Robert Cioffi Publishes an Essay on Newly Uncovered Euripides Papyrus in the London Review of Books
Assistant Professor of Classics Robert Cioffi.
Bard Assistant Professor of Classics Robert Cioffi published his essay “Euripides Unbound” in the most recent issue of the London Review of Books (LRB). The essay tells the story of a papyrus artifact found in 2022 that contained 97 lines of two plays by Euripides, one of the most important discoveries of the author’s work. Cioffi, who is an expert on Greek tragedy and papyri, notes the difficulty of deciphering works like this, especially when so many others have been lost. He says the two years it took to decipher and print its contents shows the importance of collaboration for the field of papyrology, and that “for papyrology to continue, techniques and expertise must be shared.”
Alongside his essay, Cioffi appeared on the LRB Podcast to talk about the papyrus’s excavation from a cemetery in Philadelphia (Egypt) by archaeologist Heba Adly. He also discussed his recent book Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Greek Novel, which explores the relationship between Egyptian and Greco-Roman materials and explains how important the Nile River Valley was in Roman imperial literature. Cioffi is currently working on site at Hermopolis Magna in Egypt, where he hopes to find more unexcavated texts: “That’s what makes archaeology exciting—you cross your fingers and hope to find something amazing.”
Post Date: 09-30-2024
Alongside his essay, Cioffi appeared on the LRB Podcast to talk about the papyrus’s excavation from a cemetery in Philadelphia (Egypt) by archaeologist Heba Adly. He also discussed his recent book Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Greek Novel, which explores the relationship between Egyptian and Greco-Roman materials and explains how important the Nile River Valley was in Roman imperial literature. Cioffi is currently working on site at Hermopolis Magna in Egypt, where he hopes to find more unexcavated texts: “That’s what makes archaeology exciting—you cross your fingers and hope to find something amazing.”
Post Date: 09-30-2024