Tag Archives: books

Manuscripts of The Jewish War by Josephus

Posted on June 20, 2025 by Brent Nongbri

The seven-book composition by the historian Josephus describing the sacking of Jerusalem goes by different names in the Greek manuscript copies: In the Latin tradition, these books were known to Jerome as captituitas Iudaicae (Comm. in Isaiam 17), but the … Continue reading →

Posted in Josephus, Judaism | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

New Radiocarbon Analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Posted on June 5, 2025 by Brent Nongbri

An important new study of the Dead Sea Scrolls has just been published (open access!) in the journal PLOS One: Mladen Popović et al., “Dating ancient manuscripts using radiocarbon and AI-based writing style analysis,” PLOS One 2025. In some ways, … Continue reading →

Posted in Dead Sea Scrolls, Frank Moore Cross, Palaeography, Radiocarbon analysis | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Pumice, Parchment, and Papyrus

Posted on April 28, 2025 by Brent Nongbri

In the latest issue of the Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists (2024, just out–table of contents here), I have an article on the use of pumice on papyrus (AAM here). Here is the abstract: Papyrological handbooks published in … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeological context, Book Trade in Antiquity, Voluminology | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Decoration of the Fore-edges of Coptic Codices

Posted on December 27, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

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 →

Posted in Book binding, Book covers, Chester Beatty Papyri, Codicology, Maurice Nahman, Saqqara Codices | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Roberta Mazza’s Stolen Fragments

Posted on October 4, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

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 , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

A Relief from Ostia Showing Writers at Desks

Posted on August 11, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

The museum at the archaeological park at Ostia Antica has reopened after many years of closure for renovations. The results are quite impressive, and I hope to have a chance to post some reflections about the museum itself soon, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeological context, Codices, desks, Ostia, Tablets | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

The Potential Early Papyrus Codex at Graz

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

Back in June 2023, several news outlets picked up the story of “the Graz mummy book.” A team at the University of Graz led by Theresa Zammit Lupi had identified P.Hib. 113, a papyrus extracted from mummy cartonnage and published … Continue reading →

Posted in Book binding, Codices, Codicology, Ink, Mummy cartonnage, P.Hib. 113 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Manufacturing a Papyrus Roll

Posted on January 21, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

Over the years, I’ve had many occasions to talk about the manufacture of papyrus rolls. I typically describe them as fairly simple artifacts–several individual sheets of papyrus pasted together to form a roll. And a papyrus roll is relatively simple … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Trade in Antiquity, Papyrus Making, Voluminology | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments