July 20, 1923
This consignment consists (a) of four packets sent through the post, (b) of
two wooden boxes sent separately. Of the latter one contains exclusively
Demotic papyri, the other a large collection of miscellaneous Greek
and (apparently very few) Coptic papyri, chiefly fragmentary. As the
last mentioned are clearly of minor importance and, owing to their number
number and imperfection, will take some time to describe, and as I am
leaving for my vacation on August 1, I have thought it best to make
a separate report on the four postal packets, which contain the best
of the Greek and Coptic papyri. A second report, on the papyri in the
box, will be sent later, after my return.
In damping out and flattening the papyri the covers of packets III and IV seem
to have been accidentally confused. As the mistake was not discovered
till my descriptions had been written it seemed better not to alter
the numbers here affixed. it must therefore by understood that in this
Report Packet III = Nahman's IV and Packet IV = Nahman's III.
The papyri are a very good lot on the whole, but the prices asked seem
to me very high and, in the case of I, quite fantastic. Those in Packet
I are the residue of the archive of the γραφειον
of Tebtunis, of which other portions were acquired by Michigan in 1921
and 1922.
These, like the former ones, are in wonderful preservation, and are of much
the same character as the others. Unfortunately, as before, more than
half of them are subscriptions only, the actual contracts never having
been written, so that in many cases much of the papyrus is blank.
Packet II is described as from Batn el-Harît (Theadelphia), and
this appears to be correct. It must not be supposed however that these
papyri are from a recent find; eight out of the ten rolls were offered
to the Museum, along with two or three others, as long ago as 1911-12,
but were not bought as the price was too high. These rolls are mostly
tax registers but are valuable; three, which form parts of a τομος συγκολλσιμος of receipts addressed to a state bank, are specially noteworthy.
Packet III consist of miscellaneous papyri. At least one Coptic and several
of the Greek papyri come from the Meletian archive acquired by the British
Museum last year, and are distinctly interesting. It is obviously desirable
that these should be secured; one actually completes a B. M. papyrus.
Others (Greek) come from a find made at Darb el Gerza (Philadelphia)
and consist chiefly of documents of the reign of Diocletian and his
immediate successors.
Packet IV is also miscellaneous. A considerable portion of it consists of papyri
from the Gerza Diocletian archive; these include a very interesting
set of letters of the household of a certain Paniscus, at one time a
Christian but in one letter (either before conversion or after relapse
during the Persecution) a Pagan. There are also some 1st and 2nd cent.
papyri from Theadelphia and elsewhere, and a very good Latin document.
Finally, there are a few Zeno papyri, all imperfect and none of them
of any special interest.
In fixing prices I have borne in mind the high prices now prevailing, and in
most cases my prices err, if at all, upwards rather than downwards,
though in one or two cases I have perhaps priced a papyrus rather lower
than, at the present time, it might be expected to fetch. Yet in every
case my price is below that asked by Nahman. The following is a table
of prices:
|
Lot |
Nahman |
H. I. Bell |
|
I |
£ 800 |
£ 185 |
|
II |
£ 350 |
£ 235 |
|
III |
£ 300 |
£ 264 |
|
IV |
£ 300 |
£ 219 |
|
V (box of fragments) |
£ 250 |
(not yet fixed) |
|
VI |
£ 900 |
" " " |
The discrepancy is greatest in the case of packet I, on which the natives evidently
placed an exaggerated value owing to the fine preservation of these
papyri. I do not think I have in general priced these below their intrinsic
value ( I have reckoned £ 3 - £ 6 for subscriptions only.
£8 for completed contracts, with higher prices for nos. 6, 10,
16, and 21, which are specially large or interesting), but is perhaps
not wholly unreasonable, in view of the exceptionally fine preservation
and the desirability of adding these papyri to those previously bought
to increase these prices by £2 for the smaller, £4 for the
larger documents. that would bring the total price to £265, which
is still far below Nahman's £800. It is for the Michigan authorities,
to whom these papyri, if bought, should certainly go, to decide whether
the desirability of securing the rest of the archive justifies the payment
of a price which I cannot but regard as quite exorbitant.
The other prices are less unreasonable, and it may be possible to arrive at
some agreement. In particular it may prove that the content of V may
be of more value than appearsm so that an adjustment of prices will
be possible. But I am not too sanguine as to this last point.
In the following inventory of papyri which seem to me, for any reason, specially
noteworthy are marked with an asterisk. Literary ones (including magical
and theological) are distinguished with an L in the Margin.
The Coptic papyri were very hastily examined by Mr. Crum on a flying visit
to the Museum, and the desciptions are due to him. Mr. Lamacraft has,
as usual, done most valuable work in damping out many papyri and identifying
fragments.
H. I. Bell
British Museum
