Book-Ends and Book-Layout in Papyri with Hexametric Poetry

Paragraphos & Coronis in Rolls

The paragraphos was one of the signs used to mark the end of a book and it consisted of a line at the left margin stretching under the first letters of the last line of the book. This line was used to separate visually the last line of a book from the first line of the next book.[12] The distinction between paragraphos and forked paragraphos (or diple obelismene) in hexametric texts is a chronological one: the simple paragraphos of the earliest rolls[13] evolved into a forked paragraphos from the end of the 1^st century BC, and from the 1^st century AD onwards the forked paragraphos becomes the norm with no exception in the data collected.

The coronis is, on the contrary, an entirely different sign.[14] When first used[15] it was a more mimetic sign, resembling a bird. In its standard form, the coronis has a sinuous shape similar to § crossed by horizontal strokes of different length, but a large number of variations can be found throughout our sample. Sometimes one of these horizontal strokes is particularly long and forked, and is identical to a paragraphos. When this happens, the coronis can be considered to be combined with a paragraphos. In our sample, the coronis is often strictly connected with a paragraphos which crosses, or is attached to, the coronis and reaches underneath the first letters of the lines.[16]

The function of the paragraphos and the coronis is identical, but they must be distinguished, even though they might share a common origin.[17] The paragraphos is more rare, and it seems to have been used to mark book-ends in epic poetry before the coronis. Of all the manuscripts that present paragraphoi (twenty, both rolls and codices), only two have a paragraphos but not a coronis and they are Ptolemaic or very early Roman papyri.[18] This evidence, together with the fact that among the nine Ptolemaic and very early Roman papyri only two[19] present a coronis together with a paragraphos, suggests that the paragraphos was the first sign used to mark book-ends. Around the first century BC, the coronis started to be used in place of, or together with, the paragraphos and later it became the standard way to mark the end of an epic book.

End-titles in Rolls

End-titles first appear in the Roman period. The first known end-titles are found in P.Oxy. XLII 3000 (#10) and PSI inv. 1914 (#11), dated between the 1^st century BC and the 1^st century AD. After then, the normal way of marking a book-end in Roman rolls is with an end-title and marginal signs, normally a coronis, often combined with a paragraphos. Among the manuscripts that show unambiguous data, there are eleven rolls where the end of the book is marked by a paragraphos and/or a coronis, and by an end-title.[20] The end-title therefore seems to have been a constant presence in the Roman period; this is also confirmed by the "uncertain" evidence: eleven papyri, dating from the end of the 1^st century BC to the 4^th century AD,[21] have traces of an end-title but have lost the left margin, making it impossible to ascertain whether a marginal sign was present. There are also two cases[22] which have an end-title but no coronis or paragraphos. There is no case of a manuscript without end-title from the 1^st century AD onwards (out of a total of forty-four rolls analyzed) and only two cases where the presence of an end-title is uncertain because of missing margins.[23]

In rolls with Homeric poetry, end-titles are normally written in two lines: the first line has the name of the poem in the genitive (ΙΛΙΑΔΟΣ or ΟΔΥΣΣΕΙΑΣ), and the second has the letter corresponding to the book which has come to an end. There are, however, cases where the name of the poem and the letter of the book are in the same line.[24] The genitive of the title is a short-hand for the full formula: ΤΕΛΟΣ ΕΧΕΙ ΙΛΙΑΔΟΣ (or ΟΔΥΣΣΕΙΑΣ) followed by the book number indicated by the letter of the Ionic alphabet.[25]

PSI inv. 1914 (#11) is the only case where the name of the episode's title seems to be present along with the end-title. This fragment contains Iliad 5.905–6.2, and after Iliad 6.1–2, which serve as reclamantes, it preserves half of the end-title and of half of what is likely to be the title of the Iliadic episode: [ΙΛΙ]ΑΔΟΣ | [Ε ] ̣ς | [Διο]μ̣η̣δους | [αριστ]ε̣ι̣α̣. Since this papyrus is quite early (it has been dated between the 1^st century BC and the 1^st century AD), it is possible that it still preserves the system, commonly used in classical times, of designating Homeric text by episode's titles.[26]

The end-titles of other authors are different, because we have the name of the author in the genitive followed by the nominative of the title: for example ΗΣΙΟΔΟΥ | ΘΕΟΓΟΝΙΑ in PSI 11.1191 (#36).[27] The reverse order is attested in P.Oxy. XLII 3000 (#10), which has ΕΡΜΗΣ | ΕΡΑΤΟΣΘΕΝΟ[ΥΣ].

Titles are normally written in a larger size, and placed underneath the last line of the book, after some major interlinear space. However, the dimensions of this interlinear space, as well as the size of the script, are unpredictable. There is even one example of title placed in a fresh column, in P.Lond.Lit. 6 (#13).

Ptolemaic and Very Early Roman Papyri

The papyri in our data set prove that the common claim that Ptolemaic papyri used to have the entire poems written continuously in one, very long roll[28] without distinguishing one book from another is false. Out of nine papyri from the Ptolemaic and very early Roman ages in our sample (3^rd century–1^st century BC), only one, P.Gen. inv. 90 (#2), does not mark the transition from one book to the other. Even though none of them has an end-title, four Ptolemaic and very early Roman papyri have at least one marginal sign marking the transition from one book to the other. They mark the end of a book with either a paragraphos or a coronis, or with both, placed on the left margin of the text, and this appears to be the most common method during the Hellenistic period. In particular, P.Sorb. inv. 2245A (#4) and P.Mert. II 52 (#9) have only a paragraphos, whereas P.Berol. inv. 16985 (#5) and P.Mil.Vogl. II 36 (#6) combine the paragraphos with a coronis. The paragraphos seems thus the most ancient way to indicate the end of a book. The other remaining four Ptolemaic papyri[29] are uncertain because the left margin is missing.

To conclude, four papyri against one unambiguously show a separation between Homeric books. On the contrary, in none of the Ptolemaic papyri are end-titles present. [30]

Reclamantes

In addition to the use of marginal signs such as the paragraphos and/or the coronides, there is also the so-called versus reclamans. Among Ptolemaic and very early Roman papyri, only P.Berol. inv. 16985 (#5) and P.Mert. II 52 (#9), dated to the 1^st century BC, offer unambiguous evidence of reclamantes. The versus reclamans in papyri without end-title can be a way of recognizing the end of the book; however, the reclamans is also used in later papyri with an end-title.[31] In these cases, the function of the reclamans is probably different. The most likely hypothesis is that reclamantes were used as signs to identify the relative position of different rolls. This means that the versus reclamans occurs only at the end of a roll, and this certainly happens in P.Berol. inv. 16985 (#5), P.Lond.Lit. 11 (#14), and most likely in P.Mert. II 52 (#9).

The use of the reclamans decreased with time, and from the 2^nd century AD onwards none can be found. This is probably due to the growing use of end-titles together with beginning-titles which, if used together in rolls, were more effective than a versus reclamans at indicating the relative order of different rolls, because it is easier to understand which book you are reading from the title than from the quotation of the first line.

Paragraphos & Coronis in Codices

Codices have coronis either with or without paragraphos, but there are no examples of paragraphos without coronis. However, there is one codex[32] which certainly does not have any marginal sign in the fully preserved left margin. Codices in particular tend to change the original shape of the coronis: the Harris Homer Codex (#42) and P.Ryl. I 53 (#47) display quite traditional coronides; the Morgan Homer (#43) and P.Vind. inv. 19815 (#51) instead present a more complex pattern. Also, the position of the coronis within the page changes. They start to be used in larger numbers and at different positions: around the titles in couples, or at the center of the page underneath the title as in Morgan Homer (#43), or placed as a frame to the title as in P.Vind. inv. 19815 (#51).

End-titles in Codices

All the codices available to us have an end-title. This is normally in the full form of the genitive of the name of the poem, followed by the letter designative of the book which has reached the end. In only two codices is the end-title uncertain because parts of the page are missing,[33] but there is none where the end-title is certainly absent. This is due to the fact that by the time of the appearance of the codex (3^rd cent AD), the use of end-titles was well established. In some codices the end-titles are combined with beginning-titles,[34] and they are often written in a much reduced form: only the letter to indicate the book, without any genitive of the work.[35] In particular, in P.Ryl. I 53 (#47), the full title (ΟΔΥΣΣΕΙΑΣ Ω) is to be found only at the end of the codex, when the poem reaches its end, whereas in the other instances the codex uses only the capital of the letter corresponding to the book number.

Books Organization in Rolls and Codices

It is difficult to determine how many books of epic poetry an average roll could contain. The fact that many rolls taken into account (twenty-seven out of forty-four) show remnants of only one book is not conclusive, since these might be only small portions of the original roll. Only three papyri of our sample certainly contained only one book: P.Lond.Lit. 25 (#16), P.Bodm. I 1 (#44) and P.Bodm. I 2 (#45). On the other hand, at least six papyri (three Ptolemaic papyri[36] and three Roman papyri[37]) of the sample show remnants of at least two books, because the end of a book is followed by the beginning of the next in the same fragment. This evidence, together with the fact that rolls were long enough to contain an entire tragedy (ca. 1200 to 1700 lines), leads to the conclusion that rolls, also in the Roman period, could contain more than one book, although there were editions also with only one epic book per roll.[38]

The analysis of the book number of books certainly placed at the end of a roll has shown that most rolls reach an end with an even number of epic book. This suggest that the most common way to organize an epic poem like the Iliad or the Odyssey in a roll was to have two books per roll, for a total of twelve rolls for a complete edition of the Iliad or Odyssey. This is consistent with the average length of a roll, which could contain a drama and thus have an average number of ca. 1000–1500 stichoi. Editions with three books per roll, hence in eight volumes, might have also been used, especially for the Odyssey, which has, on average, shorter books. As for the position of the books within the roll, it seems that epic books were put one following the other in the Ptolemaic period, and then, in Roman times, rolls began to have the new book in a new column, but also the older Ptolemaic system of having one book after the other in the same column was still used.

Codices always have more than one book; in our sample nine cases out of eleven show at least two books.[39] Codices could contain even the entire epic poem.[40] In terms of layout, of the nine codices that have a following book, six place it on the same page of the previous one. This evidence suggests that codices tend to have one book following the end of the previous one, and thus that they tend to occupy all the available space.