Author Archives: Brent Nongbri

Addenda to the Palatine Alexamenos Graffito

I posted several days ago about a recent visit to the Palatine during which I was able to see the new display of the famous Alexamenos graffito and the newly opened paedagogium in which the graffito was originally found. I … Continue reading

Posted in Graffiti | 1 Comment

A Marble Relief of a Priest of Cybele

It’s always a pleasant surprise to visit a familiar museum and find a “new” piece. It happened to me the other day at the Capitoline Museum. Earlier this year, there was an exhibition on Johann Joachim Winckelmann (actually, it was mainly … Continue reading

Posted in Capitoline Museum, Find Stories, Sculpture | 5 Comments

The Palatine Alexamenos Graffito

Just about every introductory book on early Christianity will have an image, usually a drawing or a significantly enhanced photograph, of the famous “Alexamenos graffito,” a depiction of a man worshipping a crucified figure with the head of a donkey. … Continue reading

Posted in Graffiti | 10 Comments

More on Oxyrhynchus, the Robinson Papyri, and the Museum of the Bible

At Hyperallergic, Michael Press has written up a very interesting piece on some of the various projects that receive financial support from the Museum of the Bible as revealed through tax documents. The whole article is worth reading. Of specific … Continue reading

Posted in Antiquities Market, Duke Papyri, Green Collection, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 9 Comments

Another Book Biography: The Berlin Akhmimic Proverbs Codex

In my last post on the use of waste papyrus in covers of ancient codices, I made reference to the Berlin Coptic Proverbs codex (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Ms. or. oct. 987, LDAB 107968). This reminded me that I had intended for … Continue reading

Posted in Berlin Coptic Proverbs Codex, Book binding, Book covers, Carl Schmidt, Codices | 10 Comments

1 Samuel and the Green Collection’s “Cartonnage”

Thanks to Matthew Hamilton for pointing out that the Green Collection papyrus containing 1 Samuel was described in the catalog accompanying the “Passages” exhibition in 2012. Matthew states that in the catalog, “the papyrus is noted as having 9 chapters … Continue reading

Posted in Antiquities Market, Book covers, Codices, Green Collection, Green Collection 1 Samuel, Scott Carroll | 14 Comments

Paris Philo Codex (sort of?) Online

In an earlier pair of posts, I described the extant fragments of a substantial papyrus codex of the works of Philo of Alexandria that was found at Oxyrhynchus (LDAB 3540). The other major Roman-era source for Philo’s works is a … Continue reading

Posted in Book covers, Codices, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Paris Philo of Alexandria | 3 Comments

The Green Collection 1 Samuel Papyrus and Mummy Cartonnage

In the course of rooting around online for further insight into the early Christian papyrus fragments I have been discussing (here and here), I’ve followed in the tracks of others (like Brice Jones and Roberta Mazza) who were already going … Continue reading

Posted in Antiquities Market, Green Collection, Green Collection 1 Samuel, Mummy cartonnage, Scott Carroll | 13 Comments

P129, P130, and P131: A Couple More Observations

In my previous post, I tried to direct attention to the source of certain papyri in the Green Collection and/or the Museum of the Bible that seem to have been acquired at about the same time as “first century” Mark … Continue reading

Posted in Antiquities Market, Anton Fackelmann, First Century Mark, Green Collection, Green Collection 1 Corinthians, Green Collection 1 Samuel, Green Collection Hebrews, Green Collection Romans, Mummy cartonnage, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Scott Carroll | 4 Comments

“First Century” Mark and “Second Century” Romans and “Second Century” Hebrews and “Second Century” 1 Corinthians

[[Update 18 October 2019: It has now been shown that the papyri containing Romans and 1 Corinthians mentioned in this post were in fact stolen from the Oxyrhynchus collection. See details here.]] Elijah Hixson has posted a nice update on … Continue reading

Posted in Antiquities Market, Codices, First Century Mark, Green Collection 1 Corinthians, Green Collection Hebrews, Green Collection Romans, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Scott Carroll | 38 Comments