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Add MS 34186

Record Id:

032-002025171

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-002025171

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000054.0x00015a

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Add MS 34186

Title:

School Exercises with Menander’s Sententiae, Multiplication Table and List of Words (CPF II.2 MS 16, P.Lond.Lit. 253, TM 61495, LDAB 2642, MP³ 2713)

Scope & Content:

Tablet 1 (Add MS 34186(1)): A teacher wrote two iambic maxims (gnomai) on two ruled lines (Menander, Sententiae 476). A student copied them twice between ruled lines, always omitting the sigma that starts the first sententia. The last two lines are written in a very narrow space.

Tablet 2 (Add MS 34186(2)): A proficient hand, which could be the teacher’s, writes multiplication tables in the left portion of the tablet. Apparently, the same student of the previous tablet writes five words divided into syllables after dividing the right part of the tablet into rectangular spaces by means of horizontal and vertical lines.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Additional Manuscripts
Greek Manuscripts

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "032-002025171", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 34186: School Exercises with Menander’s Sententiae, Multiplication Table and List of Words (CPF II.2 MS 16, P.Lond.Lit. 253, TM 61495, LDAB…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002025171

Is part of:

not applicable

Hierarchy:

032-002025171

Container:

not applicable

Record Type (Level):

Fonds

Extent:

Wood codex of 2 wax tablets, complete, inventoried as Add MS 34186(1) and Add MS 34186(2). Writing on one side only.

Tablet 1: two lines, space, followed by four lines.

Tablet 2: Divided in two by a vertical line. Left: two columns of multiplication tables (11 and 10 lines); Right: five lines divided by lines.

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Greek, Ancient

Scripts:

Greek

Start Date:

0100

End Date:

0199

Date Range:

2nd century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Wood – wax tablets.

Dimensions: 178 x 260 mm.

Script: Hand 1: A teacher’s, large, formal, round, and strictly bilinear upright uncial, with all the letters separated. If the same hand wrote the multiplication tables, it is much quicker, informal, and with some cursive elements.Hand 2: “Alphabetic,” hesitant. The student was already exposed to cursives, gets only a general idea of the model’s style, and continues to form the letters his own way. He tries to ligature especially alpha and epsilon.

Custodial History:

Origin: Egypt.

Provenance: Egypt. Purchased from Greville John Chester (b. 1830, d. 1892) in May 1891.

Former External References:

CPF II.2 MS 16
P.Lond.Lit. 253

Publications:

Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years 1888-1893 (London: British Museum 1894), p. 223.

D. Hessling, ‘On Waxen Tablets with Fables of Babrius (Tabulae Ceratae Assendelftianae)’, The Journal of Hellenic Studies 13 (1893), pp. 293-314 (pp. 296-297).

F. Kenyon, ‘Two Greek School-Tablets’, The Journal of Hellenic Studies 29 (1909), pp. 29-40 (pp. 39-40).

H. J. M. Milne, Catalogue of the Literary Papyri in the British Museum (London: British Museum 1927), p. 212, no. 253.

E. Ziebarth, Aus der antiken Schule: Sammlung griechischer Texte auf Papyrus, Holztafeln, Ostraka² (Kleine Texte für Vorlesungen und Übungen 65) (Bonn: E. Marcus und E. Weber 1913), p. 6, no. 11.

G. Zalateo, ‘Papiri scolastici’, Aegyptus 41 (1961), pp. 160-235 (p. 201 no. 354).

S. Jaekel, Menandri Sententiae; Comparatio Menandri et Philistionis (Lipsiae: Teubner 1964), p. 15, no. 11.

E. G. Turner, ‘Athenians Learn to Write: Plato, Protagoras 326 d’, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, University of London 12 (1965), pp. 67-69.

R. Pack, The Greek and Latin Literary Texts from Greco-Roman Egypt (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 1965), no. 2713.

K. Painter, ‘A Roman Writing Tablet from London’, British Museum Quarterly 31 (1967), p. 106 no. 13.

T. S. Pattie, E. G. Turner, The Written Word on Papyrus (London: British Museum Press 1974), p. 21, no. 21.

S. Bonner, Education in Ancient Rome (Berkeley-Los Angeles: Methuen 1977), pp. 175-176.

R. Büll, Das grosse Buch vom Wachs I, II (München: Calwey, 1977), 584, 585.

J. Hengstl, G. Häge, & H. Kühnert, Griechische Papyri aus Aegypten (München: Heimeran 1978) no. 96.

F. D. Harvey, ‘Greeks and Romans Learn to Write’, Communication Arts in the Ancient World (New York: Hastings House 1978), pp. 64-69.

G. Nachtergael, Dans les classes d' Egypte d'après les papyrus scolaires grecs (Bruxelles: Ministère de l' Education Nationale et de la Culture Française 1980), no. 8.

M. Erler, ‘Zu Platon, Politeia 534 S’, Hermes 111 (1983), pp. 221-226.

M. Bierbrier, Papyrus: Structure and Usage (London: British Museum 1986), p. 87.

J. Debut, ‘Les documents scolaires’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 63 (1986), p. 258 no. 108 = no. 142.

J. Irigoin, ‘De l'alpha à l'oméga: quelques remarques sur l'évolution de l'écriture grecque’, Scrittura e Civiltà 10 (1986), Fig. 2.

O. A. W. Dilke, Mathematics and Measurement (Reading the Past 2) (Berkeley: University of CA Press 1987), p. 16.

E. G. Turner, P. J. Parsons, Greek Manuscripts of the Ancient World (London: University of London/Institute of Classical Studies 1987²), p. 148, no. 4.

W. Brashear, F. A. C. Hoogendijk, ‘Corpus Tabularum Lignearum Ceratarumque Aegyptiarum’, Enchoria 17 (1990), pp. 21-54 (49.98).

W. Brashear, ‘A Trifle’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 86 (1991), pp. 231-232.

R. Cribiore, Writing, Teachers, and Students in Graeco-Roman Egypt (Atlanta: Scholars Press 1996), no. 383 (descr.).

A. Blanchard, ‘Les papyrus scolaires: apprentissage de l'écriture et ductus’, in I. Andorlini (ed.), Atti del XXII Congresso internazionale di papirologia : Firenze, 23-29 agosto 1998 (Firenze: Istituto papirologico G. Vitelli 2001), pp. 123-136.

C. Pernigotti, Menandri Sententiae (Studi e testi per il Corpus dei papiri filosofici greci e latini 15) (Firenze: L.S. Olschki 2008;), p. 47, no. 705.

K. A. Worp, A New Survey of Greek, Coptic, Demotic and Latin Tabulae preserved from Classical Antiquity (Leiden-Leuven: Trismegistos Online Publication 2012), p. 30, no. 181.

Corpus dei papiri filosofici greci e latini: CPF. Testi e lessico nei papiri di cultura greca e latina. 2, Frammenti adespoti; Gnomologi e sentenze. 2, Sentenze di autori noti e «chreiai» (Firenze: L. S. Olschki 2015), pp.150-151.

Exhibitions:

Greek Manuscripts, (online), 18 September 2016-
Writing: Making Your Mark, British Library, 26 April 2019 - 27 August 2019

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Menander, 342-290 BC