The ancient site
of Oxyrhynchus,
south of modern Cairo
This work is full of surprises. For instance, the 1922 reconstruction and translation of a poem by Sappho ofLesbos , who lived circa
630-570 BC. By 2005, the missing part of this poem had been found on a papyrus
held at the University
of Cologne
By now, it transpires that 80 volumes of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri have been published, thanks to the relentless efforts of Professor Peter Parsons of the University of Oxford. The documents have largely contributed to a better understanding and knowledge of the history ofEgypt and Rome
The discovery of the papyrus garbage dump slowly revived the general interest in this forgotten city. Since 2020, Spanish archaeologists have concentrated their efforts on the city’s necropolis. Each excavation season has its own harvest of tombs and grave goods. In 2023, for instance, six funerary complexes from Persian (Sassanid), Roman, and Coptic times and 16 individual tombs were discovered.
This all sounds very promising as the finds in Oxyrhynchus give new insights into life and death during Ptolemaic and Roman times.
This work is full of surprises. For instance, the 1922 reconstruction and translation of a poem by Sappho of
By now, it transpires that 80 volumes of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri have been published, thanks to the relentless efforts of Professor Peter Parsons of the University of Oxford. The documents have largely contributed to a better understanding and knowledge of the history of
More than a hundred years after the site was discovered, excavations are carried out by the
Institute of Ancient
Near East Studies of the University of Barcelona Egypt, Egypt
The discovery of the papyrus garbage dump slowly revived the general interest in this forgotten city. Since 2020, Spanish archaeologists have concentrated their efforts on the city’s necropolis. Each excavation season has its own harvest of tombs and grave goods. In 2023, for instance, six funerary complexes from Persian (Sassanid), Roman, and Coptic times and 16 individual tombs were discovered.
Last year, in 2024, a collection of 52
mummies from Ptolemaic times was exposed. Thirteen of the bodies had golden
tongues in their mouth, a clear sign of preparation for the afterlife, and one
had a gold plate on its fingernails. Precious gifts like scarabs, amulets of Egyptian
gods, and a terracotta statuette of the god Harpocrates (the Greek and Roman
version of the Egyptian child-god Horus) were also retrieved. Another tomb
counted three burial chambers whose walls were covered with texts and colorful
funerary scenes depicting several Egyptian gods. Also, four limestone sarcophagi
have been found.
This all sounds very promising as the finds in Oxyrhynchus give new insights into life and death during Ptolemaic and Roman times.
[Pictures from the Universitat de Barcelona]
