Editions of Rylands Greek Papyri Online

Posted on January 19, 2019 by Brent Nongbri

rylands papyri vol 3The John Rylands Library contains a great collection of papyri in different languages. I’m most interested in the Greek pieces, the bulk of which were published in the first half of the twentieth century in four volumes. Digital copies of the first two volumes, edited by Arthur S. Hunt, have for some time been available at the wonderful archive.org. Volumes 3 and 4, published in 1938 and 1952 have not been available online, but I just realized that at some point late last year, the University of Manchester uploaded scans of volumes 3 and 4 (interestingly, the copies are from Princeton Theological Seminary). These volumes contain some very important Jewish and Christian manuscripts. This is a fantastic development for those of us without access to a good papyrological library. Thanks to our friends at the University of Manchester and archive.org (and PTS)! Links are here:

Rylands Greek Papyri: volume 1, volume 2, volume 3, volume 4

[Update 29 January 2019: A.K. adds some further helpful info in the comments below:

“https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/special-collections/access-the-special-collections/using-manuscripts/published-catalogues/greek-papyri/ has the complete set plus the 1968 and 1978-9 updates. https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/special-collections/access-the-special-collections/using-manuscripts/published-catalogues/coptic-manuscripts/ is also relevant.”]

Posted in Rylands Papyri | 4 Comments

Scott Carroll’s Classical Papyri

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Brent Nongbri

carroll menander papyrus smallSo, I think I may be starting to alleviate some of my confusion about Scott Carroll and the Green Collection papyri. One part of all this that was unclear to me was the status of several manuscripts acquired or “discovered” by Scott Carroll that were not immediately related to the Museum of the Bible project. What happened to these pieces? What had escaped me what the possibility that Scott Carroll was not just a broker of manuscript purchases for others but also a purchaser and owner of manuscripts himself.

This point is clarified in a video (apparently recorded in a home in California) with an upload date of 21 April 2015. It was filmed some time after Carroll had parted ways with the Greens and the Museum of the Bible enterprise and had started his own business ventures. [[Update 28 July 2019: David Bradnick points out that the event was held on 2 March 2014.]] It would thus be odd if Carroll still had Green Collection papyri in his possession at the time of the video. But Carroll does display several actual manuscripts in this video and seems to confirm that he is the owner of these pieces (the presentation was put online in three separate files; my references will be to part number and time marker). So, in part 2 at about the 35 second mark, just before passing out the first of several artifacts to the audience, he encourages them to be careful, and in reference to himself and his wife says:

“These things are under our ownership.”

Here are the papyrus pieces that Carroll displayed with his identifications below (all from part 2 of the film, time points given at the bottom of the images): Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Green Collection, Mummies, Mummy cartonnage, Scott Carroll | 11 Comments

More Early Christian Greek and Coptic Papyri in the Green Collection?

Posted on January 11, 2019 by Brent Nongbri

carroll and torah scroll

In earlier posts I’ve discussed a number of early Christian manuscripts associated with the Green Collection (papyri of Genesis, Exodus and Hebrews, Matthew, Romans, and 1 Corinthians). Most of these pieces were featured at different points in the “Passages” speakers series and other media outlets in 2011 and 2012, when Scott Carroll was still working with the Green family to build their personal collection.

After he parted ways with the Green family, Carroll continued to publicly discuss and display images of manuscripts he had acquired while working with the Greens. One such occasion was a talk that seems to have been given in January June of 2016. Carroll was speaking to a church audience and mentioned several “newly discovered” manuscripts. Continue reading →

Posted in Bruce Ferrini, First Century Mark, Green Collection, Green Collection Greek Genesis, Green Collection Hebrews, Passages Speakers Series, Scott Carroll, Uncategorized | 14 Comments

Two More Greek Papyri in the Green Collection: Exodus and Hebrews

Posted on January 9, 2019 by Brent Nongbri

In my last post, I highlighted a papyrus of Genesis mentioned by Scott Carroll in his 2011 lecture in the “Passages” speakers series. Later in that same talk, Carroll singled out two other pieces in the collection, a papyrus leaf from a codex of Exodus in Greek and a fragment of a papyrus copy of Hebrews.

carroll hebrews exodus 2011

Here is some of what Carroll had to say about these pieces: Continue reading →

Posted in Bruce Ferrini, Green Collection, Green Collection Hebrews, Passages Speakers Series, Scott Carroll | 7 Comments

A Green Collection Papyrus of Genesis in Greek

Posted on January 7, 2019 by Brent Nongbri

I continue to work through the “Passages” speakers series videos. During his talk in the 2011 sequence of lectures, Scott Carroll mentioned a number of literary papyri that the Green Collection had acquired.

carroll passages 2011 papyri

In the course of explaining the differences between literary papyri and documents, Carroll mentioned some of the Green Collection’s holdings: Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Green Collection, Green Collection Greek Genesis, Passages Speakers Series, Scott Carroll | 9 Comments

P.Bodmer 1, A Land List Reused for Books 5 and 6 of the Iliad

Posted on January 4, 2019 by Brent Nongbri

2018 was an important year for the study of the Bodmer Papyri, with the launch of the “Papyri” cluster of the Bodmer Lab website, which made available digital images of the papyrus and parchment manuscripts from Egypt in the collection.

2019 is now off to a good start with the announcement that the publication of P.Bodmer 1 (recto) is now available to freely download:

Tomasz Derda, P. Bodmer I Recto: A Land List from the Panopolite Nome in Upper Egypt (after AD 216/7), Journal of Juristic Papyrology Supplement 14 (Warsaw: Journal of Juristic Papyrology; Oxford: Oxbow, 2010).

P.Bodmer 1 is a land list from the Panopolite nome that was turned over and upside down to be reused to copy books 5 and 6 of the Iliad. It was acquired by Martin Bodmer in the early 1950s, and the reused side of the roll (the Iliad) was published already in 1954 by Victor Martin as P.Bodmer I. The document on the front of the roll, however, has remained unpublished until now.

pbodmer 1 before conservation

P.Bodmer 1 before conservation; image source: Victor Martin, Papyrus Bodmer I (Bibliotheca Bodmeriana, 1954)

Continue reading →

Posted in Bodmer Papyri, Reuse of manuscripts | 3 Comments

Ancient Manuscripts: Some Ethics Questions

Posted on January 3, 2019 by Brent Nongbri

1970_logo_wsIn an earlier post, I mentioned some of my concern about the tendency to orient provenance discussions in relation to the year 1970, the date of the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. Specifically, I described my own problems and hesitations in working with materials that were acquired before 1970. In that context, I commented, that “the 1970 date is a legal marker, not an ethical one.”

I’d like to expand a little bit on that point and offer an example. Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, British Library Aristotle, British Museum, E. A. Wallis Budge | 1 Comment

The Papyrus of Aristotle’s Constitution of the Athenians: Provenance Questions

Posted on January 1, 2019 by Brent Nongbri

I recently wanted to quickly refresh myself on what can be known about the provenance of the famous papyrus containing nearly the entire text of Aristotle’s Constitution of the Athenians (British Library Pap. 131, LDAB 391).

BL Pap 131 Aristotle whole

As usual, this turned out more complicated than I expected. The artifact itself is also somewhat complicated. Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Archaeological context, British Library Aristotle, E. A. Wallis Budge, Find Stories, Frederic Kenyon | 7 Comments

On the Dispersion of Libraries

Posted on December 26, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

I’ve had the break-up of libraries on my mind lately for several reasons. At one level, this phenomenon is never far from my thoughts. For years now, I’ve been working on the somewhat scrappy remains of what must have been many collections of ancient Christian books and wondered about how the books came together, and in the case of the Christian books at Oxyrhynchus, how they came to be tossed out as garbage. Continue reading →

Posted in Chester Beatty Papyri, Chester Beatty Pauline Epistles, Codices, Oxyrhynchus Papyri | 10 Comments

The Green Collection 1 Samuel: A Place of Purchase

Posted on December 14, 2018 by Brent Nongbri
1 Samuel Green Collection Cartonnage

A papyrus “thingamajig” containing 1 Samuel obtained by Scott Carroll for the Green Collection; image source: Scott Carroll, Passages: The Experience. The 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible. Exhibition Guide (Marion, Indiana: Triangle Publishing, 2012), p. 4

The “Passages” speakers series videos continue to yield insights into the early formation of the Green Collection, and in particular this papyrus of 1 Samuel that I have mentioned before. The usual format of these “Passages” talks involves extended introductory and concluding remarks given by people associated with the Green Collection. When Scott Carroll was present (not off in Europe purchasing artifacts), he was generally involved in these aspects of the presentations. In his introductory remarks to a talk on C.S. Lewis by Charles Bressler given on 27 March 2012, Carroll described his upcoming travel plans with Jerry Pattengale. I have transcribed the relevant sections: Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Market, Green Collection, Green Collection 1 Samuel, Mummy cartonnage, Passages Speakers Series, Scott Carroll | 5 Comments