Provenance Details of P.Leid.Inst. II
[Retrieved from papylist on 23/04/2023]
This volume contains the first edition of 66 papyri and ostraca in the collection of the Leiden Papyrological Institute. The texts are dated between the third century BCE and the eighth century CE and originate from Egypt. They include two Demotic literary papyri (one of which is written in Hieratic script), 19 Demotic ostraca, 44 Greek documentary papyri and one Coptic ostracon.
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Last week a new publication of Egyptian papyri has been announced in papylist (email list of papyrologists, see experts above) with minimal details about where these artefacts were acquired.
The papyri are kept at the institute of the papyrology at Leiden University. The publication comes in a time where much of the debate, both publicly and academically, centres on the provenance issue i.e. where and when these materials left the original country.
It strikes me that the formulations at the introduction are to vague to allow for any real assessment of the legality, if any, or illegality of the material acquired by the institutes in various periods. No references to the documentations provided and no export licences added, at least in the introduction where the matter of provenance is briefly presented. What add insult to injury is the fact that the full details remain behind a paid wall of Brill. It is not open-access and therefore I don't have any access to more details on this. It would be a good idea if the Leiden institute considered the idea of sending two or three copies Egypt. Further details on this publication can be found here P.Leid.Inst. II .
Here is a screenshot of the paragraph I am refereeing to.
