Over the last decades papyrological research has seen a shift from a mere deciphering and publishing of written texts, to the study of the textual material in a wider context. Connecting the textual contents of a written source to its archaeological context and its own physicality has proven indispensable for a better understanding of these sources. This insight has led papyrologists and other researchers of ancient texts to new approaches of textual material, hereby benefitting greatly from recent developments in digital resources and technologies, especially in the quickly advancing field of digital photography.
This book is a collection of nine papers, methodological as well as technical, on the materiality of ancient texts.1 The authors are papyrologists, Egyptologists, archaeologists and technical specialists, sharing their knowledge for the mutual benefit of researchers in these fields. The scope of the book is broad, but most textual source material discussed originates in Egypt ranging in time from Pharaonic Egypt to the Byzantine period and covering texts written in hieroglyphs, Hieratic, Demotic, Greek, and
Coptic. Source material ranges from short notes and messages to ritual manuals, and is inscribed on a variety of supports: papyrus and potsherds, but also wood, clay, stones and walls. The unifying factor in these studies is that the focus of the papers is not on the meaning of the text, but on its material context: either the material of the writing support itself, or in a broader sense the influence on a text of the material world in which a text was written and read, or is now studied, or both. The following papers stress in various ways that researchers should refrain from considering the creation of ancient texts and writing in the same way as they would modern writing and writing practices, which are inherently different as they come from a world in which writing and written communication, administration, and even written entertainment is the rule rather than the exception. In the ancient world, the situation was however reversed, and written sources as well as the people who created these sources, their motivations in choosing their writing materials, and their modes and possibilities of producing texts should thus be seen in a different perspective. Written objects, and their content and use should be considered in the context of ‘the contemporary and peopled cultural history’2 of the ancient society.
Questions addressed by the papers in this volume include: what constituted the authority of a written text, for different types of texts, in different periods of time, and under different circumstances; what is the meaning of literacy on a social level; why is one writing support preferred to another; what can the detailed study of the handwriting, of the writing support, or of the special layout or placement of a text on its support, add to our understanding of the contents of the written text and of how it was communicated even to people who could not read. Several new interpretations and re-editions of texts are given in the following papers as a result of the various new ways of looking at texts. The final papers deal with the fast- developing techniques in the study of ancient materials: the study of textual material has greatly benefitted from new tools and techniques, but how can researchers use them (cost) effectively, and how are they to interpret and publish the new and sometimes numerous data that these digital techniques can unlock?
The sociology of writing and reading and of literacy is addressed in the first two papers, which both base their arguments on Egyptian texts stemming from a significant time span. Christopher Eyre, in ‘The Use of Written Texts as Physical Authorisation in Pharaonic Egypt’, deals with texts throughout the Pharaonic period. He sees a shift over time from writing as a material object towards writing as a medium for communication – even though the latter was still restricted by the high level of illiteracy, even in later periods. Thus, it seems prudent to study the texts in their ethnographic and historical context, and the writing material from an archaeological point of view.
Alongside this, Massimiliano Pinarello, in ‘The Platypus Paradox: An Archaeological Approach to Ancient Egyptian Writing Practices’, studies archaeological remains related to writing practice and performers in the Pharaonic period, but especially through an Old Kingdom case study of Balat ʿAyn Asil. He fiercely argues against the traditional image of ancient Egyptian scribes as an exclusive social class defined by literacy. He redefines ‘writing’ not only as an activity of the literate elite, but also as the ‘action of leaving visible markings in order to record socially shared actions and events’.3 He suggests the ‘Platypus model’ should help researchers approach ancient artefacts in a different way.
The third paper, ‘Telling Them by Their Hands: What Palaeography Has to Offer Prosopography’ by Rodney Ast, focusses on the identification of the producer of textual material: the scribe. Ast discusses the importance of studying external features of the writing material, in particular the handwriting of Greek papyri from the fourth century CE. With the many photographs nowadays available, often on the internet, palaeography has become easier to study. This turns out good results for prosopographical studies; some specific examples of identification of ancient writers are shown. Although stressing its value, the author makes us aware of the problems and limitations involved with identifying handwriting caused by subjectivity of the researchers; objective automated handwriting recognition for Greek or Egyptian papyrology still remains a desideratum.
Different conceptions of materiality are explored in the fourth paper, through the study of one particular kind of text. Susanne Töpfer, in her article ‘The Body of the King and of the Goddess: Materiality in and through Manuals for Pharaoh from Tebtunis’, addresses the questions why hieratic texts with descriptions of temple rituals to protect the body of the Pharaoh were still copied in the second century CE, and what their function may have been in the context of Roman Egypt. The material aspects discussed include the relationship between the texts and pictorial information on temple walls, as well as those between the texts and archaeological objects such as cult statues, architecture and ritual objects; the author also pays attention to the layout of the texts on the papyrus in relation to their possible use in the temple, and the re-use of papyrus as writing support.
The following three papers revolve around the relevance of the material of the writing support, notably, the question why and under which circumstances ostraca were used instead of papyrus – apart from the fact that potsherds were probably cheaper and more widely available than papyrus.
First, Ben Haring in ‘Material Matters: Documentary Papyri and Ostraca in Late Ramesside Thebes’ studies the increasing preference for using papyrus instead of ostraca (limestone as well as potsherds) as writing material for hieratic documents in the Theban necropolis. He argues that perhaps the growing need for texts as legal evidence influenced the choice of papyrus (which could be sealed) over ostraca (which could not be sealed) as a writing support. At the same time, the reader is warned that the exact numbers of papyri and ostraca used in earlier studies are likely misleading because of the frequent re-use of the writing material, and because ostraca containing semi-scribal marks by less literate workmen were not yet taken into account.
In ‘Writing on Ostraca: Considerations of Material Aspects’ by Julia Lougovaya, activities associated with the use of ostraca are studied in three groups of Greek ostraca from the Ptolemaic and early Byzantine periods: the tiny so-called ‘well-tags’ from Trimithis with short notes, the larger sherds with instructions to provide wine in the ‘Oxyrhynchus Racing Archive’, and the large, flat ostraca used for an estate archive, including five literary texts, in Philadelpheia. The combined study of all aspects of the ostraca leads to different interpretations and new readings of some of the texts written on them.
This is taken a step further through an in-depth systematic ceramological study of the same Philadelpheia archive, in comparison with a more or less contemporary group from Soknopaiou Nesos, by Clementina Caputo in ‘Ceramic Supports and Their Relation to Texts in Two Groups of Ostraca from the Fayum’. The study of not only the shape, thickness and colour of the potsherds, but also of the composition and texture of the clay, the treatment of the inner and outer surfaces, the direction of the writing, and the type and origin of the original pot the sherd once belonged to, using new technologies of three- dimensional digital documentation, makes it possible to assign ostraca to archives, and even to join fragments of the same ostracon that were not recognised as belonging together in earlier publications. As a result, James Cowey re-publishes nine newly joint demotic ostraca from Soknopaiou Nesos in this same article.
The final two papers are of a more practical, technical character and offer a glimpse of future possibilities for the study of textual materiality. They deal with the way in which the most recent photographical technology can be used for studying ancient texts. The first article ‘Evolving Epigraphic Standards in the Field: Documenting Late Period and Graeco-Roman Egyptian Graffiti through Photogrammetry at Elkab’ is a joint contribution of Luigi Prada and Paul Wordsworth. They show how Egyptian graffiti, incised and/or painted on the wall and floor surfaces of tombs and temples, can be recorded in three dimensions with the use of photogrammetry, and how with the help of this technique much more can be read of the texts compared to what was read in the few earlier editions of such texts. The authors share practical advice on how to publish graffiti for colleagues faced with similar research conditions.
Concluding the volume, Kathryn Piquette, in ‘Revealing the Material World of Ancient Writing: Digital Techniques and Theoretical Considerations’, describes the whole range of modern imaging techniques for recording and studying ancient texts, including Decorrelation Stretch or DStretch, used for changing the contrast of images (available in app-form for researchers in the field or even behind their desks), spectral imaging, and RTI or Reflectance Transformation Imaging. She presents their respective possibilities and limitations through her personal case studies, in ways that will interest even the non-specialist in photography. The article ends with a reflection on the use of modern digital imaging technologies, pointing at the limitations of ancient as well as modern people to see and interpret written text, and the future risk of data overload.
The varying papers in this volume are united in their overall goal: how to tackle the study of the materiality of ancient written source material, exploring the possibilities both within the respective traditional scientific fields, as well as through more interdisciplinary approaches. Each paper in this book also shows how assessing texts through their materiality, in the broadest sense of the word, may modify earlier views on the texts and on their social context. Together, the nine papers aim to encourage papyrologists, Egyptologists and other researchers of ancient texts to consider the benefits of new methods and new technological resources in the study of the materiality of textual sources, and thus hopefully contribute to a better understanding of the role of written text in ancient society.
The articles in this book are revised and extended versions of papers held at the conference ‘Beyond Papyri: The Materiality of Ancient Texts’, Leiden, 27–29 October 2016. We wish to thank both the anonymous peer reviewer and our series co-editor Willy Clarysse for their constructive criticism after reading an earlier version of the book.
C. EYRE, p. 1 below.
M. PINARELLO, p. 14 below.