The Diegeseis Papyrus : Archaeological Context, Format and Contents

The Diegeseis papyrus preserves (what is left of) fourteen columns (Y, Z, I-XII) of the original roll of diegeseis (‘summaries’) to Callimachus’ oeuvre. It was unfinished in antiquity, as its writer failed to go beyond Hymn 2; its now missing first half must have contained summaries to the first three books of the Aitia. Nevertheless, it is essential in retrieving the framework within which Callimachus’ fragments can once more find their proper place. This paper tries to retrace the possible archaeological links connecting the Diegeseis papyrus to the other literary papyri found by Achille Vogliano and Gilbert Bagnani in, or near the cantina dei papiri at Tebtynis in 1934 (several hundreds documentary papyri were also found). In the ideal format, or template of this book-roll each diegesis, dealing with one of Callimachus’ poems, should begin with the quotation of its first line, written in ekthesis with enlarged initial letter(s), underlined by a paragraphos, and followed by an empty space to distinguish it from what follows; the end of each diegesis is then marked by a very long paragraphos, decorated with a hook on its left end, and by a blank space clearly separating it from the next diegesis. Considerations about provenance, format and contents lead to suggestions about the origin and purpose of the Diegeseis papyrus, and of the text it preserves.