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The papyrus collection of the Institute of Ancient Studies at the University of Jena possesses more than 2000 papyri and
ostraca and thus belongs to the larger papyrus collections in Germany. Besides few but important literary texts (e.g. the famous
Irenaeus-Papyrus
)
the major part of the collection is of documentary nature, (e.g. letters, administrative and legal documents, business documents
receipts etc.). They date from early Ptolemaic times (3rd century BC) to the time after the Arab conquest of Egypt (7th century
AD) and are written in ancient Greek, Demotic, Coptic, Arabic and Latin. The major part comes from the 3rd and 2nd century
BC and was written in Greek and Demotic.
The papyrus collection in Jena was founded before World War I. Most of the papyri and especially the mummy cartonnage came
from the Deutsches Papyruskartell and were purchased between 1904 and 1913. Small private collections completed the collection
later, of which the collection of the papyrologist Friedrich Zucker is especially noteworthy.
During the joint project with Halle and Leipzig, which was generously funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, following persons participated in restoration, cataloguing and digitization:
