Papyrology Resources

A discipline concerned with the discovery, preservation, classification, and interpretation of papyri, documents written on a surface made from reeds, in use from the third millennium BCE up through the early Middle Ages.

Primary Source Materials

• APIS: Advanced Papyrology Information System

  APIS represents a consortium of six universities with papyrus collections: Columbia, Duke, Princeton, Berkeley, University of Michigan, and Yale. Users can look at the provenance and catalog descriptions for the items included, and also look at the metadata for each item. There are over 18,000 items included currently, and where images are available, there are many viewing options included, such as various details in addition to the whole piece.

  These members of the consortium have individual pages as well:

  • Duke Papyrus Archive
    • Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri -- Full-text database of non-literary Greek and Latin papyri from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods.
    • The Duke Databank (through 1996) is also available on the PHI CD-ROM #7 in the Electronic Text Service (305 Butler Library).
    
    
  • Princeton University Library Papyrus Home Page
  • The University of Michigan Papyrus Collection
  • The Yale Papyrus Collection
  
  
  
• POxy
  The Oxyrhynchus Papyrus Project: a work-in-progress catalog and image collection of papyri from the Egyptian site of Oxyrhynchus. Approximately 1300 of an eventual 5000+ items are available for viewing.
  
  
• The Carlsberg Papyri Collection
  The Carlsberg Papyrus Collection -- at the Carlsberg Foundation for the Egyptological Institute (Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Near Eastern Studies, University of Copenhagen) -- contains more than 500 inventoried papyri and as-yet-uncataloged materials.

• Institut fur Papyrologie der Universitat Heidelberg
  Digitized collection of Greek, Demotic, and Coptic papyri, according to the catalog of the University of Heidelberg.
  

• Papyrologie Sorbonne
  The site of the Institut de Papyrologie at the Sorbonne. Users will eventually be able to view Demotic, Greek, Latin, Coptic, and Arabic papyri, although currently (November 2002) only the Greek collection is available online.
  

• Homer in the Papyri
  A line-by-line account of all known papyrus fragments of the Iliad and Odyssey and their variant readings. Available at the Electronic Text Service (305 Butler Library).

Secondary Source Materials

• Checklist of Editions of Greek, Latin, Demotic and Coptic Papyri, Ostraca and Tablets

  This constantly-updated online edition provides a bibliography of all monographic volumes, both current and out-of-print, of Greek, Latin, Demotic and Coptic documentary texts on papyrus, parchment, ostraca or wood tablets.

• Call numbers of papyrological publications in Columbia University Libraries

  A list, compiled by E.Dickey and B.Libby of the Columbia Classics Department, of Columbia call-numbers for over 600 papyrological publications, ordered alphabetically by their common abbreviations.

• Christian Papyri Bibliography

  Dr. Cornelia Römer of University College, London, has compiled this bibliography for new editions, updated texts and photos of Christian papyri, modelled on those collected in J. van Haelst's Catalogue des papyrus littiraires juifs et chritiens, Paris 1976. As of 1/03, the period covered is 1989-2002.

• Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik

  The essential journal for papyrology and epigraphy.
  See also the Searchable Index of volumes 1-100.

• Centre de documentation de papyrologie littéraire [CeDoPaL]

  Located at the Université de Liège, CeDoPaL offers bibliographic resources, courses, and an experimental online database of the upcoming third edition of The Greek and Latin literary texts from Greco-Roman Egypt, known informally as   Mertens-Pack³.

• Papyrology Home Page

  This page, compiled by John Muccigrosso, of Drew University's Classics Department, offers information and images as well as links to almost all online papyrus collections, including all of those listed on this page.

• Papyrology (Southern Methodist University)

  A variety of links, including many to New Testament papyri.

• A Select Bibliography of Papyrology

  Compiled by Traianos Gagos, of the University of Michigan.

• Leuven Homepage of Papyrus Collections Worldwide

  This page offers an alphabetical list of collections by location or country, a survey of ancient archives, as well as a simple search engine.

• Die Papyrus-Sammlung in Köln

  An online catalog of the University of Köln's papyrus collection.

• Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis der griechischen Papyrusurkunden Ägyptens

  This site lists all papyri published to date with updated information (especially rechecked dates) and is searchable by fields such as place, date, and topic.

• Recording, Processing and Archiving Carbonized Papyri

  This Finnish site is a manual for deciphering and imaging badly-damaged papyri.

• Bibliotheca Classica Selecta (BCS): Section Papyrologie

  This reference page, compiled by faculty at the University of Louvain, provides links directing the user to manuals, lists of editions, and resources on various topics, such as dictionaries, onomastics, bibliographies, and specialized journals. There are also links to bibliographies on the historical significance of papyri, and to websites that offer further information or collections.

• Accademia Fiorentina di Papirologia e di Studi sul Mondo Antico

  This site provides information on the academy's publications, announcements of relevant seminars and conferences, useful links, and an online catalog for the academy's library. An English version of the site was under construction as of 9/03.

Professional Societies

• American Society of Papyrologists
• Association Internationale de Papyrologues