data coalesce with the engineering evidence and form
one harmonious whole ; and it is now time for the theory of a high level
Lake Moeris on the top of a slope, originated by the brilliant but erratic
French engineer, a theory which we note still holds its place in the
principal handbooks, to be relegated to oblivion.
We returned to Cairo on March 13. Of our finds other than papyri
and ostraca the most important were retained by the Gizeh Museum,
including the large inscription from Kasr el Banat, the Roman plough
and Ptolemaic shield from Harit, and a large selection of Ptolemaic
and Roman pots and vases. The papyri and ostraca have all been brought
to England for publication ; a selection will be sent back later. As we
have been fully occupied since our return with our new Oxyrhynchus
volume, we have only had a few hours to devote to the Fayum papyri.
All those which were large enough to be worth study were unrolled and
flattened while the excavations were proceeding, and the numbers in our
rough list just exceed a thousand, though not more than 300 are complete.
A large proportion of them belong to the early Roman period and some to
the latest Ptolemaic, which are likely to be of exceptional interest. There
are about thirty literary fragments, Homer as usual predominating.
A full account of our excavations in the Fayum both last winter and
with Mr. Hogarth in 1895-6 (the publication of which has been too long,
though unavoidably, delayed), with maps, illustrations, &e., and a selection
of the papyri, will form the annual volume of the Graeco-Roman Branch
for 1899-1900, to be issued next year.
Bernard P. Grenfell.
Arthur S. Hunt.
15
and archaeological data coalesce with the engineering evidence and form
one harmonious whole ; and it is now time for the theory of a high level
Lake Moeris on the top of a slope, originated by the brilliant but erratic
French engineer, a theory which we note still holds its place in the
principal handbooks, to be relegated to oblivion.
We returned to Cairo on March 13. Of our finds other than papyri
and ostraca the most important were retained by the Gizeh Museum,
including the large inscription from Kasr el Banat, the Roman plough
and Ptolemaic shield from Harit, and a large selection of Ptolemaic
and Roman pots and vases. The papyri and ostraca have all been brought
to England for publication ; a selection will be sent back later. As we
have been fully occupied since our return with our new Oxyrhynchus
volume, we have only had a few hours to devote to the Fayum papyri.
All those which were large enough to be worth study were unrolled and
flattened while the excavations were proceeding, and the numbers in our
rough list just exceed a thousand, though not more than 300 are complete.
A large proportion of them belong to the early Roman period and some to
the latest Ptolemaic, which are likely to be of exceptional interest. There
are about thirty literary fragments, Homer as usual predominating.
A full account of our excavations in the Fayum both last winter and
with Mr. Hogarth in 1895-6 (the publication of which has been too long,
though unavoidably, delayed), with maps, illustrations, &e., and a selection
of the papyri, will form the annual volume of the Graeco-Roman Branch
for 1899-1900, to be issued next year.
Bernard P. Grenfell.
Arthur S. Hunt.