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The ancient writer said, "Everything that happens has happened before; nothing is new, nothing under the sun. Someone might say, 'Here is something new!' But it happened before, long before we were born." Ecclesiastes 1:9-10. Such can be said of the contents of the Oxyrhynchus papyri and other ancient documents found in Egypt. To help explain the subject, the reader is reminded that papyri are pieces of scrolls that were made when the stem of the papyrus plant was beaten flat and formed into paper sheets. The sheets were glued together and formed scrolls that were used for writing. The term Oxyrhynchus (pronounced Oxy-rink-us) is the name of an old city in Egypt. It was given a Greek name when Alexander the Great conquered Egypt about 300 B.C.. He declared that the "new" language of the country would be Greek. And so it was, even up to the eighth and probably on into the ninth century A.D., documents indicate that the Greek language was still freely used. The Oxyrhynchus papyri are simply a collection of writings found in and around that ancient city. But how these ancient writings were found and what they contained is most interesting. The Oxyrhynchus papyri were found in a mounds of rubbish
outside of the town, in the city dump. Some of the mounds were
thirty feet high and were the accumulated trash of several centuries.
In addition, other papyri were found in tombs and ruins of villages
and houses. All in all, these ancient documents that were simply
thrown away, because they were no longer important, are now a
gold mine of information for us today. They help us to understand
the life of the common man back then, along with their popular
culture, religious ideas and things they did for amusement.
311 B.C. MARRIAGE CONTRACT "Heraclides takes as his lawful wife Demetria, Coan, both being freeborn.....If Demetria is discovered doing any evil to the shame of her husband Heraclides, she shall be deprived of all that she brought, but Heraclides shall prove whatever he alleges against Demetria before three men whom they both accept. It shall not be lawful for Heraclides to bring home another wife in insult of Demetria nor to have children by another woman not to do any evil against Demetria on any pretext." 66 A.D. APPRENTICESHIP TO A WEAVER "...Tryphone has apprenticed to Ptolemaeus his son Thoonis...who is not yet of age, for a period of one year from the present day, to serve and to follow all the instructions given to him by Ptolemaius in the art of weaving as far as he himself knows it, the boy to be fed and clothed for the whole period by his father Tryphone," 206 A.D. ENGAGEMENT OF CASTANET DANCERS "To Isidora, castanet dancer, from Artemisia, of the village of Philadelphia. I wish to engage you with two other castanet dancers to perform at my house.....and whatever garments or gold ornaments you bring down we will safely guard, and we will provide two donkeys for you when you come down and the same when you return." 322 A.D. ENGAGEMENT OF A FLUTE-PLAYER "I acknowledge that I have contracted and agreed with you the landlord to present myself at the village of...at the vintage of the vineyards which are there along with the appointed grape-treaders and without fault assist the grape-treaders and the other workers by my flute-playing..." Next week: Loans, wills, letters, pawn shops and a mother
writes a letter to her son who is away at school. Blessings in your study of God's Word! Marvin Hunt There is never a charge for my articles, and if you have a good reason, there is no limit to how many you may request. However, if you find them valuable you may want to order my latest book, History, Mystery and Facts About the Bible. Order at 1-800-845-7618 (ext. 301). You may also order from Amazon.com. Proceeds from the book go to support this ministry. Blessings! Http://www.biblehistory.com p.s. A new column is posted weekly. Be sure and bookmark the site or put it on your favorites list. |