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The Petra papyri, also known as the Petra archive, is a corpus of papyrus documents written in Ancient Greek and dating to the 6th century AD that were discovered in the Byzantine church at Petra in 1993.^[1] At some 140 papyrus rolls, the collection constitutes the largest corpus of ancient documents ever found in Jordan and stand as one of the most important papyrological finds outside of the massive yields taken from the sands of Egypt.^[2] Like the Herculaneum papyri, another major non-Egyptian find, the Petra rolls were preserved by virtue of their being carbonized in a fire, but most of the papyri were damaged beyond decipherment and only a few dozen preserve substantial, interpretable texts.^[3]

The corpus is an "archive" in that it contains the private papers of a single family. The man at the center of this seemingly well-to-do household was one Theodoros who served as deacon at the Petra Church, but his relation to many of the other people named in the papyri is often unclear.^[4] The family is most likely made up of wealthy landowners of both residential and agricultural lands, despite the slow decline in Petra's economy at the time.^[5] The documents in the archive of his family concern private matters like marriages, inheritances and sales, as well as public legal matters, including property disputes and the evolution of systems of tax records through successive political regimes (Byzantine, Roman, and Arab).^[6]^[5] Theodoros likely owned land spanning from Wadi Araba and Gaza, where he lived for a brief time.^[5] In addition to providing a rare glimpse into the affairs of an otherwise anonymous family over several generations, the Petra papyri offer evidence of the relations of a large group of the region's upper class, with approximately 350 individuals from outside the family being named in their personal and legal documents.^[7] The papyri present evidence of the honoring of the wealthy by the Byzantine regime, and the use of specific honorific titles to demarcate them.^[5] This kind of honoring occurred well into the Romanization of the city of Petra and the transfer of political power.

The papyri are published in an eponymous series, The Petra Papyri (abbreviated P.Petra), which are prepared by teams of scholars from the universities of Helsinki and Michigan and published by the American Center of Oriental Research.^[8] Volumes I, III and IV, comprising some forty-nine documents, have been published to date. ^[9] P.Petra II was published last in 2013.

References

^ Gonis (2006, p. 655)
^ Frösén, Arjava & Lehtinen (2002, p. ix).
^ Frösén, Arjava & Lehtinen (2002, p. ix), Hickey (2004, p. 92).
^ Frösén, Arjava & Lehtinen (2002, pp. ix, 9–10).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Koenen, Ludwig; Daniel, Robert W.; Gagos, Traianos (2003). "Petra in the Sixth Century: The Evidence of the Carbonized Papyri". In Markoe, Glenn (ed.). Petra Rediscovered: Lost City of the Nabataeans. New York: The Cincinnati Art Museum. pp. 252–53. ISBN 0-8109-4537-1.
^ Frösén, Arjava & Lehtinen (2002, p. ix).
^ Frösén, Arjava & Lehtinen (2002, p. 10).
^ Frösén, Arjava & Lehtinen (2002, p. i).
^ Arjava et al. (2011, p. ix).

Works cited

Arjava, A.; Buchholz, M.; Gagos, T. (2007), The Petra Papyri III, Amman, ISBN 978-9957-8543-2-4{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
Arjava, A.; Buchholz, M.; Gagos, T.; Kaimio, M. (2011), The Petra Papyri IV, Amman, ISBN 978-9957-8543-5-5{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
Frösén, J.; Arjava, A.; Lehtinen, M. (2002), The Petra Papyri I, Amman{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Hickey, T. (2004), "The Petra Papyri I (review)", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 334: 92–4, doi:10.2307/4150117.
Gonis, N. (2005), "Papyri from Petra", Classical Review, 55: 655–7, doi:10.1093/clrevj/bni357, JSTOR 3873919.

[1] Gonis (2006, p. 655)

[2] Frösén, Arjava & Lehtinen (2002, p. ix).

[3] Frösén, Arjava & Lehtinen (2002, p. ix), Hickey (2004, p. 92).

[4] Frösén, Arjava & Lehtinen (2002, pp. ix, 9–10).

[:0-5] Koenen, Ludwig; Daniel, Robert W.; Gagos, Traianos (2003). "Petra in the Sixth Century: The Evidence of the Carbonized Papyri". In Markoe, Glenn (ed.). Petra Rediscovered: Lost City of the Nabataeans. New York: The Cincinnati Art Museum. pp. 252–53. ISBN 0-8109-4537-1.

[6] Frösén, Arjava & Lehtinen (2002, p. ix).

[7] Frösén, Arjava & Lehtinen (2002, p. 10).

[8] Frösén, Arjava & Lehtinen (2002, p. i).

[9] Arjava et al. (2011, p. ix).

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 The '''Petra papyri''', also known as the '''Petra archive''', is a corpus of [[papyrus]] documents written in [[Ancient Greek]] and dating to the 6th century AD that were discovered in the [[Byzantine]] church at [[Petra]] in 1993.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Gonis|2006|p=655}}</ref> At some 140 papyrus rolls, the collection constitutes the largest corpus of ancient documents ever found in Jordan and stand as one of the most important [[Papyrology|papyrological]] finds outside of the massive yields taken from the sands of [[Egypt]].<ref>{{harvtxt|Frösén|Arjava|Lehtinen|2002|p=ix}}.</ref> Like the [[Herculaneum papyri]], another major non-Egyptian find, the Petra rolls were preserved by virtue of their being carbonized in a fire, but most of the papyri were damaged beyond decipherment and only a few dozen preserve substantial, interpretable texts.<ref>{{harvtxt|Frösén|Arjava|Lehtinen|2002|p=ix}}, {{harvtxt|Hickey|2004|p=92}}.</ref>
-The corpus is an "archive" in that it contains the private papers of a single family. The man at the center of this seemingly well-to-do household was one Theodoros who served as [[deacon]] at the Petra Church, but his relation to many of the other people named in the papyri is often unclear.<ref>{{harvtxt|Frösén|Arjava|Lehtinen|2002|pp=ix, 9–10}}.</ref> The family is most likely made up of wealthy landowners of both residential and agricultural lands, despite the slow decline in Petra's economy at the time.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Koenen|first=Ludwig|title=Petra Rediscovered: Lost City of the Nabataeans|last2=Daniel|first2=Robert W.|last3=Gagos|first3=Traianos|publisher=The Cincinnati Art Museum|year=2003|isbn=0-8109-4537-1|editor-last=Markoe|editor-first=Glenn|location=New York|pages=252-53|chapter=Petra in the Sixth Century: The Evidence of the Carbonized Papyri}}</ref> The documents in the archive of his family concern private matters like marriages, inheritances and sales, as well as public legal matters, including property disputes and the evolution of systems of tax records through successive political regimes.<ref>{{harvtxt|Frösén|Arjava|Lehtinen|2002|p=ix}}.</ref><ref name=":0" /> Theodoros likely owned land spanning from [[Wadi Araba]] and [[Gaza]], where he lived for a brief time.<ref name=":0" /> In addition to providing a rare glimpse into the affairs of an otherwise anonymous family over several generations, the Petra papyri offer evidence of the relations of a large group of the region's upper class, with approximately 350 individuals from outside the family being named in their personal and legal documents.<ref>{{harvtxt|Frösén|Arjava|Lehtinen|2002|p=10}}.</ref> The papyri present evidence of the honoring of the wealthy by the Byzantine regime, and the use of specific honorific titles to demarcate them.<ref name=":0" /> This kind of honoring occurred well into the Romanization of the city of Petra and the transfer of political power.
+The corpus is an "archive" in that it contains the private papers of a single family. The man at the center of this seemingly well-to-do household was one Theodoros who served as [[deacon]] at the Petra Church, but his relation to many of the other people named in the papyri is often unclear.<ref>{{harvtxt|Frösén|Arjava|Lehtinen|2002|pp=ix, 9–10}}.</ref> The family is most likely made up of wealthy landowners of both residential and agricultural lands, despite the slow decline in Petra's economy at the time.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Koenen|first=Ludwig|title=Petra Rediscovered: Lost City of the Nabataeans|last2=Daniel|first2=Robert W.|last3=Gagos|first3=Traianos|publisher=The Cincinnati Art Museum|year=2003|isbn=0-8109-4537-1|editor-last=Markoe|editor-first=Glenn|location=New York|pages=252-53|chapter=Petra in the Sixth Century: The Evidence of the Carbonized Papyri}}</ref> The documents in the archive of his family concern private matters like marriages, inheritances and sales, as well as public legal matters, including property disputes and the evolution of systems of tax records through successive political regimes (Byzantine, Roman, and Arab).<ref>{{harvtxt|Frösén|Arjava|Lehtinen|2002|p=ix}}.</ref><ref name=":0" /> Theodoros likely owned land spanning from [[Wadi Araba]] and [[Gaza]], where he lived for a brief time.<ref name=":0" /> In addition to providing a rare glimpse into the affairs of an otherwise anonymous family over several generations, the Petra papyri offer evidence of the relations of a large group of the region's upper class, with approximately 350 individuals from outside the family being named in their personal and legal documents.<ref>{{harvtxt|Frösén|Arjava|Lehtinen|2002|p=10}}.</ref> The papyri present evidence of the honoring of the wealthy by the Byzantine regime, and the use of specific honorific titles to demarcate them.<ref name=":0" /> This kind of honoring occurred well into the Romanization of the city of Petra and the transfer of political power.
 The papyri are published in an eponymous series, '''''The Petra Papyri''''' (abbreviated P.Petra), which are prepared by teams of scholars from the universities of [[University of Helsinki|Helsinki]] and [[University of Michigan|Michigan]] and published by the [[American Center of Oriental Research]].<ref>{{harvtxt|Frösén|Arjava|Lehtinen|2002|p=i}}.</ref> Volumes I, III and IV, comprising some forty-nine documents, have been published to date. <ref>{{Harvtxt|Arjava|Buchholz|Gagos|Kaimio|2011|p=ix}}.</ref> P.Petra II was published last in 2013.