Papyri
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Among the papyrus artefacts from antiquity are several thousand fragments of literary and paraliterary papyri, mostly in Greek, and this body of evidence will be the focus of our course. We will proceed thematically. Among the topics will be: early and intermediate education, scribal habits and conventions, bookroll conventions, early textual traditions for Homer and others, lost literature rediscovered through the papyri; other topics are to be negotiated as time and preference dictates, but top candidates might be paraliterary texts, and culture as revealed through papyrus letters.
The course will focus intensively on the papyri as (1) artefacts, (2) witnesses to education and literary culture, (3) witnesses to textual traditions. We will make substantial use of the papyri in the Duke Papyrus Collection, but much of our attention will be on papyri available through editions and high resolution digital images. |
Logistics
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You will learn by doing in this course. In the first week we will practice with reed pen and papyrus, for example. We will have routine written projects and class presentations, on which you are expected to excel. There will be no mid-term or final exam. Each of you will identify a medium-sized, personal project to pursue. This can be in the form of a fresh edition and description of a papyrus (whether published or not), a more statistical compilation and evaluation of data, or a conventional paper. This project is due by the last day of class. Classwork, written assignments, and presentations will count for 75% of your final grade; the final project 25%.
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Books
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A joyous circumstance at Duke is the presence of our Papyrology & Palaeography Room, a restricted area to which you as a student in this class will have 24/7 access. This non-circulating collection contains all of the volumes of editions of Greek papyri, the principal papyrological journals, and a good selection of papyrological reference materials. The Pap/Pal Room is conveniently located in Rubenstein 152, just opposite the main Rubenstein Reading Room. I will gradually build a collection of reserve volumes for the class, which will also be located in the Pap/Pal Room (and which are also, of course, non-circulating).
Most readings will be available online. We will have substantial readings from the following books, which are recommended but optional for purchase:
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Instructor
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William A. Johnson, Professor and Chair, Classical Studies
Allen Building 229B, william.johnson@duke.edu, 919-684-2082 Office hours Tu 4:30-5:30, by chance, or by appointment |
The papyrus pictured at top is P.CtYBR 5018, a literary papyrus from the Yale collection, published by Johnson in 2016.
