Middle Persian papyri, ostraca and parchments are important economic documents from the sixth and seventh centuries CE. They have mainly been found from the Sasanian Persian occupation of Egypt (609-619 CE) mainly from Fayoum (Hansen 1938; 9), during the rule of Xusrō II (590-628 CE). They contain list of food supply, personal names, ranks, military organizations, and dates. They are also instructive in understanding the manner in which letters were written and the way in which the dignitaries were addressed. Thanks to Guity Azarpay a collection of Middle Persian documents comprising 260 silk and leather manuscripts have been gathered and placed at the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.

    Bibliography:

  • Weber, Dieter. “A Pahlavi Papyrus from Islamic Times.” Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, 19 (2005): 225-31. (PDF)
  • Weber, Dieter. Vienna Collection of Pahlavi Papyri (PDF)
  • Weber, Dieter. Three Pahlavi Papyri Revisited. Sasanika Papyrological Studies , No. 2. (PDF)
  • Weber, Dieter. Two unknown documents from the “Pahlavi Archive” (PDF)
  • O. Hansen, Die mittelpersischen Papyri der Papyrussammlung der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Abh. der Preuβ. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1937, Nr. 9, Berlin, 1938.
  • Zeini, Arash. Middle Persian Papyri, Ostraca and Parchments: An Introduction. Sasanika Papyrological Studies , No. 1. (PDF)

Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire, Strasbourg

Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin

British Library

Papyrussammlung der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Vienna