This instalment of The Oxyrhynchus Papyri has unusual coherence and interest, comprising papyri presented at a British Academy lecture series and workshop in June 2012 to celebrate the London Olympic Games held that summer: ‘Training, Cheating, Winning, Praising: Athletes and Shows in Papyri from Roman Egypt’.Footnote ¹ It includes the usual mixture of new and known literary works, sub-literary and documentary texts, but untypically concludes with an appendix by S. Remijsen, ‘Games, Competitors and Performers in Roman Egypt’, integrating the individual pieces into the overall theme of agones and artistic performance. This is crammed with information of both local (the evidence for the hippodrome at Oxyrhynchus; pp. 198–9) and wider Greek significance (organisation of prizes and other remuneration; pp. 199–204), and is especially pertinent in view of the importance of the Oxyrhynchus papyri to our knowledge of ancient drama and its performance, despite the anomalous position of the Egyptians (including the Oxyrhynchites) regarding their participation in the international circuit of Greek games until the municipalisation of the metropoleis in 200. The appendix is of interest to all Classicists whatever their particular specialism, far beyond those who would normally consult the P. Oxy. series. While it would certainly not be feasible to structure all P. Oxy. volumes thematically, the model adopted here merits consideration for other future volumes if suitable themes present themselves.

The new literary pieces include fragments of tragedy, old and new comedy, and three Mimes (5187–9). Fragmentary hexameters on the Argonauts (5190) are apparently in the same hand as 2513 and 3698 on the same theme, but the connection between the three papyri is highly problematic (see especially pp. 45–6). A lyric poem (5191) in an inexperienced hand mentioning (Zeus) Kapitolios is too fragmentary to clarify whether the reference is to the Roman or local games, and whether we have an autograph copy of a local poet's prize entry. A prose work apparently condemning the Corinthian tyrants for corrupting the games by introducing prizes (5193) has the flavour of a rhetorical exercise rather than part of a history. Also a student exercise is the encomium of the Logos occasioned by a festival of Hermes (5194); both this and 5203 (the list of Epagathos the choraules’ repertoire of 40 songs from 6 dramas) have been published previously and are well known, but are provided with full detailed commentaries. 5201, two columns of a commentary on Olympians I, is notable for reproducing virtually the whole of Pindar's text in successive lemmata, followed by summaries in more straightforward language.

The highlight is a papyrus copy of an inscription honouring the poet and scholar Apion son of Posidonios (5202, edited with extensive commentary by A. Benaissa), enumerating his impressive résumé of victories in the periodos and other major poetic competitions, and the consequent privileges and statues granted by his patris, other cities and the artistic associations. This new information explains the epithet πλειϲτονίκηϲ used by the testimonia, which our previous knowledge of his literary achievements left unexplained. Among many honours bestowed by Syracuse, Apion was granted the right to reside in its entire Museum (incidentally confirming the existence of the Syracusan Museum, associated with its theatre; lines 4–5 and 32–6, with notes). The text also provides the earliest evidence for the association of worldwide sacred victors at Rome (26–7n.).

The papyrus records his deme, philopatoreios, but fails to resolve doubts about the accuracy of Josephus' claim that Apion was not an Alexandrian citizen by birth, but was born in an Oasis in ‘deepest Egypt’. After seriously weighing the case for Upper Egyptian Ptolemais as Apion's patris, Benaissa (rightly in my view) concludes that most likely the deme refers to Alexandria, even though previous attestations for this deme in Alexandria are insecure. Although Josephus' hostility to Apion makes his testimony suspect, it is not impossible that Apion originated from a metropolite family from the Great Oasis (Dakhla/Kharga, where recent excavations reveal major investment throughout the Roman period, although the most spectacular finds are fourth century), acquiring Alexandrian citizenship as reward for his achievements; alternatively, F. Colin has suggested that Josephus was tendentiously alluding to Apion's birth while his father was holding the strategiate or another post in the Oasis (which of course would not affect Apion's civic status; BIFAO 104 [2004], 124–5).

Benaissa notes the potential relevance to Apion of Remijsen's important insight (pp. 193–4) that the excessive representation of Alexandrians in the Olympic victory lists must conceal a significant number of elite Egyptians from the metropoleis who before 200 evidently competed as Alexandrians. How often successful competitors had their status subsequently regularised by a formal grant of Alexandrian citizenship is uncertain; the three sacred victors cited by Remijsen (p. 195 n. 6) as Arsinoite residents may well be Alexandrian or Antinoopolite citizens, as the majority of second-century sacred victors certainly are, but how they had acquired citizenship is unknown. We know of a metropolite of Arsinoe admitted to the katoikoi (i.e. the gymnasial class; inherited also by his son) in 68/9 following a victory (St. Pal. IV pp. 62–78, lines 646–51, cf. 632–8); agonistic success had promoted this family one stage up the social ladder, although not (yet?) as far as Alexandrian citizenship. The possibility that athletic or artistic prowess provided a significant route for talented and ambitious Egyptians to escape the barrier to social advancement traditionally thought virtually impenetrable surely explains why the papyri record so little sign of resentment among the gymnasial class at being legally classed as Egyptians rather than Greeks.

5205 (IV–Vc.), a spell on the horses of the Blues, is the only agonistic curse yet found on papyrus, although lead examples are not uncommon (including a couple from Oxyrhynchus; the introduction cites the parallels and full bibliography). Although the text's structure is not entirely clear, the repeated sequence ‘Parthaion, Didume, Numphike, Pele, Strabon’ may be the names of the four horses and their rider. 5207 preserves two receipts issued by M. Aurelius Ploutarchos, the famous boxer known from Philostratos, in connection with his duties as life-long xystarch.

5208, drawn up in Antinoopolis, is the membership diploma of our first known female member of the association of Dionysiac Artists.

5209 (a contract to lose a boys' wrestling match) constitutes the first papyrological evidence of cheating in athletics, which the literary sources suggest was a prevalent problem. The commentary gives references, and otherwise explicates the oddities of this unique arrangement (including suggesting that the unexpectedly low sum of 3,800 dr. hints of more being involved beneath the surface). One party in this contract may be identical to the sacred victor C. Julius Theon (?) who petitioned in 5210 for exemption from liturgies on the ground of his victories and being aged over 60, and who also may recur in other papyri (5209.4–5n.). 5212 and 5213 are orders to supply meat to mime-actors and athletes respectively. 5214 provides our first attestation of the street ‘of the store-room of the mime-artists', located in the Praetorium amphodon of Oxyrhynchus (also new, but mentioned again in an unpublished papyrus).

The volume ends with four circus programmes (5215–18, preceded by a general introduction by M. Mountford) adding to the three previously known (none precisely dated, but sixth or late-fifth century). They include several words new to the papyri (p. 182). Their generous format may reflect use as handouts or, more likely, posters (at least two are authorised ‘farewell’ by the municipal official in charge [?]). It is uncertain whether the venue was the theatre or the hippodrome; the events opened with a procession, and the basic format was for horse races to alternate with mimes, gymnastic and other displays. Horse races were much more expensive to produce than the ‘circus’ acts, so their omission from four programmes could be a cost-saving measure – unless the racing had already taken place earlier in the day (pp. 181–2).

The volume has the usual array of indexes and photographs of many of the papyri. These monochrome images, however, seem now less useful than the digital colour images accessible on the Oxyrhynchus online database for all the texts edited here.