DOI Artikel:
Kenyon, Frederic George: Progress of Egyptology: graeco-roman Egypt, 1906-7
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12424#0071
Geaeco-Eoman Egypt.
57
An article by Wilcken6 throws valuable light on the historical text
published in 1902 by Bruno Keil from a Strassburg papyrus, under the
title of Anonymus Argentinensis (see Report for 1901-2, no. 5). Wilcken
shows, with apparent conclusiveness, that the work, instead of being an
epitome of a history of Athens, is in reality derived from a commentary on
the speech of Demosthenes against Androtion. This discovery invalidates
many of Keil's deductions, especially those which rest upon the assumption
that the events mentioned are necessarily arranged in chronological order.
Wilcken offers a fresh reconstruction of the text, but has not succeeded to
any great extent in filling the lacunas, or even in determining the original
width of the column. With this contribution to the criticism of previously
published texts may be mentioned some new readings in the Sosylus
papyrus (no. 12 in the Report for 1905-6) by Wilcken,7 and a collation of
the Didymus papyrus (no. 3 in the Report for 1903-4), by Cronert.8 The
latter work has been searching!}' re-examined on its historical and literary
side by Foucart,9 whose treatise is an important contribution to Demos-
thenic criticism.
Dr. Schubart's book, described below (no. 36), mentions incidentally the
existence at Berlin of two papyri of considerable interest to theologians.
One is a fine specimen of a Festal Letter of an Alexandrian patriarch, of the
8th century, which will appear in the next part of the Berliner Klassiher-
texte. The other, and more important, is a papyrus codex of the fourth
century containing about two-thirds of the book of Genesis. This, which
must be the longest Greek Biblical papyrus known, should be of great
value for textual purposes, on account of the almost total absence of this
book from the Aratican and Sinaitic codices ; and its publication, which
will follow that of the Festal Letter, will be expected with much interest.
In the same connection it may be mentioned that some vellum Biblical
MSS. have recently been acquired in Egypt for America; but details as to
their contents are not yet forthcoming.
Far more extensive are the publications of non-literary texts during the
past year, which include two large volumes from England and two of lesser
scope from Germany and France, besides isolated documents. The Tebtunis
volume,2 besides the literary fragments already mentioned, contains the
texts of 146 documents, and descriptions of 241 more. A few are
Ptolemaic, the rest Eoman, especially of the first two centuries after Christ.
In character they follow familiar lines, and are important for the details
which they provide on matters of taxation, administration, law, and topo-
graphy, rather than for any novelty in species. As usual in the volumes
of Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt, one looks to the appendices for important
57
An article by Wilcken6 throws valuable light on the historical text
published in 1902 by Bruno Keil from a Strassburg papyrus, under the
title of Anonymus Argentinensis (see Report for 1901-2, no. 5). Wilcken
shows, with apparent conclusiveness, that the work, instead of being an
epitome of a history of Athens, is in reality derived from a commentary on
the speech of Demosthenes against Androtion. This discovery invalidates
many of Keil's deductions, especially those which rest upon the assumption
that the events mentioned are necessarily arranged in chronological order.
Wilcken offers a fresh reconstruction of the text, but has not succeeded to
any great extent in filling the lacunas, or even in determining the original
width of the column. With this contribution to the criticism of previously
published texts may be mentioned some new readings in the Sosylus
papyrus (no. 12 in the Report for 1905-6) by Wilcken,7 and a collation of
the Didymus papyrus (no. 3 in the Report for 1903-4), by Cronert.8 The
latter work has been searching!}' re-examined on its historical and literary
side by Foucart,9 whose treatise is an important contribution to Demos-
thenic criticism.
Dr. Schubart's book, described below (no. 36), mentions incidentally the
existence at Berlin of two papyri of considerable interest to theologians.
One is a fine specimen of a Festal Letter of an Alexandrian patriarch, of the
8th century, which will appear in the next part of the Berliner Klassiher-
texte. The other, and more important, is a papyrus codex of the fourth
century containing about two-thirds of the book of Genesis. This, which
must be the longest Greek Biblical papyrus known, should be of great
value for textual purposes, on account of the almost total absence of this
book from the Aratican and Sinaitic codices ; and its publication, which
will follow that of the Festal Letter, will be expected with much interest.
In the same connection it may be mentioned that some vellum Biblical
MSS. have recently been acquired in Egypt for America; but details as to
their contents are not yet forthcoming.
Far more extensive are the publications of non-literary texts during the
past year, which include two large volumes from England and two of lesser
scope from Germany and France, besides isolated documents. The Tebtunis
volume,2 besides the literary fragments already mentioned, contains the
texts of 146 documents, and descriptions of 241 more. A few are
Ptolemaic, the rest Eoman, especially of the first two centuries after Christ.
In character they follow familiar lines, and are important for the details
which they provide on matters of taxation, administration, law, and topo-
graphy, rather than for any novelty in species. As usual in the volumes
of Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt, one looks to the appendices for important