DOI article:
Kenyon, Frederic George: Progress of Egyptology: graeco-roman Egypt
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12055#0077
Gbaeco-Eomah Egypt.
65
north of Hermopolis ; and they form a group by themselves, relating to the
affairs of a certain Dionysius, son of Cephalas. In dates they belong to
the same period as the well-known papyri from Pathyris, namely the end
of the 2nd century B.C. They are forty-seven in number, of which seven
are in demotic; the latter are edited by Prof. Spiegelberg with a
commentary which is mainly philological. In addition, the volume
contains eighteen documents of the Roman and Byzantine periods, of
various provenances, and the few literary papyri mentioned above. The
Ptolemaic documents are all of a private character, mainly loans of corn, and
have not the varied interest of the Petrie papyri; but they are an importan t
accession to cur stock of documents of this period. The Roman and
Byzantine documents are of the usual miscellaneous kind. M. Reinach
prints his texts without punctuation, accents, or breathings, and adds
translations and brief notes; full indices are appended, and (a most welcome
feature) seventeen plates of facsimiles, of which eight are demotic.
Detailed criticism would be out of place here; but it may be said that in
this volume, the first of its kind published in France for forty years, M.
Reinach worthily revives the traditions of Letronne and Brunet de Presle.
Another country which during the past year has resumed its ancient
place with regard to the publication of papyri is Italy. The initiative in
this instance is due to the distinguished scholar, Prof. G. Yitelli, who has
edited, in the first part of a series issued by the Accademia dei Lincei,11 a
number of papyri acquired by himself, Breccia, and Schiaparelli in Egypt in
1901-4. This first part comprises thirty-five non-literary texts (some of
them already published provisionally in Atene e Roma), with descriptions
and brief annotations, in the style now habitual everywhere except in
Germany, and with six plates containing nine well-executed facsimiles.
All the texts are of the Roman or Byzantine period, and even the earlier
part of the Roman period (before a.d. 127) is not represented. The
longest text is a series of ratifications by the strategus of the Hermopolite
nome, in a.d. 265, of nominations by the comarchs, or village magistrates, of
persons to undertake various public duties. The other documents include
returns for the census of a.d. 243-4 (hitherto not represented in the
papyri), petitions, leases, loans, tax-receipts, and other business papers of
the kind usual in these collections, but many of them contributing small
items of information to the general stock of knowledge on the period
covered by them. This fasciculus will be followed up by others of the
same nature under the editorship of Prof. Vitelli, while a second volume,
containing literary texts and epistles, will be produced by Prof.
Comparetti.
v
65
north of Hermopolis ; and they form a group by themselves, relating to the
affairs of a certain Dionysius, son of Cephalas. In dates they belong to
the same period as the well-known papyri from Pathyris, namely the end
of the 2nd century B.C. They are forty-seven in number, of which seven
are in demotic; the latter are edited by Prof. Spiegelberg with a
commentary which is mainly philological. In addition, the volume
contains eighteen documents of the Roman and Byzantine periods, of
various provenances, and the few literary papyri mentioned above. The
Ptolemaic documents are all of a private character, mainly loans of corn, and
have not the varied interest of the Petrie papyri; but they are an importan t
accession to cur stock of documents of this period. The Roman and
Byzantine documents are of the usual miscellaneous kind. M. Reinach
prints his texts without punctuation, accents, or breathings, and adds
translations and brief notes; full indices are appended, and (a most welcome
feature) seventeen plates of facsimiles, of which eight are demotic.
Detailed criticism would be out of place here; but it may be said that in
this volume, the first of its kind published in France for forty years, M.
Reinach worthily revives the traditions of Letronne and Brunet de Presle.
Another country which during the past year has resumed its ancient
place with regard to the publication of papyri is Italy. The initiative in
this instance is due to the distinguished scholar, Prof. G. Yitelli, who has
edited, in the first part of a series issued by the Accademia dei Lincei,11 a
number of papyri acquired by himself, Breccia, and Schiaparelli in Egypt in
1901-4. This first part comprises thirty-five non-literary texts (some of
them already published provisionally in Atene e Roma), with descriptions
and brief annotations, in the style now habitual everywhere except in
Germany, and with six plates containing nine well-executed facsimiles.
All the texts are of the Roman or Byzantine period, and even the earlier
part of the Roman period (before a.d. 127) is not represented. The
longest text is a series of ratifications by the strategus of the Hermopolite
nome, in a.d. 265, of nominations by the comarchs, or village magistrates, of
persons to undertake various public duties. The other documents include
returns for the census of a.d. 243-4 (hitherto not represented in the
papyri), petitions, leases, loans, tax-receipts, and other business papers of
the kind usual in these collections, but many of them contributing small
items of information to the general stock of knowledge on the period
covered by them. This fasciculus will be followed up by others of the
same nature under the editorship of Prof. Vitelli, while a second volume,
containing literary texts and epistles, will be produced by Prof.
Comparetti.
v