The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology

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.

Contributors; Figures; Abbreviations; Internet Resources; Introduction, Roger S. Bagnall; 1. Writing Materials in the Ancient World, Adam Bulow-Jacobsen; 2. The Finds of Papyri, Helene Cuvigny; 3. The History of the Discipline, James G. Keenan; 4. Conservation of Ancient Papyrus Materials, Jaakko Frosen; 5. Greek and Latin Writing in the Papyri, Guglielmo Cavallo; 6. The Greek and Latin Languages in the Papyri, Eleanor Dickey; 7. Abbreviations and Symbols, Nikolaos Gonis; 8. Practical Help, Roger S. Bagnall; 9. Editing a Papyrus, Paul Schubert; 10. Archives and Dossiers, Katelijn Vandorpe; 11. The Ancient Book, William A. Johnson; 12. Papyrology and Ancient Literature, Timothy T. Renner; 13. The Special Case of Herculaneum, David Sider; 14. Education in the Papyri, Raffaella Cribiore; 15. Mathematics, Science and Medicine in the Papyri, Alexander Jones; 16. The Range of Documentary Texts, Bernhard Palme; 17. The Multilingual Environment of Persian and Ptolemaic Egypt, Dorothy J. Thompson; 18. The Multilingual Environment of Late Antique Egypt , Jean-Luc Fournet; 19. Arabic Papyri and Islamic Egypt, Petra M. Sijpesteijn; 20. The Papyrology of the Near East, Jean Gascou; 21. Writing Histories from the Papyri, Todd M. Hickey; 22. Geography and Administration in Egypt, Maria Rosaria Falivene; 23. Law in Greco-Roman Egypt, Uri Yiftach-Firanko; 24. Egyptian Religion and Magic in the Papyri, Willy Clarysse; 25. Christianity in the Papyri, David G. Martinez; 26. Manichaeism and Gnosticism in the Papyri, Cornelia Romer; 27. The Future of Papyrology, Peter van Minnen; Index

Roger S. Bagnall is Director of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World and Professor of Ancient History at New York University.