Here is a truly fascinating item. It’s a leaf of papyrus from Oxyrhynchus. On it, someone has drawn out a table of the forms of the Greek verb γράφω (“I write”)!
Here’s a splendid image of the verso:
What is displayed here is the forms of the verb, and these are labelled, much as they would be in a modern text. How fascinating to see this!
The first side of the papyrus, the recto, shows the perfect and pluperfect indicative active forms.
This side of the papyrus, the verso, shows the middle/passive forms. Indeed at the top of the page it states “τούτων παθητικὰ ἐνεστῶτος” = “The present passive forms of these”. Then there is a line of dashes below. In the margins, letters indicating whether each block is singular, dual, or plural.
The first blocks on the left are the present indicative middle/passive. These start with “alpha” – the singular, given as today in order, 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person:
Γραφομαι
Γραφη
Γραφεται
Then a delta – “dual” and then these forms:
γραφόμεθον
γράφεσθον
γράφεσθον
Then a pi – “plural” against these forms:
γραφόμεθα
γράφεσθε
γράφοντο
Then a line and a fresh heading, “παρατατικού“, above the “imperfect” forms, this time with a leading epsilon.
In the right hand column are more forms. The heading παρακειμένου precedes the perfect forms. Then below the υπερσυντελισκοῦ, pluperfect.
Here is the published transcription (and reconstruction):
Somehow this is just wonderful to see, for anyone who has laboured over a grammar, memorising forms.
The papyrus and its transcription were published in 1940, in G. Zalateo, “Papiri Fiorentini inediti”, Aegyptus 20 (1940), pp.3-30, esp.8-11 (II.2); JSTOR. The whole item is online here at PSI – Papiri della Società Italiana. The papyrus itself is held at the “Istituto Papirologico «G. Vitelli»” – Vitelli Papyrological Institute, and has the shelfmark PSI inv. 204.
Here’s Zalateo’s 1940 introduction, passed through ChatGPT:
The papyrus comes from the excavation at Kôm Abu Teir (Oxyrhynchus), carried out by the Florentine Institute of Papyrology during the 1933 excavation campaign. Its quality is poor; it is light yellow in color; the handwriting is uncial, with numerous ligatures, yet clear and confident.
The sheet contains part of the conjugation of the verb γράφω (“I write”). Judging by the handwriting, one might think it was part of a school manual, albeit an inexpensive one. However, the numerous errors found in the conjugation suggest instead that it is a schoolboy’s exercise. Although the student evidently had very fine handwriting, he had not yet fully mastered the endings and characteristics of verbal conjugation.
Supporting this second hypothesis is a certain irregularity in the layout, both vertically—where the marginal abbreviations sometimes project farther out and sometimes are more indented—and horizontally. Moreover, the lines separating the different grammatical persons and moods vary considerably in shape and length, appearing to be the decorative flourishes of a young student. The erasure (line 20) seems to have been made with a wet finger, more discipulorum (“as schoolboys do”).
The papyrus, written on both sides in two columns, may have belonged to a student’s notebook, or it may have been a single sheet on which the student wrote an exercise consisting of the active and passive indicative conjugation of the verb γράφω.
The marginal abbreviations ᾱ, δ, π̄ refer to the grammatical numbers:
ᾱ = singular (ἐνικὸς ἀριθμός)
δ = dual (δυϊκὸς ἀριθμός)
π̄ = plural (πληθυντικὸς ἀριθμός)
In the footnotes, he notes various irregularities or mistakes in the forms given, and indeed a correction at one point.
But what a wonderful thing! We may think of papyri as dull, but this is just marvellous to see.
H/t: I owe my knowledge of this papyrus to a post by Seth M. Ehorn of HCU on Twitter here, with interesting comments from Paul McKenna – thank you!