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In 1897, the Heidelberg University’s Ruperto-Carola Library was presented with an extraordinary opportunity to purchase a considerable number of valuable ancient texts, written on papyri, parchments, or wooden plates, in languages which included Arabic, Coptic, Demotic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Persian and Syriac. The acquisition came about primarily through the efforts of the University’s farsighted chief-librarian, Karl Zangenmeister (1837-1902), and was followed before the turn of the century by at least three more similar purchases. The budding papyri collection not only raised the University’s prestige, but also formed the basis on which its present world-class papyrus collection is founded. |
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