Written papyrus, so-called Charta Borgiana (2318)

Written papyrus, so-called Charta Borgiana (2318)

Preserved in twenty-three fragments, this papyrus belongs to the Borgia Collection. It contains an inscription in cursive Greek script, arranged on the largest fragment in fifteen columns of thirty three lines each, related to a group of workmen who, in 192-193 A.D., were working on the construction of water channels at Tebtynis, a town of Fayyum: the text gives their names and their provenance which is mostly from Ptolemais Hormu, modern-day Illahun. The find was studied and published in 1788 by the Danish scholar Niels Schow, who gave his name to the papyrus; it has an immense importance as a documentary source since it provides evidence of the social structure of Roman Egypt, but it also has an indirect role in contributing to the creation of papyrilogical studies in Italy since it was the first Greek papyrus to be published here