Object of the Month

SB I 2639 (ÄM 11851) Two women, a baker and a mummy? What was their relationship? Whose mummy is it? The text on this unusual wooden tablet raises many questions, only a few of which can be answered. But at… Read More→

P.Sijp. 39 (P. 7981) Nobody likes it to pay taxes, but even in antiquity taxes were written down in detail. The document we talk about today is a receipt about garden taxes, which a man named Kastor, son of Dionysus… Read More→

UPZ II 209 (P. 5849 + P. 5850) War costs money. So it is not surprising that among the many papyri in the Berlin Papyrus Collection there are also texts dealing with the payment of mercenaries. In addition, the text… Read More→

P. 5014 Faust, Romeo and Juliet or even the songs of today’s stars – lyrical texts can sometimes be very confusing when the respective poets give free rein to their creativity and work rare lyrical words into their works. A… Read More→

SB I 3447 (ÄM 13353) A gravestone with instructions for transporting the deceased? That is unthinkable today. In Roman Egypt, however, instead of gravestones, wooden mummy labels were often used, attached to the mummy before it was transported to the… Read More→

P. 6870 V + P. 14097 V What did music sound like in ancient times? What melodies were sung? We know very little about this. Because even in antiquity, songs were mostly passed on orally or only the lyrics were… Read More→

P.Schubart 22 II (P. 13932) Misoumenos – „The Man She Hated“ sounds almost like the title of a movie. However, it is the title of a work by the Greek poet Menander, a small excerpt of which has survived on… Read More→

T.Berl.Möller 125 (ÄM 11843) It was an ancient Egyptian custom to provide mummies with a small tablet that gave information about the deceased. At first, one would not expect such a mummy label for a Christian. However, several examples have… Read More→

SB I 1206 (ÄM 11826) From the 1st century AD at the latest, it was customary in Egypt to attach small wooden labels to mummies that were inscribed in Greek and/or Demotic. This custom continued to enjoy great popularity in… Read More→

BGU II 385 (P. 6901) „I want you to know that I am alone.“ This sentence raises at least as many questions as the letter it came from. It was written by a certain Serenilla to her father Socrates. The… Read More→