I. NEW LITERARY TEXTS

a. TRAGEDY AND COMEDY

4639. TRAGEDY (EURIPIDES?)

73/9(a)

First/second century
Plate I

Four pieces in the same hand, possibly from the same roll. The writing runs parallel with the fibres. The backs are blank; kollēsis a join between two sheets of papyrus in fr. 2. The sequence of the fragments cannot be established. They are here numbered according to size.

Fr. 1 preserves parts of two successive columns: (i) Foot of a column, line endings (6 or 7 lines; the blank space below line 2 allows for one or two shorter lines). (ii) Line beginnings (20 lines) and full height of a column, with an upper margin of 2.5 cm, and a lower margin of 4 cm. Beginnings of trimeters. Towards the foot, the column slightly slopes to the left. Fr. 2: upper part of a column, 12 lines and an upper margin of max. 2 cm. This is the middle section of some trimeters (or tetrameters?), the area around the caesura. At the start of each line, the first metrum is lost. Line 6 is blank. It may have contained an exclamatio extra metrum an outburst outside the metrical structure, now broken off. Fr. 3: remains of 4 lines. Fr. 4: traces of one line (two letters).

The fragments are written in the large and handsome rounded capital usually called ‘Roman Uncial’. This is an elegant specimen, though not as accomplished as I 20, LXIV 4410, 4411, P. Ryl. III 514, the Hawara Homer ($GMAW^2$ 13) — or even P. Tebt. II 265. The closest parallels are XXIII 2354, XXXII 2624, XLV 3229, LIX 3972, and esp. LXII 4301. Cf. also VIII 1084, XI 1362, XX 2260, XXX 2511, XXXII 2634, XXXVII 2801, 2805, 2807, XLV 3214, XLIX 3447, LIX 3963, 3964. Somewhat less formal (and perhaps earlier?): V 844, VIII 1090, XV 1806, XXIII 2378, XXVII 2468, XXXII 2623, XXXVII 2818, XLI 2944, XLVII 3325, P. Ryl. I 60, III 482.

This style is highly formal and calligraphic. There are no ligatures. Letters are strictly bilinear, except φ (ψ is not attested here). With the exception of ι, they would all fit into a square that is more or less equal for every letter.

α and λ are very similar: the cross-bar of α is high up. Descending obliques of α, Δ, λ begin from above the apex. ε, θ, ο, c are carefully rounded. μ is deep and rounded with a bowl-shaped centre. The loop of φ is a broad, well-rounded oval. The letters are richly decorated. There are serifs and finials at the end of almost every stroke, including the top oblique of κ and the caps of ε, c (but no blob on the cross-bar of ε). There is also a clear, though not extreme, tendency to ‘shading’: verticals and descending obliques are thick, horizontals and rising obliques are fine.

There are numerous lectional signs. Accents: fr. 1 i 5, ii 1, 2, 10, 14, 19; fr. 2.1, 3, 8, 10; fr. 3.1? Breathings (Turner’s form 1): fr. 1 ii 2, 5, 8, 14, possibly fr. 2.2. Accents and