Papyrus
Gallery Location
Not on View
Medium
papyrus
Geography
Theadelpheia (Batn al-Harit)?, Egypt
Date
about 100-300 CE
Period
Roman Imperial period
Dimensions
2.2 x 2.7 cm
Object number
909.81.64
Object History
The papyrus was excavated near the modern town of Batn al-Harit (ancient Theadelpheia) in the Fayum, Egypt, indicated by the Greek letter theta (θ) inscribed on the back (verso) of this manuscript. Led by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt and sponsored by the Egypt Exploration Fund (EEF), the excavation occurred between January and March of 1899. At the close of the dig, all artifacts, including this papyrus, were delivered to Oxford University. The papyrus was acquired by the ROM from the EEF in 1909, likely as a result of subscriptions to the EEF collected by Toronto donors and overseen by C. T. Currelly. Between 14 September 1967 and 7 April 1972, the papyrus was in the care of Alan Samuel.
Description
This small papyrus fragment contains traces of Greek writing on both sides.
Traces of two lines remain on the front (recto), written in a documentary hand along the fibres.
Traces of two lines remain on the back (verso), written across the fibres. The name Dion (Διον) is clearly visible.
A processing number θ345 was written on the back (verso) some time after excavation.