Papyrus
Gallery Location
Not on View
Medium
papyrus
Geography
Excavated at Theadelpheia (Batn al-Harit), Egypt
Date
about 100-300 CE
Period
Roman Imperial period
Dimensions
4.8 x 8.2 cm
Object number
909.81.38
Collection
Department
Art & Culture: Ancient Greece & Rome
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 the 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, a Professor at the Department of Classics, University of Toronto, who mounted it between glass before returning it to the ROM.
Description
Portions of six lines of Greek text remain on the front (recto) rectangular papyrus fragment, written in black ink and a documentary hand. The first and perhaps the fourth line contains the word Arsinoitou ("of Arsinoites"), a city not far from Theadelpheia.
There is no ancient writing on the back (verso).
A processing number θ312 was written on the back (verso) some time after excavation.
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