The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Volume LXXVII

Graeco-Roman Memoirs 98

This volume presents Oxyrhynchus Papyri nos. 5101-5126, which include an early and textually valuable copy of the Septuagint Psalms, five hexameter poems and diverse documents from the Roman and Byantine periods.

5101, probably the earliest extant copy of the Septuagint Psalms, is of considerable textual interest, including use of the Tetragrammaton for the divine name.

5102 includes tantalising fragments of a Hellenistic mythological poem echoing Callimachus and Apollonius Rhodius, possibly depicting Hermes and Artemis in a pastoral setting. 5103, if correctly attributed to Dionysius' Bassarica, offers a new, earlier, chronological marker. 5104 and 5105 feature later narratives centered on Aphrodite; notably, 5105 depicts her descending to Earth to retrieve Poppaea Sabina from Nero, who must reluctantly bid farewell to her husband and take her place among the stars. 5106 exemplifies hexameters used for moral exhortation, emphasising moral purity and the afterlife.

5111 is a perplexing petition from temple officials with notable realia. 5114 publishes a new Severan consitution on intervals between successive appointments. 5116 records the earliest mention of Saloninus Caesar. 5118 reports proceedings at a Nile-god sanctuary. 5119 documents a man from Eleutheropolis, Palestine, residing in the Oxyrhynchite nome. 5123 reveals the estate of Apion purchasing wine from two of its coloni adscripticii before harvest, indicating more complex economic relations between estate and labourers than traditionally allowed.