EXPOPAPIROS

 

1. Biblica

 

Lamentations (PMR 530)

These 21 fragments of papyrus compose 2 folia belonging to the same codex and contains the Sahidic version of Lamentations. The original pages were divided into two columns of 25 lines each, written with a regular, sophisticated and bilinear handwriting. The total written surface is estimated to have been 26 by 21cm.

 

Gospel of Luke (PMR 8)

This is a fragment of a parchment folium divided into two columns, which contains the text of the Gospel of Luke in Sahidic Coptic. This is believed to have belonged to large codex, which contained the four Gospels, and dates to the 9th century.

 

Thessalonians (PMR 9)

This is an almost complete parchment folium from a small codex dated to the 6th century. It contains the ending of the first letter and the beginning second letter to the Thessalonians. The script is Biblical uncial and it is laid out in one single column of 25 lines.

 

2. Litterae

 

Daniel (PMR 60)

This is a parchment Codex folium containing a commentary to the book of Daniel. It is written in a bimodular uncial datable to the 11th-12th centuries. The text is a running commentary on Daniel 8:5-18, the vision of the he-goat and the ram, with a clear monastic background to the interpretations.

 

Council of Ephesus

These two fragmentary papyrus folia belong to a codex containing the Coptic version of the Acts of the Council of Ephesus (431 CE). The Montserrat collection has 22 folia of this codex. This text is known thanks to a much better White Monastery manuscript edited by Bouriant in 1892.

 

3. Codices

 

Miscellaneous codex

These two folia belong to a single quire papyrus codex dated to the 4th century. It had a miscellaneous content: Catilinary Orations by Cicero, a hymn to the Virgin Mary, Alcestis in Latin hexameters, a tale of the Emperor Hadrian, a mythological drawing and a Greek word list related to stenography manuals.

 

PMR 154: On this page Hercules is represented giving Diomedes’ head to a beast (Roca-Puig’s interpretation), and has nothing to do with any of the texts accompanying it.

 

PMR 165: This page contains the ending of Emperor Hadrian’s tale with an ornated colophon in the shape of a tabula ansata, as well as a farewell formula at the bottom indicating its closure. The tale is dedicated to a certain Dorotheus, whose name appears inside the colophon.

 

The Tura codex of Didymus the Blind

This is a bifolio from a late-5th/early-6th century papyrus codex containing the commentaries of Didymus the Blind to Zacharias. It was found in 1941, when British military engineers discovered a hoard of at least eight papyrus codices in a subterranean cavern at Tura, about 10 miles outside Cairo. This treasure was scattered after its discovery during the Second World War and is now partially recovered in various locations, among which Cologne, Montserrat, Brigham Young University, in Provo (Utah) and London. The Tura find provided unattested treatises by Didymus the Blind, by Origen, and by another unknown author. Five of the Tura codices contain Didymus’s commentaries on Genesis, Ecclesiastes, Job, Zachariah, and Psalms.

 

4. Magica

 

Magical parchments

This group of parchment fragments date to the 8th century. They previously belonged to a codex containing 2 Samuel in Sahidic Coptic.

The biblical text, which was divided into two columns, was removed in order to reuse the parchment fragments for a magical text. On the flesh side we see magical drawings, characteres, texts and invocations. These fragments were sewn together on the upper and lower margins to create a long narrow parchment surface. The assembled parchment is believed to have been over a meter long. It was purposely torn probably due to its content.

 

Magical Ostracon

This magical ostracon dates to the 6th/8th century. It is made out of reddish pottery and features a pink slip. The text is written on the convex side with black ink, while there is no text on the concave side. There are eleven lines, containing a list of magical names or invocations of the god Seth. Most of the lines start with “Ιω” as a form of invocation. It is difficult to characterize a text like this, since these kinds of magical texts do not contain actual words, but it is thought it might be Coptic due to the    found in the second line. The text is accompanied by two long-necked animals, which contain characteres inside their bodies. This use of drawings in magical texts is common practice. It is probably an aggresive charm, conected to love magic, since other examples of this type of texts contain similar invocations.

 

Amulet

This small papyrus fragment presents signs and magical drawings, including a small human figure, and also voces magicae. It is probably an amulet.

 

5. Documenta

PMR 244

This is a 7th-8th century Coptic letter. This letter was addressed to a woman, as is visible on the verso: "Give this to my dear daughter Eutainy". The contents are merely practical about a payment.

PMR 254
This is a 4th -5th century Coptic letter. This is the left hand side part of a letter, which was at some point cut on purpose as can be seen on the right hand margin. It is addressed to a certain Jeremy the doctor, asking for a favor. 

 

PMR 319
This is a 7th-8th century Coptic letter. This is a virtually complete letter written on the verso of a Byzantine document, which has been erased. The interesting thing about this letter is that it was written by a woman, Biktorina, and addressed to a certain Kyri.

 

PMR 707

This is a list of garments. On the verso of a 7th-8th century Greek document there is a list of garments assigned to specific persons. The garments mentioned are the lebiton, the sabanon and the mapa. Probably children are mentioned too (see the son of Makaria, on line 4, who receives a small lebiton).

 

6. Apa Apollo

Papyri from the Monastery of Apa Apollo
The monastery of Apa Apollo at Bawit has become a fascinating topic in later years due to the wealth and diversity of sources: archaeology, literary texts and the documentary texts from a trilingual archive which is now scattered in libraries around the world. Papyri and ostraca from Bawit did not come to light in official excavations, but appeared in the antiquities market in the 19th and 20th century.
Three saints, Apa Apollo with his companions Phib and Anoup, are associated with Bawit. Founded in ca. 386-88, Bawit reached its height during the 7th and 8th centuries, when about 1,000 monks inhabited the site. The monastic complex featured at least two churches, dining halls, monastic cells including special cells for children, a bakery, oil and wine presses, and almost 100 acres of landholdings. Neither the library, the scriptorium, nor the school have been identified, although they would have formed part of a big monastery. Inscriptions indicate that nuns lived in the monastic complex. Arabic fiscal policies instituted in the early 8th century led to a slow decline of the monastery and its demise in the 12th century.

PMR 549

This is an 8th century Coptic document related to a loan, from the monastery of Apa Apollo in Hermoupolis. It was issued by brother Apollo and addressed to the dikaion of the monastery.

PMR 516
This is a 7th-8th century list of payments, probably related to taxes. On the second line the toponym Titkois is visible, allowing the affiliation of this document to the monastery of Apa Apollo, in Hermoupolis, nearby this town.

 

PMR 713

This is a 7th-8th century document related to tax collection. It is only the end of a document and interestingly, it features a double seal. A certain Afous, monk of Saint Apollo is mentioned.

 

7. Documenta

 

PMR 524

This paper fragment dates to the 10th century and was used on one side as a list of poll-tax payments and on the other we can observe it is decorated with a drawing similar to a flower, the purpose of which is uncertain. Between the drawings we can find a continuation of the list of payments. It is interesting to observe that all the names that appear on the list are Christian except for one. It probably represents a Christian community under Arab rule in Egypt.

 

PMR 1487

Accounts on a wooden board, 7th-8th century first used at a school, as a writing board hanging with a string through the two holes it features on the side, and was later on used for accounts. It is a list of names with payments in solidi and keratia, with a total of 43 registers.

 

8. Lectionarium

 

Easter lectionary

It is a large paper manuscript copied in 1561 of the Era of the Martyrs (1845) in an unknown place. It contains the Bohairic and Arabic text of the lectionary for Easter. It is bound in cardboard covered with blind stamped leather. Ramón Roca Puig bought this manuscript as well as other fragments, in Cairo, probably in the 50s.