A Companion to Greek Lyric. Группа авторов

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(circa 255–180 BC), and from the second century BC on, poetry divided colometrically into stanzas and triads is the norm (Barbantani 2009: 301).

      Figure 7.17 P. Berol. inv. 9875 (= Timotheus fr. 791). (bpk Bildagentur / Aegyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany / Photo: Sandra Steiß / Art Resource, NY.)

      Papyrological Ethics

      Some readers may be surprised to find a section devoted to ethics in a chapter like this, which aims principally to demystify the papyrology of Greek lyric. But some background in the history of both papyrology and papyrological research is no less important than an understanding of the technical aspects of the field. Indeed, it is precisely because ethical issues are not aired frequently enough that their discussion here is essential.

      A historical example will help set the stage: in mid-November 1896, E.A. Wallis Budge, Keeper in the British Museum’s Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, began to transact the purchase of a papyrus roll from an Egyptian dealer with whom he denied a previous relationship, but who was probably Ali Farag of Giza (Sayce 1923: 334). Budge was no specialist in Greek, but knew enough to recognize that the text was early and literary, that he needed to procure it for the Museum, and that it would be eagerly sought by other European collectors as well as by the Egyptian Antiquities Service, which would claim it for the Egyptian Museum. His account of the acquisition (1920 ii: 345–355) is fascinating: with pressure being applied by officials in the Antiquities Service as well as by the British Consul-General in Egypt, Budge was forced to purchase the papyrus personally before eluding the authorities via an elaborate ruse involving a crate of oranges and a midnight rendezvous with a P&O mail steamer anchored near Suez. The papyrus (= P.Lond.Lit. 46; British Library Papyrus 733) was published the following year: it turned out to contain 39 columns of poetry by Bacchylides—a truly significant find (Figure 7.18).

      Figure 7.18 An excerpt from British Library Papyrus 733 (= Bacchylides). (Image by permission of the British Library, London, UK.)

      The clandestine export of the papyrus (and Budge’s candor in describing it) is shocking today, but it is both typical of him (Ismail 2011: e.g., xvii) and representative of his era, generally. In the late nineteenth century, a complex market for antiquities in Egypt operated in parallel with both formal archaeological excavations and the informal looting of ancient sites. A variety of players—private individuals and State representatives, both Egyptian and foreign—were active. In addition to the professional salesman with physical storefront, anyone who might have occasion to sell an antiquity in his possession qualified as a dealer. No less engaged in the market were consular officials of foreign governments, foreigners working in Egypt (including professional archaeologists), and even the Egyptian Antiquities Service, the State body which oversaw archaeological work and which would eventually be charged with regulating the market. The distinction between a licit and illicit acquisition is often, regrettably, somewhat blurry in this period.

      In the twenty-first century, the landscape has shifted somewhat. After relatively unsuccessful attempts to regulate its antiquities market via legislation in 1912 and 1951, Egyptian law has since 1983 effectively outlawed the domestic trade in antiquities and has established definitively that the State owns its archaeological heritage. Internationally, the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property came into effect on April 24, 1972, though individual countries have only gradually accepted or ratified its terms (see further Mazza 2019: n. 13). Much like the legal environment, scholarly attitudes toward the acquisition, curation, and publication of ancient objects have hardened, for a combination of academic and ethical reasons. It is a maxim of archaeological science, for example, that an object is best understood in context: responsible archaeologists therefore condemn any activity that damages, destroys, or renders irretrievable the history of an object or its archaeological context. That rationale is echoed in the Society for Classical Studies’ Statement on Professional Ethics and the American Society of Papyrologists’ Resolution Condemning the Illicit Trade in Papyri. Such public documents are important for attempting to limit and qualify the scholarly imperative to acquire, preserve, study, and publish the material culture of antiquity. Indeed, there are good reasons for such restrictions: cultural heritage continues to be destroyed instead of professionally excavated, and the material culture of antiquity continues to be looted and sold on the antiquities market rather than properly studied in context.

      Such concerns are especially germane to papyrology because of its historical weakness in archaeological matters. A brief example is again illustrative: although the cartonnage from which the famous Lille Stesichorus originates was excavated by Jouget and Lefebvre in 1901, for example, the location of the find remains unclear (Meillier: 1976: 339; Turner 1971: 124). There is more we would like to know about this text that, sadly, cannot now be ascertained: such gaps in paperwork or record-keeping are all too common when dealing even with legally acquired papyri. A further consideration raised by this text involves the excavated object itself: the physical reality of mummy cartonnage is that extracting papyrus from it long came at the cost of destroying the cartonnage. Papyrologists and archaeologists are unlikely to agree on which item is more important, but the dismantling of cartonnage is no longer especially common in responsible collections.

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