Ancient Literacies

Table 10.1.Lists of Book Collections Preserved in Papyri

No. Publication

Date and Prov

enance Size Brief Description^1

1 Otranto 3 P.
Vindob.Gr. inv.
39966, column 1

Mid first century

A.D., Arsinoite

nome

About 9 titles

and 75 rolls are

present or

implied

List of poets and titles. For each
work, the individual books are
listed by number.^2 Poets
named: Homer, Callimachus,
Pindar, Hesiod. Traces of
others. Broken at beginning and
end, but we are probably not
lacking much.
2 Otranto 3 P.
Vindob.Gr. inv.
39966, column 2

Mid first century

A.D., Arsinoite

nome

About 17 titles

and 85 rolls

are present or

implied

List of poets and titles, followed
by ‘‘Selections from the
Orators.’’^3 For eachof the poetic
works, the individual books are
listed by number.^4 Poets named:
Homer, Hesiod, Callimachus.
For the rhetorical works, book
numbers are sometimes pro
vided, sometimes just the title.
Orators named: [?]dorus,
Dionysius, Aelianus, Aeschines,
Demosthenes.
3 Otranto 6 P.
Oxy. 2659

Second century

A.D.,

Oxyrhynchus

63 titles Eleven writers of comedy, in al
phabetical order, from Amipsias
to Epicharmus. Beneath each
name, the author’s works, also
in alphabetical order. At least
27, and probably 39, comedies
of Aristophanes were listed.
4 Otranto 14 P.
Turner 39

Early third

centuryA.D.,

Apollinopolis

Magna

5 works, then

household items

Philemon, Eratosthenes, lexi
con of Platonic words,
commentary on Priscus,
encomium of Rufus.
5 Otranto 15 P.
Ross.Georg. I.22

Third century

A.D., Memphis

About 14

authors and at

least 22 works

Philosophical works and one
medical writer. No discernible
order; four authors appear at
more than one place in the list.
Authors (or works) named:
collection of letters of the
Socratics, Aristotle, Posido
nius, Theodas (a medical
writer), Theophrastus, Dio of
Prusa, Crito, Nigrinus, Dioge
nes, Simon, Chrysippus,
Cebes,^5 Apion, Hippias,
Archimedes.
6 Otranto 16
PSILaur. inv.
19662 verso

Third century

A.D.,

Oxyrhynchus

6 authors, at least

24 rolls, and pos

sibly an uncertain

number of codi

ces^6

For details, see the text of
Otranto no. 16, given above.
In sum: dialogues of Plato, with
some other works mixed in;
Xenophon, Homer, Menander,
Euripides, Aristophanes, and
traces of other names.
7 Otranto 17 P.
Vars.5verso

Third century

A.D., Arsinoite

nome

13 authors

named (but

many names are

lost in lacunae),

Listofphilosophicaland medical

writers. No titles are given. To

the right of the authors’ names,

a column of numbers probably

(Continued)