Recent Comments
Brent Nongbri on A Late Example of the Biblical… Andrew Patton on A Late Example of the Biblical… El Jesús Histórico:… on The Palatine Alexamenos G… magnificentb49030ee1… on Callimachus on the Walls Brent Nongbri on Callimachus on the Walls
Author Archives: Brent Nongbri
Decoration of the Fore-edges of Coptic Codices
There is a fun article in The New York Times about the growing trend among publishers of producing deluxe editions of romance and fantasy books. The article mentions different kinds of cover enhancements but focuses on decoration of the fore-edge. … Continue reading
A New Article on Carl Schmidt and the Antiquities Trade
The coptologist Carl Schmidt (1868-1938) was very active in the antiquities trade. His name is associated with the purchase of many well known manuscripts, including one I’ve discussed here. An important new article on Schmidt has appeared in a journal … Continue reading
New Work on Codex Vaticanus (Vat. gr. 1209)
2024 has been a good year for the study of Codex Vaticanus. Peter Head at the Evangelical Textual Criticism blog just posted a notice of an important new study of the inks in the codex: The article is available open … Continue reading
Posted in Codex Vaticanus, Codicology, Ink
Tagged Codex Vaticanus, Codicology, iron gall ink, manuscripts
Leave a comment
Additional Items from the Schøyen Collection on Sale
Thanks to Alexander Schick for the tip: Earlier this year, Christie’s offered on auction several pieces from the collection of Martin Schøyen. Among the pieces sold was the so-called Crosby-Schøyen codex. Still no word on who bought the book or … Continue reading
A New Article on Religion and Historiography (and Science)
Since the publication of Before Religion in 2013, I have not really returned to the topic of conceptual problems in the study of religion. My attention shifted to early Christian manuscripts and, more recently, the development of the codex. But … Continue reading
Roberta Mazza’s Stolen Fragments
I’ve just finished reading Roberta Mazza’s excellent new book, Stolen Fragments: Black Markets, Bad Faith, and the Illicit Trade in Ancient Artefacts (Stanford: Redwood Press, 2024). This is a well organized and highly readable book. It tells a story–equal parts … Continue reading
Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Bruce Ferrini, Dead Sea Scrolls, Dirk Obbink, Fakes and Forgeries, Green Collection, Lee Biondi, P.Sapph. Obbink, Scott Carroll
Tagged Antiquities Market, archaeology, Bible, books, egypt, history, museum-of-the-bible, papyri, papyrology, roberta-mazza, sappho
6 Comments
Tiny Inscriptions: The Capitoline Tabula Iliaca
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about miniaturization in the ancient Roman world, especially as it applies to books. For instance, according to Pliny the Elder, “Cicero records that a parchment copy of Homer’s poem The Iliad was enclosed in a nutshell” … Continue reading
Posted in Capitoline Museum, Cologne Mani Codex, Inscriptions
Tagged history, homer, iliad, miniatures, Rome, tabula-iliaca, tabulae-iliacae
Leave a comment
Two Good Books on the Shroud of Turin
When I was writing God’s Library, I did a good bit of reading on the Shroud of Turin. I used it as an example for which radiocarbon dating was ideally suited, namely a situation in which the date of an … Continue reading
Posted in Radiocarbon analysis
5 Comments
The Newly Reopened Museum at Ostia Antica
In an earlier post, I mentioned that the museum at Ostia Antica has recently reopened after a long period of closure (I can’t recall now how many years it has been closed). I had a chance to visit last week, … Continue reading
Posted in Museums, Ostia
2 Comments
A Relief from Portus showing a Writer at a Desk
Following up on my post about a relief showing writers at desks at Ostia, I should also mention a second artifact found in the same region. It is a relief uncovered in the nineteenth century at Portus (just north of … Continue reading
Posted in Codices, desks, Ostia, Tablets
2 Comments
Variant Readings 