Object of the Month

Here, another special text from the collection will be introduced every month.

Cooperative Agriculture

BGU IX 1900 (P. 11642) If you have ever been annoyed by the high rent of your apartment, house or land, then you are basically no different from the people of ancient Egypt. Already at that time pieces of land… Read More

A Magical Dream Oracle

GEMF 30/PGM II (P. 5026) Dreams played an important role in ancient Egypt and the ancient world in general. Only in a dream could a dead person appear to a living one. Furthermore, people believed that dreams could predict the… Read More

When Israel Was in Egypt’s Land

P. 11766 + P. 14046 What happens when one defies the will of God, the Pharaoh of that time was soon to find out in a not too pleasant way. „With the staff in my hand I will strike the… Read More

Germanic Fortune Teller in Egypt

SB III 6221 (P. 12682) Teutons in Egypt? One can hardly imagine that. And yet there are some testimonies from the Roman period that prove the stay of Germanic people in Egypt. One such example is the object presented here…. Read More

Numerical exercise

SB XXVI 16522 (P. 12750) Most of the finds from antiquity are quite everyday objects. This also applies to the documentary texts found in Egypt, most of which are receipts, tax declarations or lists and allow insights into the everyday… Read More

Grieving the Son in Homer’s Iliad

BKT X 3 (P. 5007) Crying singing, sad faces, that is how the city of Troy mourns its fallen hero Hector. His sister and widow lament his death, the father wants the corpse back. Troy – a name we instantly… Read More

The Return of the Sower: Egyptian Amulet

P. 982 What do rabies and firefighters have to do with the film Tenet (2020)? And why is this question papyrologically relevant? In the movie about the secret mission Tenet a Russian named Sator — founder of the company Rotas… Read More

A Philologist at Work

BKT I, S. 4–73 (P. 9780 R) The papyrus is fairly extensive, in relatively good condition and contains interesting texts on both recto and verso sides: texts from ancient scholars whom we knew to be prolific but by whom prior… Read More

Tax receipt for an installment payment

BGU II 676 (P. 3544) ATTENTION!! This piece from the Berlin Papyrus Collection is not papyrus. Instead, it is parchment! This „papyrus database“ comprises mostly papyri, but also parchments, paper, wood, pottery sherds, wax tablets and inscribed textiles. But what… Read More

Arithmetical Memory Board

SB III 6219 (P. 10506) Mental arithmetic is difficult. Cheat sheets are therefore popular. Another way to avoid having to do mathematical calculations over and over again is to use boards with lists of multiplications and divisions that you can… Read More