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Recent publications of papyri & ostraca 4th BC-8th AD; conferences, lectures etc. from Papy-L and other sources as noted. PLEASE SEND SUGGESTIONS

Friday, May 09, 2014

Previously forged papyri

Constantine Simonides forged a number of papyri in the 19th century (although P.Artemid. is certainly not among them), a fact that has been forgotten during the debate surrounding the authenticity of the ps.GJW copt. papyrus and its companion ps.GJohn Copt. Published in 1862 (Fac-Similes of Certain portions of The Gospel of St. Matthew and of the Epistles of Ss. James & Jude, written on papyrus and preserved in the Egyptian Museum of Jospeh Mayer Esq. Liverpool"), and refuted within a year (British Quarterly Review 38, 1863), these examples of simulated ancient writing should qualify as a "verifiable case of somebody producing a papyrus text that purports to be an ancient text that isn’t." NYT, May 4, 2014.
Below are screen shots of the plates in Simonides publication. The most immediate giveaway that the writing is simulated, not genuine, is the absence of nomina sacra.