All that we know about the Ancient World is based to a large extent on written sources that have survived until today, both literary texts and documents, public and private. Papyri are valuable to philologists, as they help to improve the editions of known classical authors, while they might also recover texts that had been lost for centuries or reveal texts that no one knew existed. For historians on the other hand, papyri are the main source of information for the social and financial infrastructure of the graeco-roman world, the legal systems of that time, education and everyday life.

The Introduction to Greek Papyrology is relevant to the students of the Department of Archives, Library Science and Museology for several reason: firstly, as part of their familiarization with the history of books, this course introduces them to the earliest surviving examples of books in antiquity and presents the ways in which they were produced and disseminated; secondly it offers an introductory overview of the documents and archives that were produced by the administrative institutions of the hellenistic and roman periods.

The course is based on a series of topics, which appraise the discipline of papyrology from various angles and focus on the main types of texts and documents that have been preserved on papyrus. Reference is also made to the material aspect of these documents and the ways in which they should be restored and preserved. The emphasis is on reading practice through selected examples, which are read and transcribed with the help of digital tools and resources. The main aim is that the students acquire a basic knowledge regarding reading and transcription techniques, dating of literary texts and documents, and general understanding of the nature of papyri, which they may well encounter in special collections of libraries and museums.

Week #1: General introduction; main terminology, construction of a sheet of papyrus. Reading and transcription practice: papyrus of the Hellenistic period.

Week #2: The palaeography of papyri; introduction to dating papyri. Reading and transcription practice: papyrus of the Hellenistic period.

Week #3: Excavating for papyri in Egypt. Papyrus finds outside Egypt and use in the Mediterranean. Reading and transcription practice: papyrus of the Hellenistic period.

Week #4: The geographical distribution of the finds and the importance of provenance. Reading and transcription practice: papyrus of the Hellenistic period.

Week #5: Papyrus roll; tomos syncollesimos; the emergence of the codex; papyrus and parchment. Reading and transcription practice: papyrus of the Roman period.

Week #6: Organizing the new discipline: collections and editions. Reading and transcription practice: papyrus of the Roman period.

Week #7: Papayrology and ancient history; papyrology and classical philology. Reading and transcription practice: papyrus of the Roman period.

Week #8: Influence of the discovery of papyri on the intellectual life of 19th and 20th century Europe. Reading and transcription practice: papyrus of the Roman period.

Week #9: Papyri found in illicit excavations and ethical considerations in papyrology. Reading and transcription practice: papyrus of the Roman period.

Week #10: Literary texts and documents; main types of papyrus documents. Reading and transcription practice: papyrus of the Byzantine period.

Week #11: Papyrus conservation. Reading and transcription practice: papyrus of the Byzantine period.

Week #12: Practice in dating papyri.

Week #13: Practice in dating papyri.

Introductions and handbooks:

• Bagnall, R. S. (2009) The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
• Μανδηλαράς, Β. Γ. (1994²) Πάπυροι και Παπυρολογία, Αθήνα.
• Montevecchi, O. (1988²) La Papirologia, Milano, Vita e Pensiero..............................
• Παπαθωμάς, Α. (2009) Εισαγωγή στην Παπυρολογία, Αθήνα.
• Turner, G. (1981) Ελληνικοί πάπυροι, Αθήνα, ΜΙΕΤ.

Papyrus text anthologies:

• Hunt, A.S. - Edgar, C.C. - Page D.L. (επιμ. 1938-42) Select Papyri, Cambridge Mass., Harvard - Heinemann..............................................................................................................................
• Mitteis, L. - Wilcken, U. (1963) Grundzuge und Chrestomathie der Papyrskunde, Hildesheim, Georg Olms.
• Παπαθωμάς, Α. (2008) Αρχαία ελληνικά κείμενα σε παπύρους της ελληνορωμαϊκής περιόδου, Αθήνα, Εκδοτικός Οργανισμός Π. Κυριακίδη.
• Pestman, P.W. (1990) The New Papyrological Primer, Leiden, Brill.
• Sammelbuch griech. Urkunden aus Ägypten (διάφοροι επιμ. 1915- σήμερα). [Η βιλιοθήκη του ΙΠ έχει τους τόμους Ι, ΙΙ, ΙΙΙ και ΧVIII] .....................................................................................

Resources:

• Berichtigungsliste der griech. Papyrusurkunden aus Ägypten (διάφοροι επιμ. 1922- σήμερα). [Στον κατάλογο της βιβλιοθήκης μας εμφανίζεται λανθασμένα ως «Berichtigungliste»]
• Mayser, E. (1906–1938) Grammatik der griechischen Papyri aus der Ptolemäerzeit. Berlin, De Gruyter.
• Oates, J. - Bagnall, R. - Willis, W. - Worp, K. A. (2001⁵) Checklist of Papyri and Ostraca. Atlanta, GA., Scholars Press. Επίσης στο: http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/papyrus/texts/clist_papyri.html

Palaeography of papyri:

• Cavallo, G. (2008) La scrittura greca e latina dei papiri: una introduzione. Pisa, F. Serra.
• Seider, R. (1967-70) Paläographie der griechischen Papyri. Stuttgart, A. Hiersemann. Μερικές μεταγραφές περιέχουν λάθη......................................................................................................
• Turner E. G. (1987²) Greek Manuscripts of the Ancient World. BICS Suppl. 46

Historical context:

• Bagnall, R. S. (1995) Reading papyri, writing ancient history. London – New York, Routledge.
• Bowman, A. K. (1990) Egypt after the Pharaohs, London, British Museum Press.......
• Lewis, N. (1986) Greeks in Ptolemaic Egypt. Case Studies in the Social History of the Hellenistic World. Oxford, Clarendon Press.
• Lewis, N. (1999) Life in Egypt under Roman Rule. Atlanta GA, Scholars Press.
• Ιωαννίδου, Χ. (χ. χ.) Πολιτισμικές προκαταλήψεις και αλληλεπιδράσεις στην αρχαιότητα: Το παράδειγμα της Ελληνορωμαϊκής Αιγύπτου, Αθήνα, Καρδαμίτσα.
• Parsons, P. (2008) Οξύρυγχος, η πόλη που έφερε το όνομα ενός ψαριού. Αθήνα, Ενάλιος.
• Riggs, C. (2012) The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Useful web pages and tools:

• http://www.lib.umich.edu/papyrus-collection/learning-about-papyrology (Introduction)
• http://www.papyri.info/ (Full search of text and metadata of all published documentary papyri)
• http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~gv0/gvz.html (Database of documentary papyri)
• http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/papyrus/texts/clist_papyri.html (The Checklist on-line)
• http://www.pappal.info (Digital images of dated papyri for palaeographic dating comparison)
• http://www.trismegistos.org/ (Various databases)
• http://www.trismegistos.org/ldab/ (Database of literary papyri)
• http://www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk/ (Oxyrhynchus papyri website)
• http://ipap.csad.ox.ac.uk/index.shtml (Cairo Museum photographic archive of papyri)

Lectures, making extensive use of visual aids.

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Written examination.