From Alexandria to Babylon

This book provides the first full edition and commentary of the Oxyrhynchus Glossary (POxy 1802 and 4812). This is a unique document both for the history of Greek lexicography and for the study of the cultural and linguistic exchange between the Greeks and the “others” in the Hellenistic near East. The fragment contains a fully alphabetized glossary with lemmas defined as “Persian,” “Babylonian,” and “Chaldaean”, as well as lemmas taken from Greek dialects or common Greek. The entries are rich in quotations from ancient authorities including Berossus, Apollodorus and Erasistratus. This glossary had never been analyzed in depth previously. Francesca Schironi provides a comprehensive introduction and commentary that places the Oxyrhynchus Glossary into the wider context of Greek lexicography and scholarship, discusses its interest for non-Greek languages and the problems related to linguistic exchanges in the Near Eastern areas, and shows the uniqueness and value of this document. The Oxyrhynchus glossary and this study will be of interest to classicists, papyrologists, comparative philologists, and scholars interested in the history of Greek lexicography and scholarship.

„Sozomena“ bedeutet auf Griechisch „Gerettetes“. Die Reihe widmet sich der Erschließung von Texten, die aus der griechischen und römischen Antike nur durch ausserordentliche Fund-Umstände erhalten geblieben sind - allen voran durch Papyri, von denen Tausende in Universitäten und Bibliotheken unentziffert vorhanden sind.

Die Reihe soll hauptsächlich Texte edieren und interpretieren, aber auch die Methoden der Erschließung diskutieren. Verschiedene Buchtypen werden daher hier veröffentlicht: Texteditionen, Kommentare, Monographien und Sammelbände. Die Hauptsprache der Publikationen ist Englisch, daneben auch Deutsch und Italienisch.

This book provides the first full edition and commentary of the Oxyrhynchus Glossary (POxy 1802 and 4812). This is a unique document both for the history of Greek lexicography and for the study of the cultural and linguistic exchange between the Greeks and the “others” in the Hellenistic near East. The fragment contains a fully alphabetized glossary with lemmas defined as “Persian,” “Babylonian,” and “Chaldaean”, as well as lemmas taken from Greek dialects or common Greek. The entries are rich in quotations from ancient authorities including Berossus, Apollodorus and Erasistratus. This glossary had never been analyzed in depth previously. Francesca Schironi provides a comprehensive introduction and commentary that places the Oxyrhynchus Glossary into the wider context of Greek lexicography and scholarship, discusses its interest for non-Greek languages and the problems related to linguistic exchanges in the Near Eastern areas, and shows the uniqueness and value of this document. The Oxyrhynchus glossary and this study will be of interest to classicists, papyrologists, comparative philologists, and scholars interested in the history of Greek lexicography and scholarship.