Documents from Berenike. Volume I. Greek ostraka from the 1996-1998 seasons

95 Pages·2000·1.997 MB·English

by  Roger S. Bagnall, Christina Helms, Arthur M. F. W. Verhooght

PAPYROLOGICA BRUXELLENSIA
— 31 —
DOCUMENTS FROM BERENIKE
VOLUME I
GREEK OSTRAKA FROM THE 1996-1998 SEASONS
Roger S. BAGNALL
Christina HELMS
Arthur M. F. W. VERHOOGT
BRUXELLES
Fondation Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth
2000

DOCUMENTS FROM BERENIKE
VOLUME I
GREEK OSTRAKA FROM THE 1996-1998 SEASONS
FONDATION EGYPTOLOGIQUE REINE ELISABETH
PAPYROLOGICA BRUXELLENSIA
Etudes de papyrologie et editions de sources
publiees sous la direction de
Jean BINGEN
D/2000/0705/1
PAPYROLOGICA BRUXELLENSIA
— 31 —
DOCUMENTS FROM BERENIKE
VOLUME I
GREEK OSTRAKA FROM THE 1996-1998 SEASONS
Roger S. BAGNALL
Christina HELMS
Arthur M. F. W. VERHOOGT
BRUXELLES
Fonda rioN Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth
2000
Copyright ° 2000 Roger S. Bagnall, Christina Helms, and Arthur M. F. W. Verhoogt
PREFACE
The texts published here constitute the bulk of the written material found in the
excavations at Berenike on the Red Sea, conducted by the University of Delaware and the
University of Leiden under the direction of Steven Sidebotham and Willemina Wendrich.
We are grateful to them for the invitation to work on these documents and much practical
assistance. Inscriptions from the site and its environs are published elsewhere in the
preliminary archaeological reports (references to which are given in the bibliography at
the end of the Introduction). A few scraps of papyrus were also found in 1997 and 1998.
Excavations at Berenike are continuing, and we send this publication to press after the
1999 season, in which a modest number of additional texts relevant to the groups appear­
ing here were found. We have decided to do so, rather than wait and produce a thicker
volume, both because of the interest of the distinctive material involved and because we
hope in publishing later finds to benefit from discussion of this first installment. In a few
cases, however, we have used information from the 1999 finds in our commentary.
We studied the ostraka initially from color slides (see below) and from drawings
made on the site; Helms was able to see the 1997 original ostraka in 1998, although some
had suffered severe degradation from the outward migration of salt since their finding.
She was also able to read the 1998 finds in the field. The other authors have worked
entirely from the images and drawings.
The archaeological reports contain full acknowledgment of the financial support
which has made possible the excavations. Here we wish to record our thanks for
assistance from the Stanwood Cockey Lodge Foundation of Columbia University, which
has paid for duplicating and digitizing the color slides of the ostraka. The digital images
have been invaluable in our work, particularly with some of the more difficult texts.
Rather than print plates in this volume, we have put all of the digital images on the Web
for consultation. The URL for these images is (as of January, 2000) http://www.Columbia,
edu/dlc/apis/berenike. With the rapid development of Web technology, it is difficult to be
sure that this address will remain valid indefinitely; if it should at some point be found not
to work, the user is advised to go to the Columbia University Web site and search for
Berenike. Higher-resolution images can be obtained on request from the authors.
We are indebted to audiences at Princeton University, the Institute of Classical
Studies, London, and the University of Michigan for valuable comments and suggestions
in response to preliminary presentations of the material, and we thank Peter Brown for the
invitation to speak at Princeton, Dominic Rathbone and Jane Rowlandson for the
opportunity to do so in London, and Traianos Gagos for the occasion in Ann Arbor. We
are also grateful to Jean Bingen, Adam Bulow-Jacobsen, Lionel Casson, Helene Cuvigny,
Nico Kruit, and Klaas Worp for reading a draft of this volume and making a number of
suggestions to improve the texts and introduction. As usual, the authors’ remaining fail­
ures of inattention or stubbornness are not to be laid to the charge of these benefactors.
We recommend O.Ber. I as the abbreviation for this volume.
December, 1999
Abbreviations
Papyri and papyrological tools arc cited according to J. F. Oates et al., Checklist oj
Editions of Greek and Latin Papyri, Ostraca and Tablets, 4th ed. (BASP Suppl. 7,
Atlanta 19*42). An updated version can be consulted on the Web at the following
address: scriptorium.lib.dukc/papyrus/tcxts/checklist.html.
A list of literature cited by author's name and date of publication is given at the
end of (he introduction.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface v
Introduction 1
1. The archaeological context 3
2. The groups of ostraka ..... 4
Date of the ostraka 7
3. The place of the ostraka in the customs process 8
4. The officials ................................................... 11
5. Goods and measures 14
6. Personal names 24
Bibliography .......................... 33
Note on editorial procedure ... 34
Texts, Translations, and Notes 35
Indexes 75