How an ancient rubbish dump has given us a unique view of life 2,000 years ago

In 1897 two Oxford archaeologists began digging a mound south of Cairo. Ten years later, they had uncovered 500,000 fragments of papyri. Shipped back to Oxford, the meticulous and scholarly work of deciphering these fragments began. It is still going on today. As well as Christian writings from totally unknown gospels and Greek poems not seen by human eyes since the fall of Rome, there are tax returns, petitions, private letters, sales documents, leases, wills and shopping lists.

What they found was the entire life of a flourishing market-town - Oxyrhynchos ( the `city of the sharp-nosed fish' ), - encapsulated in its waste paper. The total lack of rain in this part of Egypt had preserved the papyrus beneath the sand, as nowhere else in the Roman Empire. We hear the voices of barbers, bee-keepers and boat-makers, dyers and donkey-drivers, weavers and wine-merchants, set against the great events of late antiquity: the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and the coming of Christianity.

The result is an extraordinary and unique picture of everyday life in the Nile Valley between Alexander the Great in 300 BC and the Arab conquest a thousand years later.

How an ancient rubbish dump has given us a unique view of life 2,000 years ago

About the Author
Peter Parsons was Lecturer in Papyrology from 1960 to 1989 and Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford University from 1989 until his retirement in 2003. For many years he was chairman of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri Project of the British Academy, of which he has been a Fellow since 1977. He lives in Oxford.

Reviews
a memorable book * LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS *
astonishing work of research and imagination * THE HERALD *
a remarkable book... to miss this is to iss a very rich treat -- Paul Foster * Expository Times *



Book Information
ISBN 9780753822333
Author Prof Peter Parsons
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Publisher Orion Publishing Co
Weight(grams) 290g
Dimensions(mm) 214mm * 134mm * 26mm