Virgil, Aeneid XI: Second half of first century AD
A writing exercise in which a professional Latin scribe copied two lines of Virgil (Aeneid Book XI lines 371-2) an uncertain number of times. On the reverse a Greek register has been written, with the papyrus turned at ninety degrees. There is no kollesis or sheet-join in evidence. But presumably this was not a single sheet. Rather, it was cut (between the sheet-joins) of the documentary roll and reused for its blank back. The lines of Virgil have been written with thin strokes of ‘light writing’, in comparison for example with the heavier or ‘medium weight’ Latin writing of the elegiacs of Gallus from Qasr Ibrim.
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri vol. L no. 3554
Scribes and Scholars
