Papyrus Speaks: Ancient Egypt in Its own Words

Tūhura Otago Museum is hosting a free public talk with Dr Michael Zellmann, exploring the ancient world through papyrus and the voices it has preserved for thousands of years. Dr Zellmann will introduce papyrology, the study of ancient texts written on papyrus, with a focus on collections held in Aotearoa New Zealand, including Tūhura’s own collection.

Surviving papyri date from the third millennium BCE through to the first millennium CE, preserving literature, spiritual texts, records, and everyday details from daily life. This talk offers a fascinating look at how papyrus helps researchers understand Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern history, while showing how collections in New Zealand connect to the wider ancient Mediterranean world. Dr Michael Zellmann is a palaeographer, epigraphist, and papyrologist researching ancient religion and magic. He is a Gale Research Fellow at Macquarie University and a Director-at-Large of the American Society of Papyrologists.