The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology

07Thousands of documentary and literary texts written on papyri and potsherds, in Egyptian, Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Persian, have transformed our knowledge of many aspects of life in the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. In The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology twenty-seven experts provide a comprehensive and authoritative guide to understanding this ancient documentary evidence.16Thousands of texts, written over a period of three thousand years on papyri and potsherds, in Egyptian, Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew, Persian, and other languages, have transformed our knowledge of many aspects of life in the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology provides an introduction to the world of these ancient documents and literary texts, ranging from the raw materials of writing to the languages used, from the history ofpapyrology to its future, and from practical help in reading papyri to frank opinions about the nature of the work of papyrologists. This volume, the first major reference work on papyrology written in English, takes account of the important changes experienced by the discipline within especially the lastthirty years.Including new work by twenty-seven international experts and more than one hundred illustrations, The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology will serve as an invaluable guide to the subject.02Roger Bagnall is Director of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University. Before joining the NYU faculty in 2007, he taught classics and history at Columbia University for 33 years. He specializes in the social and economic history of Hellenistic, Roman and Late Antique Egypt and directs the excavations at Amheida in the Dakhla Oasis in Egypt.