This thesis presents twenty-one unpublished Greek literary and documentary texts from Oxyrhynchus kept in the Sackler Library, Oxford. Each papyrus is identified, transcribed, and edited with a detailed introduction and notes largely in accordance with the conventions and format of presentation of The Oxyrhynchus Papyri (London 1898–). The literary texts are diverse in content. The item of especial interest is a new fragment from Sophocles’ Tereus, which joins a quotation from Stobaeus’ Anthologium. It provides new information on the play’s dramatis personae and the long vexed question of where the quotation is to be located in the play. Another new text is the remains of an unknown hexameter poem on a mythical subject which refers to the Lapiths and Centaurs. From the known texts, a minute fragment of Polybius’ Historiae, a fragment Plutarch’s Alexander and two fragments of Plato’s Philebus stand out due to the rarity of these texts. The documentary texts illustrate a variety of matters tending on social, economic, fiscal, and legal aspects of life in Roman and late antique Oxyrhynchus. Of the texts from the Roman period, a text dealing with the execution of a testamentary bequest and another text concerning a summons to the prefect’s conventus are notable for the information which they provide on the functioning of testamentary bequests and the practice of litigation respectively. Of the four texts from the Byzantine period, an Oxyrhynchite lease of land is of special importance due to the comparative rarity of documents of this kind from Oxyrhynchus and because it exhibits a number of points of interest, not least that the lessee is a colonus adscripticius. A ‘sale on delivery of wine’ also involves a colonus adscripticius. The other document of special interest is a large private letter which concerns various matters of business from a man who claims to be in a precarious situation.

The Gospel According to Thomas is found in the second manuscript of codex II of a set of texts found in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, collectively referred to today as the Coptic Gnostic Library. This gospel was readily identified as Thomas due to fragments of a Greek version of the text having already been discovered and identified in the 1890s at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. However, the discovery near Nag Hammadi in 1945 C.E. was not of fragments, but it actually contained the entire text of Thomas. Thus, the finding of the entire text in Nag Hammadi brought about a set of questions that had not yet surfaced from the fragments of Thomas previously found at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. For example, was Thomas actually written by Didymus Jude Thomas? If Thomas did not write it, then by whom was it written, and why did the actual author claim it to be written by Thomas?

The Gospel According to Thomas is found in the second manuscript of codex II of a set of texts found in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, collectively referred to today as the Coptic Gnostic Library. This gospel was readily identified as Thomas due to fragments of a Greek version of the text having already been discovered and identified in the 1890s at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. However, the discovery near Nag Hammadi in 1945 C.E. was not of fragments, but it actually contained the entire text of Thomas. Thus, the finding of the entire text in Nag Hammadi brought about a set of questions that had not yet surfaced from the fragments of Thomas previously found at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. For example, was Thomas actually written by Didymus Jude Thomas? If Thomas did not write it, then by whom was it written, and why did the actual author claim it to be written by Thomas?

La thèse comporte 417 pages. Son sujet est la collection des 20 Lettres attribuées à Saint Antoine-le-Grand dans la tradition copte-arabe, et de faire une analyse comparative entre le deuxième recueil de cette collection (Lettres 8-20) avec les Lettres parallèles d’Ammonas dans les autres versions (syriaque, grec, géorgien); La thèse se compose de 3 parties. La première traite du milieu culturel du monachisme primitif en Egypte, la culture d’Antoine et son héritage dans le domaine copte-arabe. La deuxième traite l’Histoire du texte et la détermination de l’original, l’authenticité, l’auteur de chaque Lettre, l’identité d’Ammonas comme évêque d’Oxyrynque et de Paphnuce, les citations de Chenoute et Bêsa, le discours d’Étienne le Thébain, l’influence d’Ammonas sur les grands ermites syriaques. La troisième est consacrée à l’analyse des 13 Lettres, et une comparaison de la doctrine d’Antoine et d’Ammonas comme, l’origénisme et la gnose d’Antoine par rapport à la non-philosophie d’Ammonas. / The thesis comprises 417 pages, regarding the collection of the 20 Letters attributed to St. Anthony the Great in the Coptic-Arabic tradition, and performs a comparative analysis between the second group of Letters in this collection (8-20) with the parallel Letters of Ammonas in the other versions (Syriac, Greek, Georgian). The thesis consists of 3 parts. The first addresses the Egyptian cultural of the primitive monasticism, the education of Antony and his heritage in the Coptic-Arabic Tradition; The second addresses the text history and works on determining the original text, authenticity, the author of every Letter, the identity of Ammonas as bishop of Oxyrhynchus and Paphnutius, the quotations taken by Shenoute and Besa and Stephen of Thebes discourse, The third part is dedicated to the analysis of the 13 Letters, and a comparison of the doctrine of Antony and Ammonas, such as the Origenism and gnosis of Antony compared to the non-philosophical narrative of Ammonas.

Η Μοιχαλίς ή Μοιχεύτρια αποτελεί ένα από τα δεκαέξι παπυρικά αποσπάσματα ανώνυμων λαϊκών Μίμων που σώζονται από την ύστερη αρχαιότητα. Η σύνθεσή της χρονολογείται στον 2ο αι. μ.Χ. και θεωρείται σύγχρονη με την γραφή του παπύρου (P. Oxy. 413verso). Πρόκειται για κείμενο πεζό, γραμμένο στην ελληνιστική κοινή. Σκοπός της εργασίας είναι να αναδείξει τις λογοτεχνικές αξιώσεις που εγείρει ο υπό πραγμάτευση Μίμος είτε μέσω της ανάδειξης των γλωσσικών και δομικών αρετών του είτε μέσω της επισήμανσης των σχέσεων του, θεματολογικών κυρίως αλλά και γλωσσικών, με λογοτεχνικά κείμενα, ιδίως δε με την Ζηλότυπο του Ηρώδα. Περιέχεται εισαγωγή, κείμενο με κριτικό υπόμνημα, μετάφραση και ερμηνευτικό υπόμνημα. / Moicheutria (Adulteress) or Giftmischermimus is one of the sixteen papyrus fragments of anonymous ‘non-literary’ Mimes dating from late antiquity. Composition of Moicheutria is held to be contemporary with the manuscript (P. Oxy. 413verso) dating from second century A.D. The piece is written in prose and in hellenistic κοινή. In this work emphasis is laid on the literary claims of Moicheutria by pointing out either its lingual and structural merits or the analogies, thematic as well as lingual, it bears with literary texts, especially with the Fifth Mimiamb of Herodas (The Jealous Woman). Contents: Introduction, text with critical apparatus, translation in Greek and commentary.