. Light from the ancient East; the New Testament illustrated by recently discovered texts of the Graeco-Roman world. more probable, the ostraca were copied out by poorcandidates for deacons orders at the command oftheir bishop.^ Whoever has reaUsed the characterof ostraca in general will not be slow to perceivethe real import of this new find. Ostraca were asa rule the writing material used by the poor ^; apotsherd was to be had for nothing, even in themost straitened household, when some person orpersons unknown had been unkind enough to breakthe oil-cruse or the kneading-pan. The person whow
. Light from the ancient East; the New Testament illustrated by recently discovered texts of the Graeco-Roman world. more probable, the ostraca were copied out by poorcandidates for deacons orders at the command oftheir bishop.^ Whoever has reaUsed the characterof ostraca in general will not be slow to perceivethe real import of this new find. Ostraca were asa rule the writing material used by the poor ^; apotsherd was to be had for nothing, even in themost straitened household, when some person orpersons unknown had been unkind enough to breakthe oil-cruse or the kneading-pan. The person whowrote gospel texts on ostraca was a poor person: awould-be deacon, or perhaps a monk, a schoolboy,or a simple woman—some soul forgotten among themyriads that perish. So we might add this superscription to Lefebvresfascinating work: The gospels in the hands of thecommon people, the gospel among the poor ofEgypt at the time when the deluge of Islam wasapproaching. In the very selfsame division of Cf. the notes to the last letter but one quoted in Chapter HI. below(p. 212f).* Cf. the references at p. 46 f. Fig. 4.—Site of the Excavations in Delos. From a photograph by-Miss M. C. de Graffenried. [p. 53 NATURE OF THE NEW TEXTS 53 society which made them what they are, the mostdemocratic texts of all antiquity, we encounter onceagain the gospels. Six centuries have passed, duringwhich they have been copied on papyrus, on parch-ment, yea even on purple vellum with letters of gold,and thinkers and potentates, rich men and renownedhave read them. After their long journeying throughthe world the gospels are at home once more: onworthless castaway potsherds a poor man writes theimperishable words that are the heritage of the poor. Our brief general description of the newly dis-covered texts is ended. New Testament in hand,let us now betake ourselves to the sites of excavationsin the South and East and endeavour to decipher thestone inscriptions from the period which witnessedth
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