The Oxyrhynchus Papyri LXXXV

edited by Nikolaos Gonis, Peter J. Parsons and W. Benjamin Henry

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Extent: 180 pages

Publisher: Egypt Exploration Society

Subjects: Ancient Egypt, Biblical Studies, Classical Studies

Series: Graeco-Roman Memoirs

Series volume number: 106

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(December 2020)

ISBN: 9780856982477

Price: $130.00

In stock

This volume presents the first editions of 55 Greek papyri, including theological fragments of Genesis and Luke from the third century. It features Egyptian mythology retellings, philosophical texts, large Plato fragments, a paraphrase of Justinian’s Digest, ten private letters, and a failed camel purchase account.


This volume contains the first editions of 55 Greek literary and documentary papyri. The theological texts include fragments of Genesis and Luke, both assignable to the third century. Pride of place among the new literary texts is given to a retelling of Egyptian mythology, in which Isis writes to Arianis, appealing for his help in locating the body of Osiris. Two others are philosophical (Peripatetic and Stoic). Among the extant classical texts, large fragments of Plato’s Laches offer readings of particular interest. A paraphrase of Justinian’s Digest shows a professor explaining the relationship between written law and custom in a mixture of Greek and Graeco-Latin. The documents include a group of ten private letters and an elaborate first-person account of a failed attempt to buy camels for the state.

  • Edited by Nikolaos Gonis
  • Edited by W. Benjamin Henry
  • Edited by Peter J. Parsons