University of Michigan Papyrology Collection

The contribution of the papyrus collection has been very important in the understanding of the history of Egypt under Greek and Roman rule, the structure of the society from the Ptolemaic to the Byzantine period, the administration, the personal religious beliefs of individuals, the official religions and their dogmatic clashes, the history of ancient scholarship, the schools, higher education and changes in literary taste over the periods mentioned.

[5] Among the most intriguing texts to have been unearthed are passages from sorcerers' handbooks that disclose magic spells and give instructions on their proper use.

The U-M Papyrus Collection also produces the Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists, the only professional journal published in America for the advanced study of papyri and related topics.

The Michigan APIS database currently has over 35,000 records with images, searchable in a variety of fields including date, language, origin, type of text, author, names of persons, and many more.

[7] Also included are detailed electronic images of the papyrus, publication info, and even (in some cases) a link to the Greek text on the Perseus Project website.