Critical and Utilitarian Sigla in the Adespota Greek Hexameter Texts on Papyri

Abstract

Abstract Within the framework of the preparation of the first edition of P.Fouad inv. 220 (unknown provenance, 3rd c. AD), an anonymous Greek hexametric poetry fragment accompanied by a critical siglum, and following my previous work on scribal practices in Greek literary papyri, especially on the graphic signs that accompany these texts, this paper lists all the critical and utilitarian signs attested in the 247 Greek surviving hexametric papyri of the Ptolemaic, Roman and Byzantine periods. These sigla are either directly associated with editorial work or were added by the scribe or corrector to provide the reader with practical information about the text. In doing so, the paper aims to better understand how the ancients conceived the writing of poetic works, and how they read, cited, and used them.