New life given to ancient Egyptian texts stored at Stanford for decades

Stanford University ^ | July 23, 2008 | Adam Gorlick

[SunkenCiv]

At first glance, the ancient Egyptian texts look like scraps of garbage. And more than 2,000 years ago, that's exactly what they were -- discarded documents, useless contracts and unwanted letters that were recycled into material needed to plaster over mummies, like some precursor to papier-mache...

The texts, collectively called papyri, were donated to Stanford in the 1920s by an alumnus who bought them from an antiquities dealer in London. They've been overlooked by generations of faculty who haven't focused on papyrology, said Joe Manning, an associate professor of classics...

About 70 texts in Stanford's collection of several hundred papyri were taken from storage and brought to the university's conservation lab in April. They were soaked in water to wash away the remains of an adhesive material applied to them for use as cartonnage -- material molded into masks and panels to cover the mummified bodies of humans and animals. The texts were then mounted in thin glass frames, allowing for easy handling and close inspection. The ink, essentially a waterproof mixture of soot and resin, is faded but mostly legible...

For Marja Vierros, a classicist from the University of Helsinki, one bit of misshapen and torn papyrus gave up plenty of detail. According to her translation, the document recorded a financial transaction between Haryotes, a 65-year-old flat-faced man of medium height and honey-colored hair, and Thasies, a woman 20 years his junior whose head was shaped like a sugar loaf. "And the scribe who wrote this was named Panas," Vierros said.

[SunkenCiv]

Three nice photos, please don't directly link them here, many thanks!

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

Here’s something linked from an AP story (which wasn’t usable) that we can post:

The Codex Sinaiticus Project
http://www.codexsinaiticus.org

The Codex Sinaiticus Project is an international collaboration to reunite the entire manuscript in digital form and make it accessible to a global audience for the first time. Drawing on the expertise of leading scholars, conservators and curators, the Project gives everyone the opportunity to connect directly with this famous manuscript.

[maryz]

According to her translation, the document recorded a financial transaction between Haryotes, a 65-year-old flat-faced man of medium height and honey-colored hair, and Thasies, a woman 20 years his junior whose head was shaped like a sugar loaf.

I wish they'd given a full translaton! Hard to picture a "financial transaction" document with physical descriptions of the parties!

That said, it sounds like a fun project to work on!

[SunkenCiv]

Maybe he was a municipal official, and she was his intern. :’)

[maryz]

They had Democrats in ancient Egypt??? Well, no wonder the civilization collapsed! ;-)

[SunkenCiv]