Oxyrhynchus
Oxyrhynchus, located in Egypt approximately 220 miles south-southeast of Alexandria, was a significant town along the western edge of the Nile valley, once serving as the capital of the Oxyrhynchite nome during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. The town is named after a locally venerated fish known for its sharp nose, which highlights the intersection of culture and nature in ancient Egyptian spirituality. Despite experiencing decline in the third century AD, Oxyrhynchus remained an important urban center, featuring impressive architecture such as walls, gates, and colonnades, and later became a fief of the wealthy Apion family.
The town is perhaps best known for the discovery of a remarkable collection of papyri, dating from around 250 BC to AD 700, which provide invaluable insights into ancient literature, history, and daily life. Among these texts are works by esteemed Greek writers, as well as various religious documents, including early copies of the New Testament. The papyri also shed light on the social, economic, and cultural activities of Oxyrhynchus, from local governance and commerce to public entertainment and military service. The site's archaeological significance is enhanced by its role as a monastic center in the later empire, reflecting the evolving religious landscape of the region while maintaining its historical roots in pagan traditions.
Oxyrhynchus
Oxyrhynchos (Bahnasa)
A town in Egypt, two hundred and twenty miles south-southeast of Alexandria, situated at the western edge of the Nile valley, on the shortest route from the valley to the Bahariya oasis. In a local shrine the ancient Egyptians venerated a fish with a sharp nose, from which the Greeks gave the place its name. Under the Ptolemies Oxyrhynchus was the capital of the Oxyrhynchite nome (district), and retained this position when Egypt became a Roman province (30 BC). During the difficult times of the third century AD there were signs of collapse, despite bombastic references to the `most illustrious city.’ During the later empire it was a walled, gated and colonnaded town belonging to the province of Arcadia (after the emperor Arcadius, AD 395–408) within the administrative diocese of Aegyptus. From the later fifth century, like neighboring villages, it became a fief of the immensely rich Apion family.
The place owes its fame to the discovery of an extraordinary number of papyri, extending in date from c 250 BC to AD 700 and constituting the most productive single source of this kind of literary and historical material in the world. Among these documents are catalogs and notes of payments to scribes, and imported or locally copied texts (in certain cases previously unknown or incomplete) of ancient Greek writers including Homer, Alcaeus, Sappho, Bacchylides, Pindar, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristotle, Menander, Callimachus, Cercidas, and a number of orators and historians (including the so-called `Oxyrhynchus Historian’ who narrated events between 409 and 334 BC). Other papyri include a variety of religious texts including the pagan Miracles of Serapis, copies of the New Testament (including what was, at the time of discovery, the earliest surviving manuscript of St. John's Gospel), non-canonical Christian writings such as the Sayings of Jesus (Logia Iesu, part of the Gospel of Thomas); and portions of several other apocryphal Gospels.
Further papyri refer to numerous buildings of the city, including a Temple of Serapis, public baths, gymnasium, hippodrome, theater (of which a small portion survives) and numerous Christian churches. Many other aspects of the life of the community also receive illustration, including the activities of its Council, business affairs, racing, schooling, poetry competitions, the military service of citizens of Oxyrhynchus abroad, and, under the later empire, the importance of the place as a monastic center; although, at the same time, figured sculpture almost wholly pagan in character continued to be produced as late as the fifth and sixth centuries AD.