The edition of Arabic papyri is much more difficult than the edition of literary
texts.
8.a. PROBLEMS
The main problems in papyrology are:
- It is very difficult to locate related and parallel
texts due to the absence of indices ordered chronologically or otherwise.
- The handwriting and the often bad state of preservation
of the papyri makes work more difficult for the papyrologists. Exceptions
are legal documents or tax documents, whose reconstruction is made easier
by the existence of stereotype formulas and expressions.
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8.b. AIMS
The aims of papyrology have to be the following:
- Integral collections have to be built up and made
accessible.
- The material of the different collections has to be
opened up according to subject areas.
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8.c. PRINCIPLES OF ORDER
The first principles of order for Papyrology were formulated
by W. OTTO at the 5th International Congress of Papyrologists in
Oxford (1938). The following points have priority:
- General structuring
- Chronological structuring
- Completeness
- Groups
| 8.c.1. |
General structuring: |
- The distinction between literary and non-literary
papyri in the publications
- A publication should just contain one related
group of documents (e.g. legal documents, tax documents, business documents,
etc.)
- An ordering according to the place of origin
(where the papyri were found) is simply impossible.
The place of origin is too often unknown. A further problem is the refusal
of owners to put their documents at someone's disposal.
- So what is left as a possible principle of ordering
is a publication in accordance with the collections - even if the collecting
of documents according to different subjects would be desirable.
|
| ! |
PUBLICATION:
The most important thing is not so much how the documents are edited, but
that they are edited at all !! |
! |
<< § 8c
| 8.c.2. |
Chronological structuring: |
- GROHMANN recommends a chronological division
of the collected papyri. He assumes as a break the Fatimid conquest
of Egypt in 968 AD. This is the point where Egypt becomes formally independent
from the abbasid caliphate.
- Older papyri (until 968 AD):
| ! |
1st
PERIOD: Most of the papyri are
from this time, which is thus more important for
Arabic papyrology |
! |
- Younger papyri (968 - ca. 1388)
| ! |
2nd
PERIOD: There were found more
papers than papyri, thus it is less
important for Arabic papyrology |
! |
|
<< § 8c
| 8.c.3. |
Completeness: |
- The papyri to be edited first should be as completely
maintained as possible.
- Fragments should be edited just as far as they
are significant for a certain topic.
|
<< § 8c
| 8.c.4. |
Groups: |
- Papyri should be grouped within the edition along the lines of modern
diplomatics:
| the place or groups of origin: |
- e.g. the correspondence of Qurra b. Sharîk
|
| the content: |
- first according to the protocols as
maintained on the papyri
- then according to the contents of the
main text:
- law, (financial) administration, taxation or business
documents;
- private letters;
- literary texts.
|
|
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| << § 8c
8.d. PRINCIPLES OF EDITION
- Unlike the Greek, Coptic or Latin papyri the Arabic
papyri can not be reproduced without changes in the original text.
- Additional operations in the text are necessary (which
of course has to be documentated in notes)!
- These operations consist of
- diacritical points
- vocalisation
- correction of obvious mistakes
- dissolution of abbrevations
- dissolution of dittographies
- Dialectal variants however stay unchanged, because
they give additional information about the personality of the writer, his
origin, etc.
- Of the highest importance is a critical apparatus,
where readings are justified, original forms are depicted in case of possible
modifications in the text itself, etc.
- All the parts that first seem to be illegible should
be deciphered as far as possible!
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8.e. MARKINGS
Any operation within the text has to be marked. The following system was proposed
by A. GROHMANN:
| [ ] |
Marking gaps in the original. They are
filled with the assumed letters or with simple dots, if the letters are
definitely illegible. The number of dots should correspond to the number
of missing letters.
|
| [[ ]] |
Marking letters or words which in the
original are erased or crossed through. If those letters or words are not
readable dots should be added instead according to the number of the missing
letters.
|
| < > |
Used for the dissolving of abbreviations.
|
| { } |
Enclosing letters which are written
in the original but should be ignored.
|
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8.f. DESCRIPTION
The description of the exterior qualities of the document
first should be as complete as possible, in order to provide later important
conclusions on the writer, place of origin, etc.
The description should contain the following points:
- the signature of the library / libraries
- dates
- formulas to which the text belongs
- the writing materials used, its quality (e.g. fine,
middle fine, strong or big scripture) and its colour (light yellow, yellow,
brown, dark brown)
- the format (first always the width: width x heigth)
- the writer(s): they are referred to by capitals (A,
B, C, etc. - if there are several)
- informations about the folding, the rolling, the tying
up, the sealing
- the place of issue
- the issuer
- the addressee
- the place where the document was found
- state of conservation
- old signature(s) (of locations in maybe different
libraries)
- possible mentioning in literature and publications
- the type of the actual document:
- Is it the original document or just a copy? As a
rule just the originals should be used as a base for reconstructing the
document. If only a copy is available this has to be mentioned. This will
of course be regarded as a less valid base for reconstruction.
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8.g. ORDER WITHIN THE PUBLICATION
Within the publications documents should be arranged
according to the following order!:
- thematic criteria
- the issuer or the issuing authority
- the date
- the formula
All these different groups should be introduced by a
short description of their characteristic features!
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8.h. INDICES
The indices should cover all possible variants of the
content. A good edition thus contains following indices
- concordances of the registration numbers:
- the (page) numbers of the edition corresponding
with the numbers of the inventory
- the numbers of the inventory corresponding with
the (page) numbers of the edition
- index of the issuers, the addressees, etc.
- index of proper names
- index of names of places
- general index (including chronological, metrological
and numismatic material!)
- chronography of the documents
- index of the words that are important for the lexicon:
i.e. type of a glossary
| ! |
PRIME EXAMPLE: A
very good example which corresponds to all these demands is: W. DIEM,
Arabische Briefe auf Papyrus und Papier aus der Heidelberger Papyrus-Sammlung,
Wiesbaden 1991.
|
! |
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