The Deissmann Ostraca after 75 Years in Sydney

Abstract

This paper has two main parts. It begins with the first detailed account of how a collection of 87 Greek ostraca (i.e. inscribed pottery fragments), once belonging to the German theologian Gustav Adolf Deissmann, a leading Greek philologist, came to Sydney. The collection was destined to go elsewhere – were it not for the serendipitous convergence of Deissmann’s forced retirement under the Nazis, a much travelled German Egyptologist, an ailing Scottish theology professor, and the staunchly Presbyterian director of the Bank of New South Wales. The second part introduces the collection as a whole, before focusing more specifically on four selected exemplars. Two, whose writings have faded away almost completely since coming to Sydney, and two (representing the majority) which remain in good condition. Remarkably, most of the Deissmann ostraca have not yet been analysed comprehensively from a socio-historical perspective. Despite Paul Meyer’s philological publication of the collection in 1916, many questions remain either unasked or unanswered, leaving the potential for further research and study.