Literary and Semi-Literary Papyri From The Vienna Papyrus Collection
Literary and Semi-Literary Papyri From The Vienna Papyrus Collection
P. Vindob. Gr. Inv. Xo. 26740. This dark brown papyrus which co-
mes from Soknopaiu Nesus and which entered the Papyrussammlung
der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek at Vienna in 1894, has now
been split into 2 pieces which are mounted one below the other under
a single glass plate, although the 2 pieces originally formed one single
stretch of scroll. The upper piece measures 13.8 x 66.5 cms. At 17 cms
from the left and 13 cms from the right xoAfoj/iara are found. The
lower part consists of 2 fragments : frag. 1 measures 13.8 \ 24.2 cms
(17 cms from the left is a xol/.i]/ia) ; frag. 2 measures 13.8 x 34 cms
(8.5 cms from the left is a xo?.%i]fta). Both sides of the papyrus are
written on. On the one side a demotic text is to be found, written in
various columns against the grain of the fibres ; on the other side
(parallel with the grain of the fibres) are 5 geometry problems, the
passage from Homer published here, and 2 conversion problems (like
P. Lond. II 265, pp. 257 sqq.). The top and the bottom edges of the
papyrus are for the most part evenly cut off (at regular intervals along
the top edge there are pieces broken out of the papyrus itself. This
damage probably occurred when the papyrus was in a rolled-up state).
The left front side of the papyrus is evenly cut off. Partly because of
the fact that on the other side the cut runs straight through a column,
we may assume that a papyrus that had already been covered with a
demotic text was cut through in order to use the other for the Greek
text. It might be thought surprising that a text that was produced later
was written on the recto side (cf. E. G. TURNER, Recto and Verso, JEA
40, 1954, pp. 102 sqq.), but, before the Greek text was written on the
recto side, the original text seems to have been washed out. It is moreover
typical for a « school » papyrus to reuse an old papyrus (cf. J. A. DA-
VISON, The Study of Homer in Greco-Roman Egypt, Akten des VIII.
internationalen Kongresses für Papyrologie (= MPER, NS, V. Folge),
Vienna, 1956, pp. 51 sqq.). The right-hand back side of the papyrus
is badly damaged. The possibility must not be ruled out that the
scroll used to carry still more writing. The Homeric passage begins
at a distance of 2 to 2.5 cms from the 5th mathematical problem.
The text has been divided over 3 columns : cols. 1 and 2 are about 10 cms
long, col. 3 is about 4 cms long.
A part of this papyrus (frag. 2 of the lower part) has been known
since as early as 1938 (cf. H. OELLACHER, Griechische Literarische
Papyri aus der Papyrussammlung Erzherzog Rainer in Wien, Études
de Papyrologie 4, 1938, pp. 133 sqq. = Pack2 no. 791). The present
restorer in the Papy rus sa m ml un g, MICHAEL FACKELMANN, has found
the other parts of this papyrus.
The subjects dealt with (*) and the quality of the Greek make it quite
possible that we have here a papyrus deriving from a school (2). Below
we give a transcription of the Homeric passage (3), although, and this
r.AEL, Fragments d'anthologies Homériques, Chron. d'fig. -46, 1971, pp. 344 sqq., has
developed.
(1) Tliis Tact has been known for a long time and has often been mentioned: cf.
W. SCHMID-O. STÂHUN, beschichte der griechischen Literatur, l, l, München, 1929,
p. 164 ; O. M. ROLLING, The Athrtized Lines of the Iliad, Baltimore, 1944, p. 5 ;
DAVISON, loc. cil., pp. öl sqq. ; LAMEERE, op. cit., pp. 11 sqq. It is worthwhile never-
theless publishing this kind of papyri because they teach us when and to what
extent the standardized text was accepted as such ; secondly, they are interesting
as examples of ancient book production (cf. V. MARTIN, Papyrus Bodmer 1, Genève,
1954, pp. 9 sqq. ; T. C. SKEAT, Early Christian Honkproduction : Papyri and Ma-
nuscripts = Chapter III (pp. 54-79) in The Cambridge History of the Bible, Vol. 2 :
The West from the fathers to the Reformation (ed. G. \V. H. LAMPE, Cambridge
1969)). In the case under discussion the papyrus teaches us what was read at school,
and we gain an impression of the standard the pupils were able to "reach : despite
the fact that the pupil himself (as we may conclude from the colour of the ink which
remains constant) has made corrections in some places, we may say, on the basis
of this papyrus, that he still had a lot to learn.
311
EGYPTE GRECO-ROMAINE
Column I
Column II
Column III
2) PSALM I, 1-3.
P. Vindob. Gr. Inv. No. 25949. A mid-brown papyrus, that has been
evenly cut off on all sides. The length is 26.7 cms ; on the left-hand
side the papyrus is 15.4 cms in height ; on the right-hand side 11.2 cms.
313
EGYPTE GRECO-ROMAINE
$14
.
LITERARY AND SEMI-LITERARY PAPYRI
way in which he formed his f in lines 4 and 5 : a hori with a small arc
above it.
In the list of Old Testament writings, preserved on papyrus and
the like, which O. MONTEVECC.HI gives in La Papirologia, Torino, 1973,
pp. 296-309, 7 texts of the first psalm are mentioned.
2 r. è.ioptt'orç ; r. óatö.
3 MSS. FaTtj, probably not a new reading, bill caused by ilacistic rt'a<iinfi of the
U-xt : xaQebga is also Ui? reading of A, but the writer of this papyrus often
leaves the final ny unwritten ; r. /.ot/(wv ; r. èxdQtaev.
f r. rvxTÓc ; r. TO £v?,ov.
5 r. Tcic ; the v of roàtaiv ex )] ; r. róv xaoTióv ', r. bttiofi
N n les :
1) « For all matters » is the customary manner in which a Coptic
text may begin (cf. for instance W. C. TILL, Die koptischen Ostraka der
Papgrussammlung der Österreichischen Nalionalbibliolhek, Wien, 1958,
nos. 290/291). One expects a continuation with "t"t9lNe or something
similar, but on the papyrus there seems to be an H (although the pos-
sibility of it being "h cannot be excluded) and an 8«. set higher than
the other letters for which we have no explanation. For the forms
used, see W. E. CRUM, A Coptic Dictionary, Oxford, 1939, 653a. The
Coptic text begins with a chrismon (cf. M. CRAMER, Das altägyptische
Lebenszeichen im christlichen (koptischen) Ägypten, Wiesbaden, 1955),
that is written straight through another letter. In front of it one can
still recognize a (washed out'?) my. Did our writer wish to begin his
psalm text as early as this point?
2) Our writer has the tendency to leave out the final -v (in line 5
he also leaves out the final sigma). For this phenomenon, see E. MAYSER,
315
EGYPTE GRECO-ROMAINE
Notes :
1. The v of IxiEiQpwt, like that of fjfiiav in line 3, is rendered by a
horizontal line above the omega.
316
„
LITERARY AND SEMI-LITERARY PAPYRI
4) MYTHOLOGICAL FRAGMENT.
appeared out of the papyrus. Height 14.5 cms ; width 5.9 cms. The
text, which is written in black ink, runs parallel with the fibres. In the
centre of the papyrus some horizontal fibres (1.6 cms) have worked
loose from the vertical layer underneath and been lost. As appears
from the traces of ink in line 16 these fibres were probably (at least
partically) written upon. The empty margin below (1.5 cms) makes
one believe that the papyrus at the bottom edge is complete. It cannot
be made out if there was more than one column on this papyrus. The
reverse side is not written upon.
Two different hands are to be distinguished on the papyrus : the hand
of the actual text and the hand which has made a note in the margin
at the bottom edge of the papyrus. The hand that has written the
first 23 lines can be dated to the 2nd cent. A.D. (cf. W. SCHUBART, Pa-
pyri Crete« Berolinenses, Bonn, 1911, no. 30a and no. 31).
The lines 4, 8, 9, 21 and 22 do not run as far as the right-hand edge,
but are only partially covered with script. This could indicate that
this papyrus does not tell a continuous story, but that we have to do
with short extracts or notes.
A kindred text has been published by S. DARIS, P. Med. Inv. 123,
Proceedings of the Twelfth Intern. Congr. of Papyrology, Toronto,
1970, pp. 97 sqq.
1 (I e main) ].A(ye[
2 ]
3 J
4 ]
5 ]reQec • aï rot; 6eot; /t\
6 \ac xal Sa
9 \.v àvofitara \
10 ]<f(uv ovo/tara r&v .[
11 tyevopévdiv al xaAovv\Tai
12 j .Alyhvi Evipoóvrj nav[
13 Aevximz]iÔ£ç 'A/MfiOéaç xaî Aev[xtnm>v
14 KdaztuQ] xal IJohvóevxijc ëa^ov[
15 ] . 0oißi) 'Ihóga 'Aoaivóri[
16 "]..[
17 6e\0Tlov xai rfjc Aevgwvo; AF[
318
LITERARY AND SEMI-LITERARY PAPYRI
18 I{[°]V
19 ]. via; de "Itfixboç, Evmno[ç
20 /7A]//f(.T.TOc EvQvitvhoc, Aoav[
21 ]aéQ(t)v IJcoKÓwv [
22 Ohó]rgoxot \
23 ]ae 'Avion rov 'Am}/.A(ovoc.[
24 (2" main) vim..
3 pap. t!,-r[ 15 pap. i/.aou IS pap. vx£Qfiv[
commits great ravage in the country. Meleager, the son of Oineus and
Thestius' daughter Althaia, assembles an array of heroes, including
Asclepins, Leucippus, the Dioscuri and the virgin Atalanta. In the
course of the hunt, the animal is captured and killed. According to
one particular tradition, a fight between Aetolians and Curetés, the
inhabitants of Pleuron, breaks out over the boar's hide. During this
struggle some sons of Thestius lose their lives (cf. Schol. Iliad IX, 529 ;
Apollod. Bibl. I, 8, 3. According to another version, Meleager wishes
to give the boar's hide to Atalanta and in a fight kills some of his un-
cles : Apollod. Bibl. I, 8, 3 ; Hyg. Fab. 174).
A previously published papyrus that refers to the Calydonian hunt
is M. PAPATHOMOPOULOS, Un poème élégiaque inédit sur ^léléagre el
le sanglier de Calydon, Recherches de Papyrologie, II, 1962, pp. 99 sqq. =
Pack2 1756.
Noies :
(cf. RÖSCHER, op. cit., Bd. II, l, Sp. 1588-1591 (IMMISCH)) or vv/i<p]a;
(cf. PW-RE XVII, Sp. 1528-1530 (F. HEICHELHEIM)). According to
some sources (Hom. Iliad IX, 529 sqq. ; Bacch. Epinic. V ; Antoninus
Liberalin II), a struggle between the Aetolians and the Curetés broke
out after the killing of the boar over the possession of the animal's
hide. If we here restore Kovofjia; (yvfupac is of course also not im-
possible ; indeed either of the two words can have been in the lacuna)
the connection between these lines and the Calydonian hunt can be
established. Lines 7 and 8 present difficulties, although all letters
(with the exception of the second omikron of ovxaheovaa, which is
somewhat damaged on the left-hand side) have been read with complete
certainty. One expects here a summary of the « daughters » who in
relation with the gods brought forth Satyrs, (Nymphs and Curetés).
If in line 8 -i/tr/ forms the ending of a proper name (with a superfluous
iota adscriptum ; possibly instead of an iota subscriptum) we could
restore these letters, obtaining 'I<p6]l[it]. Iphthime, the daughter of
Dorus, is known, with Hermes, to have begotten Satyrs (cf. RÖSCHER,
op.dl., Bd. II, l,Sp.317(STOLL». The letters a.yla.vt] (line 7) may form
either the ending of a female name, or be themselves a proper name.
A name Aglaue (or a name ending in the letters ayAavt)) is not known
to us. Theoretically one can split ovxaXeovaa into ovx àXéovaa or
ov xaAéovaa. In the first case it escapes us absolutely what the verb
àielv = « grind finely », can signify here ; in the second case we note
(and this also holds if we read ovx àiéovaa) that the verbal form
xaUovaa is not contracted, while it is in line 11. We would suggest,
tentatively, that ayAavrj and ovxaÂéovaa should be considered as thus
far unkown female names. In these lines then, women would be men-
tioned who brought forth Satyrs, Nymphs and Curetés. If the text
had remained fully preserved these speculations would perhaps have
been unnecessary and maybe a minor correction (r. ou«aA«<y>o«<ja?)
would have been sufficient to restore the context.
The traces of ink following ovxaÀéovaa are difficult to explain. They
are most likely a trema and the upper part of an ypsilon.
9-12) In view of the way in which these lines have been written on
the papyrus, it seems correct to interprète them as a coherent whole.
Problems are raised by the juxtaposition of the names Aigle and Eu-
phrone. Aigle is mentioned as being one of the daughters of Asclepius
(Schol. Arisloph. Plutus 701 (ed. DÜBNER) ; Pling N. H. XXXV, 137)
who himself took part in the hunt of the Calydonian boar (cf. Hyg. Fab.
321
21
EGYPTE GRECO-ROMAINE
173 ; Ovid. Met. VIII, 306) as well as the Dioscuri and the Apharides
(Ovid. Mel. VIII, 304 ; Apollod. Bibl. I, 8, 2) take part in the Calydo-
nian hunt. The third daughter of Leucippus named here, Arsinoe, is
probably mentioned for the sake of completeness (other daughters were
perhaps referred to in the lacunae). A direct link between her and
the Calydonian hunt cannot be made. What is known about her is
that she was married to Apollo and gave birth to Asclepius (cf. RÖSCHER,
op. cit., Bd. I, 1, Sp. 557 (STOLL)).
17-21) According to tradition (cf. RÖSCHER, op. cit., Bd. V, Sp. 779-
781 (HÖFER)), Thestius was the son of Agenor and the grandson of
Pleuron, the eponymous hero of the town in Aetolia that bears the
same name. His wives are named as Deidameia, Laophonte (a daughter
of Pleuron, cf. KOSCHER, op. eil., Bd. II, 2, Sp. 1849 (STOLL)), Leucippe
and Eurythemis (in P. Oxy. XXVIII 2481, frag. 5b, col. Ill, 9 a certain
Kurythemiste is spoken of ; cf. the note of LOBEL on line 34 sq.). If we
interprète our text as it stands on the papyrus, yet another new wife
of Thestius is mentioned. The name Leuron does not occur, however,
in the Greek onomastica (indeed female names ending in -tav scarcely
occur at all ; cf. \V. PAPE-G. BENSELER, Wörterbuch der griechischen
Eigennamen, Bd. I3, p. XX). \Ye consider it probable that the text in
this place is corrupt and that it must be corrected as follows : rij;
< II>HeVQÛrroç. One would be inclined to write rij; <Aaoifovr>];
IJ>/.ei'go}vo;, but then this would be in contradiction with the words
of Apollod. Bibl. I, 7, 10 : Seaziia f>i If EvQvQéftiàoi: rfj; KKeoßo-
ia; êyévovru dvyaréoe; /jèi' 'AMaia Aijda 'Yxeijfiv-ijaTßa, äpgeve; ôè
"Icfix).o; Eï'ijijiof nÂri$iïino: EwgróitUoc. For the children of Thes-
tius, compare RÖSCHER, op. cit., Bd. V, Sp. 777 (HÖFER). The use of
the singular Sv-ydri/g ftév is striking (line 18 ; we may assume that
the other daughters of Thestius are mentioned in the lacunae. In any
case Althaia, who was married to Meleager, and as such forms a fur-
ther link with the Calydonian hunt) as is via; Se (line 19) although
more than one name follows. Nowhere in the tradition did we find the
name beginning with Agav[, nor that ending in \aKdiav nor Procoon
mentioned as sons of Thestius. In Schol. T Hom. Iliad IX, 567 as also
in P. Oxy. XXIII 2359, 4 (= Stesichoms frag. 45, 4-5 PAGE) and P.
Ashmol. 20 (= Bacchyl. Dithyr. 25, 29 SNELL-MÄHLER)we come across
the proper name Proeaon (with Clytius as his brother). Procaon and
Clytius are, in the places referred to, sons of Thestius. Procaon and
Procoon are most probably one and the same person (the note in the
323
EGYPTE GRECO-ROMAINE
Column I :
Column II :
1A
ivj ct o T i i Q G T t i i t p Y W f t t ] I '/"}A
c/oi'(7(/ tJÊtoc)
' ^
d\ IK /. u v
18 gi K7»/i[onj]:;.
23 [
24 .).0t;[
25 .)(onff[
26 .]6e'.\
27 atyjor)
28 To9i)ru|
30 xaxm\v
31 «TOD;
32 vovaiov
on _ r
35 (5eT«xn.xoi',-
36 TJ^.XOU
Note:
The fact that the demotic text has been written straight through the
Greek one, and the damage to the papyrus at this place, make it not
only impossible to decipher certain places, but make the reading at
certain points extremely dubious, as may be seen from the dots under
many letters.
1) It is possible that one or more lines used to precede our line 1.
Above ^ and x the small dash, which indicates that the letters are
a number, has been lost.
328
LITERARY AND SEMI-LITERARY PAPYRI
2) After the 0 a trace of the number dash can only be seen above
the ;..
If our reading 'Ofi>jo(oi') 'I?.tâ(ôo;) at the beginning of this line
is correct, one wonders whether no volume of the Odyssey was pre-
sent in the library at all, or whether the volumes of the Odyssey
which were present were enumerated in line 1. In the latter case the
repetition of the author's name is striking.
The trace of the letter that has been preserved after the big lacuna
points to a <p.
3) At the end of this line we would favour the reading of one of Cal-
limachus' works beginning with Ut-ijl (cf. Suidae Lexicon, ed. A. ADLER,
s. v. Ku/Mpiiyn- and the edition of R. PFEIFFER), but the traces are
too faint to provide any certainty.
4) It is well known that Pindar wrote ÏÏQoaàbia, of which very little
has been preserved (cf. P. Oxy. XXVI 2441 = Pack2 1370 ; B. SNELL,
Pindari Carmina cum Fraymentis, Vol. II, Leipzig, 1964, fr. 89(a)-94).
We are unable to decipher the work which preceded the Prosodia.
Where the writer, when a certain number of columns of a certain
work are to hand, puts the title of the work in the genitive (and then
indicates the volumes available), we may assume, seeing that that does
not occur here, that the work in question either consisted of a single
volume, or was present in full in the library.
It is not certain that the title of this work began with an e, because
there seems to have been a small number dash above the epsilon, which
would imply that the work mentioned in the first place consisted of
(at leasi) 5 volumes ; yet as appears from W. ScHMiu-O. ST.UILIN, Ge-
schichle der griechischen Literatur, I, 2, München, 1934, p. 575, there
are no known works of Pindar consisting of 5 or more volumes.
6) The a of "Ecyti is unnecessarily raised above the )/(our writer ab-
breviates by placing the last letter he writes slightly above the rest)
something which also occurs in line 12.
7) The letter before yot>; could be an ?/. \\'e have not been able to
trace the name of the writer. We can only say that he wrote a work
that consisted of (at least) 18 books.
9) At the end of this line there is enough space to place 'lAtd(6o;)
and the figures a up to and including v.
10) Between the I and the o there is the « tail » of a long letter from
the line above.
329
EGYPTE GRECO-ROMAINE
Behind the <o is a horizontal dash to separate the Odyssey from the
preceding work.
In the lacuna between a and x there is sufficient space for the figures
ß, and e up to and including I to be placed.
11) The omission of Karâ^oyo; (-foi,) before Pwatxi'iv is striking,
something which in all probability also occurs in line 6.
12) The third letter on this line looks like an epsilon (without a
number dash), but could be meant to be a à (cf. the theta of 0£oyo(v!a)).
The writer believed that only volumes 1 and 2 of the Catalogus Gynai-
con were present in the library, and began with the theta of Theogonia,
and then discovered the 5th volume of the Catalogus Gynaicon.
Seeing that the third letter of this line is somewhat fainter than the
others, it could be that the writer made an attempt to wash it out.
14) A work with the title 'ExAoyal 'Ptfcooiov by Callimachus is not
known to us. In frag. 430 PFEIFFER (cf. also frags. 431 and 432) \ve
read : Ka/.A.i/j,ayo: Iv rfj tviv ÔÏJTOOIX&V avaygayfj («. /. : anoygafffj).
These 'Exhoyai 'Piqioonv could be a subsection of the fllvaxe; T<J>V
êv TiUGij Ttaioeia otaÂaftipâvTov xal wv Gvvéyvayav èv ßißhtot: x xai (t
15) The name of the writer mentioned here, part of which was most
probably on the previous line together with the work written by him,
which consisted of (at least) 13 books, we are unable to decipher.
16) Seeing it is no longer possible to read the name of the work
mentioned here, we cannot say which Oionysius (among the large num-
ber of possibilities) is here in question.
If the name Alitavov (the same name is possibly also to be read in
line 8) has been correctly read by us, we must assume that it concerns
a writer who is not known to us. The only writer of that name who is
known to us is Claudius Aelianus, but, seeing he lives in the 2nd cent.
A.D., while our texts seem to have been written around 50 A.D., he
must be left out of consideration. The reading is so dubious, that we
may also consider /U[o]A/ôai a possibility.
19-20) Difficulties are raised by the work IJegi èxtfiovfj; (as also
in lines 17/18) of a wiiter whose name ends in -gi'oti. The traces at
the end of line 19 will only permit the conclusion that no other work
of Aeschines followed here, none at least of those known to us (the
letter before the alpha may be a pi, but the reading nagaxQeaßeta;
is excluded). 'Eitt/tovrj is a figure of speech which consists of persisting
with a particular point and various of the writers included by L. SPEN-
GEL in his Rhetores Graeci devoted one or more paragraphs to it (cf. Index
330
LITERARY AND SEMI-LITERARY PAPYRI
Rhetoricus s.v.), but a separate book on this subject is not known. The
placing of this work between Aeschines' speech « Against Ctesiphon »
and Demosthenes' speech « On the Crown », which are closely connected
with each other (the title of Demosthenes' speech « On the C r o w n »
is, in most manuscripts 'YneQ Krrfai^'ojvTo^ nzQi TOV ffT£(pdvov ; cf.
F. BLASS, Die atiische Beredsamkeit, III, l, Leipzig, 1893, pp. 419sqq. ;
III, 2, Leipzig, 1898, pp. 208 sq.), may put us on the track. It is well
known that Aeschines had no success with his speech against Ctesi-
phon, that he did not even obtain one fifth of the votes and that, as
a direct result of this, he left his native soil (cf. BLASS, op. cit., III, 2,
pp. 162 sq.). 'Eni/iovi'i can also, however, have the meaning of « resi-
dence ». It is not to be excluded that we have to do here with a speech
by an unknown orator who was dealing with (the effects of) exile.
I'niversity of Amsterdam P. J. SIJPESTEIJN - K. A. WORP
331