Antiquity Studies

Series | Antiquity Studies
Edited book | ΦΑΙΔΙΜΟΣ ΕΚΤΩΡ
Chapter | The Pocket Pindar

The Pocket Pindar

The Antinoupolis Codex and Pindar’s Readership in Graeco-Roman Egypt

Abstract

The parchment codex published as P.Ant. II 76 and III 212 contains remains of Pindar’s Olympians 5 and 6 along with scanty traces of marginal notes. Further conservation and study allows us to now roughly reconstruct the format of the original manuscript, and new imaging techniques have revealed better readings of the marginalia. In this speculative article, I explore the Pindar codex’s form, content, and the particular context of Antinoupolis. In the process, I touch upon the question of Pindar’s popularity in Roman Egypt, book production in Antinoupolis, and the form and function of the early codex. Taking all available evidence into account, I propose that we might have a pocket codex of Pindar’s complete works – perhaps intended for casual reading.  


Open access

Submitted: May 17, 2021 | Accepted: June 23, 2021 | Published Dec. 16, 2021 | Language: en

Keywords PindarCodexAntinoupolisAncient readershipPapyrology


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