Michigan Papyri On-line Catalogue

LIST

DESCRIPTION

I. Background & Physical Properties

Inv. No., Section/Side, Publ./Side

	Gives in a uniform manner the collection name and inventory number.
	In addition to the P. Mich., other papyri are now housed in Ann Arbor and are still 
to be distinguished through their (former) collection name, such as the Cornell papyri (ca. 
200 pieces), Amherst, Fayum or papyri that came to the possession of the collection under 
different inventory entries, such as the papyri earmarked as addenda from the redistribution 
of papyri by the British Musem, or those that belonged once to the Kelsey Museum of 
Archaeology. For instance: P.Mich.inv. 1234; O.Mich.inv. 33; P.Corn.inv. II 11.
	If more than one unrelated fragments were given a same inventory number (as it is 
often the case in the Michigan collection), different records are created for the different 
fragments, which are distinguished by the letters a, b, c, etc. being added in the 
Section/Side field. If a single sheet of papyrus bears two different texts on the front and 
on the back, these are marked with the standard abbreviations R(ecto) and V(erso). 
(according to usual nomenclature) in the same Section/Side field; moreover, the 
Publ./Side field gives information on the publication status of both sides - whether they 
are published together, or separately, or whether one side (typically Verso) is left 
unpublished.

Library 
	Gives the place where the papyrus is actually housed - Ann Arbor or Cairo for the 
P. Mich., Ann Arbor for some other collections (P. Cornell, P. Amherst, ...).

Location
	Gives the exact location of the papyrus in the collection (shelf, locker), for easy 
retrieval. This field is not for public use.

Connections
	Identifies whether the Michigan papyrus is connected with another known papyrus, 
either within our collection or in collections worldwide. This gives important information to 
study the story of the collections (time of purchase, composition, ...), which can help in 
placing the single papyri into context.

Material
	Identifies the writing surface. In addition to papyri, the Michigan collection has had 
in its possession several thousands of ostraca (most of them returned to Cairo by now, but 
still a few remaining at Ann Arbor), as well as wooden tablets, wax tablets, lead tablets, 
and parchments.  Because of the diversity of the collection, such a field becomes a 
necessity. The following standard abbreviations are used:
Ost(racon), Pap(yrus), Wood(en tablet), WT (Wax tablet), Lead (Tablet), Par(chment)

Items
	Identifies the number of separate fragments that fall under this inventory number (as 
subdivided in the Section/Side field: if the Items field has 2 for P.Mich. Inv. Nr. 214 a, 
this means there are 2 related fragments recorded as Inv. Nr. 214 a, but also additional 
fragments, numbered b, c, ..., which were recorded under the same Inv. Nr. 214).

Size
	Gives the dimensions of the papyrus (in the order W[idth] x H[eight]).

Lines
	Gives the number of lines of the papyrus, with distinction between recto and verso 
and eventually between columns.

Mounted
	Shows whether or not the papyrus (or other material) is under a glass mount.

Negative
	Shows whether a negative of the text is available in Ann Arbor.

Negative in Copenhagen
	A provisional field, added to show whether a negative of a papyrus returned to 
Cairo is available from the International Photographic Archive in Copenhagen.

Conservation status
	Gives information on the conservation of the papyrus (damage, fragments, ...; 
origin if papyrus extracted from mummy cartonage or reused from a roll). In the case of 
published papyri, this is mainly taken from the edition.

Notes on preservation
	Gives in-house technical observations on the features of the papyrus which have 
hampered the imaging process or the measures that were taken to prepare the piece for 
imaging.

Physical properties
	Gives some information on any physical characteristic of the papyrus (margins, 
creases, overlap of sheets [kollesis], ...). In the case of published papyri, this is mainly 
taken from the edition.

Palaeographic Description
	Gives information on the writing and the arrangement of the text: type of script 
(cursive, semi-cursive, calligraphic), script direction compared to fiber direction, number 
of texts (1, 2, palimpsest?), columns and column numbers, number of hands, including 
subscriptions and endorsements. In the case of published papyri, this is mainly taken from 
the edition.
	Due to lack of an uniform language to describe this aspect of papyri, searches with 
key-words in this field could be of less value. A list of standard vocabulary should be 
developed in the next months.

Publication status
	Shows whether the papyrus is published, assigned, described or unpublished.

For Acquisition field (which we wanted to be kept with the related Provenance field), see 
below, under II.

II. Contents

Date
	Describes in modern equivalents the date on which the text was composed. (Note: 
Egyptian or other month names are available in the translation of the text).

Origin
	Identifies the place where the papyrus was composed (not found), as far as this 
information is provided by the text itself and its context. The information should follow the 
order: village or city (ancient name of the site), smaller administrative unit (meris, 
toparchy), larger administrative unit (nomos), province (which always is Egypt). - 
Geographic names are given in transliteration, according to the Greek orthography 
prevailing in A. Calderini - S. Daris, Dizionario dei nomi geografici e topografici 
dell�Egitto greco-romano (Milano, 1935-): thus, for instance, Arsinoiton polis, not 
Arsinoe. See transliteration rules for place and person names.

Provenance
	Identifies the place where the text was found (not composed). The information 
follows the same order and the same orthographic conventions as the Origin field does. See 
transliteration rules for place and person names.

Acquisition 
	Identifies the means through which the papyrus was acquired, as well as the year in 
which this happened: if purchased, the name of dealers and donors (if available) are given. 
For the many texts coming from the University of Michigan excavations at Karanis 
between 1924 and 1936, the excavation locus, which can be very useful tool for those 
who research the actual findspot of the papyri and the vicinity, is entered here (see also 
databases of materials at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology).

	An entry in the field may look thus:

	Nahman, 1925		or	26-B17-A/A(2)

The latter indicates that the papyrus was excavated in 1926 and then the label gives the 
exact findspot in the order: construction (B), room (17), layer (A), number of object in 
the inventory (A(2)).

Language
	The language(s) in which the document has been composed: Arabic, Aramaic, 
Coptic (with different dialects), Demotic, Greek, Latin, Hieratic, Hieroglyphic.

Genre
	Indicates whether the text is literary or documentary

Author
	In the cases of literature or subliterature, this field contains the name of the author 
(if known) in standard orthography, e.g. Euripides, Sophocles (Standard spellings of 
names can be found in the TLG Canon). - In the case of documents, the name of the 
intellectual author, not the one of the scribe, is entered here. So for instance if a loan is 
made by X and is addressed to Y, then X will be entered in this field. See transliteration 
rules for place and person names.

Type of Text/Title of Work
	Follows a standard vocabulary of descriptions, starting from general divisions and 
going to more specific: private, public, business, contract, loan, letter, receipt, contract, 
agreement, prefectorial decree, official correspondence, petition, receipts, tax list, etc.

Content
	Gives a brief description, or a more extensive summary, of the story that the texts 
gives to us. - For published papyri, a direct link to the electronic publication will be 
provided where available.

Subject headings
	(Subjective) list of the subjects to which the papyrus is related: for instance, 
Agriculture, Army, Taxation, Woman, ...

Persons
	List of all the persons named in the papyrus. Titles of these persons are also given 
here in transliteration (while they are given in translation in the Translation field, allowing 
users to make search on both forms of the titles). See transliteration rules for place and 
person names.

Geographica
	List of all geographical names or expressions appearing in the papyrus. See 
transliteration rules for place and person names.

Translation
	Gives, when possible, a translation of the text, usually taken from the latest 
publication, but adapted to the corrections suggested after it.

III. Information on Publications

First editor	Series and vol.	Year	  Pages or number [with link to the text of 
P.Mich when available]	Photo

	This group of fields identifies the first edition of a text (including for papyri that 
have been discussed in conferences or other works, but not fully published - then, see 
Notes field). In the Series and vol. field, the standard papyrological abbreviations are used 
(e.g. P.Mich. XIII 661). - These fields are presented in a way coherent to the needs of the 
MARC-format.

SB
	Gives concordance between the preceding first publication and the Sammelbuch 
griechischer Urkunden aus Aegypten.

Corrections
	Shows reference to the corrections to the edition, as recorded by the 
Berichtigungsliste (with the lines of the papyrus which are actually corrected); gives also 
some new corrections.

Republ editor   Republ series 	Republ year   Republ page/no [with link to the 
text of P.Mich when available]	Republ photo

This group of fields gives bibliographic reference for a Michigan papyrus that is re-edited. 
- These fields are presented in a way coherent to the needs of the MARC-format.

Republ SB
	Gives concordance between the preceding re-publication and the Sammelbuch 
griechischer Urkunden aus Aegypten.

Republ Corrections
	Shows reference to the corrections to the re-edition, as recorded by the 
Berichtigungsliste (with the lines of the papyrus which are actually corrected); gives also 
some new corrections.

Further republications  
	Gives bibliographic reference for a Michigan papyrus that is re-edited for the 
second time at least. - This field is presented in a way coherent to the needs of the MARC-
format.

Further republication: corrections
	Shows reference to the corrections of further editions, as recorded by the 
Berichtigungsliste (with the lines of the papyrus which are actually corrected); gives also 
some new corrections.

Further republication: SB
	Gives concordance between the further editions and the Sammelbuch griechischer 
Urkunden aus Aegypten.

Bibliography
	Gives a (as complete as possible) bibliography for the papyrus, except the editions 
and reeditions.

Assignments 	Assignment date	Research status

	These fields contain information about the scholar to whom editorial rights of the 
papyrus have been given, as well as information about scholars that have previously 
worked but have given up their rights.
	These fields are not for public use.

Electronic Editor 	Electronic publication: date	Revision history

	These fields show who (and when) made the information about an unpublished 
papyrus available in this database.

Notes
	Includes any other possibly useful information.

IV. System & Image Metadata

Most of the following fields are self-describing.

Image source
	Shows what was scanned: either the original, or a reproduction (photograph, slide, 
negative).

Image arrangement
In order to facilitate viewing the images, especially in the case of larger images which are 
broken up into multiple 600 dpi patches, this field indicates the pattern of break up, for 
instance   a b c  or	a   c
			b   d

Extent of the image (kilobytes)

Full size front

Full size back

600 dpi. front

600 dpi back

Availability/System requirements

Scanning Medium
	Gives information on the scanner used.

Time to scan

Scanner initials
	Indicates the name of the person who scanned the text.

Creation of image
	Gives information on the office in charge of creating the image (Collaboratory for 
the Humanities).

Institution
	Gives information on the institution sponsoring the imaging and the source of the 
grant providing financial support for the project.

Date scanned

V. Information on Cataloging

Cataloger initials

Date Cataloged

Check
	Provisional, in-house field, aimed to allow catalogers to know easily what has been 
checked and what is still to be checked.

Transliteration rules for place and personal names:

*Latin names are given in Latin*

Rough breathing -> h.
Diphthong alpha-iota -> ai, not ae
Gamma -> g, except if followed by gamma, kappa, chi (then -> n).
Epsilon and eta -> e.
Theta -> th.
Xi -> x, not ks.
Omicron and omega -> o. Note that the ending -os is normally not Latinized;
diphthong omicron-hypsilon -> ou, not u.
Rho: r or rh, according to standard English use (so Oxyrhynchos, but Sokrates).
Hypsilon -> y, except if in diphthong (then -> u).
Phi -> ph, not f.
Chi -> ch, not kh.
Others: as obvious.

Note
	Restricted fields do not appear on the WWW. The fields that appear there are only 
those needed for research. All other fields are available locally in "staff" mode.


  

    
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      Last revision:
      04/06/01
      

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