Contributions > By author > Litinas Nikos

A papyrus fragment (now kept in the Papyrus Collection of the University of Michigan) preserves a list of names of animals. The papyrus was found in Egypt (unknown provenance) and it is written in Greek. The handwriting is assigned to the second-third century CE. Although the purpose of the composition cannot be understood with certainty, the list might have served as a school exercise. The pupils had to learn lists of proper names, e.g. of heroes, gods, rivers etc. Because of the handwriting this papyrus might have been used as a teacher's model for being copied by the pupils. The habitat of the animals recorded in the list could be the land of Egypt and it is not certain if the list was compiled based on a literary treatise.