Description of the Collection
The papyrus collection of Bremen includes 87 papyri, of which 84 are located at the
Staats-
und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen
and three papyri at the
Übersee-Museum
It belongs thus to the minor papyrus collections in Germany.
Before the founding of the Deutsche Papyrus-Kartell the merchand Hermann Melchers (1842-1918)
commissioned in 1902 the archaeologist Ludwig Borchard to purchase papyri. The papyri with the
Apollonios archive were distributed after their acquisition between the various locations in Bremen.
Melchers let the papyri of Bremen be put under glass by the worldwide acknowledged expert for
conservation of the Berlin State Museums Hugo Ibscher (1874-1943). He offered them in November 1903
to the director of the then municipal library of Bremen, Heinrich Bulthaupt (1849-1905) as a donation.
As from 1905 the papyri were described by Ulrich Wilcken and edited with new numbering. Therefore, they
have two signatures.
The papyri of Bremen originate mainly from the environment of the official Apollonios, who acted as
nome strategos under the emperors Trajan (98-117) and Hadrian (117-138 AD) from ca. 113 to 120 AD. He was
instructed with the administration of the nome Apollonopolites Heptakomias. The documents written in Greek
(the only exception is P.Brem. 85 [= Nr. 86] = P.65 in copte) contain administrative records as well as
private and business letters. The importance of this collection results primarily from the genesis of the
documents mainly around the strategos Apollonios.
Important Publications
Ulrich Wilcken:
Die Bremer Papyri, Berlin 1936. (P.Brem.)
Handwritten prelimanary works of Ulrich Wilcken concerning the papyri of Bremen are also digitally available
here.
Maehler, Herwig: Zwei neue Bremer Papyri, in: Chronique dÉgypte – Bulletin
périodique de la Fondation Égyptologique reine Élisabeth, publié avec le
concours du ministère de l ́éducation nationale et de la culture et de la fondation
universitaire de Belgique, vol. 41, no. 81, Brussels 1966, pp.
342-353.
Böhme, Moritz: Die Texte des Apollonius-Archivs, in:
Schmitt, Tassilo / Moritz Böhme (Edd.): Welt aus
Schnipseln. Papyrus-Texte aus dem Alten
Ägypten, Bremen
2007, pp. 68 – 86.
Elsmann, Thomas: Die ‚Bremer Papyri’ – Zur Geschichte
einer Sammlung, in: Schmitt, Tassilo / Moritz Böhme
(Edd.): Welt aus Schnipseln. Papyrus-Texte
aus dem Alten
Ägypten, Bremen 2007, pp. 53 – 56.
Kruse, Thomas: „Es grüßt Dich die Kleine und sie lernt ausdauernd...“ Die Welt
der Bremer Papyri. Vortrag beim Freundeskreis der Staats- und
Universitätsbibliothek Bremen am 6. Dezember 2007, Bremen 2007
(
hier
)
Essler, Holger / Hermes-Wladarsch, Maira: Zur Erwerbung der Bremer Papyrussammlung und
des Apollonios-Archives, in: Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete, issue 2,
2015, S. 431 - 481