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Corporeality permeates the concept of something as seemingly disembodied as minerals or the earth, as we naturally perceive our surroundings through the prism of our own bodily experience. Using the examples of two objects from late antique and early Islamic Egypt, traditionally categorized as “magical” objects, it is illustrated here how corporeality permeates the perception of earth and stones in a particular historical context. The first object examined is a black hematite stone, which most likely served to protect against or stop excessive (typically gynecological) bleeding. The second is a papyrus with a so-called judicial curse, according to which those who transgressed against the inflictor of this curse were to be swallowed by the throat of the earth.

Writing on paper is essential to civilization, as Pliny the Elder remarks in his Natural History, when he describes the various types of papyri, the method of manufacturing them, and all that concerns writing materials in the mid-first century AD. For this reason, a rigorous scientific study of writing is of fundamental importance for the historical understanding of ancient societies. We show that metallic ink was used several centuries earlier than previously thought. In particular, we found strong evidence that lead was intentionally used in the ink of Herculaneum papyri and discuss the possible existence of ruled lines traced on the papyrus texture. In addition, the metallic concentrations found in these fragments deliver important information in view of optimizing future computed tomography (CT) experiments on still-unrolled Herculaneum scrolls to improve the readability of texts in the only surviving ancient Greco-Roman library.

Abstract This article presents editions of three Arabic parchment deeds of sale from the 4th/10th-century Fayyūm Oasis belonging to two monks, Babā Banīla and Babā Buṭrus, of the Dayr al-Qalamūn monastery. The transactions recorded in our documents are mundane in and of themselves. But put together they offer bits of insight into Christian society in rural medieval Egypt, the notarial practice of provincial Muslim scribes, the relationship between monastic and Islamic legal institutions, and the important but little-attested Dayr al-Qalamūn.

Abstract This article examines the interaction of Coptic Christians with Islamic legal institutions in provincial Egypt on the basis of a corpus of 193 Arabic legal documents, as well as relevant Coptic ones, dating to the 2nd-5th/8th-11th centuries. I argue that around the 3rd/9th century Islamic Egypt's Christian subjects began to make routine use of Islamic legal institutions to organize their economic affairs, including especially inheritance and related matters internal to Christian families. They did so in preference to the Christian authorities and Coptic deeds that had been their standard resource in the first two centuries of Muslim rule. The changing character of the Egyptian judiciary encouraged this shift in practice, as qāḍīs who adhered to fiqh procedural rules increasingly filled judicial roles formerly held by administrative officials. By eschewing and nudging into disuse a previously vital Coptic legal tradition, Christian provincials participated in the Islamization of ʿAbbāsid and Fāṭimid Egypt.

This article examines forms of arbitration in commercial wine transactions known as ‘sales on delivery’. This category includes transactions by which the price was paid for a product which was delivered in a set future date. They also included a caveat by which the vendor guaranteed the quality of the wine and promised to replace it, if it fails to meet expectations. By juxtaposing papyrological evidence with that of the legal sources, and the identity of potential arbiters with other para-legal authoritative figures, I hope to shed much needed light on the growing emergence of professional prowess in settling commercial disputes and then, assessing the implications of this form of arbitration on Roman judicature in general.

This article examines forms of arbitration in commercial wine transactions known as ‘sales on delivery’. This category includes transactions by which the price was paid for a product which was delivered in a set future date. They also included a caveat by which the vendor guaranteed the quality of the wine and promised to replace it, if it fails to meet expectations. By juxtaposing papyrological evidence with that of the legal sources, and the identity of potential arbiters with other para-legal authoritative figures, I hope to shed much needed light on the growing emergence of professional prowess in settling commercial disputes and then, assessing the implications of this form of arbitration on Roman judicature in general.

P.Oxy. 2288, a 2nd-century fragment containing Sappho’s Ode to Aphrodite , has an underlying layer of papyrus that has intrigued scholars for decades. X-ray tomography of the papyrus and a study of the ink under the scanning electron microscope allow us to establish that the underlying layer most likely does not contain more of Sappho’s poetry. Rather, it appears that P.Oxy. 2288 is what remains of a much-used roll of Sappho book 1, reinforced at its beginning. In order to put this case in its historical context, the second part of the article contains a new examination of the literary, documentary, and papyrological evidence for ancient repairs and reinforcements of bookrolls.

In 2002 new \"Dead Sea Scrolls\" fragments began to appear on the antiquities market, most of them through the Kando family. In this article we will present evidence that nine of these Dead Sea Scrolls-like fragments are modern forgeries.

This article challenges the argument of John Moles that Luke's preface (1.1–4) resembles a Greek decree more than any other type of writing. Although Moles is not the first to recognise the supposed decree-like features in Luke's preface, he goes further by arguing that the preface is intentionally structured like a decree for the author's rhetorical aim. In this article, I demonstrate that Moles’ argument goes too far and that Luke's preface simply displays features conventional to prefaces of historiographical writing – despite common structural patterns of preface writing and decree formulae – and is not layered with additional rhetorical meaning.

Among the potential intellectual outputs of the ENCODE project is the production of a MOOC that introduces teaching staff and scientific experts to the digital transition in the field of ancient writing cultures. The basis for this MOOC is the need to foster awareness of the importance of digital competences and to use a structured framework to introduce people to the available innovative teaching and learning materials and opportunities for organizing (self-)training in this field of research. For specialists in the humanities, there is often an unexpected reluctance to go beyond simply using digital tools and to deepen their understanding of the implications of the digital transitions of research fields, as well as considering the readiness of young graduates to acquire digital competences. This MOOC, which is easily accessible, affordable, sustainable, and flexible, may achieve the initial aim of the project, namely, bridging the gap between the highly specialized competences in the humanities and the innovative digital skills needed in open science practices. The main methodological issue concerns the design and adaptation of cooperative tools in order to implement a common pedagogical approach and to produce MOOC content that integrates the different competences and insights of the project participants. This report on the experiment provides useful insights into the differing expectations of academic staff as content producers, issues surrounding MOOC-cooperative design between universities in different countries, the usability of the tested platform and of the different features provided, and sustainability, as guaranteed through the connection with digital infrastructures. In the concluding section, the originality of the MOOC at a more general scale is emphasized. The ways in which the MOOC can facilitate and support the digital transition are assessed according to the FAIR principles in Higher Education Institutions. Moreover, the MOOC offers models for hands-on experiences of digital training and the evaluation of learning outcomes according to shared European frameworks; it demonstrates the importance of being connected with larger projects and digital infrastructures.