Object of the Month

P. 16389 “Holy is God“, “holy and strong” and ”holy and immortal” is not just a Three-Times-Holy-Call to the Holy Trinity. It also gives the hymn its name. Trishagion-hymn. It is one of the oldest hymns of the Christian church…. Read More→

PGM XXI (P. 9566 V) Magic with snakes and frogs? Both appear as parts of magical recipes, whereby the animals are sometimes threatened with a very drastic fate. It is quite different in the papyrus text presented here, in which… Read More→

P. 10582 Anyone who spends time in language classes and thinks that everything used to be better in the past, because they did not have to speak so many languages, is wrong. In the past it was also very advantageous… Read More→

BKT II, S. 52–53 (P. 9809 R) What does a good speech have to do with lust and love? This philosophical treatise seems to deal with some principles of how to make good speeches. For this purpose, quotations from two… Read More→

ChLA X 424 (P. 11649) Most of the texts on papyrus known to us were written in Greek. Among the rarer languages in which these texts were written is Latin. A rare and beautiful example is this completely preserved Latin… Read More→

BKT V.2, S. 64–72 (P. 9908 R) Going to Troy without a GPS? In ancient times a son of Heracles was used for this purpose – Telephus. He led the Greeks to Troy, where it took them ten long years… Read More→

BGU VI 1297 (P. 13999) This private letter from a certain Zenon is part of the largest archive from Ptolemaic Egypt. But who is behind the many names, what is this letter about and where are the places mentioned in… Read More→

BKT V.2, S. 84–87 (P. 5514) A rarely preserved tragedy by Euripides. Only fragments of this tragedy have survived. In total there are fewer than 10 fragments of this tragedy. On the parchment presented here is the largest coherent piece… Read More→

BGU II 387 (P. 7083) A crocodile with a falcon’s head – in this mixed form we encounter a manifestation of the Egyptian crocodile god Sobek, as he was worshipped under the name of Soknopaios as an oracle and healing… Read More→

P.Kramer 17 R (P. 13102 R) Horoscopes. Up to our modern times, they are consulted by people in order to get an interpretation of their own fate or to get predictions about coming events. The timelessness of such questions for… Read More→