Author Archives: Brent Nongbri
The Recette de Saint-Remi and the Layout of an Early Greek Parchment Codex
As 2025 comes to a close, one last article is coming out: “Mise-en-page Between Roman Egypt and Medieval Europe: The Recette de Saint-Remi and the Layout of an Early Greek Parchment Codex (P.Ant. 1 27),” Fragmentology 8 (2025), 155-169. This … Continue reading
Augustine in the Cairo Genizah
Thinking about the letters of Augustine reminds me of one of the more interesting manuscripts I encountered this year. Among the many remarkable manuscripts in the Cairo Genizah is Cambridge University Library ADD.4320. It’s a collection of fragments of a … Continue reading
Practicalities of Letter Delivery in Antiquity
When I teach about ancient letter writing, one of the things I emphasize is the precariousness of sending letters any great distance in the Roman world. Without an organized postal service, the delivery of letters could be quite haphazard. I … Continue reading
A Late Example of the Biblical Majuscule
When I think of the Biblical Majuscule, what usually comes to mind is the script of the famous Greek Bible, Codex Sinaiticus, which is usually assigned to the fourth century (though the early fifth is not out of the question). … Continue reading
Callimachus on the Walls
At the Capitoline Museum in Rome, there are a series of rooms dedicated to finds from the various garden areas uncovered in the area of the Esquiline hill in the late nineteenth century. Tucked away in a corner of one … Continue reading
A Walk in the Imperial Fora
For the first time since it opened, I took the walk on the new pathway through the imperial fora in Rome. From the Roman Forum you can go past the curia (where, at the moment, a portion of the Magna … Continue reading
7Q5 and Appeals to Authority, Part 2: Herbert Hunger
I have written before about 7Q5, a small fragment of papyrus found in Cave 7Q at Qumran. It contains an unidentified text in Greek. It became (in)famous in the early 1970s when José O’Callaghan (1922-2001) argued that it preserved a bit … Continue reading
On Leaving academia.edu
I’ve removed all the content I had on academia.edu. Much of what was on my page there is available here on the publications page and the book review page. For copies of other publications, just email me. I’ve been contemplating … Continue reading
New Article on the History of Codex Alexandrinus
The latest issue of Novum Testamentum contains an important (open access!) article on Codex Alexandrinus: Mina Monier, “The History of Codex Alexandrinus: New Evidence from Arabic Paratexts,” Novum Testamentum 67 (2025) 501-526. Recent scholarship on the codex has generally rejected … Continue reading
Binding Sets of Wooden Tablets
For a long time, I assumed that sets of wooden tablets from the Roman era were bound in a fairly simple way, with a cord looped straight through the holes as we see in this set of tablets from Kellis … Continue reading
Variant Readings 