Ancient Papyrus Fragments

  • By Rima Chaddha
  • Posted 11.01.06
  • NOVA scienceNOW

During the Greek and Roman occupations of Eygpt, from 332 B.C. to A.D. 641, the city of Oxyrhynchus became the third-largest in Egypt. Even though the city remains buried, scholars know much about it—from myriad fragments of ancient writing on papyrus uncovered there in the 19th century. In this slide show, see a selection of papyrus writings that have revealed a city and a time.

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Browse papyri remnants, from Sophocles to Sappho, from lost sayings of Jesus to an early guidebook on sex.

Credits

Image Credits

(map of Egypt)
© 2005 David Monniaux
(Sermon on the Mount by Carl Heinrich Bloch, Satyr with the Farmer by Jacob Jordaens)
Public domain
(Verses on the Labours of Heracles, Peri Aphrodision by Sappho, The Art of Love by Philaenis, Letter of a Priest to a Priestess, Acknowledgment of Indebtedness, Against Philosophers, List of Articles for a Sacrifice, Oath Concerning Care for Trees, and Copy of a Latin Will papyri)
© The Oxyrhynchus Papyri Project, Oxford/located in the Sackler Library, Oxford

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