[3]: 2 From 1954 to 1958, he studied classics at Christ Church, Oxford, where his tutors included John Gould, David Malcolm Lewis and J. Gwyn Griffiths.
[3]: 2 Between 1958 and 1960, he maintained Christ Church, Oxford as his base, while also spending time at the University of Michigan learning documentary papyrology under Herbert Youtie.
[4] Parsons supported the Joint Association of Classical Teachers Greek summer school at Bryanston in Dorset, acting as a tutor on a number of occasions,[6] and he was also Director of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri Project.
[5] In 2007, he was awarded the John D. Criticos Prize by the London Hellenic Society for his book City of the Sharp-Nosed-Fish: Greek Lives in Roman Egypt.
An associated Festschrift was published in 2011, titled "Culture in pieces: essays on ancient texts in honour of Peter Parsons", and edited by Dirk Obbink and Richard Rutherford.