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Author Archives: Brent Nongbri
Buying Books in Rome circa 86 CE
The surviving writings of the satirical poet Martial provide a number of insights into Roman book culture. He has been an especially important figure in discussions of the history of the codex, as he mentions on multiple occasions portable parchment … Continue reading
Posted in Book Trade in Antiquity, Martial
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The Vocabulary of Reading a Papyrus Roll
When I was writing an earlier post that mentioned papyrus rolls, I realized that it was difficult to describe certain physical aspects of rolls. Here is what I wrote: “Normally when a papyrus roll was rolled up, the text was … Continue reading
Posted in Voluminology
24 Comments
A New Project: The Early History of the Codex
A busy semester is now winding down, and I’m happy to announce that in August, I’ll be kicking off a new, five-year project: The Early History of the Codex: A New Methodology and Ethics for Manuscript Studies (EthiCodex) based here … Continue reading
Posted in Codices, Codicology, Radiocarbon analysis
9 Comments
Hobby Lobby Inc. vs Dirk Obbink
A couple days ago, the news broke that Hobby Lobby has sued Professor Dirk Obbink for over $7 million USD. The 10-page complaint (which can be seen here) does not paint a nice picture of Prof. Obbink, but that’s generally … Continue reading
The Eusebian Apparatus in Codex Sinaiticus
The Eusebian apparatus for the gospels has been getting some much deserved attention in the last few years. This remarkable system for navigating the parallel material in the gospels has formed the topic of a very useful monograph by Matthew … Continue reading
Posted in Codex Sinaiticus, Codicology
7 Comments
An Informative Article on a (Different) Sappho Papyrus
When it comes to Sappho papyri, I’ve been reporting mostly bad news for the last couple years. I’m happy to have some good news now about a different papyrus of Sappho, one whose provenance and authenticity are not under any … Continue reading
Posted in Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Voluminology
3 Comments
A New Article on the (ex-)Green Collection Sappho Papyri
Thanks to Mike Holmes for notifying me that the latest issue of Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik contains an article by Museum of the Bible curator Brian Hyland that reports what is now known about the purchase of the Green … Continue reading
The Retraction of Dirk Obbink’s Sappho Chapter and the Question of Authenticity
Last week, the news broke that Brill had retracted a chapter by Prof. Dirk Obbink that presented false information about the provenance of the Sappho papyri. A statement from the volume’s editors explains the reasoning for the retraction. Just as … Continue reading
Further Thoughts on the Tchacos-Ferrini Exodus
A couple years ago, I wrote a short web article on the dispersal of a papyrus codex of Exodus that was allegedly found with three other papyrus codices: one containing a mathematical text in Greek, one containing the letters of … Continue reading
A Dead Sea Scrolls Photo Shoot from the 1950s
Among the PAM negatives of the Dead Sea Scrolls, there is a short sequence of photos that puzzled me when I encountered them last year. The photos occur in a sequence taken in June 1956, PAM 42.139-141. They are described … Continue reading
Posted in Dead Sea Scrolls, Khalil Eskander Shahin (Kando)
Tagged archaeology, Dead Sea Scrolls, qumran, Qumran Cave 1Q
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Variant Readings 