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The PachomianMonastic Lrbrary at the ChesterBeattv Ltbnrv and the Bibliothèque Bodmer fu JamesM. Robinson

'No The first Christian monastic order was founded in one would do anything in the house without Upper Egypt by Pachomiusearly in the Fourth Cen- permission from those in charge. not even visit a tury. What was left of its library was buried in the brother in his cell. In each house.the housemasteror Seventh Century, to judge by the date of the latest the secondkeeps all the surplus clothings locked in a material produced(ac. 1494,item 6 in the Inventory of cell until the brothers need them to wash and put on Pachomianletters, a small papyrus roll containing an again those they are using. The books. which were in archival copy of Horsiesios' Letter 3 in Sahidic). It an alcove,were also under the care of thesetwo. The was discovered late in 1952 in Upper Egypt near brothers have no money, still less anything of gold: Dishnà, and henceis referredto locally as the Dishna some of them died having never known such things. Papers,though it has been known to scholarsup to Only thoseentrusted with a ministry usedmoney r and the present primarily as the Bodmer Papyri. This when they returned to the monastery they kept nomenclaturehas obscuredthe fact that much of the nothing with themselvesfor a single day and gave material is scatteredamong someseven other reposito- everything to the steward until they might go out ries1,of which the ChesterBeatty Library is the most again. And all that governmentis written in detail in important. I would like to lay this fascinating story the book of the stewards.' before you by describingfirst the PachomianMonas- What is here referredto as the book of the stewards tery Library, then the Discoveryand Marketing of the is apparently the extant Preceptsawhere a rather Library, then the Acquisition by Sir Chester Beatty massiveliteracy program is envisagedand occasional and Martin Bodmer, followed by an Inventory of the referencesto books and to the Library occur(PrecepÍ.s approximatecontents of the Library. To the Endnotes 139,140, 82, 100, 101)s: 'Whoever is appendeda Postscriptdescribing how the basicfacts entersthe monasteryuninstructed shall be about the discoveryand marketing of the library were taught first what he must observe; and when, so established. taught, he has consentedto it all, they shall give him twenty psalms or two of the Apostle's epistles, or someother part of the Scripture.And if he is illiterate. he shall go at the first. third, and sixth hours to l. The PachomianMonasterl' Library someonewho can teach and has been appointed for him. He shall stand before him and learn very stu- Right after the conversion of the Roman Empire diously with all gratitude.Then the fundamentalsof a Pachomiusfounded the first monastic order of Chris- syllable,the verbs,and nouns shall be written for him, tianity. It would be anachronisticto make inferences and evenif he doesnot want to. he shall be comoelled about its library from medievalmonastic libraries. But to read.' 'There something can be inferred from the Pachomian shall be no one whatever in the monastery Order's own legendsand rules. who does not learn to read and does not memorize The First Greek Lfe oí Pachomius63 gives some something of the Scriptures. [One should learn by information about how books were viewed in the heart] at leastthe New Testamentand the Psalter.' 'No PachomianOrder2: one shall have in his own possessionlittle 'He [Pachomius]also usedto teach the brothers not tweezersfor removing thorns he may have steppedon. to give heed to the splendor and the beauty of this Only the housemasterand the secondshall have them. world in things like good food, clothing, a cell, or a and they shall hang in the alcove in which books are book outwardly pleasingto the eye.' placed.' 'No The First Greek L,fe of Pachomius 59 gives some one shall leave his book unfastenedwhen he impressionof a PachomianLibrary3: goesto Íhe svnaxisor to the refectorv.'

Manuscriptsofthe Middle East 5 (1990-1991) ! TeÍ Lugt Press.Donkersteeg 19.2312 HA Leiden.Netheriands. 1993 ISSN0920-0401 JAMESM. ROBINSON.THE PACHOMIANMONASTIC LIBRARY 21

'Every day at evening, the second shall bring the codex was to cut a roll into a stack of sheetsand fold books from the alcoveand shut them in their case.' the stack down the middle, a procedurethat produced Official lettersof Pachomiusin Coptic were transla- no growing edgesthat needed to be cut apart. The ted into Greek and then in 404 C.E. translated by very fact that this codex was not fully inscribed has Jerome into Latin. Only the Latin translation has left this aberration in the manufacturing procedure survived, copied down through the centuriesfor the intact. The codexwas apparentlyproduced outside the edificationof Europeanmonks. The Coptic and Greek main tradition of book manufacture. or in any case letters have not been seensince - until, at the same made use of a technique that did not gain general time, from the same dealer,and (with but one excep- acceptance. tion) at the same repositoriesas the Dishna Papers, Another experimentat economy is ac. 2554 (Inven- they suddenly reappeared.The inference seems in- tory item 28), a largely uninscribed and unbound escapablethat they were part of the same discovery. folded stack of sheetsconstructed by pasting face to As a matter of fact, the site of the discoverynear the face two usedrolls and cutting them into the sheetsof foot of the Jabal Abu Maná' was in full view of the a quire, on whose unbound leaves administrative headquartersmonastery of the Pachomian Order, at recordshad begun to be inscribed.with the result that the foot of the cliff to which funeral processions such a makeshift quire, left still largely uninscribed, moved from the monastery,itself not above the inun- would provide writing material that would not have dation level, to bury their dead on higher ground, been expensiveat all. according to their records, and apparently to secrete It may be no coincidencethat much of the material their Library or Archives as well. High up in the Wádi of the highestquality in the coilectionis older than the Shaykh Ah there is an overhang cut by a prehistoric PachomianOrder itself, suggestingthat it enteredthe torrent that is everywhereinscribed in scrawling red Library as gifts from outside,perhaps contributed by paint with the graffiti of pious monks. prosperouspersons entering the Order. This might be The holdings of the Chester Beatty Library that the most obvious way to explain non-Christian texts come from the jar at the foot of the cliff. and even in a monastic library. such as the Homeric and before that from the little alcove in the Pachomian Menander material. But some such explanationis aiso monasterywhere the tweezerswere kept. give a direct neededfor such excellentearly Greek New Testament impressionof the primitivenessof some of the books texts as P. Bodmer II (P 66, the Gospel of John, that made up the Library. Inventory item 3), and P. Bodmer XIV-XV (P 75, the The eight leavesof ac. 1390 (Inventory item 23) Gospelsof Luke and John, Inventory item 8), where begin with a school-boy's Greek exercisesin solid one might even think of Athanasius living in hiding geometry that rendered the rest of the quire of little with the Order while in exile as the source of such financial value. the kind of material a Pachomian gifts. monastery might be able to afford. On the empty The bulk of Christian codices date from the first pagesa few chaptersof the Gospel of John in Coptic century of the Pachomian Order's existence,namely were written in a non-literary,cursive hand, beginning the early Fourth to the early Fifth Century, and often in the middle of a sentence.This may be explainable present the competenceof a trained scriptorium, as the placewhere the mutilated text being copied had though without adornment. But there is no specific begun. Or perhaps ac. 1390 was one in a seriesof indication that they came from a singlescriptorium or cheapwriting materials,the only one to have survived, that such a scriptorium belongedto the Order. onto which the complete Gospel was copied. The Some texts in the collection. such as some of the preceding(lost) writing surface on which the Gospel archival copies of letters from Pachomian Abbots. was being copied would have endedin the middle of a again suggest,in the primitiveness of the material verse, which would explain why the text that has employed, that the usual standards of a scriptorium survived begins there,just where the other happened were lacking. Ac. 1486,an archival copy of a Coptic to break off. Thus ac. 1390may give someinsight into letter from the PachomianAbbot Theodore (item 4 in the limitations of the monastic effort to build its the Inventory of Pachomianletters), was written in the collection. Fifth or Sixth Century on a long thin irregular skin, A similar impression of primitiveness may be obviously the leg of an animal that could not be used conveyedby the largely uninscribed ac. 1499 (Inven- to produce leavesfor a codex. ChesterBeatty Ms. W. tory item 25) containing a Greek grammar and a 145 (item 3 in the Inventory of Pachomian letters) Graeco-Latin lexicon for decipheringPauline epistles. makes a similar impression. It is a Fourth Century One of the uninscribedquires of this codex has leaves copy of a letter of Pachomius. not yet cut apart at the growing edge, like French The presenceof relativelyunskilled products along- paperbackbooks usedto be. This not only reflectsthe side of relatively professionalcodices may indicate a fact that this codex was never completed, but also plurality of places of origin, and perhaps a contrast documents how unusual its construction had beenó. between what was produced within the Order and For the standard way to make a quire for a papyrus what came from outside. 28 MANUSCRIPTSOF THE MIDDLE EAST5 (I990-I99I)

If discipline relaxed and the demand for reading Perhapsthese relics were buried for safe keepingin material waned with the passageof time, as the center the period of decline following the imposition of of Coptic learning shifted downstream to the White Chalcedonianorthodoxy on the traditionally Mono- Monastery of Shenoudaat Sohag,such a Pachomian physiteorder, as the dating of the latestmaterial in the collection could have become more a geniza than an SeventhCentury might suggestla. activelibrary. The identity of increasinglyfragmentary items in the collection would be lost from sight, especiallyin the caseof the old non-Coptic material,if 2. The Discovery and Marketing oJ'the Librarl' one may assumethat the Greek House did not retain its original vigor at Fáw Qiblï, once the Order had a The discovery of the Dishna Paperswas made by monastery near Alexandria where Greek-speaking Hasan Muhammad al-Sammánand Mulrammad Kha- monks would be more at home. It would have been lí al:Azzin both of whom come from Ab[ Manà' 'Bahn.' enough that the remains representedthe venerated This hamlet is on the right bank of the Nile in relics of the beginnings of the Order, worthy to be the area of Upper Egypt where it flows from east to included along with copies of official letters of the west, and hence literally on the north bank. Ab[ early Abbots (about the only thing they continued to Maná' lies some 4 km from the river's edge,near the copy), in a jar no doubt intended to rescuefor poste- foot of the cliff Jabal Ab[ Maná' . which is 12 km east rity the surviving symbols of continuity with the of the cliff Jabal al-Tárif where the Nag Hammadi Order's legendarypast. Codiceswere discovered.It is 5 km northeast and in 'Qibli,' This is illustrated in another way by the fate of the full view of Fáw ancientPabau (Greek),Pbaw excellent early third-century copy of the Gospel of or Pbow (Sahidic),or Phbow (Bohairic),the site of the Luke and John (P 75, Inventory item 8) in the Biblio- headquartersof the Pachomian Monastic Order. Put theque Bodmer (P. Bodmer XIV-XV), from whose in more modern terms. the site is 5.5 km northwest of cover new and still unpublished fragments of John Dishná, the larger town at the river with a railroad have recently been recovered:This very valuable old station, which thus played the role of regional center codex was rebound in late antiquity, by pasting frag- in this discovery correspondingto that of the town mentary leavesof the quire together as cartonnageto Nag Hammadi in the case of the Nag Hammadi thicken the leather cover, and by sewing the binding Codices.Abu Maná' itself is 10 km east of Hamrah thongs through the inner margin of the quire so near Dlm, the hamlet that controls the site of the discovery the writing that the codex could not be opened wide of the Nag Hammadi Codices. much as does Abl enough to be actually read. One is inclined to think Maná' in the caseof the Dishna Papers.This whole that the codex had become a relic, the Library a Dishná Plain. important alreadyin prehistorictimes, Museum. or, in view of the copies of official Pacho- seemsto have been an important centerof Egyptian mian letters.an Archive. Christianity. Except for the copies of official Pachomian letters. Hasan and Muhammad were digging for sabakh datings as late as the Fifth Century are not strongly (fertiiizer) some 300 meters out from the foot of the represented.For it is usually mentioned by editors in cliff Jabal Ab[ Maná' at al-Qurnah ('the corner'). the spectrum of Fourth or Fifth Century. In the when Hasan uncovereda large earthenjar containing courseof the Fifth Century the sourceof supply seems the books. He broke the jar with his mattock. leaving to have been drying up, or new production was being the sherdswhere they fell. Some fragmentaryparts of attractedto the White Monastery. But when one turns the find were burnt on the spot. and others were given to the archival copiesof lettersof PachomianAbbots. away to passersby,who incidentally terrified Hasan the situation is the converse. Whereas the earliest with the mythic idea that they were books of monsters. materialis by the nature of the caseno earlierthan the Yet he carried the bulk of the discoveryhome in his Fourth Century, only one text (item 3 in the Inventory jallabï.vah,the typical peasant ground-length robe. of Pachomian letters) has been dated simply to the Mulrammad took for his part a wooden plank Fourth CenturyT, and only one (number l) to the variously interpretedas a book cover, a mirror, or a Fourth or Fifth Centurys. One (number 5) is dated catalogueof the library's contents. simply to the Fifth Centurye, and two (numbers8 and Hasan lived in his wife's family home, presidedover 9) to the Fifth or Sixth Centuryl0. Three (numbers2, by her father'Umar al-Abbádi. Her brother,Abd al- 4 and 7) are dated simply to the Sixth Centuryll, and À1, trafficked in the books, unsuccessfullyat first, one (number 6) to the SeventhCentury12. Thus it is sincethey could not even be barteredfor sugar. Some clear that the letters of the Pachomian Abbots conti- leavesof a large papyrus book were crushed up and nued being copied much later than did the literary usedas fuel to light their water pipe; parchmentburnt texts themselves,and representthe clearestindication like an oil lamp. (Rural electrification reached the of the narrowly limited interest of those responsible hamletonly in 1980.) for the preservationof the Library or Archive in its Abd al-Àl worked in the Dishná jewelry shop of the Iatest period and hence presumably for its ultimate goldsmith Subhi Qustandr Dimyán, to whom he sold 13. 'al- burial a book. $ubfi showed it to the Dishnà priest JA\,IESM, ROBINSON.THE PACHOMIAN MONASTICLIBRAR\ 29

Qummus' ManqaryDs,who was relatedto the priestly police, who had found concreteevidence with Masri family of al-Qasrthrough whosehands Nag Hammadi Abd al-Masrh N[h, the person who acquired the material had passed, to inquire if it were equally wooden board from Muhammad. He implicated 'Al-Qummus' the valuable. Manqary[s told him it was others. Chargeswere not brought against the priest, worthless,hoping thus to be able to acquireit himself. but Riyàd and Musà Fikn were charged.And. by a But Subhr's son Jirjis taughr at the same Copric caseof mistaken identity, ShaÍ-rqMuhàrib was charged parochial school at Dishná as did a member of the insteadof Shafiq GhubriyáI. Also chargedwere Hasan 'al-eiss' priestly al-Qasr family, Rághib Andaráwus and the brotherof Abd al-Ài. as well as Ab[ al-WaÍà Abd al-Sayyid, who had sold Nag Hammadi Codex Ahmad Ismà'rl. who had acquired a triangular parch- III to the Coptic Museum in Cairo for Ê 250. Jirjis ment leaf. By a combination of threats and bribes showed his father's book at the Coptic Museum. Riyád preventedthem from testifying against him in whereit was confiscatedand he threatèneduith jail. their effort to exonerate themselves.His defense until a powerful friend persuaded the Museum to lawyer, Hilmi Bandan, argued unsuccessfullybefore return his book and press no charges.Jirjis sold the Judge Rabà' TarvÍiq that the possessionof antiquities book to Zaki Gháli, an antiquitiesdealer in Luxor. for was not illegal, that they were ignorant of what they a price said to be f 400. had acquired, and that there was no incriminating 'Umar's Abd al-Rahim Ab[ al-flájj, nephew,was a evidence.All eight were sentencedto a year in jail. village barber going from house to house to ply his Engagingas their attorney Ahmad Alï All[bá 'Pasha,' trade, as well as a share-cropperworking fields be- a Conservative Party politician from Cairo, Riyád longing to a Dishnà goldsmith, Riyád Jirjis Fám. appealedthe caseat the Court of Appeals in Qiná. Six Riyád begandirt poor, the son of a peasantwho ekecJ were acquitted,but two were sentencedto sir months out a living making basketsfrom reedstaken from the in jail; Masn's sentencewas suspendedand only edgeof the Nile, but scroungedhis way up to the role Hasan servedtime. 'al-Qummus' of the ruthiessstrong-man of Dishná. When he heard During this trying time Manqaryus of the discovery,he took another goldsmith with him, was concernedthat his housemight be searched.For lMnsá Fikri Ash'ïyah. and went to the house of Abd the books were being kept in his home. no doubt on lai-Rahim in Ab[ Manà'. The latter was afraid of the the assumptionthat a police searchof a priest'shome laccompanyingstranger and refusedto deal with them, was lesslikely than of a goldsmith'shome. The box in lbut on a subsequentvisit when Mlsá Fikn was not which they were kept was hidden at times under the sold Riyád three or four books. floor. no doubt lpresent'Al-Qummus' the dirt floor of the patio, at times | Manqaryus became involved with behind rafters in the ceiling. But as the pressure lRiyád'sacquisitions, along with M[sá Fikn and ano- mounted, he secretedthem in a cubboard built under goldsmith, l:her ShaÍIq Ghubrïyál. They thus creared his divan, and asked his neighbor. Sa'id Diryás l;ome kind of partnership,the priest providing a semr, Habashï,if he could sun the divan in his patio, where l:ducatedassessment, ecclesiastical connections. and a there was more sun than in his own. to free it of fleas. lnavenfree of police searches.whereas the goidsmiths When he recuperatedthe divan, he found the best firo doubt provided the capital and Riyàd also the book missing. Sa'id Diryàs denies havrng taken it. entrepreneurship. sayinghe was unaware of the divan's contents.other- Accompanied by his son Nushr. Riyád returned to wise he would have taken them all. Riyàd 'Umar traced the [Ab[ Maná' and went directly to the house of book to Fáris, a tailor of Dishnà. who is reported to Fl-Abbàdr.where he bought out the resr of whar the have paid f 30 for it and then to have sold it for f 700 family held. He was able to leavethe hamlet u'ith the to Phocion J. Tano, the distinguished 'Umar's Cypriote anti- loot thanks only to the armed escort of sons quities dealer of Cairo who had acquired most of the as far as the paved highway. He went straight to the Nag Hammadi 'al-Qummus' Codices.where Riyád later saw ir. home of Manqaryus, where he counted Riyàd retrieved the rest of the material from 'al- out 'thirty-three to him books.' Though this figure Qummus' Manqaryls, apparently except for a few recursrepeatedly in the tellingof the story,it is not fragments.For DistinguishedProfessor Emeritus Azïz rlear whether it is meant to include the books Rivàd Suryál Atïyaht of the University of Utah has reported 'al-Qummus' tad alreadyacquired, and whetherit includedmaterial that the priest'sson Tànyls 'books.' showedhim rsually distinguished from the nameiy ten a fragment at his home in the fashionable Cairo mall rolls the sizeof one's finger, three or four large suburb Maadi. And 'olls Sa'id Diryás has reported that a some 25 cm or more high, and a few triangular- Spanish priest obtained some material about 1966 haped leaves some 15 cm high. In spite of such from the priest'sson'al-Qummus' Tányus. The parish Lmbiguities.the figure does tend to indicate roughly diary of the Franciscan Church adjoining the Sugar he extent of the discovery,perhaps some three times Factory near Nag Hammadi recordsthat a JoséO'Cal- hat of the thirteen Nag Hammadi Codices. laghan Martinus of Barcelona (and the Pontifical Muhammad, irritated at having beenexcluded from Bibical Institute in Rome) with passport number 'to he salesand profits, had reported the discoveryto the 95912came look for papers'on 14-20xi 64 and for MANUSCRIPTSOF THE MIDDLE EAST5 (I990-I99I)

'al- confirmed. a second visit beginning I ii 65. The widow of Bodmer Papyri has then been variously as describedby the peasantsfit quite well Qummus' Manqaryls thought there were fragmentsin The contents the bal- the home when I interviewedher on 18 xii 76, but she the Bodmer Papyri, including such details as : could not find them. led-up condition of P. Bodmer XXII Mississippi Riyád was under virtual house arrest. For he was Coptic Codex II (Inventory item 13) stuck in the not permitted to go as far as Cairo, but was limited in bottom of a piriform jar. The samedealer Tano, who his movements to Upper Egypt, the region from according to Riyád had funded a clandestineexcava- Luxor to Sohag, for trips up to ten hours, and then tion of the site,has also beenidentified as their source only with police permission.So he turned to a lifelong by the main repositoriesof the materials in Geneva, friend, Fathalláh Dá'[d, who had gone on pilgrimage Dublin and Cologne.The time frame of the discovery to Jerusalemwith him in 1945(as their almost identical (1952\ and that of the arrival of the material in Europe in tattoos validate), to take books to Cairo to market' (P. Bodmer I, Inventory items 1-2, was published Though Fathalláh Dá'[d was instructed to report to 1954,and the bulk was acquiredin 1955-56).given the 'al-Qummus' Manqary[s, M[sà Fikrr and ShaÍiq trying circumstances,is what one might expect.And publica- Ghubrïyál a lower price than he actually received,so the site of the discovery,initially statedby the to that their proportion of the profit would be correspond- tions of the Bodmer Papyri either to be unknown or ingly less.he actually told them the truth. Having his be variously and vaguely located somewherebetween (Luxor). own profit thus appreciably reduced, Riyád plotted Panopolis(Achmim near Sohag)and Thebes revengeto recuperatehis loss. He hired members of has finally been concededto agreewith our investiga- the Ab[ Bahbth family to break into Fathalláh tions in the most recent of these publications. This Dá'[d's house and kidnap a son to be held for the identificationof the site has subsequentlybeen located equivalent ransom. In the dark of night they by also in the Registry of Accessionsof the Chester mistake took a daughter, S[s[. Rather than paying Beatty Library, on a typed slip of paper appendedat judge the ransom, Fathalláh Dá'td appealedby telegramto ac. 1390.apparently written by Tano himself,to President Nasser. Within a week police sent from by the English: 'Small Cairo securedthe releaseof Sls[ unharmed. Riyád village DESHNAjust after NAGHIHAMADI about himself seeksto put a good (or lessbad) light on the 2 hours before LUXoR by train. Probably from the incident by maintaining that the Ab[ Bahblh family Library of a Monastery. Found in a Jar in a ceme- ' 1s was planning to kill Fathalláh Dá'[d for their own terv. reasons,but Riyád had talked them out of that unpro- fitable venture in favor of a slightly less(?) inhumane and in any casemore profitable procedure. Riyád then made friends with the two police guards 3. The Acquisitionsór' Sir ChesterBeattv and Martir posted at his home, plying them with alchohol on Bodmer Saturdayevenings until they were in a drunken stupor in time for him to catch the midnight train to Cairo. Sir Chester Beattyló and Martin Bodmer were the just There he would take a few books at a time to Tano's most distinguishedbibliophiles in the period home, receivingprofits he has reported to be in the before and after World War II. It is hence under- thousandsof pounds, and return Sundaynight in time standablethat both felt a senseof competitiveness,as to get into his home under the cover of darkness well as a senseof camaraderiern the rarifled atmosphere beforedawn Monday. The death of Riyád's son Wasfi of their shared hobby. This relationship was only in a brawl some years later, which Fathallàh Dá'ud intensifledby the fact that both were long-standing interpretedas divine retribution, led Riyád to move to customersof Tano. Cairo. where he lives on the top, fifth floor of a large Tano kept his collection in part in Cyprus, as he was modern duplex apartment house in Heliopolis which able to get it out of Egypt. He spent summers in the he has purchased. family home at Nicosia, where he could correspond Photographs supplied by Emile TawÍÏq Sa'd, the freely about his businessaffairs and ship antiquities son of an Alexandrian antiquities dealer named by and receivepayment without difficulty. Tano was even Isháq Ayyfib Isháq, Inspector of the Department of from time to time on the continent. Sir Chester had Agriculture for Dishná, as having acquired some known Tano personally during the winters he had 'Blue 'Dishna Papers,' were identified as Papyrus Bodmer spent in the House' aÍ Giza near Cairo' anc XXIV (the Psalms in Greek, Inventory item 15) and when Sir Chestercame to prefer Nice for his wintert PapyrusBodmer XL, the unpublishedCoptic Song of the personal contacts continued there. This relation Songs(Inventory item l9). This then led to the identi- ship outside of Egypt was not only convenient fron 'Dishna fication of the Papers'with the famous disco- the point of view of customs and payments"but wat 'Bodmer very known in academic circles as the also diplomatically advantageous,as is reflectedin z comment of Beatty in a letter of 2l March l95t Papyri.' 'We This identification of the Dishna Papers with the concerning ac. 2554 (Inventory item 28): car JAMESM, ROBINSON.THE PACHOMIAN MONASTICLIBRARY JI honestlysay it was bought in Europe; we neednot say Bodmer himself was in Cairo at the end of January whereor when.' 1956,returning from a trip to Indonesiaas a diplomat Sir Chester had in fact been acquiring papyri and for the International Red Cross. On 8 October 1956 other antiquities from Tano for many years. The Gilles Quispelwas told by Ludwig Keimer, an Austrian following may illustrate this relationshipjust prior to in Cairo who was closeto Doutreleau and Tano, that the acquisitionswith which we are concerned:On 8 at the beginning of February 1956 Bodmer had September 1947 he paid Tano f. 24 for four leaves bought from Tano P. Bodmer XIV-XV (the Gospels from a codex,care of the Ottoman Bank, Famagusta, of Luke and John, Inventory item 8) and much of Cyprus. On l6 April 1948Tano senthim four wooden XXV-N-XXVI (Menander, Inventory item 5). These tablets through the good officesof his brother-in-law, codicesreached Geneva shortly thereafter. Bodmer's William Acker, an officer in the n.c.r.In 1950 Beatty secretary,Odile Bongard, visited Tano in Cairo in orderedon approval Coptic materialsoffered by Tano March 1956. A rather steady stream of acquisitions for f 235. That same year Tano wrote Sir Chester during the subsequentmonths was interrupted by the from New York not to involve his American-based Suez Crisis in October 1956,though a shipment did nephew Frank J. Tano in any transactions,but to arrive that month. Efforts by Mlle Bongard to remit directly to the Ottoman or Barcley Banks of complete the acquisitions were only successfulto a Famagusta,Cyprus. On 12 Septemberl95l Tano limited extent. She was able to sift through Tano's wrote Beatty'ssecretary John Marsh in London: residue of fragments and find a few belonging to P. 'I asked to [sic] a friend in Paris to forward threw Bodmer II (the Gospel of John. Inventory item 3). [sic]you for Mr. ChesterBeatty a collectionof Coptic Also Tano showed Doutreleau several leaves of parchemains[sic]. Pleasewen [sic] you receivethem, Menander(Inventory item 5) in 1958.They r.verethen kindly forward the parcel to Mr. Chester Beatty's deposited at the Tunisian Embassy'in Cairo for address.' export, but the shipmentwas delayedseveral years by On 25 March 1954Beatty's secretary John Wooder- a breaking of diplomatic relations betweenEgypt and son recordedin a memorandum: Tunisia. When the shipment finally' reachedGeneva. 'Mr. A. Chester Beatty asked John Wooderson to part of it was missing. seeMr. Tano and find out if he had any Coptic writing On 2 April 1956 Sir Chester wrote his librarian or vellum or pagesof papyri in Greek; and if so, what JamesVere Stewart Wilkinson from Nice that he had 'got they would cost, and if they could be examined in seenTano and some very interestingthings from London... Mr. Tano saidhe had no stockin Cairo or him.' In a letter of 5 April 1956to Wilfred Merton, his Cyprus at presentbut that he would write later if he papyrological consultant in Dublin. Sir Chester was 'very found anything interesting.' more specificabout the interestingthings' he had But by this time Martin Bodmer had establisheda acquired. distinguishing the following items clearly business relationship with Tano that seemed even enough for us to identify them, in the light of later more efficient.Bodmer had visited Egypt as early as information: 'The 1950, when he approached Tano to secure manu- t'uvobooks with the original bindings are very scriptsfor his library. Father L. Doutreleau. S.J.,one interesting.One seemsto be complete[ac. 1389,Inven- of the editors of the series Sources Chrétiennesin tory item 12]and the other was neverfinished. About Lyon, was at the time stationed in Cairo, and has half of the papyrus pagesare blank [ac. 1499,Inven- describedBodmer's acquisition procedure.For Dou- tory item 251.' treleau had an arrangementwith Bodmer to provide A third item was describedas follows: 'It him with an expert assessmentof manuscriptsTano was evidentlya scroil which was cut in piecesto showedDoutreleau for this purpose.Sometimes Tano make it appear like a book. It must have been pretty gave him direct contact with a peasant who owned long. becauseit is quite thick - it must be 2" at least manuscripts,whom Doutreleau knew only as'the Bey and the page is just the size of the section of a of papyrus,'but who may well have been Riyád. Tano scroll. They just bend over, and I looked at a good 'Nag referred to the Dishna Papers as Hammadi many of the pagesand they separatenaturally, so I do Two,' to designatethe region of Egypt from which not anticipate much trouble in having the proper they came that would be more readily recognizableto expertsseparate them.' lAc. 2554,Inventory item 31.] 'I foreignersand that would incidentallysuggest a value Sir Chesteradded: will, of course,deliver them at comparableto that famous discovery.Tano exported once to the British Museum when I arrive.' On 15 to Cyprus material at times through the diplomatic April 1956 Wilkinson replied urging him to invite pouch, at times through a friend who worked at the the leading authority on book bindings, Berthe van customsoffice in Alexandria. From Cyprus he went to Regemorter, to come from Belgium to examine the Genevain September1955. It was at that time that P. bindings before the books were disassembledand the Bodmer II (the Gospel of John, Inventory item 3) and leaves glassed,a proposal with which he readily III (the Gospelof John and Genesisl:l-4:2, Inventory agreed.Mlle Van Regemorterhad recentlybeen at the item 4) reachedGeneva. Bibliotheque Bodmer to examine the book bindings )/- MANUSCRIPTSOF THE MIDDLE EAST5 (I990-I99I) there. and had sent Beatty a report concerning her Museum. In a letter of 2l May 1956to Merton, Sir findings.The ensuingdiscussion illustrates the way in Chesterwrote how he planned to reach a decisionas which Bodmer and Sir Chester became involved in to whether to exercisehis oPtion: 'My friendly competition for Tano's wares. For in a letter idea is, soon after I arrive. to take the big to Merton of 21 May 1956Sir Chestercommented: papyrus which is cut apart [ac. 2554.Inventory item 28] 'You have seen the memorandum that Miss Van and in that parcel there are two lots of loose leaves - Regemorter did on Bodmer's library. Apparently he one is supposedto be agnostic [?] and have them got some good things from Tano. It was quite an identified at the British Museum. I will not do any- important purchase,and I imagine it was the Gospel thing beyond identification,because I do not want to of St. John that he bought. I do not think he is be forced to take the lot. in casethe other two are of making a generalcollection of papyri, but I think he no value. bought a few very important things from Tano.' ... If she[Mlle Van Regemorter]can come over we In a letter the same day to Wilkinson Sir Chester will take the othertwo books[ac. 1389,Inventory item concededthe loss to Bodmer but immediately began 12. and ac. 1499. Inventory item 251 to II.E.S.] thinking of future acquisitionshe might make from Edwards and [T.C.] Skeat at the British Museum [so] Tano: she can study the bindings. In the meantime.we will 'He indicated to me that he had an important deal have the option [for: opinion?] about the first lot.' on with Bodmer. I imagine it is in connection with On 7 January 1957 Beatty wrote from Nice to that Gospels.Anyhow. I hope we will get some other Merton of a secondpotential acquisition: 'I things. and I wrote to him about early wooden bind- receiveda letter from Bodmer's secretary[Mlle ings. I imagine Bodmer is not going in for those.and Bongard] who had just come from Cairo, as he had he [Tano] may be able to clean up the market and get senther to go through all the fragmentsthat Tano hzrd somethingÍine there.' in the hope of finding a few little fragmentswhich had In a letter of 24 April 1956to Merton. Sir Chester been overlookedof the St. John's Gospel. and she describedhis businessprocedure with Tano: managedto find a few fragments.She told me that she 'You see.with the deal I had with'X' [Tano],I pay had certain things which Tano wanted me to have. so much for the whole lot. and if I do not want to bu.v and shetold me the price was 4.000Swiss francs. and I the whole lot I pay another sum. I pay [ 800 if I take asked her if she would leave them with me. as I them all. but if I do not take the whole lot I pay f 200. wanted to get a little inlormation on them. and I but I can pay this in sterling.In other rvords.the price would probabl.vtake them. There are 8 items, of was 10,000Swiss francs. which is a little over f 800. which 6 are papl'rus. and one. curiously enough. a and it is done on the normal exchangebasis. Then I perfect mass of small fragments. ln fact. they Írll a have the right to paf in sterling.Of course.it is a good small plastic box of about 4" long b1' 3 l 2" wide by deal like buying a pig in a poke. becausehe does not 2" deep. Then there is a roll otr vellum of some know too much about them and I know nothing. They sermon which is quite early [ac. 1486.item 4 in the look oid and they smell old, and I imagine they are Inventory of Pachomian letters]... So when Lady old. That is the opinion of a real expert,' Powerscourt went back. I sent samplesof the find, All this tends to suggestthat Sir Chester acquired with the exceptionof one item, to Edwards.' the residue of what had been offered to Bodmer in On 16 December1956 Sir Chesterhad written to Swiss Francs. items that presumably were not consl- Edwards a letter following up his shipment of sam- 'world dered literature,' as Bodmer deÍrnedthe scope ples: 'I of lls collectionlT.but rather were the kind of artifacts. should be very pleasedif you would get the suchas book bindings,that interestedSir Chester.The proper advice and find out if they are of any value. I paradoxical outcome of this selectivityprocedure is do not know what to make of thesefragments. One lot that Bodmer tended to acquire items that enteredthe they say is from the sameroll as the Greek papyruswe Pachomian Monastery Library from outside. such as have of the time of Diocletian [ac. 2554, Inventory Homer. Menander, and the Greek Gospels,whereas item 28], and there are two big lots of fragmentswhich Sir Chester tended to acquire the material more are still here and I will get to you later.' directly related to the Pachomian Order, such as the On 2l January 1957Edwards wrote Wilkinson that 'the more primitively produced items and the bulk of latestCoptic documents...seem to me to be too copies of the official letters of Pachomian Abbots. fragmentaryto be very promising.' preciselywhat was neededto identify the discoveryas There was a third acquisition in 1958,again medi- the Archives of the PachomianMonastic Order. ated through Mlle Bongard of the Bibliothèque Bod- Sir Chesterlacked the expertiseprovided to Bodmer mer. On l8 December 1957Tano wrote to Sir Chester in Cairo by Father Doutreleau,but was dependenton in Nice: 'I expertisehe receivedonce he had taken an option to wrote to Miss Odile Bongard to forward you buy and had directed the material to the British some papyrus which completes some you bought JA\,ÍES M- ROBINSON. THE PACHOMIAN MONASTIC LIBRARY -)-) before. Also if she receiveda lot of parchments in then some three centurieslater were buried at the foot Coptic. In caseshe did, pleasetheir price send it if of the Jabal Ab[ Maná' for safekeepingfor over a possiblein Cyprus pounds.' millennium, then late in 1952 were discoveredby 'The On 19 April 1958Bodmer wrote Sir Chester: HasanMuhammad al-Sammánof Abu Maná"Bahrï.' package Íiom Tano rs also ready to be delivered to *'ere acquired by the strong man of Dishná Riyád -voul' The packageseems to be an item distinct from Jirjis Fám and then sold by him bit by bit to Phocion the papyrus completing previous acquisitions,and J. Tano, who sold the bulk of the material in the years 'lot presumablycontained the of parchmentsin Cop- around 1956to Martin Bodmer and Sir ChesterBeatty. tic.' A joint exhibit of the Archives of the Pachomian Miss McGillighan of the staff of Sir Chester's Monastic Library would be a fascinatinginstance of library had written him on l0 April 1958: such closeco-operation as Sir Chesterhad in mind. 'I will be very pleasedto go to Geneva and collect the papyrus from MademoiselleBongard, as you sug- gest.i had planned to leave Paris for Dublin on May the l8th and so it would be on May the 19th that I 1. Inventort would go to the Bodmer Library and collect the papyrus.' The contents of the discovery. including the quite On 23 May 1958Miss McGillighanwrote Beatty: fragmentar,vitems and those listed only with hesita- 'I collectedthe packagewhich containssome liag- tion. are as follows (they are Greek papyrus codices, mentar)' leather bindings and l7 vellum folios with unlessotherwise indicated) : some fragments.one uith a miniature. severalwith 1. Homer. Iliocl. Book 5 : P. Bodmer I. a roll on spiral ornamentationand severalrvith coloured ini- the verso of a roll of documentary papy'ri. P. tials.They are in fairlv good conditionand Dr. Ha.ves Bodmer L. thinks that the u'ritingma1'be Greek. but I would opt 2. Homer. Iliad. Book 6 : P. Bodmer I. a roll on for Coptic.' the versoof the sameroll of documentarypapl'ri. : The papy'rusthat complementedprevious acquisi- P. Bodmer L. tions may well belong to the Dishna Papers.in that. 3. Gospel of John : P. BodmerII + a fragment for example.further fragmentswere added to ac. 1390 Íiom the ChesterBeattv Librarv. ac.2555.+ P. Kóln (lnventor-vitem 23) even after it had been conserved 214.: P 66. betweenglass panes at the British Museum and sent 4. Gospelof John and GenesisI :l 4:2 in Bohai- on to Dublin, necessitatinga retum of the material lrom ric : P. Bodmerlll Dublin to London for a reconservation.But the vellum 5. Menander,Sumia. Dvskolos. Aspis : P. Bodmer folioscan be identiÍiedno doubt as ac. 1933.manuscript XXV. IV. XXVI + P. Barc.45 + Cologneinv. 904: 820, an item apparentlyno longer belongingto rhe P. Kóln 3 + P. Rob.38. Dishna Papers. 6. liativitt'ol Mar.t': Apoc'al.t'pseo.f'Jantes (Prote- If thus the competitionand assistancein acquiring vangeliunto./' Jante.;): Apocryphal Correspondence of the Dishna Papersby Sir Chesterand Bodmer seems Paul with the Corinthrans:Ode.s rf' SolontonI l; the to have reachedits conclusionin 1958.the personal Epistleof Jude:Melito of SardisOn rhePussover', a relationsbetween the two friends continued until near fragmentof a liturgicalhymn theApolog.v o./' Phileas; Sir Chester'sdeath. Indeed on l7 October 1963Bodmer Psalms33-34: I and2 Peter: P. BodmerV: X: XI: wrote him a bold letter proposing they unite the rwo VII; XIIII XII: XX (+ a fragmentlrom the Chester collectionsunder a single foundation. while leaving BeattyLibrary. ac. 2555); IX; VtlI. them at the two separate repositories. Sir Chester 7. Proverbsin Proto-Sahidicon parchment: P. respondedon 20 November 1963politely declining the BodmerVi. offer18.In a previousletter of 29 October 1963to Dr. 8. Gospelsof Luke and John : P. BodmerXIV- Hayesconcerning Bodmer's proposal Sir Chesterhad XV:P75. commented: 9. Exodusl:l - 15:21in Sahidicon parchment: 'I do think we might work in very close co-opera- P. BodmerXVI. (P.Bodmer XVII is generallyagreed tion with him, and it might be well for you to go down not to comefrom the samediscovery.) and see the Bodmer Library sometime. We could 10. Deuteronomy1:1 10:7in Sahidic P. possibly loan them items and they might loan us BodmerXVIII. items,as we supplementeach other extremelywell...' 11. Matthew 14:28 - 28:20+ RomansI :l 2:3. A striking instanceof such a supplementingof each bothin Sahidicon parchment.: P. BodmerXIX. other's holdings is the Pachomian Monastery Library 12.Joshua in Sahidic: P. BodmerXXI + Chester Archives, which were brought together in a small Beattyac. 1389. cupboard shared with tweezers for thorns at Fáw 13.Jeremiah 40:3 - 52:34;Lamenrarions; Epistle Qibli at the headquartersmonastery in Upper Egypt. of Jeremy;Baruch 1:1 - 5:5, all in Sahidicon -\+ }íANUSCRIPTS OF THE MIDD[_EEAST 5 il990-1991) parchment.: P. BodmerXXII + MississippiCoptic The totai quantityof materialwould involvewhat CodexII. remainsof some37 books.They consistof 9 Greek 14.Isaiah 47:l - 66:24in Sahidic: P. Bodmer classicalpapyrus rolls (numbers 1,2. 11,23.24,32-35) XXIII. and 28 codices(numbers 3-16, l8-22. 25-31, 36, 37). 15.Psalms 17 - | 18 : P. BodmerXXIV. The codicesmay be subdividedas follows:21 are on 16.Thucydides; Suzanna; Daniel; Moral Exhorta- papyrus(numbers 3-6, 8, 10.12, 14-16,18. 20. 22,25- tions : P. BodmerXXVII, XLV, XLVI. XLVII. 31.36. 37), 5 on parchment(numbers 1.9,11, 13, l9). 17.A satyr play on the confrontationof Heracles and of 1 the BibliothequeBodmer has not divulged andAtlas. a papyrusroll. : P. BodmerXXVIII. the material(number 22). l0 arein Greek(numbers 3. 18. Codex Visionum : P. Bodmer XXIX 5. 6. 8, 15" 16. 18. 28-30),2 in Greekand Latin XXXVIII. (For P. BodmerXXXIX seethe inventory (numbers27, 36). and I in Greek and Subachmimic of specificallyPachomian material belorv.) (number25). 15 are in Coptic(numbers 4,'/,9-14. 19- 19.Song of Songsin Sahidicon parchment: P. 22.26.31.37), of whichl0 arein Sahidic(numbers 9- BodmerXL. 14. 19.26.31. 37). I in Bohairic(number 4), I in 20. TheActs of' Poul.Ephesus Episode. in Subach- Proto-Sahidic(number 7). I in Subachmimic(number mimic.: P. BodmerXLI. 20).and of I the BibliothequeBodmer has not divul- 21. Fragmentsof thelliad from a papyrusro11 : P. ged the dialect(number 22). 2 are non-Christian BodmerXLVIII. (numbers5. 30).2l Christian(numbers 3.4,6-15, l8- 22. Fragmentsof the Od-1'sselfrom a papyrusroll 21.26,28.29"31,37) and 4 partlyeach (numbers 16, : P.Bodmer XLIX. 25.21.36).1l containsomething from the Old Testa- 23. Mathematicalexercises in Greek:John 10 1 - ment (numbers7. 9. 10, 12-16,19, 28. 29')and 6 l3:38in Subachmimic: ChesterBeatty ac. 1390. somethingfrom theNew Testament(numbers 3, 8, I l, 24. TheApot'ulyp.se oí Eliah in Sahidic: Chester 21.25.37)and 3 somethingfrom each(numbers 4, 6, Beattyac. 1493: P. ChesterBeatty 2018. 31). 25. A Greekgrammar; a Graeco-Latinlexicon on A distinctivepart of thisdiscovery consists of archi- Romans.2 Corinthians,Galatians. Ephesians : vai copiesof offrcialletters of Abbots of the Pacho- ChesterBeatty ac. 1499. mianMonastic Order: 26.Psalms 72:6 - 23.25 - 76:l:71:l - 18.20 l. Pachomius'Letter l lb in Sahidic.a smallparch- 8l:7; 82:2- 84:14;85:2 - 88:20: ChesterBeatty mentroll. : P. BodmerXXXIX. ac. l50l : P. ChesterBeatty XIII : Rahifs2149. 2. Pachomius'Letters 9a. 9b. 10.1lb. from a papy- 27.Psalms 3l:8 - 11:26:l- 6.8 14.2:l 8 ruscodex. in Sahidic: ChesterBeattv Glass Contai- : ChesterBeatty ac. 1501: P. ChesterBeatty XIV nerNo. 54 : ac.2556. : Rahlfs2150. 3. Pachomius'Letters l-3. 7. 10. lla in Greek. a 28. Tax receipts of 339-1'7A.D. from Panopolis small parchment roll in rotltli formar. Chester (Achmim) in a largeiy uninscribedand unbound quire Beatty Ms. W. 145 + Cologneinv. 3288 : P. Kóln constructed from two papyrus ro1ls with correspon- 174 : three fragmentslrom Letter 7. dence of the Strategusof the Panopolitannome of 4. Theodore'sLetter 2 in Sahidic,a smallparchment 298-300A.D. : P. Beatty Panopolitanus: Chester roll in rotuli format. : ChesterBeatty Library ac. Beatty ac.2554. I 486. 29. Melito of SardisOn the Pussover:2Maccabees 5. A secondcopl of Theodore'sLetter 2. a small 5:2'7- 7:41;'l Peter;Jonahr a homily or hymn. : parchment roll in rotuli format in an unidentified The Crosby-SchoyenCodex ms. 193 of The private German collection. pubiished by Martin SchoyenCollection of Western Manuscripts. Krause. 30. Scholiato the Odt'ssevI from a papyrus ro11: 6. Horsiesios'Letter 3 in Sahidic. a small papyrus P. Rob. inv. 32 + P. Colon. inv. 906. roll. : ChesterBeatty Library ac. 1494. 31. AchilleusTatios from a papyrusroll : P. Rob. 7. Horsiesios'Letter 4 in Sahidic. a small papyrus inv. 35 + P. Colon.inv. 901. roll. : ChesterBeatty Library ac. 1495. 32. Odvssey3 4 from a papyrus roll : P. Rob. 8. Pachomius' Letter 8 in Sahidic, a small parch- inv. 43 + P. Colon. inv. 902. ment roll, : Cologneinv. 3286 : P. Colon. Copt. 2 33. A pieceof ethnographyor a philosophicaltrea- : P. Kóln ágypt.8. tise from a papyrus roll : P. Rob. inv. 37 + P. 9. Pachomius'Letters l0-11a in Sahidic.a small Colon. inv. 903. parchmentroll, : Cologne inv. 3287 : P. Colon. 34. Cicero. in Catilinarr; Psalmus Responsorius: Copt. I : P. Kóln àgypt.9. Greek liturgical text; Alcesti.r,all in Latin except the Greek liturgical text, : Codex Miscellani : P. Barci- NorEs nonensesinv. 149-61* P. Duke inv. L I [ex P. Rob. 1 Oneof thesecodices, originally acquired by the Univer- inv.20ll. sity of Mississippiand namedMississippi Coptic Codex I 35. Gospelsof Luke; John; Mark. all in Sahidic : (The CrosbyCodex) has recently been acquired by Martin P. PalauRibes l8l-183. Schoyen.distinguished Norwegian bibliophile. and has JAMESM. ROBINSON.THE PACHOMIAN MONASTICLIBRARY 35

'end been published through the Insiitute for Antiquity and Platesl-2. especiallyp. 81, whereKropp wrote of the Christianity: The Crosb,v-Scho1'enCoder. Ms 193 in the Fifth Century.' 11 'Ein Schot'en Collection. Edited by James E. Goehring with Number 2: Hans Quecke, neues Fragment der contributionsby Hans-GebhardBethge. James E. Goering, Pachombriefein koptischer Sprache.'OrienÍalía 43 (1974) 'probably CharlesW. Hedrick. Clayton N. Jefford. Edmund S. Melt- 66-72,especially p. 67, from the Sixth Century.' 'Ein zer,James M. Robinsonand William H. Willis. CSCO 521. Number 4: Hans Quecke, Brief von einem Nachfolger Subsidia85 (Leuven: Peeters,1990). Pachoms (Chester Beatty Library Ms. Ac. 1486),' Oríentalia 2 PachomíanKoinonia l: The Life of Saint Pachomius,2: 44 (.1915)426-33 and Plate 42, especiallyp. 427.'probably PachomianChronícles qnd Rules.tr. Armand Veilleux (Cis- of the Sixth Century.' 'Nuovi tercian Studies 45 and 46: Kalamazoo. MI: Cistercian Number 7: Tito Orlandi, Testi Copti Pacomiani.' Publications,1980 and l98l), 1.341. Commandementsdu Seigneuret Liberation évangélíque(Stu- 3 PachomianKoínonia. 1.338-339. dia Anselmiana 70' Rome: Editrice Anselmiana, 1977). a PachomianKoinonía. 2.414-415. pp.24l-43, esp. p.242. where he referred to Guglielmo s 'a PachomíanKoinonía. 2.166.260-262. Cavallo for a dating bit older than that of the preceding ó 'Chester 'Eine James M. Robinson and Alfons Wouters. roll' (seethe following note). Hans Quecke. Handvoll Beatty AccessionNumber 1499 A Preliminary Codicological pachomianischer Texte.' Zeitschrift cler DeutschenMorgen- Analysis.' Misc'el-làniaPapiràlogica Ramon Roco-Puig en el làndischenGesellscha.ft. Supp. 3.1 19ll (: 19. Deutscher seu t'uíÍanÍèaniyersari. edited by SebastiàJaneras (Barce- Orientalistentag1975). pp.22l-29, especially p.222. lists the lona: Fundacio Salvador Vives Casajuana.1987). pp. 297- Sixth Century. 'Nuovi 306. Seealso Alfons Wouters. The ChesterBeatt.y Coder Ac 12 Orlandi. Testi Copti Pacomiani,'p.241, cited 1499: A Graeco-Lotin Lericon on the Pauline Epistels and a Guglielmo Cavallo for a dating to the Seventh Century. 'Eine Greek Crammar (ChesterBeatty Monographs No. l2; Leuven Quecke. Handvoll pachomianischerTexte,' p.222: 'The and Paris:Peeters. 1988). hand is a very artificialuncial. which one would like to ' 'Die Hans Quecke. Briefe Pachoms.' Zeitschrif't der place considerablylater' [than a Sixth Century'dating. see DeutschenMorgenlcindischen Gesellst'haí't. Supp. 2 1914 (: the precedingnote]. 13 18.Deutscher Orientalistentag 1972). p.98. n. 13.advocates Already Hans Quecke has recognizedthe non-acci- the Fourth Century. and reports that the same date was dental nature of the five Pachomian texts acquired by the 'Eine alreadyproposed by T. C. Skeat in a letter of 17 xii 70. Chester Beatty Library. Handvoll pachomianischer 'It Quecke'sedítio príncepsis Die Briefe Pat'honts;Gríechi.sc'lrcr Texte.' p. 221: is to be suspectedthat the five pieces 'hoard' Text der Handschrift W. 145 cler Chester Beatty Librarl', belong together.and thus. as it were. presenta of eingeleítetund herctusgegeàen(Textus Patristici et Liturgici Pachomianmaterial. The five Pachomianpieces can indeed 1l; Regensburg:Friedrich Pustet. 1975). hardly have come together accidentally in the Chester 8 'Nuovi Tito Orlandi. A. de Vogrié. Hans Quecke and James Beatty Library.' And Tito Orlandi. Testi Copti Paco- Goehring. PachomianaCoptít'a. in the press.The dating is miani.'p.241.considers the materialto comefrom'the library from an early draft of the typescriptb,v de Vogiié. of a Pachomianrnonastery.' e 'Der Martin Krause. Erlassbrief Theodors.' Srudie.i 1a For a legendabout suchupheavals see K.H. Kuhn. I Presentedto Hans Jakob Polotikr'. ed. Dwight W. Young Panegvric on Apollo Archinnnclrite of the Monastery, of' (Beacon Hill. East Gloucester.MA: Pirtle and Polson, Isaac bt' Stephen Bishop o/' Herot'leopolísMagna (Corpus 'with l98l), pp.220-38and Plate6. especiallyp.221 every Scriptorum EcclesiasticorumOrientalium 394-95; Scripto- reservation,the Fifth Century.' res Coptici 39-40; Louvain: Secrétariatdu CorpusSCO. 10 Number 8: Dieter Kurth" Heinz-JosefThissen and I 978). Manfred Weber. Kólner ÀgyptíschePapvri (P. Kótn àglpt.) 1s It was this identificationof the remains of this codex 1 (Abhandlungen der Rheinisch-WestfàlischenAkademie as part of the Dishna Papers that lead to the decision to der Wissenschaften,Sonderreihe Papyrologica Coloniensia publishit throughthe Institutefor Antiquity and Christianity: 9; Cologne and Opladen: WestdeutscherVerlag. 1980). The ChesterBeattl, Codex Ac 1390; Mathematical School pp. 100-02.Hans Quecke,'Die BriefePachoms,'p.97. cites Exercisesin Greek and John l0;7-13;38 ín Subachmimir'. 'Fifth with apparentapproval the dating or Sixth Century' edited by William Brashear,Wolf-Peter Funk. James M. by Alfred Hermann in his very inadequate editio princeps Robinson and Richard Smith (ChesterBeatty Monographs (that in other regardscorrected), 'Homilie Quecke in sahi- No. 13: Leuvenand Paris:Peeters. 1990 [1991]). 1ó dischem Dialekt,' Demotíscheund Koptische Texte (Papyro- A.J. Wilson, The Ldè and Times of Sir Alfred Chester logica Coloniensia2; WissenschaftlicheAbhandlungen der Beatt\' (London: CadoganPublications Ltd.. 1985),presents Arbeitsgemeinschaftfiir Forschungdes Landes Nordrhein- an informed biography, including however all too few brief Westfalens; Cologne and Opladen, 1968), pp.82-85 and discussionsof the bibliophile dimensionof Beatty'sactivity. Plate3, especiallyp.82. Brian P. Kennedy, Alfred Chester BeaÍt1'and lreland t950- Number 9: Kurth, Thissen and Weber, Kólner Àg1,p- 1968: A Study in Cultural Politícs(Dublin: Glendale,1988), rischePapyrí (P. Kóln àSypt.) l, pp. 103-08.Hans Quecke. reports considerablymore 'Die about the founding of the Ches- Briefe Pachoms,'p.97, cites with apparent approval ter Beatty Library. pp.49, 'Fifth Seeespecially 125-27concerning the dating or Sixth Century' as that of Angelicus the relation with Martin Bodmer. Kropp, O.P. in his very inadequate editio prínceps (that 17 Martin Bodmer, Eine Biblíothek Weltliteratur 'Ein der Quecke also correctedin other regards), Márchen als (Ziirich: Atlantis, 1947). 18 Schreibr.ibung,'Demotísche und Koptische i"e,xte(Papyrolo- Excerpts of the exchange of letters are quoted by gica Coloniensia 2; WissenschaftlicheAbhandlungen der Kennedy, Alfred Chester BeatÍy and lreland 1950-t968, Arbeitsgemeinschaftfiir Forschungdes LandesNordrhein- pp.126-27. Westfalens;Cologne and Opladen, 1968),pp.69-81 and .1r) MANUSCRIPTSOF THE MIDDLE EAST5 (1990-199I)

PostscRrpr XLWI, 1 - LXVI, 24 en sahidr4re(Cologny-Geneva: Bibliotheque Bodmer, 1965), p. T. n. I stated: 'Various " It hastaken more than a generationto establishthe indications.internal or external.would tend provenienceof the Bodmer papyri, the approximate to orient our researcha bit north of Thebes.'But the extent of their contentsbeyond the holdings of the internal evidence.the dialects.is so variegated(Sahi- BibliothequeBodmer. and the detailsof their disco- dic. Bohairic.Paleo-Sahidic. Subachmimic) as to make very and marketing.The courseof this development them a conflicting and hence unreliable indication of can be tracedas follows: the site of the discovery. Victor Martin, Puptrus BodrnerI, Iliade,churtts 5 eÍ ó Kasser'sremark in Papt'rusBodnter XXI, Jo.rttéVI, (Bibliotheca Bodmeriana 3; Cologny-Geneva:Biblio- 16.25,VII,6 - XI,23, XXII, 1 - 2,19- XXIII,7, thequeBodmer. 1954t.p. 21. Isted Panopolis(Achmim) t5 - XXIr',23 en suhitlique(Cologny-Geneva:Biblio- as the provenienceon ïkrebasis of the land regtsteron theque Bodmer. 1963,p. 7, n. I might have seemed 'Of the recto of the rolls. Yet Martin recognizedthat once preferable: coursean admissionof uncertaintyis 'certainty'' the land registerwas no longerin use.the rolls could worth more than the aflirmationof a based have been moved anywhere.in which connection he on falseinformation.' 'Roman referred to Eric C. Turner, Oxyrhynchus.' The source of the external inlormation \\as not Journalo/'Egt'priun Archeologt'38 (1952) 78-93. w'here identifiedby Kasser.but by Olivrer Reverdinin his 'Les material from other nomes is reported to have been PreÍàce. Genevoiset Ménandre.' to ,líéncmclrt'.Lu 'Recto found at Oxyrhynchus.See also Turner. and Suntíenne.translated into French and adapted liorn Verso.' JEA 40 (1954) i02-06. On l-5 December58 the Greek by Andre Hurst. as presented on the 'That Martin wrote to William H. Willis: they'were French-languageSwiss radio on l5 March 1975. found in Achmim. though probable.is b1 no means publishedas a pamphletin 1975.p. l:'For a longtime 'The certain.'Willis. Neu Collectionsof Pap-vriat the one had onl,v quite vague indications about their University of Mississipi.'Proteetlirtg.s ol the IX' Inter- provenience.Shortll beÍore his death. however.the national Congressol Puprrolog.r'(Os1o: Norwegian antiquitiesdealer r"ho had sold them lifted the secret. UniversitiesPress. 1961). p. 383. n. 1. u'ho quotes He revealedthat thesepapl'ri came Íiom a villagenear Martin. took the comment to appl,vto the Bodmer Nag Hammadi...It is to Mr. RodolpheKasser. Pro- Papyri in general. fessor of Coptic Languageand Literature at the But one ma-y contrast Rodolphe Kasser. Paplrus Faculty of Letters of Geneva.and editor oÍ' a large Borlnter III. Evangile de Jean et Genè.seI-1V,2 en part of thesepapyri in the senesPrplrus Bodmer, LhaÍ bohairique(Corpus ScriptorumChristianorum Orien- he made his confession.' talium 177-178.Scriptores Coptici 25-26: Louvain: Then. with the resumptionof publication of the '... Secrétariatdu CorpusSCO.1958). 111.iii: uithout monograph series, Kasser and Guglielmo Cavallo. the exact proveniencehaving been revealedthus far. Pup.t'rusBodmer XXIX, Vísioncle Dorotheos (Cologny- One said that all the pieceshad beenfound togetherin Geneva: Foundation Martin Bodmer, 1984).p. 100. 'Various Upper Egypt, and that it had to do u'ith a private n.2. reported: convergingindications (among library. We do not know an-vthingmore.' Similarll' them the dialects of the Coptic texts) make ver.v Martin. Papt'rus Bodmer IL', Ménunclre:Le Dv.stolo.splausible the localization of this discovery in Upper (Cologny-Geneva:Bibliotheque Bodmer. 1958 [19-s9]). Egy'pt.a bii to the eastof Nag Hammadi.' 'unknown.' p. 7. listed the place of discoverl as But In the context of his 1984statement Kasser referred Kasser, Papt'rus Bodmer XL'[, Erode I-XV , 2 I en explicitlyto my having announcedinappropiately in sahidique(Cologny-Geneva: Bibliotheque Bodmer. the Bulletin of the Institute for Antiquity and Christian- l96l), p.7. reportedthat'w'e can admit.as a possibi- it-'-.7.1 (March 1980).pp 6-7.the discoveryof the lity if not probability. that these texts were copied identityof the BodmerPapyri with the DishnaPapers. betweenAchmim and Thebes.and. by preference.in On receipt of that Bulletin he had requestedfurther the neighbourhood of the latter site. The irnportance inÍormation,and on 23 June 1980I obligedby mailing of Thebes is due to the Proto-Sahidic (previousll' him a current draft of the relevantsection of a book I calledProto-Theban) dialect Kasseridentified in Papyrus had begun on the topic. Thus beforeannouncing his Bodnter VI, Livre des Proverbes(Corpus Scriptorum Íina1 decision as to the provenienceof the Bodmer Christianorum Orientalium 194-95. Scriptores Coptici Papyri (which agreeswith the outcome of my investiga- 27-28;Louvain: Secrétariatdu CorpusSCO,1960). an tions). he had accessto my published and unpublished associationmade explicit by Michael Testuz, Papvrus material reporting basicallythe samefacts as found in Bodnter VII-IX, r/II: L'Epítre de Jude; VIII: Les deux the presentessay, though no public acknowledgement Epítresde Pierre; lX; Les Psuumes33 et 34 (Cologny- is made to this effect. 'Status Geneva:Bibliothèque Bodmer. 1959. p. 32. who hence Instead.in a recentarticle, quaestionis1988 supportedThebes as the place of origin of P. Bodmer sulla presunta origine dei cosiddetti Papiri Bodmer.' VII-IX. Aegyptus: Rit'istctitaliana di egittologia e papirologiu Then Kasser. Papt'rus Bodnter XXVIII, Esaie 68:l-2 (1988).191-194, especially p. 192 and n. 9. J,{\,ÍES NÍ, ROBINSON. THE PACHOMIAN MONASTIC T,IBRAR\ 37

Kasser has maintained that my investigationswere too had beeninvolved. I askedhis name. He replied: 'rumor' 'Abd 'Umar. basedon no more than village renderedirrele- al-'Ál gil'ingin the customaryArab way vant by the passingof 25 years.Though this criticism his and his father'sname. I acknowledgedthe validity is to be dismissedas simply not accurate.it does serve of his claim by adding his grandfather'sname: al- 'Abbádi. to indicate that it would be relevantto pubiish the in this way incidentallyaccrediting myself as sourcesof the information presentedabove in Section someonewith the basic facts alread-vin hand. which 2 on the Discovery and Marketing of the Library. he then reported much as I had already heard more My own investigationbegan as part of my efforts to than once.Obviously in suchrepeated interviews there track down the discoverersand middlemenof the Nag are minor fluctuationsand contradictions.at times Hammadi codices. Jean Doresse had referred to a protestationsof innocenceand self-servinginterpreta- priest he thought had seenthe Nag Hammadi codices. tions,but in the cross-examinationprocedure the basic Abunii Dá'[d, whom I found after church on 20 facts were again and again confirmed. November 1974at the Deir al-Malák where he had Occasionaldetails provided by Riyád Íit remarkably officiated.near al-Qasr not far from Nag Hammadi. well the actual inventory as \\'e know it. The small Another priest there. to whom he introduced me. rolls the size of a finger that Tano told him were mentioned that the discoveredcodices had been for a letters could well have been the archival copies of time in the possessionof a Dishná priest named letters of PachomianAbbots. Riyád describedone Manqaryusand his son Tányus.I added this second- book as balled up. as if it had been forced into the 'On arily to my essay the Codicology of the Nag bottom of a piriform jar. This correspondsto the Hammadi Codices.' Les Te.rÍes de l{ag Hammadi: balled-up condition in which P. Bodmer XXII Colloque du Centre d'Histoire des Religiort.y( Stras- MississippiCoptic Codex II was acquired.The approxi- bourg, 23-25octobre 1974), ed. by Jacques-É.Ménard mate sizeof the discoveryand its variegatedcontents. (Nag HammadiStudies VII: Leiden:E.J, Brili. 1975). both rolls and codices.both papyrusand parchment. p. 16. on the assumptionthat it had to do with the were reported by the middlemen. though of course Nag Hammadi codices. they were not able to report on the languageof the It wasin the processof followrngup this lead that I textsor their contents. interviewedthe Inspector for Agriculture of the Dishná Written documentation.when available.has prorrded Governorate.Isháq Ayylb Isháq.who told me about striking confirmation.such as the parish diary of the what he referredto as the Dishna Papers.He gaveme FranciscanChurch near Nag Hammadi confirming 'to on 12 September1975 the name of an antiquities that Jose O'Callaghan had been there look for dealerin Alexandria.TawÍïq Sa'd. who. he said.had papers' in 1964-65. as Sa'ïd Diryás Habashr had acquiredsome of them. On 30 December1975, his marntained.Well after mv investieiirionsin Egypt had son. a jeweller in Alexandria. Émile TawÍïq Sa'd. beencompleted, I locatedon l9 Januarl' 1984.stapled showed me pictures of antiquities his deceasedfather at ac. 1390 in the AccessionsBook of the Chester had sold. He even let me borrou the three pictures Beatty Library, the typed note in Tano's wooden that had to do with manuscripts.which were soon English and unusual spelling that summarized the identifiedas leavesof P. Bodmer XXIV (with the help conclusionsregarding the provenienceto which my of Albert Pietersma)and XL (with the help of Marvin investigationshad alreadyled me. W. Meyer and Hans Quecke). I am heavilyindebted to Father Louis Doutreleau. I interviewed,repeatedly and year after year (in the S.J..who haswritten me over a period of years(1976- Dishná area alone: 18-21 November 1974: I I - l3 1980),with authorizattonto publish, details of the January, 10-18September. 25 November 20 De- acquisition process in Cairo. together with memo- cember 1975: 30 November 6 December. 18-30 randa he wrote in Cairo at the time and photographs December1976; 5-24 January 1978;3-11 January, l5- taken in Cairo of materials he eramined there for 20 December 1980),the principals in the story (listed Bodmer that later became Bodmer Papyri. Kasser's in the order in which they occur in the narrative): the repudiation of Father Doutreleau (whom he has never widow of al-QuntmusManqaryls (in Dishná) and his met) as too senileto be taken seriouslyis valid neither son al-QummusTànyis (in Cairo), Rághib Andaràwus in terms of his age nor in terms of his detailed. al-Qiss'Abdal-Sayyid (in Dishná,Nag Hammadi and intelligent letters and the earlier records he has sup- Cairo). Riyàd Jirjis Fám and his son Nushr (both in plied. I calledto Kasser'sattention a doctoratehonoris Heliopolis),Mlsá Fikn Ash'ryah(in Dishná),Ab[ al- causa Father Doutreleau had recently receivedfrom WaÍà Ahmad Ismá'Il (in Fàw QiblI), Sa'id Diryás the University of Cologne. When I visited Father 'Azïz 'Atiyah Habashr (in Dishná). and Suryál (in Doutreleau at the offices of Sources Chretiennesat Claremont. California). Lyon on 26May 1992,hetook satisfactionin pointing Theseinvestigations ultimately located the discoverer, out a secondhonorary doctorate framed and hung on Hasan Muhammad al-Sammán.whom I interviewed his wall. at Ab[ Máná' 11 August 1981.During the interview Confirmation has even belatedlycome, as I searched someonefrom the back of the crowd calledout that he secondaryliterature in this regard, from Kasser him- 38 MANUSCRIPTSOF THE MIDDLE EAST5 (I990-I99I)

'Fragments self. In du livre biblique de la Genèse located in the area conformable to his rather than cachés dans la reliure d'un codex gnostique,' le Mlle Bongard's view of the provenience. She had 'I 'affirmed Muséon 85 (1972) 80, he reported: have serious in all certainty' (p. 193) that the site of the reason to believethat they [the Bodmer Papyri] were discoverywas near a village named Mina or Minia in found, like the Gnostic codicesmentioned above.in a the Asyut region.Kasser was not able to identify there 'Les place near Nag Hammadi.' In dialectescoptes,' a villagewith any suchname (p. 193,n. 12),and hence Bulletin de I'Institut Franqaisd'archéologie orientale 73 rejectedher view. The only way that shehas then been 'A (1973) 81, he sharpenedthe identification: bit to able to reconcileher information with Kasser'salter- the east (north-east)of Nag Hammadi.' However it is native is (according to Kasser) to the effect that the quite inaccurateto describe('Status quaestionis1988 AsyÍt region may have been the provenienceonly of sulla presunta origine dei cosiddetti Papiri Bodmer,' P. Bodmer XVII, which is generally recognized to p.192 and n. 7) my identificationof the site as an derive from a different discoverythan that of the bulk 'echo' of his vague allusions to a site to the east of of the Bodmer Papyri. In fact the local Copts of the Nag Hammadi (the earliestof which he citesbeing his Dishná region offer the popular etymology to the essay'Le dialecteprotosaidique de Thèbes,'Archiv fí)r effect that Abrl Maná' derives from the name of the Papyrusforschung28 [1982] 77, n.2). For I turned to Coptic saint, Mina. which may help to explain the secondaryliterature concerning the provenienceof the garbled report by Mlle Bongard. Bodmer Papyri only after I had discoveredthat they Kasser'sown view ('Status quaestionis1988 sulla were the same manuscript discovery that in Upper presunta origine dei cosiddetti Papiri Bodmer.' pp. Egypt is known as the Dishna papers. 191-192)is based on information given to him bv Kasser reported ('Status quaestionis1988 sulla pre- Tano 19 years after the discovery. Kasser had pre- sunta origine dei cosiddetti Papiri Bodmer.' p. 192) viously maintained (Papyrus Bodnter VI. Livre tles that Tano gave "'Dabba" or "Debba" (al-Dabba, Proverbes.1960, p. viii. n. 1) that such information 'One 5 km to the east, slightly north-east.of Nag Ham- was irrelevant: knows the little credenceone can madi)' as the location. This villageis too near the Nile give to the reports of antiquities dealers when they to have preservedmanuscripts intact over the years,in cannot be confirmed by any archeologicalinvestiga- view of the annual inundationsflooding this areaprior tion.' Kasser'srevised position that his interview with to the constructionof the High Dam. But it is the first Tano was an exception to the usual unreliability of 'friendship' railroad station upstreamfrom Nag Hammadi, recom- dealersin antiquities,in view of a special mendedin the 1914English-language Baedeker as the with Tano and the fact that Tano's death was immi- station from which to visit the cliff area.It would be a nent, needsto be taken cum grano salis.I interviewed more convenient point of departure for Ab[ Maná' Tano about the Nag Hammadi codicesthe same day than would be Dishná (and for the Jabal al-Tárif than (20 December 1971.when Kasser and I were both would be Nag Hammadi), if one plannedto go by foot together in Cairo at a work sessionof the Technical or donkey, but would have been replacedby Dishná Sub-Committee of the International Committee for (or Nag Hammadi) once a taxi came in question (al- the Nag Hammadi Codices and staying in the same Dabba lacks a taxi stand).It was in fact the first name hotel, the Garden City House). Tano seemedquite used to locate the Nae Hammadi codices (bv the aggressivein spirit and in good health for a personhis Abbot Étienne Drioto-n, General Director'of the age. He died 9 February 1972.Dealers in antiquities Department of Antiquities, in a letter of 13 February assureall of us of specialbonds of friendship ('You 1948to Jean Doresse,reporting on an interview with are my brother!'), which one should not take too 'the the same Tano, and referring to discovery of seriously.But as a matter of fact over the yearsTano Daba'). Tano liked to associatethe Dishna Papers was telling the truth regardingthe proveniencewith a with the Nag Hammadi codicesfor financial reasons. remarkabledegree of consistencyto personshe trusted. But sincethe main middlemen trafficking in the Dishna Sincehe funded a clandestineexcavation of the site of Paperswere located at Dishná, that has become the the discovery directed by Riyàd Girgis Fám, Tano local designation. apparentlyhad the correct information. Kasser reported ('Status quaestionis1988 sulla pre- In his article on the Bodmer Papyri in The Coptic, sunta origine dei cosiddettiPapiri Bodmer,' p. 192and Encyclopaedia(New York: MacMillan, etc., 1991)8. n. 6) having waited in publishing his own view about 48-53,esp. p. 49, Kasserhas summarizedhis criticism the location of the discoveryuntil Bodmer's secretary of my results: 'Thus, [Odile Bongard] revealed her view ('a few months there are nineteen codices if one considers ago'). When it turned out to disagreewith that of only the reliableinformation gatheredby the Bodmer Kasser, the documentation I had entrusted to him Foundation at the time the Bodmer papyri came to be may have strengthenedhis hand in resisting her included in the library. There are some scholarswho. conclusion.For I was, in responseto his querry, able on the basisof much later research(some thirty years to clarify for him that the Dishnà to which I had after the presumeddate of discovery of the Bodmer referredwas, in spite of the divergentFrench spelling, papyri), think that they can also include in the Bodmer .lANíES \'f . ROBÍNSON. THf PACHOMIAn' MONASTIC LIBRARY 39 papyri various other famous manuscriptssuch as the distinct discoveries.The reasoningis the same.and P. Palau-Ribesfrom Barcelona(the Gospelsof Mark. henceconsistent conclusions should be drawn in both Luke, and John in SahidicCoptic. edited by H. Quecke). cases. and, above all, various letters of Pachomius.one oÍ' Actually. Kasser'slist of l9 itemsdoes inciude two which is preservedin the Bodmer Foundation but with not representedin the BibliothequeBodmer (items29 nothing to indicate that it might be part of the Bod- and 34). preciselybecause Bodmer acquiredfragments mer papyri. Their suggestionis that the actual iibrary of materialin Barcelonaand Mississippiand was kind of the famous Monastery of Saint Pachomiusat Faw enough to turn them over to the repository that held al-Qibli has been rediscovered.This hypothesisis cer- the bulk of the codex. Since Sir Chester acquired tainly very tempting, but the reltable inÍormation Íiagments from Tano belonging to codices acquired referredto above tends to weaken rather than streng- by Bodmer, it would be reasonableto assumeother then it.' acquisitionsby Sir Chesteracquired at the sametrme Actually, information originally' available to the lrom Tano should.at leastas a rvorking hypothesis. Bibliotheque Bodmer seemsto have been lost from be considered part of the same discoverl'. This sight.On 26 July 1956Father Doutreleauhad written assumptionhas beenconfirmed bv a note from Tano 'lt to Victor Martin: is quite certainthat this find of in the Book of Accessionsin the Chester Beatty thirty codices(in the region of Nag Hammadi. Library identifying one item (ac. 1390) as coming some 'Íiom like the Gnostic papyri) cannot remain the act of a from Dishná.u,ith the conjecturethat it was the singleindividual.' If Kassercan identil,r'only 19 at the Library of a Monastery.' When Bodmer's assistant BibliothèqueBodmer. u'here does he assumethe Mlle Bongard was later pennitted to sort through others are to be found? Apparentll' he u'as simpll' Tano's fragmentsfor vestigesof Bodmer's acquist- 'reliable unawareof someof the informationgathered tions. it was a matter of coursethat Bodrnermade by the Bodmer Foundation at the time the Bodmer availableto Sir Chesterthose that he did not identify papyri came to be included in the librarl'.' such as the as belongingto his acquisitions.just as he gave to correspondenceof which Doutreleau gave me a cop)" Barcelonaand Mississippifragments of their acquisi- The totai quantity of materialu oulC invoh'e what tions he had unknowinglyacquired. remainsof some35 books (plusthe 9 copiesof letters Father Doutrcleauernphasized to me rrll ln\ \'isit of Pachomian Abbots). Thel consist ot' 10 Greek with him in Llon on 26 May 1992 that Martirr classicalpapyrus rolls (numbers l. 2. 11. 21.22.30-33) Bodmer and Mlle Bongard knew hardly anything and 26 codices(numbers 3-16. l8-20. 23-29. 34. 35). about the discoveryand ntidcllemen.and that the little The codicesmay be subdividedas Íollous. ll are on they knerv they had learncd t'rom him. Kasser's 'reliable papyrus(numbers 3-6. 10. 12. 14-16.18. 20^23-29.34. informatton'is thus a second-handversion of 35),and 5 on parchment(numbers 7.9. ll. 13.19). l0 the informationI receivedfirst-hanci Írom Doutreleau arein Greek(numbers 3.5.6.8. 15.16. 18.26-28).2 and the Copts who had beendrr.'ctlr involved. 'soÍle in Greek and Latin (numbers15. 31). and I in Greek To discreditsuch research as thirtl'I'earsafter and Subachmimicilycopolitan(number 23). l3 are in the presumeddate of the discoven'is neitheraccurate Coptic(numbers 4" 1.9-14. 19. 20.21.29. 35). of nor relevant.The discoveryin 1952preceded by 22 which l0 are in Sahidic(numbers 9- 14. I 9. 24. 29, 35). -yearsmv investigationswhich began in 197'1.rvhich 1 in Bohairic(number 4). I in Proto-Sahidic(number comparesnot too unfavorablywith the 19 y'earsthat 7). and I in Subachmimic,Lycopolttan(number 20).2 elapsedbefore Tano confided in Kasser tnÍbrmation are non-Christian(numbers 5, 28).20 C'hristian(num- about the proveniencethat Kassertook at ÍàceI'alue. bers3, 4.6-15.l8-20,24"26.27.29.35). and 4 partly Sincemy' researchincluded interviewswith the princi- each (numbers16, 23. 25, 34). l1 contain something pals. made use of the notes Father Doutreleaumade from the Old Testament(numbers 7. 9. 10. 12-16.19. at the time of the acquisitions.and has beenconfirmed 26, 21),5 somethingfrom the New Testament(num- by written recordswhere available.it is hard to see bers3.8. 11,23.35), and 3 somethingfrom each how the presentationby Kasser.based on none of (numbers4, 6" 29). thesesources. has a higher claim to be accurate.It is It is quite arbitrary to limit one'sinformation about not as if he had retraced my steps and come to the provenienceand the contents of the discoveryto differentconclusions; he has simply usedthe authority that of the Bibliothèque Bodmer. The amount of implicit in his statusas an editor of the material at the fragmentsin one repository that belong to codicesin BibliothequeBodmer to asserthis view to be correct. another link the materials in Barcelona. Cologne, as if he did not have to give the reasonsfor his claims. Dublin and Mississippijust as firmly with the mate- In the caseof P. PalauRibes 181-183. it wasput in rials in the Bibliothèque Bodmer as does Kasser's lastplace in my Inventory.as beingleast certain. Hans 'not comment @. a9) that a singleshred belongingto Queckehad expressedskepticism to me in view of the the Gnostic library [of Nag Hammadi] has beenfound considerablybetter condition of this codexcompared among the Bodmer papyri and vice versa' effectively to that of the Bodmer papyri. Kassermay hencebe serve to indicate that we have to do with two quite right that it is from a different provenience.But his MANUSCRIPTSOF THE MIDDLE EAST5 (1990-I99I) negativeconclusion is reachedwithout consideringthe Mathematical School Exercise.sin Greek and John information I receivedfrom the parish diary of the 10.7-13.38in Suhuchmrhic,edited by William Brashear. FranciscanChurch near Dishná. to the effectthat José Wolf-PeterFunk. JamesM. Robinson and Richard O'Callaghan,who acquiredthe materialsfor the Palau Smith. ChesterBeatty Monographs No. 13 (Leuven 'for Ribescollection, was activelysearching in 1964-65 and Paris: Peeters.1990 [1991]). pp. 3-32. especially 'The papers'in the Dishná region. and from Sa'id Diryás of pp. 6-9; first ChristianMonastic Library.' in W. Dishná to the effect that O'Callaghan had obtained Godlewski (ed.)^ Coptit' Studies; Act.s o/' the Third some material from the local Dishná priest. When I InternationalCongress o/ Coptir:Studies, Warsux', 20- wrote O'Callaghan to inquire if he had securedany 25 August l9B4 (Warsaw: PWN-PanstwoweWydaw- Nag Hammadi material (which was my interestat the nictwo Naukowe, 1990),pp. 371-389.especially pp. 375- time), he replied that he had not, though he might 378. have securedsomething from the sameprovenience as Three unpublished items included in these earlier the Bodmer papyri. Of courseO'Callaghan may have publicationswere not mentioned by Rodolphe Kasserin had somethingother than P. Palau Ribes 181-183in his article on the Bodmer Papyri in The Coptíc Ertt'.t'c,kr mind. And of coursethese reports can be discredited. paedia. and for lack of confirming evidence.have aiso if one can establishreasons to do so. However they been omitted from the presentInventory: '2 should not simply be dismissedout of hand, but rather P. BodmerXLII, Corinthiansin Coptic (dialectand should be investigatedas to whether there may be material unknown).' Wolf-Peter Funk has determined some truth in them. Kasser was apparently unaware that it is in Sahidicon parchment.There may be some of them. unstatedreason to assumeit is not part ttf the Dishna To postulatean independentdiscovery of the archival discoverv.Hence one ma!' ar.l'aitlurther inlornrationor copiesof lettersfrom Abbots of the PachomianMonas- its publication. ter,v Order. which then by pure coincidencepassed P. BodmerXLIII.'an Apocryphonin Copttc(identin. through the samecanals to reach the same European dialectand matenal unknown).' Kassermentioned at a repositoriesas those which obtained Dishná Papersat meetingon the ApocryphalActs in Lausanneon l6 May about the same time. is of coursetheoretically pos- 1992 that this is only a lragment of no significance. sible, but hardly probable. After ail, the Coptic and Though there was no further elucidation. it may be Greek Pachomianletters had beencompletell' unattested omitted pending further information or its publication. 'Daniel for 1500years. Riyád's report that Tano told him that P. Bodmer XLIV. in Bohairic.' Wolf-Peter the small rolls the size of a finger. among the manu- Funk has determinedthat it is in classicalBohairic on scripts Riyád had for sale, were letters. seems to parchment. to be dated liom the 10th to the 12th confirm the converseprobability that the Pachomian Centuries.Hence it presumabll,doesnot come lrom the materials belong with the Dishná Papers Riyàd was Dishná discovery. traÍicking. P. Bodmer I, from Íhe lliatl. the lcr.rr.rof P. Bodmer L. Part of the difficulty in carrying on such a discussionis as well as the Homeric fragmentsP. Bodmer XLVIII that Kasser'sopinion is basedon undocumentedclaims. and XLIX, are also not mentionedby Kasser.no doubt 'the He maintainsthat reliableinformation referredto becauseof the original ascription to a provenienceat above tends to weaken rather than strengthen' the Panopolis (Achmim), in view of the fact that the land view that one has to do with the archival remainsof a registeron the recÍo comeslrom there.But that doesnot Pachomianmonastic library. But he does not provide determine where the ro11was later kept and reused. that information for consideration. Michel Testuz. Furthermore. this did not ori-einallydeter Kasser from Papvrus Bodmer VII-IX (Cologny-Geneva:Biblio- considering P. Bodmer I as belonging to the same 'The thèqueBodmer, 1959).p. 9. speculated: content discoveryas the bulk of the Bodmer Papyri. For once he of this anthology shows that the book was produced had edited in 1960 Bodmer Papyrus VI, in the Proto- by Christians of Egypt, probably on the order of a Sahidic dialect that he at that time localizedin Thebes well-to-do member of their community, who intended and hence called Proto-Theban, he simply merged this it for his own library.' Such pure speculationis not Theban órientation with the Achmim orientation in 1965 'reliable 'between information'; if there is such. it should be into the compromise Achmim and Thebes. made public. and. by preference,in the neighbourhood of the latter The Inventory presentedhere was also appendedto site' (see above). This location proved to be more or 'The the following essays: Manuscript's History and Iess correct. a location that he at that time conceded Codicology,' The Crosbl'-SchoyenCoder Ms 193in the could have included material from Achmim. No further Schoyen Collection, 1990, James E. Goehring (ed.), information has been subsequentlyreported as having CSCO 521, SubsidiaTomus 85 (Leuven: E. Peeters, emerged to associatethe provenienceof P. Bodmer I 1990[991]), pp. xvii-xlvii,especially pp. xxviii-xxxii; with a different discovery.Hence Kasser'soriginal inclu- 'Introduction.' The Chester Beattv Codex At: 1390: sion of it in the samediscoverv is here retained.