The publication of a new text of a Greek author from a papyrus often leads to an intense burst of scholarly excitement. ‘The New Simonides’, ‘The New Posidippus’, ‘The New Sappho’, ‘The New Archilochus’: the very names given to the articles prompted by these discoveries seem to confirm the claim of Telemachus, that it is always the latest song which falls most welcome on a listener’s ears (Hom. Od.1.351-2 τὴν γὰρ ἀοιδὴν μᾶλλον ἐπικλείουσ’ ἄνθρωποι, / ἥ τις ἀκουόντεσσι νεωτάτη ἀμφιπέληται).
Unglamorous though they may be, papyri of known works nevertheless make a crucial contribution to our understanding of ancient literature, by furnishing us with texts centuries earlier than those of our mediaeval sources, and thus with the potential to be less contaminated by errors arising from the process of transmission. This latter statement is particularly true of the papyri of Apollonius Rhodius. While Apollonius has yet to hit the popular headlines, the papyri, already discovered, show a text that in places may be very different from the one that is generally printed today. There is more detail about that in the commentary.
Unglamorous though they may be, papyri of known works nevertheless make a crucial contribution to our understanding of ancient literature, by furnishing us with texts centuries earlier than those of our mediaeval sources, and thus with the potential to be less contaminated by errors arising from the process of transmission. This latter statement is particularly true of the papyri of Apollonius Rhodius. While Apollonius has yet to hit the popular headlines, the papyri, already discovered, show a text that in places may be very different from the one that is generally printed today. There is more detail about that in the commentary.
