Friday, October 10, 2014

Nongbri on the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri (Michigan Portion)

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In the recent issue of Archiv für Papyrusforschung 60/1 (2014), Brent Nongbri  has published an article on "The Acquisition of the University of Michigan's Portion of the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri and a New Suggested Provenance."



The title perhaps sounds too optimistic in regard to provenance—to cite the conclusion:

The goal of this paper was two-fold – to clarify the history of acquisitions of Beatty biblical papyri and to reassess what we know of the provenance of the find. I am reasonably satisfied with the results of the first task. As to the reassessment of provenance, I think dissatisfaction is the order of the day.
Brent has kindly made his article available here.

5 comments

  1. It is very interesting to read this in view of very recent discussions about the purchase of antiquities without proper provenance.

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  2. Peter, can you develop your thoughts.

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  3. If you read the notes in this article the scholars involved seem to know that some of their purchasing activities are not fully legal and against Egyptian government policy. In 1930.

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  4. Thanks for the post, Tommy.

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