Ancient Literacies

Table 10.2.Concentrations of Papyri Found Together in Egypt and at Herculaneum

No. Name or Publication

Dates of Mss. and

Provenance Size Brief Description

1 Villa of the Papyri,
Herculaneum.

ThirdB.C. firstA.D.,

Herculaneum

Estimated 1,100

rolls

Core of Epicurus’sOn
Nature. Second group of
second century mss.
Many first century mss.
of works by Philodemus.
Some postB.C. 40.
Scattered others,
including Latin.
2 Karanis, House B17.
van Minnen 1998,
132 3.

Mid secondA.D. 5 rolls known Two grammatical
works, Menander,
Callimachus’sAitia,
Acta Alexandrinorum.
3 Grenfell and Hunt’s
first find. Cockle
1987, 22 n. 14; add
P.Oxy. 1607, 1608,
and 1612.

Early second to

mid thirdA.D.,

Oxyrhynchus

15 rolls Lyric, tragedy, history,
philosophy, oratory;
commentary on Thu
cydides, treatise on lit
erary composition,
oration on the imperial
cult. Six of 15 texts are
on theverso.
4 Breccia 1932 find
(PSIvols. 11 and 12)

first thirdA.D.,

Oxyrhynchus

52 mss. Numerous authors
of the fifth to third
centuriesB.C. Also
Ninus romance, another
romance, Philo (a
codex), mimes of
Sophron, two commen
taries, and a few others.
5 Grenfell and Hunt’s
third find (i.e., most
ofP.Oxy. XVII)

Late first thirdA.D.,

Oxyrhynchus

25 mss. Numerous authors of
thefifthtothirdcenturies
B.C.Alsoglossary,com
mentary, treatise on
rhetoric, two items in
Latin.
6 P.Oxy. XVI ‘‘Group
A.’’ Jones 1999.

c.A.D. 200 fourth or

fifth, Oxyrhynchus

45 in core group,

with 11 more

possibly

belonging

Astronomical texts. A
majority are codices. Of
the rolls, at least 11 are
on theverso.
7 Grenfell and Hunt’s
second find

FirstB.C. mid third

A.D., Oxyrhynchus

35 mss. and

two one page

compositions

See table 10.3 below for

a complete list.

8 Codex library. See
commentsad P.Oxy.
1369.

Fifth or 6thA.D.,

Oxyrhynchus

Between 11 and

14 codices

Iliad, Odyssey, Oedipus
Tyrannus, Medea,
Orestes, Aristophanes,
unidentified tragedy.
9 Johnson 1913^1 SixthA.D.? Antinoo
polis

Perhaps 20 Theocritus, a botanical

work (probably Dioscur

ides),Iliad, Odyssey,

Euripides (probably a

student’s exercise), com

edy, history, theology,

grammar, medicine.

(Continued)