NOTE ON THE METHOD OF PUBLICATION AND ABBREVIATIONS

The method of publication follows that adopted in Part XLV. As there, the dots indicating letters unread and, within square brackets, the estimated number of letters lost are printed slightly below the line. The texts are printed in modern form, with accents and punctuation, the lectional signs occurring in the papyri being noted in the apparatus criticus critical notes accompanying an edition of a text where also faults of orthography, etc., are corrected. Iota adscript is printed where written, otherwise iota subscript is used. Square brackets [] indicate a lacuna a missing or damaged portion of text, round brackets () the resolution of a symbol or abbreviation, angular brackets <> a mistaken omission in the original, braces {} a superfluous letter or letters, double square brackets [[ ]] a deletion, the signs `´ an insertion above the line. Dots within brackets represent the estimated number of letters lost or deleted, dots outside brackets mutilated or otherwise illegible letters. Dots under letters indicate that the reading is doubtful. Lastly, heavy Arabic numerals refer to Oxyrhynchus papyri printed in this and preceding volumes, ordinary numerals to lines, small Roman numerals to columns.

The use of arrows (→, ↓) to indicate the direction of the fibres in relation to the writing has been abandoned for reasons put forward by E. G. Turner, ‘The Terms Recto and Verso’ (Actes du XVe Congrès International de Papyrologie I: Papyrologica Bruxellensia 16 (1978) 64-5), except when they serve to distinguish the two sides of a page in a papyrus codex. In this volume most texts appear to accord with normal practice in being written parallel with the fibres on sheets of papyrus cut from the manufacturer’s roll. Any departures from this practice which have been detected are described in the introductions to the relevant items.

The abbreviations used are in the main identical with those in J. F. Oates et al., Checklist of Editions of Greek Papyri and Ostraca, 3rd edn. (BASP Suppl. No. 4, 1985). It is hoped that any new ones will be self-explanatory.