Papyrological Evidence for Book Collections and Libraries in the Roman Empire

Houston, George W.

doi:10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199793983.003.0010

Cited by 19 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…97 (second century CE), 60 which provides not only the name of the copyist, but also that of the library where he got the manuscript he copied: ἐκ βιβλιοθή(κης) Πραξί(ου?) || 58 Houston 2009, The typology of libraries is quite similar to that of archives:…”

Section: Typologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Archives and Libraries in Greco-Roman Egypt

2018

Manuscripts and Archives

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Owing to the mass of its documentation, Egypt gives many examples of discoveries of documentary and literary papyri. The papyrologists traditionally speak of 'archives' for documentary texts and 'libraries' for literary texts, a polarity which reflects the two fundamental branches of papyrology, namely documentary papyrology and literary papyrology. But is it epistemologically correct? Does this reflect reality? The situation is actually less clear: many ancient sets combined both documents and books. After presenting the archives and the libraries as evidenced by papyri, I will try to show examples of these combinations and expose the reasons that make them so difficult to detect, to the detriment of papyrology and of our understanding of ancient culture in general. Introduction'Archives' and 'libraries' are two terms used by papyrologists to designate collections of either documentary or literary texts (henceforth 'documents' and 'books' respectively). As far as classical Antiquity is concerned, archives and libraries are best known from allusions made to them in literary sources. And, with a few exceptions (including the famous case of Herculaneum), Greco-Roman Egypt is the only place where climatic conditions allowed for the massive preservation of documents and books which constituted ancient archives and libraries. But the conditions in which they were discovered in the nineteenth and twentieth century unfortunately did not permit these ancient collections to come down to us in their entirety. x The interest in these ancient collections, which has developed particularly in recent decades, is doubly justified:(a) Apart from the content of the texts they are composed of (which are the delight of historians and philologists), these collections are archaeological objects that form a whole and that we need to reconstruct and study as such. They tell us about the ways of keeping and filing written texts practiced by the ancients. In other || I thank Adam Bülow Jacobsen and Korshi Dosoo for revising my English and Antonio Ricciardetto for proof-reading my paper.Brought to you by | College de France Authenticated Download Date | 2/21/18 2:27 PM Sabine Kienitz, Michael Friedrich, Christian Brockmann & Alessandro Bausi (éd.), Manuscripts and Archives: Comparative Views on Record-Keeping, Berlin-Boston 2018, p. 171-200 172 | Jean-Luc Fournet words, the information they give us is a matter of library studies, archival studies and the history of knowledge; (b) We must analyse documents or books, not only in themselves, but in relation to the way they were organized. The relationship between the components of a collection is meaningful and provides new data in addition to those provided by each of the components; more precisely, it strengthens, enlivens and puts into perspective such information. As Orsolina Montevecchi wrote about archives, l'archivio, e specialmente un archivio privato che si estenda per un certo lasso di tempo, è un insieme più vivo e istruttivo, per certi aspetti, di una serie di docu...

show abstract

Section: Typologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Archives and Libraries in Greco-Roman Egypt

2018

Manuscripts and Archives

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For the second type of evidence of collecting practices we should turn to the work of George Houston, who has distinguished two forms of papyrological evidence for libraries and book collections from the Roman world: (1) lists of books preserved in papyri, and (2) concentrations of papyri found together in archaeological sites. 534 Since his work bears relevance for our purposes here, we will have a closer look at his conclusions.…”

Section: Collection From a Comparative Perspective: Book Lists Of Pap...mentioning

confidence: 95%

Leaving No Scroll Unturned

Aksu¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities PFES Publications of the Finnish Exegetical Society Phil Philologus RB Revue biblique RevQ Revue de Qumran RHR Revue de l'histoire des religions ScEs Science et esprit ScrHier Scripta Hierosolymitana SDSSRL Studies in Dead Sea Scrolls & Related Literature SJLA Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity SMC Studies in Manuscript Cultures STDJ Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah VIIFor this particular occasion, I call Paul and Luisa my paranymphs, but they are obviously much more to me than that. Paul has been a constant factor in my life for at least a decade and a half, and I am ready to the defend the proposition that he is the most gracious and reliable friend that one could wish for. This PhD is also the story of my discovery of Luisa, who has been Groningen's most delightful gift to me. For me, it didn't feel slowly and steadily at all. I immediately wanted you around me and never changed my mind. Did I already mention what a fantastic faculty GGW is? There are a few brothers in arms in particular that have made it such a glorious place to arrive to in the morning. Mau, easily the best thing to arrive from the Western Hemisphere since the potato. I don't want to promote excessive alcohol consumption too publicly, but I can warmly recommend it to anyone to get drunk with you. Our household activist Saara, who should be the first person to talk to about any social dilemma you may have (and about many other things as well, of course). Vivi, who introduced me to Justin, Volker Schlöndorff, Milanesa, and much more that life has to offer for us to enjoy. Welmoed, I don't think you fully realize how joyful it is for people to have you around. I hope you will let me choose many more restaurants for us in the future. Gemma, friendship has never been as unavoidable as it is with you. I am still grateful that you were there when this adventure started all those years ago.My dear friends outside Groningen deserve much better than not being named here in person, but I do have to mention that de vriendschap en het feest van mijn broeders in Vnica, de leukste vrienden, en de gangsters all played their part in this as well.The most important person in all of this is Mirthe. You deserve a couronne d'or and bains de porphyre but got a clumsy guy with a book on papyrus. However, know that for him you are a reason to wake up in the morning.

show abstract

Towards an Anthropology of Reading

Humphreys

2012

Transcultural Research – Heidelberg Studies on Asia and Europe in a Global Context

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Papyrological Evidence for Book Collections and Libraries in the Roman Empire

Cited by 19 publications

References 0 publications

Archives and Libraries in Greco-Roman Egypt

Archives and Libraries in Greco-Roman Egypt

Leaving No Scroll Unturned

Towards an Anthropology of Reading

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About