Tebtunis archive

Last updated

The Tebtunis Papyri Archive of Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley is the largest collection of texts on papyrus in the Americas. The phrase Tebtunis archive (uncapitalized) may also be used for the papyri from family archives found at Tebtunis.

Contents

The Tebtunis papyri are written in either Demotic Egyptian or Koine Greek and were found during a single expedition led by Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, two British papyrologists in the winter of 1899/1900 at the village of ancient Tebtunis (near modern Umm-el-Baragat), Egypt. [1] The papyri can be divided into three groups based on their provenance: texts from the crocodile mummies, the town and from the temple of Soknebtunis, and the cartonnage of human mummies.

Provenance

Crocodile mummy texts

A large portion of the Tebtunis crocodile mummies come from the archive of the komogrammateus or village scribe, of the nearby village, Kerkeosiris, at the end of the 2nd century BC. The Menches papers make up the biggest part of the Crocodile Papyri. These papers are divided into two groups, administrative documents and correspondence. The administrative documents are long reports that detail the state of affairs of every square meter of the area surrounding Kerkeosiris. The correspondence section essentially includes official letters that were addressed to Menches by his superiors and peers in the Ptolemaic bureaucracy. [2]

There also exists a separate group of texts made up of forty-five private documents from the first half of the 1st century BC. These texts were found in five crocodile mummies that had been buried next to each other.

Soknebtunis texts

Grenfell and Hunt's first excavation in 1899 at the Temple of Tebtunis found 200 papyri. The papyri from the town are the most diverse, and they have provided us with literary fragments, including contracts, petitions, declarations, and tax receipts. Most of these papyri concern the priests of the crocodile god, Soknebtunis (Sobek of Tebtunis [3] ), the central deity worshiped in the temples. These documents reveal what life was like for Tebtunis priests when Egypt was under Roman rule.

Cartonnage of human mummy texts

Grenfell and Hunt's second excavation, at the southwest necropolis, unearthed fifty mummy coffins where used papyri had been recycled in the manufacture. The papyri from the cartonnage covering human mummies date from the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. Most of these documents can be traced back to Oxyrhynchus (modern-day El-Bahnasa), a small village to the north of Tebtunis. These texts are from village officials, the village scribe, and the guards.

Two new documents from the Tebtunis archive

Two papyri have been found that provide evidence regarding two officials, Apion and Kronion, who were in charge of the village record office in Tebtunis during the first half of the 1st century AD. This provides us with more information about certain events in the village of Tebtunis. These documents have been published in two volumes of Papyri from Tebtunis. The village record was directed by Apion from 7 AD to at least 25 AD and by 43 AD it was under the direction of Kronion, son of Apion, until 52 AD. [4]

Lexicological significance

The Tebtunis papyri frequently provide useful light on the usage of Koine Greek in the New Testament period. For example, the verb authentein, "to have authority", a hapax legomenon in the New Testament, is documented three times in relation to "bookkeepers having authority" in P.Fam.Tebt.15 (up to 114-15 AD). [5] Texts from the Tebtunis papyri are referenced in both LSJ and BDAG lexicons.

Tebtunis Papyri Volumes

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papyrus</span> Writing and implement

Papyrus is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge. Papyrus can also refer to a document written on sheets of such material, joined side by side and rolled up into a scroll, an early form of a book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faiyum</span> City in Egypt

Faiyum is a city in Middle Egypt. Located 100 kilometres southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyum Governorate. Originally called Shedet in Egyptian, the Greeks called it in Koinē Greek: Κροκοδειλόπολις, romanized: Krokodilópolis, and later Medieval Greek: Ἀρσινόη, romanized: Arsinoë. It is one of Egypt's oldest cities due to its strategic location.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxyrhynchus</span> City in Ptolemaic/Roman Egypt

Oxyrhynchus is a city in Middle Egypt located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo in Minya Governorate. It is also an archaeological site, considered one of the most important ever discovered. Since the late 19th century, the area around Oxyrhynchus has been excavated almost continually, yielding an enormous collection of papyrus texts dating from the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt. They also include a few vellum manuscripts, and more recent Arabic manuscripts on paper

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tebtunis</span> Archaeological site in the Egyptian depression of el-Faiyum

Tebtunis was a city and later town in Lower Egypt. The settlement was founded in approximately 1800 BCE by the Twelfth Dynasty king Amenemhat III. It was located in what is now the village of Tell Umm el-Baragat in the Faiyum Governorate. In Tebtunis there were many Greek and Roman buildings. It was a rich town and was a very important regional center during the Ptolemaic period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karanis</span> Archaeological site in the Egyptian depression of el-Faiyum

Karanis, located in what is now Kom Oshim, was an agricultural town in the Ptolemaic Kingdom, and Roman Egypt located in the northeast corner of the Faiyum. It was roughly 60 hectares in size and its peak population is estimated to be 4000 people, although it could have been as much as three times greater. Karanis was one of a number to towns in the Arsinoite nome established in the third century BC by Ptolemy II Philadephus, and lasted until the 6th century AD. Though Karanis declined in the late Ptolmaic period, in the first century BC, the town expanded north when Augustus, having conquered Egypt and also recognizing the Faiyum's agricultural potential, sent workers to clean up the canals and restore the dikes that had fallen into decline, restoring productivity to the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxyrhynchus Papyri</span> Manuscript fragments from 32BC–640AD found in an Egyptian rubbish dump

The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a group of manuscripts discovered during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt.

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 57 is a letter relating to a peculation by a treasury official, written in Greek. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a sheet. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The document was written between 195-196 CE. It is housed at Johns Hopkins University. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 130 is a letter asking for relief from a debt, written in Greek and discovered in Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a sheet. The document was written in the 6th century. Currently it is housed in the Egyptian Museum (10072) in Cairo.

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 133 is the first in a series of Oxyrhynchus papyri (133–139) concerning the family affairs of Flavius Apion, his heirs, or his son. This one is a receipt for 200 artabae of seed corn. It is written in Greek and was discovered in Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a sheet. The document was written in 550. Currently it is housed in the Egyptian Museum (10056) in Cairo.

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 134 is the second in a series of Oxyrhynchus papyri (133–139) concerning the family affairs of Flavius Apion, his heirs, or his son. This one is a receipt from a stonemason given to Flavius. It is written in Greek and was discovered in Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a sheet. The document was written on 9 June 569. Currently it is housed in the Egyptian Museum (10053) in Cairo.

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 136 is the fourth in a series of Oxyrhynchus papyri (133–139) concerning the family affairs of Flavius Apion, his heirs, or his son. This one is a contract between the heirs of Flavius and the overseer of a farm. It is written in Greek and was discovered in Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a sheet. The document was written on 24 May 583. Currently it is housed in the Egyptian Museum (10103) in Cairo.

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 137 is the fifth in a series of Oxyrhynchus papyri (133–139) concerning the family affairs of Flavius Apion, his heirs, or his son. This one is a receipt for a water wheel axle, written in Greek and discovered in Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a sheet. The document was written on 11 January 584. Currently it is housed in the Egyptian Museum (10034) in Cairo.

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 138 is the sixth in a series of Oxyrhynchus papyri (133–139) concerning the family affairs of Flavius Apion, his heirs, or his son. This one is a contract for the care of a stable, written in Greek and discovered in Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a sheet. The document was written between 610 and 611. Currently it is housed in the Egyptian Museum (10100) in Cairo.

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 139 is the seventh in a series of Oxyrhynchus papyri (133–139) concerning the family affairs of Flavius Apion, his heirs, or his son. This one is a promise by the head watchman of the estate to Flavius Apion the younger to be honest and outlining the penalties the watchman agrees to should he fail. It is written in Greek and was discovered in Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a sheet. The document was written on 26 October 612. Currently it is housed in the Egyptian Museum (10049) in Cairo.

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 215 is a philosophical fragment by an unknown author, written in Greek. It was discovered in Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a roll. It is dated to the first century BC or first century AD. Currently it is housed in the British Library in London.

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 216 is a rhetorical exercise by an unknown author, written in Greek. It was discovered in Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a roll. It is dated to the first century BC or first century AD. Currently it is housed in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (35) of the Yale University.

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 245 is a fragment describing the registration of some cattle, written in Greek. It was discovered in Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a sheet. It is dated to 26 January 26. Currently it is housed in the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 277 is a fragment of a Lease of Land, in Greek. It was discovered in Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a sheet. It is dated to 6 September 19 BC. Currently it is housed in the British Library in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ptolemaic cult of Alexander the Great</span> Imperial cult in Hellenistic Egypt

The Ptolemaic cult of Alexander the Great was an imperial cult in ancient Egypt during the Hellenistic period, promoted by the Ptolemaic dynasty. The core of the cult was the worship of the deified conqueror-king Alexander the Great, which eventually formed the basis for the ruler cult of the Ptolemies themselves. The head priest of the imperial cult was the chief priest in the Ptolemaic Kingdom.

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 581 is a papyrus fragment written in Ancient Greek, apparently recording the sale of a slave girl. Dating from 29 August 99 AD, P. Oxy. 581 was discovered, alongside hundreds of other papyri, by Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt while excavating an ancient landfill at Oxyrhynchus in modern Egypt. The document's contents were published by the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1898, which also secured its donation to University College, Dundee, later the University of Dundee, in 1903 – where it still resides. Measuring 6.3 x 14.7 cm and consisting of 17 lines of text, the artifact represents the conclusion of a longer record, although the beginning of the papyrus was lost before it was found. P. Oxy. 581 has received a modest amount of scholarly attention, most recently and completely in a 2009 translation by classicist Amin Benaissa of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

References

  1. ↑ Todd M. Hickey "The Tebtunis Papyri Collection." The Center for the Tebtunis Papyri. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  2. ↑ Todd M. Hickey "Contents of Tebtunis Papyri." University of California Berkeley. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  3. ↑ David Frankfurter, Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance, Princeton University Press, 1998, ISBN   0-691-07054-7 p.159
  4. ↑ Elinor M. Husselman "Two New Documents From Tebtunis Archive." University of Michigan. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  5. ↑ P.Fam.Tebt.15 with authenton bibliophulakon (genitive plural) highlighted. Retrieved 2016-02-18.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.