Although much of the extant evidence on ancient scholarship comes from the scholiastic corpora which equip many medieval codices, a fundamental part in our knowledge of the subject is played by Graeco-Egyptian papyrus fragments. The variety and quantity of information they transmit is remarkable, much more so when the papyri represent the closest we can get to ancient literature itself.
This book offers the first comprehensive assessment of ancient scholarship on papyrus. The papyrological evidence is examined both in terms of content and material (i.e. paleographical and bibliological) features. This wide-ranging investigation sheds fresh light not only on the transmitted texts themselves, but also on their context of production, use, and storekeeping, and elucidates the influence that these papyri had on subsequent – medieval and modern – exegesis.
As a result, this book will appeal to a wide range of classicists interested in papyrology and scholarship broadly speaking, and to anyone interested in culture transmission and the formation of the modern approaches to ancient literature.