"The Gestation of the Codex" or, "From Scroll and Tablets to Codex and Beyond"

   A work which one would have thought was a work of popular literature par excellence is the Oracle of the Potter. Of this there [[70]] are three manuscripts [M-P list 4, all on papyrus], one of the second century and two of the third: all are rolls [three written on the other side of documentary rolls!].

        Similarly the popular fortune-telling manual known as the Sortes of Astrampsychus has survived in five manuscripts [M-P list 10], viz. 

168.4 = P. Oxy. 12.1477,  3/4th c, roll

The first four all date from the third-fourth century and are all on rolls [actually, two are on the back of documentary rolls!], notwithstanding the fact that the codex form would have been especially convenient for the consultation of the work. Only the fifth is a codex, and that is the latest of all (late fourth century [now redated even later]).  Again, although manuals of magic might equally be expected to adopt the codex form, no extant magical codex is earlier than the fourth century; and the same [i.e. although they are codices, they are not earlier than 4th c!] goes for the two known treatises on palmomancy (Pack-2 no. 2112, 2113). [But the two Berlin Sortes fragments are probably codices (written on both sides), and dated to the 3rd century; thus the Sortes example is no evidence against early adoption of the codex format for this type of material.  M-P\3 lists 8 (or 9) "palmomancie" texts (also under "divination" with 8-9 others, one of which is an ostrakon), of which only one [or two?]  is apparently first use scroll [unless this type of material was written against the fibers by choice] and four are codices:

2106.1 = P.Genav. inv. 161 Traité d'hiéroscopie (Costanza; palmomancie? Hurst), 2nd ce
2110 = P.Flor. 3.391, 3rd c, papyrus codex
2110.01 = P.Mich. 18.766 (inv. 6041), Karanis    III/IV     blanc)
2111 = P.Oslo 3.76, 4th c., roll
2111.01 = P.Oxy. 32.2630 v, IIIex./IVin.     1938.1 "Pe/an")
2111.02 = P.Prag. inv. G IV 71 + 156, papyrus codex
2112 = P.Ryl. 1.28, IV  papyrus codex
2113 = PSI 6.728, IIex./III (P. Degni, dans Mostra² ; IV éd.) , papyrus codex
2113.01 = P.Paramone 4 (P.Vindob. inv. G 2859), IIIex./IVin.     doc.)
2104 = P.Amh. 2.14 Traité sur la divination III/IV    "not a codex" Turner, Typ
2105 = P.Oxy. 6.885 (P.Brux. inv. E 5973) Traité sur la divination : interprétation de la foudre qui frappe les statues II/III
2106 = PSI 10.1179 Traité sur des modes de divination (?) Oxyrhynchus II/III     doc. : lettres d'affaires)
2107 = PSI 10.1178 Traité d'hépatoscopie II (éd.; I Mostra²)
2108 = P.Ross.Georg. 1.21 (P.Goleniscev) Traité d'hiéroscopie II
2109 = Brit.Mus. inv. Add. 41203 A :Numérologie : liste d'isopséphismes, mil. V (VI ed. pr.) autre face = 2316 TL
2109.1 = P.Oxy. 45.3239 Liste d'isopséphismes (avec mention de Rome) IIex.     deux doc. collés)

[[The other statistics for the category "astronomy and astrology" in M-P\3 are also supportive of the impression that the codex achieved popularity relatively soon among such writers. (add stuff from the paraliterary site, etc.)

APIS has 6 hits for "astronomy" (two of which are also in "astrology" list below)

P.Tebt.0449 Recto [M-P 2035]:  calendar, papyrus (2 col), 2nd ce  Chaireas' letter to his son Kronion)

APIS gives 15 hits for "astrology" (one is a Demotic ostrakon, one late Arabic), several are single sheet horoscopes; no codices:

P.Duk.inv. 912: horoscope, not before 30 ce papyrus  
P.Oxy. IV 804: horoscope, 4 bce, papyrus  blanc)
P.Mich.inv. 4 (148): treatise, 1st ce, papyrus (2 col)   blanc)
P.Mich.inv. 130: treatise?, papyrus, 1st ce, "verso"
P.Mich.inv. 1: treatise, papyrus (18 fragments), 2nd ce  blanc)
P.Oslo inv. 304: horoscope, papyrus, 150 ce  blanc)
P.Tebt.0276 [M-P 2051]: treatise, papyrus, late 2nd or 3rd ce  blanc)
P.Mich.inv. 234: horoscope, papyrus, 184 ce  blanc)
P.Tebt.0277 Verso [M-P 2052]: treatise, papyrus, 3rd ce  land register)
P.Mich.inv. 924: treatise, papyrus (4 cols), 3rd ce  blanc)
P.Mich.inv. 3823: table, papyrus, 3/4th ce  blanc)
P.Duk.inv. 662 R: treatise?, papyrus, 4th ce or later  magical text, different hand)
P.Mich.inv. 1045: horoscope, papyrus, 431 ce  P.Mich. III, 160)]]

     It will be seen, then, that the attempt to link readers of popular literature with a preference for the codex is not supported by the evidence, at any rate so far as Egypt is concerned, and we have no reason to think that Egypt was untypical in this respect. The further claim that texts of a technical character in codex form formed part of the reading of the artisan class is even more difficult to substantiate.  No examples are given, and a search through the list of codices at the end of E. G. Turner's Typology does not readily reveal a single example which one might picture in the hands of an artisan. In the present state of knowledge, therefore, both these hypotheses must be regarded as unproved. [[add Cribiore info on "school" practices]]

[[Much more evidence has become available since 1983. Using M-P3,  the Paraliterary Papyri data bank, and Cribiore's catalog (the online site is missing plates 31-32, items 261 263 273 275), here are the earliest listed codices:, through the 4th century paleographic estimates. The first group consists of sets of wooden tablets, usually waxed, and sometimes in vertical codex format:, arranged roughly chronologically

M-P 0430 [Crib 182=XIX] BKT 5.2.98 (inv. 17651) Euripides  (1st c)

undated  M-P 1883.1 TBerol [no#]  Gnomic (nd)

[Crib 387 vanH 347] Lord's Prayer (two bifolia? papyrus codex 3rd c)

The remaining 30 "codices" dated to the same period are almost all in extremely fragmentary condition, on papyrus (only one is on parchment), and mostly related to the text of Homer or other "classical" texts.  Glossaries and scholia predominate.

Here are the 40 categories used by M-P\3, with the number of examples on the left (from all periods), the number of papyrus (and parchment) codices to the right. By far the highest percentage of codices is in the category of Law 26 of 47 = over 50, followed by Tachography at about  30%, and several others around 20%. These all deserve closer analysis, especially regarding date ranges (the categories used in PP do not always correspond). Some categories mentioned by ancient authors include  GRA/MMATA, SUGGRA/MMATA, A)POMNHMONEU/MATA (43 times in TLG), UPOMNHMATA (851), LOGIKA\ E)PITHDEU/MATA, E)PI/GRAMMA, POI/HMA, PRA/CEIS, BI/OUS, E)PITOMH\N, SXO/LIA, I(STORI/AS.

[[**None of the "Law" codices on papyrus are dated earlier than 3/4th CE, and most in 5th or 6th CE; on parchment, several are dated 4th or 4/5th, only one possibly 3/4th CE. Otherwise, the earliest of the 15 papyrus "Law" rolls are:

2279.1 = P.Oxy. 46.3285 is dated 2nd half of 2nd CE;
2286.1 = P.Brux. inv. 7172 is 1/2nd CE; 2983 = P.Aberd. 130 (inv. 2 c) from about 100 CE or later;
2986 = P.Mich. 7.431 (inv. 513) from 1st CE;
2987 = P.Mich. 7.456 (inv. 5604 br) + P.CtYBR inv. 1158r from perhaps 1/2nd; and
2993.6 = ChLA XII 544 (P.Monac. inv. L 2r) from perhaps around 100 CE

Several of these 15 pieces are opisthographs or are written on reused materials. The 6 "Law" parchments rolls are dated 4th to 6th CE.

*Many of the "Astrological" texts are 3rd CE or earlier. Some 100 are listed by M-P\3 as on papyrus (not codices), dating up to about 200 CE, including 27 up to about the year 100 (several are in the 1999 POxy 61 volume dedicated to this subject, some undated), such as:

M-P2011 PHib 1.27 astronomic table after 300 bce (3rd bce)

The following are listed as papyrus