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ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID1192
TM IDTM 91945
Findspot (DEChriM ID)12   (Ismant al-Ḫarāb)
ClassTextual
MaterialWood
Writing mediumCodex, Tablet
Text contentSubliterary
LanguageGreek
Description

Anonymous epic parody of Homer on a wooden codex.

Miniature wooden codex (dimensions: H. 8 x W. 5.5 x Th. 0.4-0.5 cm) consisting of 4 boards, of which 3 sides are blank (traces of erased writing). At the spine of the codex each board contains 4 holes and a piece of string, drawn through the holes for keeping the individual boards together, has been preserved.

The boards were gessoed before carrying new writing; the text is written along the long sides, in 'landscape' fashion. It was written in hexameters, each hexameter being divided over two lines of writing, and it presents a piece of Greek poetry consisting of fifteen hexameters. According to ed. pr., the hand suggests a decently trained scribe of the middle of the 4th c. The text is possibly an original composition but could also have been a copy of a text composed one or two generations earlier.

The ed. suggests that elements of the Lord's prayer were taken over into the story sketched in l. 8 ff. Not only does he note, l. 14: 'Father Zeus, give us bread', but also l. 10 where the word χρηστόν may have been used intentionally as a reminder of Χριστόν. See also Ermolaeva 2014 who quotes P.KellisCopt. I 19 about the reading of psalms in Kellis and suggests that l. 10 refers to Ps. 33:8.

Writing medium and archaeological context suggests that it was a school text (see below).

Selection criteriaChristian terms/formulas/concepts, Biblical quote or paraphrase
Date from325
Date to375
Dating criteria

Palaeographically dated to the middle of the 4th c.

Absolute/relative dateRelative date
Archaeological context

Discovered in 2002 during the course of excavations (Monash University, Melbourne) within the Temple of Tutu, in Room 2 of Shrine I in a pit north of the door, with a second codex containing three Greek division tables. Shrine I (Area D/2) is an early component of this complex two-roomed shrine on the south of the Main Temple, and it was in the outer room (2) of this structure that the codices were discovered. Both texts date from the 4th century CE and apparently come from a local school. Shrine III is a possible place of origin for the codices as it seems to have been functioning as a scriptorium, possibly coincident with the end of the temple as a place of worship. See Hope 2006.

Accession number

Kellis, excavations Dakleh Oasis Project, no. # D/2/46; SCA #2662.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editio princeps

• Worp, Klaas A. 2006. "Miniature Codices from Kellis, part II. A parody of Homer, arithmetical exercises and a list of Greek verbs", Mnemosyne. Serie 4 59, 233-247 with pl. 

Additional bibliography

• Ermolaeva, Elena. 2014. "A School Ancient Greek Epic Parody from Kellis", Hyperboreus 20, 370-382.

• Hope, Colin. 2006. "Miniature Codices from Kellis, part I. The discovery", Mnemosyne. Serie 4 59, 226-232.

Authors
Valérie Schram, 2021
Suggested citation
Valérie Schram, 2021, "Artefact ID 1192", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1192
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