The handbook illustrates 94 Greek literary papyrus texts from Egypt and Herculaneum and documents the different types of scripts used in copying works of Greek literature, from the earliest surviving bookrolls written in the 4th century BC up to the first century AD. The aim is twofold: (1) to establish their relative (and, wherever possible, absolute) chronological sequence, and (2) to distinguish and characterize their stylistic features. Specimens of different types of scripts (“hands”) that appear stylistically related have been grouped together. In their joint introduction, the authors summarize the main results of their investigation and attempt to identify the social and cultural factors that have determined the development of different types of Greek literary scripts during the Hellenistic and Augustan era. The book also contains a comprehensive bibliography and indices.
Hellenistic Bookhands is a tool for scholars and students of Classics, Greek papyrology, palaeography, and the transmission of Classical Greek literature.