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A Second-Century Treatise on Egyptian Priests and Temples
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 August 2011
Extract
In return for contributions to aid in excavations at Oxyrhynchus in the 1920's Sir Flinders Petrie sent to Washington University, St. Louis, several hundred papyri, very fragmentary for the most part, and ranging in date from the second century B.C. to the fifth or sixth century A.D. Following the death of Professor Frank Debatin of that university who had done some preliminary work on the collection, permission was given me to publish it. Many of the pieces had never been cleaned and remained creased and covered with dirt, evidently in the condition in which they had been found. After the collection had been cleaned, photographed and examined the five fragments that make up the present text seemed to be by far the most interesting and the most important of the lot. Though no continuous text was provided, their religious content was apparent from such words as προϕήτης, ἱερόν, ἱερεύς and μυστηριασθῆναι.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright
- Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1960
References
1 This papyrus, consisting of five fragments, is catalogued as Inventory No. 138 in the Washington University collection and is to be designated as P. Wash. U. Inv. 138. It measures approximately 18.6 cm. x 20.0 cm., is of good quality and light brown in color except for occasional stains. On the whole the verso is somewhat darker than the recto. The outer margin of both recto and verso is 2 cm. at the widest point. The bottom margin of the recto at its widest point is 1.7 cm., that of the verso 2.2 cm.
2 I am greatly indebted to Professor Phillip De Lacy for twice sending me the fragments, though mounted between glass, for study in Bloomington. This generosity on his part has made it possible to work on the original with all facilities at hand.
3 Gradenwitz, , Heidelberger Konträrindex der griechischen Papyrusurkunden (Berlin, 1931).Google ScholarKretschmer, , Rückläufiges Wörterbuch der griechischen Sprache (Göttingen, 1944), lists in addition ἐγγαστριμάχαιρα, δρεπανομάχαιρα, ξιϕομάχαιρα.Google Scholar
4 Three bits of evidence indicate that Egyptian religion is the principal if not the sole subject matter of these fragments: the mention of a προϕήτης (recto col. ii. 5) an ἱερογραμματεύς and the promise not to engage in any manual labor, denoted in this instance by specific acts (recto col. ii. 9–10).
5 The προϕήτης was next in rank to the άρχιερεύς in Egyptian temples. See Otto, , Priester und Tempel im hellenistischen Ägypten (Berlin, 1905), 1. 75, 82.Google Scholar
6 Milne, J. G., A History of Egypt Under Roman Rule (London, 1924), 235.Google Scholar
7 See Herod. 2. 37, 81; Gnomon 71, 75, 76.