Graeco-Roman Memoirs

The Graeco-Roman Memoirs (GRM) are mostly concerned with the publication of the Greek papyri found by Grenfell and Hunt at Oxyrhynchus, but also cover other papyri and Graeco-Roman material held by the Society.

You can find further information on the Society’s collection here.

Current volume

Graeco-Roman Memoir 108 (Oxyrhynchus Papyri LXXXVII)
edited by P.J. Parsons and N. Gonis

Table of contents

Preface
Table of Papyri
List of Plates
Numbers and Plates
Note on the Method of Publication and Abbreviations
I. Theological Texts (5573–7)
II. New Literary Texts (5578–85)
III. Extant Literary Texts (5586–90)
IV. Documentary Texts (5591–5631)

Description

This volume includes editions of fifty-eight papyri and one text on parchment. Among the theological texts, three are of exceptional interest. 5575 is an early copy of sayings of Jesus corresponding in part to the canonical gospels of Matthew and Luke and in part to the apocryphal gospel of Thomas. Jesus is also the speaker in 5576 and apparently in 5577, where Mary is addressed. Both pieces may be loosely called 'Gnostic'; the latter appears to be Valentinian. Of the new literary items, the most extensive is 5584, a collection of short biographies of eminent Romans, written a century earlier than Plutarch. Plutarch's own Homeric Studies, now mostly lost, may be recognized in 5585. Early Greek philosophy is represented by 5583, a full column of what appears to be Antiphon's On Truth. The extant literary texts are fragments of two papyrological rarities, the historical work of Aristodemus (5586–7) and the astrological poetry ascribed to Manetho (5588–90). The documentary section illustrates social and economic realities of late antique estates, mostly that of the Apions; there is new evidence on the handling of wine distributions, on the pricing of equipment and materials, and on the more mundane relations of the Apion estate to monasteries.

Upcoming volume: due Spring/Summer 2025

Graeco-Roman Memoir 109 (Oxyrhynchus Papyri LXXXVIII)
edited by A. Benaissa and N. Gonis

This volume presents the first fruits of the research project Hexameters Beyond the Canon: New Poetry on Papyri from Roman and Byzantine Egypt, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The new texts illustrate the great variety and interest of hexameter composition in this period, with categories including fable, ethical instruction, mythological narrative, ethopoea, and magical hymn. Earlier periods are represented by new pieces of the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women and Callimachus’ Hecale. The extant literary texts include discourses of Musonius Rufus, Dio Chrysostom, and Favorinus, three figures rarely encountered in the papyri. On the theological side, there are fragments of the Septuagint (Genesis and Exodus) and two new manuscripts of the sermon On Pascha by Melito of Sardis. The documentary section offers texts from a very wide chronological range, from the late Ptolemies to Maurice. Highlights include a petition to Cleopatra and Caesarion and a letter mentioning a prefectural decree on ‘days of purity’. There are two small thematic units: three leases of fishing rights, and a handful of documents relating to Heptanomia in the fourth century. The usual indexes and a selection of photographs are provided.

Editorial Committee

The EES appoints a Management Committee to oversee the Papyri collection and its publication. The current chairman of the committee is Professor Dominic Rathbone, King's College London. The basic work of organising the publication of the papyri is undertaken by a group of General Editors, at present Professor Nikolaos Gonis (University College London) and Dr Amin Benaïssa (University of Oxford). They are appointed by the Management Committee and are jointly responsible to it for the assignment of papyri and the preparation of texts for publication in the annual volume of The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, a part of the Society's Graeco-Roman Memoirs series. They draw on the regular assistance of the Advisory Editors, currently Professor Giambattista D’Alessio (Naples 'Federico II'), Dr Lucia Prauscello (University of Oxford), and Dr Benjamin Henry (University of Oxford), and also contributions by many other papyrologists in the UK and abroad.