Ancient documents were most commonly written on papyrus, parchment, ostraca (broken pieces of pottery), or tablets, or inscribed on stone. The field of papyrology covers documents written on papyrus, ostraca, or tablets. The field called epigraphy (inscriptions on stone) is not covered in this Library Guide.

Papyrological discoveries are edited and published in scholarly, annotated editions, which are usually copiously indexed. As an aid to research in papyrology and in order to have access to primary texts from the ancient world, the BYU Library collects these editions.

Papyrologists have systemetized the bibliography of these editions and have assigned each one a symbol or abbreviation. These are found in Checklist of Editions of Greek, Latin, Demotic and Coptic Papyri, Ostraca, and Tablets. The Checklist is migrating to a new site here. For publications starting about 2013, see the new site. The old site is no longer being updated. Abbreviations for Arabic documents are found in the Checklist of Arabic Documents.

In order to find these editions in the BYU Library, click on the dropdown arrow on the Publications tab and choose the submenu containing the Checklist symbol for the edition.

Individual titles can also be searched in the BYU Library catalog.

If the BYU Library does not own a needed publication, please use our Interlibrary Loan service and we will borrow a copy for you from another library.