Manuscript Migration: The Multiple Lives of the Rubenstein Library's Collections
The Rare Books Market
Questionable Dates
The papyri purchased from Fackelmann helped establish Duke as an internationally-recognized center for papyrology. These acquisitions also helped Willis further his career, giving him ripe material for publication as well as a rich bank of ancient texts that could be used to teach his students and attract emerging scholars to his department. As a consequence, both Willis and Duke depended on Fackelmann as a supplier and placed great stock in his professional expertise. Recent discoveries from Duke’s papyrus archive indicate that this trust was not always warranted.
Several of Fackelmann’s claims about the provenance of his papyri are demonstrably false. While he claims to have extracted 17 pieces of early Ptolematic papyri from the wrappings of a mummy purchased in Faiyum, Egypt, one of these papyri, P. Duk. Inv. 34 R (Duke Papyrus Inventory Number 34, Recto (front side)) is inscribed with an imperial Roman dating formula, “ἐπ᾽ αὐτοκράτορος,” translated "under emperor ‘so-and-so’". This discovery means that this papyrus cannot be dated earlier than the reign of Roman Emperor Augustus in the late first century BC, at least 200 years later than Dr. Fackelmann advertised and much less rare and valuable.
On this Xerox of P. Duk. Inv. 34, Fackelmann sent to Duke University during negotiations, he describes the papyrus and its rare, early dating.
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Research contributed by Michael Freeman, PhD in Classical Studies in 2023 from Duke University, studied these materials during the 2021-2023 Manuscript Migration Lab and is continuing papyri research for future publications.
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