Author Archives: Brent Nongbri

Anton Fackelmann and Cartonnage

Posted on January 1, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

Since I began this blog midway through 2017 with a post about Anton Fackelmann and some of the papyri he allegedly removed from mummy cartonnage, I thought I might close out the old year and open up the new with … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Anton Fackelmann, Book covers, Carl Schmidt, Fakes and Forgeries, First Century Mark, Mummy cartonnage | 1 Comment

The Tura Papyri: Archival Footage

Posted on December 27, 2017 by Brent Nongbri

In my previous post on the Tura Papyri, I mentioned that the books are said to have been discovered in 1941 during the clearing of quarries south of Cairo for use by the British military. The earliest detailed account of … Continue reading →

Posted in Find Stories, Tura Papyri, Videos | 1 Comment

The Tura Papyri

Posted on December 22, 2017 by Brent Nongbri

While many of the papyrus and parchment codices in the Fondation Martin Bodmer appear to be part of a single ancient find, several of these codices are known to have distinct origins. One of these is P.Bodmer LVII, a portion … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Bodmer Papyri, Find Stories, Tura Papyri | 2 Comments

Provenance and The Oxyrhynchus Papyri

Posted on December 13, 2017 by Brent Nongbri

Over at rougeclassicism there are a few questions posed about the provenance of the recently publicized identification of a Greek papyrus as The First Apocalypse of James. The papyrus is to be published in an upcoming volume of The Oxyrhynchus Papyri … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Find Stories, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 4 Comments

Ancient Book Covers and “Cartonnage”

Posted on December 8, 2017 by Brent Nongbri

As a follow-up to my last post on the development of the use of the French term “cartonnage”: It looks like it was the late 1950s when the term “cartonnage” began to be applied to the material sometimes used in … Continue reading →

Posted in Anton Fackelmann, Book covers, Codices, Mummy cartonnage, Nag Hammadi, Schøyen Collection, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Cartonnage (Mummy and Otherwise)

Posted on December 4, 2017 by Brent Nongbri

A question from a commenter on a recent post prompts me to write up a quick discussion of the history of the word “cartonnage” and its current use to describe both mummy casings and the covers of some ancient books. … Continue reading →

Posted in Book covers, Find Stories, Mummies, Mummy cartonnage, William Matthew Flinders Petrie | 3 Comments

The Hawara Homer

Posted on November 16, 2017 by Brent Nongbri

A chapter in my book is dedicated to “find stories” of early Christian manuscripts. Along the way, I touch upon similar narratives of discoveries of other Roman era manuscripts as well, but I didn’t really have the chance to go … Continue reading →

Posted in Fayum Portraits, Find Stories, Harris Homer, Hawara Homer, Mummies, William Matthew Flinders Petrie | 8 Comments

The Bodmer Papyri: An Inventory of “P.Bodmer” Items

Posted on September 24, 2017 by Brent Nongbri

The longest chapter of God’s Library is dedicated to “The Bodmer Papyri,” a group of manuscripts that can be confusing even for scholars of early Christianity. The name derives from the Swiss collector Martin Bodmer (1899-1971), who bought a number of … Continue reading →

Posted in Bodmer Papyri | 12 Comments

Anton Fackelmann: Conservator and Seller of Antiquities

Posted on September 13, 2017 by Brent Nongbri

In researching the supposed first-century papyrus of Mark’s gospel associated with Anton Fackelmann, I found that there wasn’t a lot of information about Fackelmann available either online or elsewhere. So, I thought I would take a moment to write up … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Anton Fackelmann, Cologne Mani Codex, Derveni Papyrus, First Century Mark, Herculaneum Papyri, Mummy cartonnage | 2 Comments

The Harris Homers and the Crocodile Pit of Maabdeh

Posted on August 22, 2017 by Brent Nongbri

In the 2017 issue of the Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists, I have an article that ended up being a sort trip down the rabbit hole. The title gives you an idea of the curious combination of topics: … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthony Charles Harris, Antiquities Market, British Museum, Find Stories, Harris Homer, Mummies, Selima Harris | 7 Comments