Papyri

Papyri Groninganae

A collection of 127 fragments of texts written on papyrus arrived in the library in 1926. Financial support for this acquisition was received from Dr J. Enschedé, The Hague, a lawyer and alumnus of the University of Groningen, and of the ‘Groninger Universiteitsfonds’. The papyri were purchased through Prof. Wilhelm Schubart of Berlin University, who bought them with a dealer in Egypt, and they were mounted by Dr h.c. Hugo Ibscher, the famous papyrus conservator in Berlin. The initiative to enrich the library with such a collection was taken by Antoon G. Roos (1877-1953), professor of ancient history and Roman antiquities at Groningen (1916-1947), former curator (1904-1906) and librarian (1906-1917) of the university.

It is not known where exactly these fragments were found. In a few cases, the texts inform us on their provenance: no. 5 is from Oxyrhynchos, two others (nos. 2 and 9) are from the Arsinoites district, text 2 from the ZPE 55 article (HendriksWorp 2) is from Hermopolites. All date from the Roman or Byzantine era: the oldest one is from the second century, the youngest from the sixth or seventh century.

In 1933, Roos published 22 of the 127 fragments, judging the remaining ones to be too small or in too bad a condition for publication. Ignace Hendriks of Groningen University published a few  more in collaboration with colleagues.

Ibscher mounted the fragments in 35 glass frames consisting of two sheets of glass fixed to each other with reddish-brown paper tape. Fragments with writing on one side only were put on grey paper, two of which were then enclosed in each frame. When there is text on both sides of the papyrus, no paper was used.

After almost a century, the glass was aged and dirty, two plates were broken, the paper had browned, one papyrus was affected by fungus, and salt migration had caused a white deposit on all glass plates. The necessary conservation treatment could be realized thanks to a grant given by the Atlas Fonds, and was executed by Dr Machteld van der Feltz, a paper restorer who had worked with papyri before.

Our papyri were photographed by Dirk Fennema.

We owe many thanks to the honourable Professor emeritus  K. A. Worp, co-author of the ZPE 41 and 55 publications, for his expert help and comment which has proven invaluable.

LITERATURE

A.G. Roos, ‘Papyri Groninganae: Griechische Papyri der Universitätsbibliothek zu Groningen nebst zwei Papyri der Universitätsbibliothek zu Amsterdam’, Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie van Wetenschappen, afd. Letterkunde, N.R. 32, nr. 4. Amsterdam 1933.

P.J. Sijpesteijn, ‘Bemerkungen zu einigen Papyri Groninganae’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 11 (1973) 161-168.

I.H.M. Hendriks, P.J. Parsons & K.A. Worp, ‘Papyri from the Groningen Collection I: Encomium Alexandreae’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 41 (1981) 71-83. (Encomium Alexandreae is nowadays known as Trismegistos 63485)

I.H.M. Hendriks & K.A. Worp, ‘Papyri aus der Groninger Sammlung II’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 55 (1984) 201-213. (Also published as SB XVI 13060-13066).

Machteld van der Feltz, ‘De conservering van de papyruscollectie in de Groningse Universiteitsbibliotheek’, RN M@gazine 2011.

GUIDE TO THE PAPYRI DISPLAYED

The papyri presented in our digital collection are those described in the original 1933 catalogue by A.G.Roos, by  Hendriks, Parsons and Worp in ZPE 41 (1981) and by Hendriks and Worp in ZPE 55 (1984). Each number is displayed with photographs and pdf’s of the original publication and a short document description. Detailed information is furthermore found on the Trismegistos website, the interdisciplinary portal  for papyrological and epigraphical resources. Papyri are provided with a TM (Trismegistos) number, a DDbDP (Duke Data Bank of Documentary Papyri) number, or a LDAB (Leuven Database of Ancient Books) number. Documentation of most of the Groningen papyri is also found in the HGV (Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis der griechischen Papyrusurkunden Aegyptens). In the notes one finds later references to the papyri displayed, as mentioned in the ''Berichtigingsliste der Griechischen Papyrusurkunden aus Aegypten: Konkordanz und Supplement zu Band I-VII', and 'Berichtigungsliste der Griechischen Papyrusurkunden aus Aegypten Band II Konkordanz und Supplement zu Band VIII-XI'.

SUGGESTIONS AND COMMENTS

Please email your suggestions and comments regarding our papyri (published and unpublished) to: facsimile@rug.nl