Coming mainly from Egypt and other Roman provinces (as well as Herculaneum and Ravenna), Latin papyri deserve more scholarly attention not only from papyrologists and paleographers, but also from scholars of Latin language, as well as intellectual and cultural historians of Rome. Latin papyri, tablets, and ostraka (potsherds) are constantly increasing in number through archaeological discoveries. Because they are so rare, they are even more valuable than the Greek papyri, which have garnered much attention. Latin papyri have hitherto represented a border-line field of study that has not been fully exploited either by papyrologists or by scholars of Latin literature. Moreover, the obsolete bibliography and the considerable number of unpublished texts make the study of Latin papyri (and bilingual Latin-Greek, Latin-Coptic, Latin-Punic texts) – whether literary (e.g. Cicero, Vergil, law), paraliterary (grammar, medicine, magic), or documentary (letters, official registers, receipts) – a pioneering and challenging task.
