Valérie Schram, researcher in Greek papyrology

What is papyrus ?

Papyrus, made from the plant of the same name, is a writing medium that was used throughout the ancient Mediterranean world. In Egypt, thanks to the arid climate, papyrus remains have been preserved in special conditions that enable us to study them today, whereas they have often been lost in other parts of the Mediterranean world.
Papyrology is the study of literary and documentary texts from Egypt that were written on perishable or disposable supports, mainly in ancient Greek. These media can be ostraca (pottery shards), parchment or wooden tablets, but are essentially papyrus.

How do papyrologists work ?

Papyrology studies texts dating from the period when Greek was the official language of Egypt, i.e. from the ^3rd century BC (after the conquest of Alexander the Great) to the ^7th century AD (after the Arab conquest)C. (after the Arab-Muslim conquest), which represents a range of one thousand years of history and tens of thousands of documents - mostly in fragmentary form - touching on all areas of life.
Within this abundant documentation, each papyrologist will have his or her own  speciality: there are those who publish the raw texts (preserved in collections or discovered during excavations) by deciphering, translating and commenting on them ; and those who work on broader issues based on edited texts.
Some papyrologists work primarily on literary texts, while others specialize in legal documents, taxation or social history - there's something for everyone ! I'm particularly interested in landscape history and the exploitation of Egyptian plant resources.

What course did you follow ?

After a baccalaureate and a literary preparatory course, I went on to study for a bachelor's degree in classics, followed by a master's degree 1 in Latin literature. I let myself be guided by what I wanted to learn at the time : ancient Greek, Latin, literature, history... Then I took the competitive teaching exam  and, with the CAPES in my pocket, I got a job teaching in secondary schools. I have to admit that the experience was a bit rough. When you're a young teacher, you generally feel a bit helpless. At the end of my first year of teaching, I said to myself : " this is too hard, I'm going back to school ! "
My Master's degree 1 in Latin literature had interested me, but I didn't feel I could bring anything new to the field.
So I was thinking about a different path, and it was by chance that I met a student who told me about her research in papyrology. This intrigued me, so I went to the Institut de Papyrologie to meet its director at the time, Jean Gascou. He opened for me the drawers full of papyri in the Sorbonne collection, and presented me with a Greek papyrus containing a compilation of superstitions linked to the chance encounter of animals such as larks and wolves. I was hooked: a month later, I started a master's degree 2 in papyrology, with the project of editing and commenting this unpublished collection.
I then went on to take the agrégation in classics and taught again for three years. This time, the experience was much more positive and I would have been delighted to continue ; but I was afraid I'd regret not trying for a thesis. I knew I could always go back to teaching, whereas if I didn't try my hand at research, I'd be closing the door on myself forever.

How was your thesis a challenge ?

My thesis supervisor, Jean-Luc Fournet, suggested a number of themes related to crafts in Greco-Roman Egypt, including butchery (even though I'm a vegetarian !), textiles, pottery and so on.
After a period of reflection, I developed a research project on the question of wood exploitation, from the planting of trees to the use of the material in construction or furniture. This had never before been dealt with in depth - no doubt because of the prejudice that Egypt had no wood resources of its own.
I built up my corpus little by little, knowing that I had everything to learn.
Late Antiquity and Egypt had received very little attention in my literature studies. Yet my subject covered the entire period of Greek papyrological sources, up to the beginning of the ^eighth century AD. It was a real leap in time and space for me.
The Institut de Papyrologie, which houses the best library specializing in papyrology in France, was very useful to me : it's there that all the editions of texts I needed are collected.
So I trained myself in what I was going to work on : papyrology with its tools and methods, the history of Greco-Roman Egypt, archaeology and excavations, papyrus restoration, the Coptic language, and even ancient botany !
One of the things I had to learn to watch out for was interpretation bias. Not only is the documentation not homogeneous, but the Greek language of Egypt can also have peculiarities compared to the Greek language spoken in the rest of the Mediterranean basin. What's more, certain vocabulary words will have different meanings in different periods. There will be shifts in meaning or the arrival of new words - as in any language - depending on cultural, political or regional influences.

Greek account (^3rd c. BC) testifying to the gathering of wood on the Nile in the form of a raft for an expedition to the Delta (detail of P. Lille 25, © Sorbonne Université - Institut de papyrologie).

Did your training in botany make a particularly strong impression on you?

Botany was a strong point in my research. I identified several tree species : acacia, willow, jujube, etc. And I was confronted with biases of interpretation. For example, in the editions of papyrological texts I consulted, the " heather " was regularly mentioned, and it was said that there was such a shortage of wood in Egypt that they were reduced to using heather wood. I found this curious : you don't build doors with heather wood ! Thanks to stays in Egypt, at the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo, I had the chance to discuss my problems with archaeobotanists - archaeologists specializing in the analysis of ancient plant remains. According to them, it didn't make sense to talk about heather wood, since heather doesn't grow in Egypt. It was at this point that I began to realize that there was a problem with the interpretation of the Greek botanical technical vocabulary found in papyrological sources. I undertook lexicographical investigations to uncover the true meaning of certain words. In this case, the term I was concerned about did not refer to heather, as in classical Greek, but to tamarisk. In Egypt, tamarisk trees can grow into real trees that produce timber used in construction.
There were, in fact, many more wood resources in Egypt than one might think. Above all, the Egyptians were experts at planting, managing and protecting their trees, ensuring that they were available for their needs. These are issues that resonate with our contemporary problems.

What have you learned from your experiences as a doctoral student and post-doctoral researcher ?

What I think is true for all young researchers is the pressure we put on ourselves to succeed in our thesis and then to be recruited as post-docs. Even if it was sometimes difficult, my privilege was to be accompanied and supported by people who were both caring, knowledgeable and demanding, who enabled me to multiply my contacts and experiences to enrich my CV.
It was during my two-year ATER contract with Jean-Luc Fournet that the idea of the " Le papyrus dans tous ses États, de Cléopâtre à Clovis " exhibition at the Collège de France really took shape. As an ATER, I was mainly involved in writing, editing and proof-reading the catalog - which includes photos I took on vacation in Sicily, Greece and Turkey ! All in all, it was the first time I'd ever taken part in the preparation of an exhibition - an adventure as stressful as it was exciting.
Following this, I worked in Norway on a transdisciplinary project dealing with the Christianization of Egypt in the ^4th century. I had to come to grips with new issues and learn more about religious history. What was particularly stimulating was the daily exchanges with researchers from other disciplines : archaeologists, ceramologists and Coptic specialists.
I would have liked to stay on, but I've since been lucky enough to land a permanent position at the CNRS. I'm back in France to lead a research program that I created myself. So I have no regrets. In particular, I'll be continuing my work on the exploitation of Egyptian plant resources, following on from my thesis. Of course, it's hard to know what we're going to find and where it's going to lead us - research always holds surprises.

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Valérie Schram is a CNRS research fellow at the Laboratoire archéologies et sciences de l'Antiquité (ArScAn). She was an ATER at the Written Culture in Late Antiquity and Byzantine Papyrology chair held by Pr Jean-Luc Fournet.

Photos © Patrick Imbert
Interview by Océane Alouda