One seemingly intractable mystery that Sampson has (to my mind, anyway) solved involves one of the first provenance stories associated with the Sappho papyrus. Early on, it was claimed that the papyrus had originated in mummy cartonnage that had once been owned by “a high-ranking German officer.” This provenance story quickly evaporated and was never explained. A little background will help to illuminate Sampson’s discovery.For more on C. Michael Sampson's recent article on the provenance of the Sappho Papyrus, see here. And follow the links from there for many past posts with background on and ramifications of the Sappho papyrus and, more broadly, the missing papyri scandal.
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