Memorandum (?): (Homer) Iliad 2 + month: Third century AD

A square slip of papyrus recording the title Iliad, Book II, followed by a date: the month Mekheir (February) and a number (zeta crossed out and corrected to eta?). Purpose unknown. Several sillyboi (Oxyrhynchus Papyri nos. 381 and 958) designate records (mnemonika) for business or administrative activities specified by month and year of an emperor’s reign. The papyrus slip might be thought to label a copy of Iliad 2 similarly written in the month Mecheir. But in comparison with extant sillyboi, the slip seems too wide to hang properly if attached to the end of the papyrus roll, and is thus more likely a reader’s note or reminder for reading or study.

The Oxyrhynchus Papyri vol. XXXI no. 2605

Scribes and Scholars