Topics #1-4 will form the introduction and foundation to the course; topics #5-6 may be included as time and class preference dictates.

1. Elements and Education

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We will begin with the alphabet, and learn to imagine tactilely what writing was like in antiquity. We will start to learn how to see what is in front of us: the tablet or papyrus roll itself, the ink, the letter shapes and ductus. Along the way, we will use the papyri as a viewpoint from which to witness ancient education, and will reflect upon the methodology of histories that take the papyrological evidence into account.

​2. Scribes and Palaeography

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We will continue to work on seeing what is in front of us, with concentration on the conventions of literary writing on papyrus rolls: the palaeography, the formatting, the scribal habits and conventions. We will also practice with already published texts to learn what it is like to edit a fragmentary text, and to gain firm control over the sometimes arcane detail in papyrological editions.

3. Ancient Books: Great Finds, New Finds

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In this module we will segue to bringing into our network of friends some of the amazing literary papyri that have come to light. We will work with selected manuscripts to increase our familiarity and control over papyrological texts.  The focus here will be on texts that are known primarily or only through the papyrus witness, in order to explore how papyrus discoveries have re-fashioned our view of the ancient literary landscape.

​4. Early Transmission of Texts

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We will work with selected traditions, including Homer and Plato (perhaps with others to be selected according to class interests), in order to gain some sense of how a text might have made the transfer from archaic or classical Greece through to late antiquity. Book collections (libraries) and the special case of Herculaneum will also be in focus if we can find the time.​

​5. Paraliterary Texts

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We will explore the great abundance of texts which are not documentary, but also not high literature. Among these may be lexical lists, grammatical texts, scholia, commentaries, mythographical treatises, magical texts. The wealth of evidence here will mean that we will need to be selective in accordance with group preference.

​6. Epistolary Culture

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Many thousands of letters survive on papyri and tablets. If time permits us to include this module, we will let class preference determine a subset to study: perhaps those from military contexts, such as Vindolanda and Vindonissa; or those written by and to women.

The papyrus pictured at top is P.CtYBR 5018, a literary papyrus from the Yale collection, published by Johnson in 2016.