Hellenica Oxyrhynchia is an Ancient Greek history of Greece in the late 5th and early 4th centuries BCE known only from papyrus fragments unearthed at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt . The author, whose name is not recorded in the surviving fragments, is usually known by scholars simply as the "Oxyrhynchus historian".
11-576: One of the two major fragments, called the London papyrus, found in 1906, deals with battles in the late Peloponnesian War , particularly the Battle of Notium . The other, the Florentine papyrus , found in 1934, deals with events in the early 4th century BCE. The entire history seems to have been a continuation of Thucydides covering events from 411 BCE to 394 BCE, much like Xenophon 's Hellenica (
22-466: A fragment of which has also been found at Oxyrhynchus). The discovery of the first papyrus in 1906 led to a shift in the degree of credence that historians assigned to the ancient sources of the period. In the 19th century, Xenophon, a contemporary of the events he described, was presumed to be universally preferable to the much later Diodorus Siculus . P was found to agree more with Diodorus's account than with Xenophon's on several key issues. This led to
33-533: A re-evaluation of the values of these sources, and modern historians now prefer Diodorus' account at a number of points. While the historian's identity has been extensively debated by modern scholars, a consensus has not been achieved. Among the authors suggested at early stages have been prominent historians such as Ephorus and Theopompus , although most of these have been strongly objected to on grounds of style, presentation, or subject matter. The most likely candidate seems to be Cratippus , an Athenian historian of
44-542: The 1906 excavations in Oxyrhynchus in modern Egypt by Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt . It contains a history of classic Greece for the years 396-395 BCE. Along with PSI XII 1304, it makes up the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia . Originally consisting of around 230 fragments of various sizes, Grenfell and Hunt were able to piece together all but 53 of them. They produced a transcription of
55-467: The 4th century BCE. The style, biases, and coverage (Cratippus's work is known to have been a continuation of Thucydides) support the identification, although issues have been raised. Bruno Bleckmann, an expert on ancient historiography, has pleaded again for Theopompus as the author of the Hellenica . The work is praised for its pragmatism and style, but it is not without its detractors. The writing, in
66-432: The first [hand]. At the end of a line is often written as a horizontal stroke; and a diaeresis occurs in v. 44. Stops (high points) are freely employed, a slight space being also left to mark the pause, and sometimes the space occurs where the stop is omitted... A paragraphus is found in vi. 10 marking a transition which the first hand would have ignored... Unlike the first scribe, the second hand writes ι adscript." Based on
77-509: The land register on the recto (front) mentioning the 4th and 12th year of an unnamed Emperor, Grenfell & Hunt state that "since the survey was probably written soon after the 12th year, the reign of Commodus, which in Egypt was reckoned from his father's accession and therefore begins with his 20th year, is out of the question; the reign of Hadrian or Antoninus is as likely to be meant as that of Marcus Aurelius[,]" and therefore "the survey on
88-508: The pieced together fragments, along with two plates and a translation in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part 5 in 1908. The manuscript itself is written on the verso (reverse) of a papyrus roll that was originally used as an official land-survey register. Though starting off very fragmentary, the final result evidences around 21 columns of text. The average dimensions of each column is 16.7 cm height by 9 cm width, with
99-539: The roll height at 21.2 cm. The script type of the manuscript is an example of the severe style or strenger stil . This is characterised by a sloping, pointed handwriting with alternating thick and thin horizontal and vertical strokes. According to Grenfell & Hunt, at least two hands were responsible for the manuscript, with the first hand writing most of the manuscript, from Column 1-4, then Column 6 line 27-Column 21. Hand two therefore wrote column 5 to column 6 line 26. Hand one wrote in "a small neat uncial of
110-446: The sloping oval type... at the end of a line is generally indicated by a horizontal stroke above the final letter... A peculiar characteristic of this scribe is his tendency (especially at the ends of lines) to combine the letters and or and so that the last vertical stroke of the first letter serves also as the first of the second... Diaereses are sometimes placed over ι and υ." Hand two is characterised as writing "smaller and rougher than
121-522: The words of the classicist H.D. Westlake , is that of a "competent and most conscientious historian who derives his material from the best possible sources, [and] makes an effort to interpret it impartially, but somehow lacks distinction in thought and style. He is a second-rate Thucydides." Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 842 Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 842 (P. Oxy. V 842 | LDAB 583 ) is a papyrus manuscript, written in Ancient Greek, discovered during
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