Konstantine Panegyres Hymn fragments on a papyrus from the ruins of the monastery at Deir el-Bala’izah, Egypt Abstract: In BZ 18 (1909), 309 – 323, Paul Maas published six hymns belonging to the fifth or sixth century. The earliest textual witnesses he was able to use were P.Lond. III 1029 of the sixth century (for only one of the six hymns), and MS Erlan- gensis 1234 (53 v –56 r ), dated to 1025 (for all six of the hymns). Mercati in 1932 discov- ered that parts of the fourth and fifth hymn were also attested on a different papy- rus of the fifth or sixth century (P.Lond.Lit. 235). No other witnesses from the same early period have since come to light. The purpose of this article is to publish a new papyrus fragment datable to the sixth century from the Bodleian Library, MS. Gr. liturg. f. 2 (P), on which verses from the fourth and fifth hymns have also been pre- served. This papyrus contains substantial textual variations, and is to be regarded as a witness of considerable importance in the textual tradition of the hymns. Adresse: Dr. Konstantine Panegyres, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne, Parkville 3010, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; konstantine.panegyres@unimelb.edu.au The papyrus fragment in question, Bodleian MS. Gr. liturg. f. 2 (P), was excavated from the ruins of the monastery of Deir el-Bala’izah, Egypt, by Flinders Petrie in 1907, and was subsequently given over to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, in 1908.¹ Its dimensions are 6.7 cm (w) × 12.6 cm (h). It was mounted alone on a small glass frame (see figures 1a and 1b). Preserved is a fragment of a papyrus roll. The text is written on both sides of the papyrus. The greater part of the side written along the fibres (→) is free of text, and this is because the scribe finished writing the fourth hymn somewhere in the central part of the column and did not use the leftover space to write anything else, preferring to begin the fifth hymn at the top of the next side of the sheet. A small The papyrus and its photographs are published here by permission of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. 1 This information comes from an unpublished handlist belonging to the archive of the Bodleian Library. On the site of Deir el-Bala’izah and its excavation, see P. Grossmann, Ruinen des Klosters Dair al-Balaizā in Oberägypten. JbAC 36 (1993), 171 – 205. DOI 10.1515/bz-2024-0010 BZ 2024; 117(1): 183–192