DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1034#0029
24
HA WARA, BIAHMU, AND ARSINOE.
CHAPTER V.
the greek papyri.
By Prof. Sayce. *
35. It is not often that an explorer is so fortunate
as to discover a prize like that which fell to the lot of
Mr Flinders Petrie last winter. Under the head of a
mummy excavated by him at Hawara he found
a large roll of papyrus, which, when unfolded, turned
out to contain the greater part of the second book of
the Iliad. The roll had belonged to a lady with
whom it had been buried in death. The skull of the
mummy showed that its possessor had been young
and attractive-looking, with features at once small,
intellectual, and finely chiselled, and belonging dis-
tinctively to the Greek type. Through the generosity
of Mr Haworth, both skull and papyrus are now in
the Bodleian Library at Oxford, along with a tress of
the unknown Hypatia's black hair.
The papyrus is assigned to the fifth century by Mr
Maunde Thompson. The text is written in large,
beautifully formed capitals, and has been revised and
annotated with singular care. It thus takes rank
with the Louvre papyrus containing the first 175 lines
of the Thirteenth Book of the Iliad, which was found
at Elephantine, though the latter is earlier in date.
The three oldest texts of the Iliad hitherto known
are all written on papyrus, and have all alike come
from Egypt. Besides the Louvre papyrus, a papyrus
containing the larger portion of the Twenty-fourth
Book of the Iliad was brought from Elephantine by
Mr Bankes, and, like the papyrus of the Louvre, is
assigned to the first century before our era. The
third papyrus was discovered by Mr Harris in the
crocodile caves at Manfalut. It contains fragments
of the Eighteenth Book, but is somewhat carelessly
written, and of comparatively late date. Another
portion of the same roll was subsequently obtained
by the discoverer. All these papyri are furnished
with accentual marks and signs of punctuation.
36. This is also the case with the Papyrus Petrie,
the symbols being introduced with much the same
irregularity as in the three other Egyptian rolls. But
in addition to the symbols for the grave, circumflex,
and acute accents, for the rough and soft breathings,
* I have to express my thanks to Mr Walter Leaf for the
assistance he has generously afforded me, not only in respect of
the MS. of Homer—a subject on which his authority is second
to none—but also in respect of some of the other papyri given
in this chapter.
for the loss of a syllable by elision, and for inter-
punctuation, it further employs the signs for long and
short syllables so well-known to the modern school-
boy (see PI. xxiv.). Six centuries, moreover, before
the date of the famous Venetian Codex, it presents
us not only with the dipU, the chief use of which
seems to have been to call attention to the notes of
earlier editions, but also with the diple periestigmene,
which marked variations between the readings of
Zenodotos or Krates and those of Aristarkhos, as well
as with the obelos of Zenodotos, that time-honoured
indication of spuriousness. In three cases (794, 859,
and 875) a peculiar form of obelos is employed, with
curved ends, which seems intended to note the lines
rejected by Aristarkhos (see PL xxiv.).
But this is not all. Here and there a scholion is
added in a cursive hand, giving the reading of
Aristarkhos where it differed from that adopted in
the text. In some instances other variant readings
besides those of Aristarkhos are mentioned; as in 865,
where notice is taken of the reading Γυραιη of the
Massaliot edition. These scholia, along with the
critical marks, render the Papyrus Petrie at once
unique and of peculiar value.
The scholia appear to have been added by a later
hand, like the two corrections (631 and 724) which
occur in the text, as well as the critical and accentual
marks. That the latter were added after the text
had been written is evident from 768, where the
apostrophe is placed over the Γ of μέγ' instead of in
front of it. On the other hand, the punctuation was
the work of the original scribe, and consists of a point
which is used to denote a full stop as well as the
minor divisions of the sentence. It is usually placed
on a line with the head of the letter in front of which
it stands, and though it is occasionally on a line with
the middle or foot of it, the varying position does not
appear to affect its use. Where, however, a colon would
naturally occur after a word at the beginning of a line
(as in 873) the point is preferably placed in the middle.
No point is found after the last line of the book.
The scholia are usually introduced by a sign
resembling an antistigma, and the stigmi recurs
frequently after the end of a line {eg. 763, 767, 775,
803, 807, 815, 819, 848, 856, 860, 864). It thus
occupies the same position as the scholia. It will be
noticed that the antistigma seems to have been put to
a new use.
The list of diacritical marks, however, is not even
yet exhausted. A line is drawn under the letters of
a word in a scholion, which differs from the reading
of the text. Two dots are written over an iota when
it is followed by a vowel as well as by a consonant
cc
th
HA WARA, BIAHMU, AND ARSINOE.
CHAPTER V.
the greek papyri.
By Prof. Sayce. *
35. It is not often that an explorer is so fortunate
as to discover a prize like that which fell to the lot of
Mr Flinders Petrie last winter. Under the head of a
mummy excavated by him at Hawara he found
a large roll of papyrus, which, when unfolded, turned
out to contain the greater part of the second book of
the Iliad. The roll had belonged to a lady with
whom it had been buried in death. The skull of the
mummy showed that its possessor had been young
and attractive-looking, with features at once small,
intellectual, and finely chiselled, and belonging dis-
tinctively to the Greek type. Through the generosity
of Mr Haworth, both skull and papyrus are now in
the Bodleian Library at Oxford, along with a tress of
the unknown Hypatia's black hair.
The papyrus is assigned to the fifth century by Mr
Maunde Thompson. The text is written in large,
beautifully formed capitals, and has been revised and
annotated with singular care. It thus takes rank
with the Louvre papyrus containing the first 175 lines
of the Thirteenth Book of the Iliad, which was found
at Elephantine, though the latter is earlier in date.
The three oldest texts of the Iliad hitherto known
are all written on papyrus, and have all alike come
from Egypt. Besides the Louvre papyrus, a papyrus
containing the larger portion of the Twenty-fourth
Book of the Iliad was brought from Elephantine by
Mr Bankes, and, like the papyrus of the Louvre, is
assigned to the first century before our era. The
third papyrus was discovered by Mr Harris in the
crocodile caves at Manfalut. It contains fragments
of the Eighteenth Book, but is somewhat carelessly
written, and of comparatively late date. Another
portion of the same roll was subsequently obtained
by the discoverer. All these papyri are furnished
with accentual marks and signs of punctuation.
36. This is also the case with the Papyrus Petrie,
the symbols being introduced with much the same
irregularity as in the three other Egyptian rolls. But
in addition to the symbols for the grave, circumflex,
and acute accents, for the rough and soft breathings,
* I have to express my thanks to Mr Walter Leaf for the
assistance he has generously afforded me, not only in respect of
the MS. of Homer—a subject on which his authority is second
to none—but also in respect of some of the other papyri given
in this chapter.
for the loss of a syllable by elision, and for inter-
punctuation, it further employs the signs for long and
short syllables so well-known to the modern school-
boy (see PI. xxiv.). Six centuries, moreover, before
the date of the famous Venetian Codex, it presents
us not only with the dipU, the chief use of which
seems to have been to call attention to the notes of
earlier editions, but also with the diple periestigmene,
which marked variations between the readings of
Zenodotos or Krates and those of Aristarkhos, as well
as with the obelos of Zenodotos, that time-honoured
indication of spuriousness. In three cases (794, 859,
and 875) a peculiar form of obelos is employed, with
curved ends, which seems intended to note the lines
rejected by Aristarkhos (see PL xxiv.).
But this is not all. Here and there a scholion is
added in a cursive hand, giving the reading of
Aristarkhos where it differed from that adopted in
the text. In some instances other variant readings
besides those of Aristarkhos are mentioned; as in 865,
where notice is taken of the reading Γυραιη of the
Massaliot edition. These scholia, along with the
critical marks, render the Papyrus Petrie at once
unique and of peculiar value.
The scholia appear to have been added by a later
hand, like the two corrections (631 and 724) which
occur in the text, as well as the critical and accentual
marks. That the latter were added after the text
had been written is evident from 768, where the
apostrophe is placed over the Γ of μέγ' instead of in
front of it. On the other hand, the punctuation was
the work of the original scribe, and consists of a point
which is used to denote a full stop as well as the
minor divisions of the sentence. It is usually placed
on a line with the head of the letter in front of which
it stands, and though it is occasionally on a line with
the middle or foot of it, the varying position does not
appear to affect its use. Where, however, a colon would
naturally occur after a word at the beginning of a line
(as in 873) the point is preferably placed in the middle.
No point is found after the last line of the book.
The scholia are usually introduced by a sign
resembling an antistigma, and the stigmi recurs
frequently after the end of a line {eg. 763, 767, 775,
803, 807, 815, 819, 848, 856, 860, 864). It thus
occupies the same position as the scholia. It will be
noticed that the antistigma seems to have been put to
a new use.
The list of diacritical marks, however, is not even
yet exhausted. A line is drawn under the letters of
a word in a scholion, which differs from the reading
of the text. Two dots are written over an iota when
it is followed by a vowel as well as by a consonant
cc
th