Papyrus and its importance as a source of historical information
Papyrus papers are not literary works,they are documents and official papers as if they are carved inscriptions that contain public records such as decrees, legislation, and administrative decisions of all kinds. They also contain daily life (notes) written by some individuals, which give a clear picture of the majority of the parishes and the public of the people alike. Of men or women.
Usually history writes and talks about the victors, especially in the history of Rome and its military victory, as well as about the Roman leaders. While talking about the above, history books mention some information about the subjects, the oppressed, and the general public.
Among the most important Roman historians who spoke about these subjects and the common people, Polybios and Josephus, but their talk about the subjects came within the talk about the victories and nobles of the leaders of Rome.
However, various sources appeared to us mentioning the lives of these commoners or subjects, and these sources are papyrus and ostraca, most of which were written in Greek. The writings of the Greek historians and other historians talked in their writing about the rest of the peoples that were subjected under the rule of the Romans, which included the Egyptians and the Nile Valley. This is in addition to papyrus and ostraca, which were discovered among the ruins of ancient Egyptian cities and villages. These papyrus documents have reached us as they are without any additions or explanations, such as the writings of ancient historians, and this provided us with an opportunity in how to study the life, beliefs, dealings, administrations and government of those cities and villages as they were in the past.
Ostraca
The study of epigraphy emerged, which is a science that specializes in studying the writings recorded on stones, and this is a major and indispensable source in the study of Greek and Roman history. The ostraca is a piece of pottery with some inscriptions recorded on it, and it was found in the Egyptian desert covered with sand and preserved about 4 thousand years from the knowledge of 3000-1000 AD.
Discovery of papyrus papers:
The year 1770 AD was the beginning of the discovery of papyrus in Egypt, when European travelers found papyri inscribed on them in the ancient Greek and hieroglyphic languages.
Where the stage of real detection began in the late seventies of the nineteenth century AD, and it was first discovered in the Adiyat Market in Cairo, where a treasure containing thousands of papyrus written in Greek, Latin, Coptic, Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic was discovered, where they were found while farmers searched for fertilizer in the middle of the hills, which were The waste center was built on the ruins of old villages.
The consuls of England and France took some of them and sent them to their countries, and Austria had the largest share, which is an exhibition in the National Museum in Vienna (the Imperial Museum), which contains 100,000 papyri, most of which were written in the Greek language.
In 1882, the Egyptian Exploration Found or Society was established, and this fund is the first financier of the Egyptian excavations, whose financing extended from 1895 to 12 consecutive years, and at this time the excavations were focused on obtaining papyrus plants.
Grenfell and Hunt came to the English, who contributed to the discovery of the papyrus in a new way until they reached thousands of papyri, and came to the village of Bahsana, south of Cairo, where the papyrus was found by Grenville and Hunt, where papyrus scrolls were found in the village of Oxyrhynchos in Fayoum Especially the ancient cemetery area.
On the other hand, the Arsinoe region and what was found in it of papyrus, ostraca and mummy rolls of ancient crocodiles, also had a tremendous discovery, as well as the village of Karanis, in which the papyrus rolls were found complete of the origins and tax records of the village and it is located in the University of Michigan, which contains more than 6 thousand Line and often those papyri dating back to the Roman invasion and include records of the Roman occupation army and books in the Egyptian (demotic) and Greek.
On the other hand, Kinison and Philkin in Berlin contributed to the establishment of a new branch for the study of papyrus papers in ancient Greek-Roman studies in 1981 A.D. The number of papyri published in 48 volumes included in the Auxernicus Papyrus collection, and what was found in it 3430 papyri, and so far, 25 thousand papyri have been published in the Roman era.
Types of published literature
It was writings of a personal nature, such as summaries, notes, and comments. It is rarely dated. It is possible to date the papyrus from the Roman era by being dated or by accident. One is dated and the other does not happen to be both papyri together. The type of calligraphy also coincides with the fact that all papyri are back in line. For the Greek line, this line dates back to the 4th - 8th century AD
The writings of the papyrus and its lines were shaky writings and this is due to the man who writes he was old, so the lack of scrutiny in the written letters is clear. As for the official documented contracts, such as contracts, with a known date, the papyrus is incomplete, copied, or scraped.
Learn the history of the papyrus
The writing of the papyrus history goes back to two stages
The first is the era of the emperor’s reign from the first year of his reign, which starts from the day he ascended to the throne, and the date period increases from 1 to 4 months.
The second: is the era of the emperor’s reign from the second year of his reign, which begins on New Year’s Day, that is, from the first Tut (August) 29 August according to the Roman calendar.