Financial and Scientific Developments, 1966-98

Work on the Oxyrhynchus collection received new impetus in 1966 with the establishment of the Oxyrhynchus Papyrus Committee and the adoption of its work as a major research project of the British Academy. This coincided with the creation of new working space for the papyrologists and storage space for the papyri within the Ashmolean Museum, a happy combination which has facilitated the continued regular annual production of volumes of The Oxyrhynchus Papyri.

Scientific and technical developments have further aided research on the collection. It is now possible to conduct word-searches through a millennium and a half of Greek literature and through most of the published Greek documentary papyri via CD-ROMs issued by the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae of the University of California and by the Packard Humanities Institute. Difficult script on a papyrus can be enhanced by more and more sophisticated video imaging, including infra-red and ultra-violet examination, to complement the binocular microscopes the project has had for over thirty years. Facilities and experience are exchanged with the recently-established Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents in Oxford, and now there is an Oxyrhynchus Home Page on www.csad.ox.ac.uk/POxy/.

A Millenium of Documents