Author Archives: Brent Nongbri

More News on Dirk Obbink and Sappho

Posted on January 9, 2020 by Brent Nongbri

Charlotte Higgins has just published a long story in The Guardian on Dirk Obbink. It is a very nice compilation of what we know and how the stories of the Sappho papyrus and the stolen Oxyrhynchus papyrus intersect. It also … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Dirk Obbink, Green Collection Sappho, P.Sapph. Obbink | 17 Comments

A New Edition of the Freer Codex of the Letters of Paul in Greek

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Brent Nongbri

Thanks to Gorgias Press for sending along a copy of the new edition of the Freer Codex of Paul’s letters (Gregory-Aland 016, LDAB 3044) produced by Justin Soderquist and Thomas Wayment. The American railroad magnate Charles Lang Freer bought this … Continue reading →

Posted in Freer Codex of Paul's Letters, Freer Codices | Leave a comment

Publication of the Tchacos-Ferrini Mathematical Codex

Posted on January 2, 2020 by Brent Nongbri

I see that later this month we can expect the publication of the Tchacos-Ferrini mathematical codex (LDAB 10719, now dubbed by the editors P.Math.). This codex travelled the antiquities market along with a papyrus codex of Exodus in Greek, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Bruce Ferrini, Codices, Codicology, Find Stories, Frieda Tchacos, Tchacos-Ferrini Codices, Tchacos-Ferrini Exodus Codex, Tchacos-Ferrini Math Codex, Tchacos-Ferrini Pauline Epistles Codex | 1 Comment

Vatican Library Website on Greek Palaeography

Posted on December 30, 2019 by Brent Nongbri

Thanks to Gregg Schwendner for drawing my attention to the Vatican Library website on Greek palaeography prepared by Timothy Janz, scriptor graecus and director of the printed books department of the Vatican Library. The site has an excellent discussion of … Continue reading →

Posted in Biblical Majuscule, Dead Sea Scrolls, Frank Moore Cross, Guglielmo Cavallo, Palaeography, Scripts, Vatican Library | 6 Comments

Recently Emerged Coptic Manuscripts of Dubious Origins: A Working List

Posted on December 9, 2019 by Brent Nongbri

In an earlier posting, I started compiling a list of recently emerged papyri of dubious origins. It turns out that several of these pieces were among those stolen from the Egypt Exploration Society’s collection of papyri excavated from Oxyrhynchus. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Bruce Ferrini, Green Collection, Scott Carroll | 3 Comments

A New Origin Story for the New Sappho

Posted on December 8, 2019 by Brent Nongbri

[[Update 9 December 2019: Transcribed more of the video clip below for greater context.]] The Sappho papyrus published by Professor Dirk Obbink has obscure origins, as many have noted and as I’ve discussed here before. Professor Obbink has provided two … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Dirk Obbink, Mummy cartonnage, P.Sapph. Obbink | 7 Comments

An Image of the Green Collection “Aristotle” Papyrus?

Posted on December 4, 2019 by Brent Nongbri

I’m preparing a post on recently emerged Coptic manuscripts of dubious origins to go along with the working list of similarly dodgy Greek and Latin manuscripts. In doing so, I’ve revisited some material put out by the Christian apologist Josh … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Dirk Obbink, Green Collection, Green Collection Aristotle, Mummy cartonnage, Scott Carroll | 8 Comments

Recap of the SBL “First Century Mark” Session

Posted on November 26, 2019 by Brent Nongbri

A few days ago, I was fortunate to be a part of the a session dedicated to a “postmortem” on so-called “First Century Mark” at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in San Diego. Below is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Dirk Obbink, First Century Mark, Mummy cartonnage, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 35 Comments

The Coptic Material from Oxyrhynchus

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Brent Nongbri

Several people have asked me why there are no Coptic pieces on the list of recently emerged papyri of dubious origins. I put that list online in the hopes of identifying more material that may have been stolen from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Dirk Obbink, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 3 Comments

News: Egypt Exploration Society Missing At Least 120 Papyri

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Brent Nongbri

I missed this news from a couple days ago. The Egypt Exploration Society has announced that they are missing at least 120 papyri from the Oxyrhynchus collection. Read the full announcement here.

Posted in Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 6 Comments