In the process of studying the Antinoopolis Charioteers papyrus, I spent some time with other papyri containing texts related to the Alexander Romance. I say “related to” the Alexander Romance, because it’s not entirely clear that any of these pieces contain a continuous text of the Alexander Romance as we know it from the medieval copies. Some parts of the Alexander Romance (for instance, letters embedded in the narrative) seem to have circulated independently from the larger narrative framework, which is itself a quite fluid text.

These papyri are fascinating. Each of the pieces has its own interesting aspects. For instance, PSI 12 1285, a copy of letters Alexander, maintains some aspects of epistolary layout (the sign off ἔρρωσο is set on a line by itself). Perhaps the most intriguing to me is PSI 7 743, a papyrus roll with generous margins and a neatly written Latin script (something like “rustic capitals”) that spell out the Greek text of an episode from the Alexander Romance. That kind of combination (Latin letters used to spell out a Greek text) might suggest an educational setting, but the quality of the production seems to point in a different direction.

Here are the papyri, listed in assumed chronological order (with links to images where available).