Tag Archives: history
Manuscripts of the Alexander Romance
The Alexander Romance (or The Life of Alexander of Macedon or the Life and Acts of Alexander, or The History of Alexander the Great, King of the Macedonians…) survives in hundreds of manuscript copies in several languages. The Romance has … Continue reading
A Cambridge Papyrus of the Odyssey and the Nash Papyrus
In the last couple days, the Cambridge University Library has been posting about a papyrus in their collection that contains a passage from the Odyssey. This is Cambridge University Library Add MS 4074 (TM 61188), containing some fragmentary lines of … Continue reading
New Radiocarbon Analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls
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
The Sarcophagus of the Muses from Isola Sacra: Manuscripts and Readers
I’ve written before about the reopening of the museum at Ostia Antica in 2024. One of my favorite displays there involves material from what is now known as Tomb E 200 from Isola Sacra–an interesting sarcophagus with equally interesting contents. … Continue reading
7Q5 and Appeals to Authority, Part 1: Orsolina Montevecchi
I am fascinated by the Wikipedia entry for 7Q5, which seems to continuously bounce back and forth between being useful and informative to being goofy and borderline incoherent. 7Q5 is a tiny fragment of papyrus found in Cave 7Q at … Continue reading
Pumice, Parchment, and Papyrus
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
A Mosaic from Thabraca with a Writer at a Desk
In earlier posts, I discussed two pieces of evidence for writing at desks in the late antique period, a relief from Ostia and a relief found at Portus. Another piece of evidence that Metzger mentioned in his well known chapter … Continue reading
The Lying Pen of Scribes Project: An Appreciation
Over the last few years, I have had a number of occasions to mention The Lying Pen of Scribes, a project on the Dead Sea Scrolls funded by the Research Council of Norway. In fact, it may not be quite … 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
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
