Dirk D. Obbink (born 13 January 1957 in

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

) is an American

papyrologist Papyrology is the study of manuscripts of ancient literature, correspondence, legal archives, etc., preserved on portable media from antiquity, the most common form of which is papyrus, the principal writing material in the ancient civilizations ...

and

classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

. He was Lecturer in Papyrology and Greek Literature in the Faculty of Classics at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

until 6 February 2021, and was the head of the

Oxyrhynchus Papyri The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a group of manuscripts discovered during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt (, mo ...

Project until August 2016. Obbink was also a fellow and tutor in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Christ Church Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded ...

, from which role he was suspended in October 2019, as a result of allegations that he had stolen some of the Oxyrhynchus papyri and sold them to the

Museum of the Bible The Museum of the Bible is a museum in Washington D.C., owned by Museum of the Bible, Inc., a non-profit organization established in 2010 by the Green family. The museum documents the narrative, history, and impact of the Bible. It opened on No ...

Early life and education

Dirk Obbink's ancestors were originally from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, later immigrating to the United States. Obbink's father Jack was director of the

Federal Housing Administration The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), also known as the Office of Housing within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is a United States government agency founded by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, created in part ...

office in Omaha; his mother worked for the state government. He attended high school in Lincoln, Nebraska, and took a BA in English at the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in 1979, before earning an MA in Classical Studies and Papyrology there in 1984. In 1987, he received his PhD in Classics at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

with his 1986 dissertation entitled ''Philodemus, De Pietate I''.

Career

After an assistant professorship at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York in 1995, Obbink was appointed to the post of Lecturer in Papyrology and Greek Literature in the Faculty of Classics at Christ Church,

and was appointed the head of the

Project. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a large collection of ancient

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

fragments discovered by

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

s at an ancient rubbish dump near

Oxyrhynchus Oxyrhynchus (; grc-gre, Ὀξύρρυγχος, Oxýrrhynchos, sharp-nosed; ancient Egyptian ''Pr-Medjed''; cop, or , ''Pemdje''; ar, البهنسا, ''Al-Bahnasa'') is a city in Middle Egypt located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. They include thousands of

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

documents, letters and literary works. In addition, from 2003 to 2007, Obbink was a faculty member at the University of Michigan, as a professor of classical studies and the Ludwig Koenen Collegiate Professor of Papyrology. From 1998 to circa 2015, Obbink was the Director of the ''Imaging Papyri Project'' at Oxford. This project is working to capture digitised images of Greek and Latin papyri held by the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

(the

), and the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

and the Biblioteca Nazionale in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

(the carbonized scrolls from the

Villa of the Papyri The Villa of the Papyri ( it, Villa dei Papiri, also known as ''Villa dei Pisoni'' and in early excavation records as the ''Villa Suburbana'') was an ancient Roman villa in Herculaneum, in what is now Ercolano, southern Italy. It is named after ...

Herculaneum Herculaneum (; Neapolitan and it, Ercolano) was an ancient town, located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Like the nea ...

), for the creation of an Oxford bank of digitised images of papyri. The newly digitised versions of the literary texts will be published. An international team of papyrologists combine traditional

philological Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as the ...

methods with more recent digital imaging techniques. They have made accessible heavily damaged texts from the ancient world, many of which had been regarded as being irretrievably lost. In this way the damaged texts of the

and the

can now be read for the first time. Obbink has made significant contributions in the fields of ancient literature, society and philosophy. He is familiar with the poetry of

Sappho Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her Greek lyric, lyric poetry, written to be sung while ...

Simonides Simonides of Ceos (; grc-gre, Σιμωνίδης ὁ Κεῖος; c. 556–468 BC) was a Greek lyric poet, born in Ioulis on Kea (island), Ceos. The scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria included him in the canonical list of the nine lyric p ...

discovered in the Egyptian Oxyrhynchus papyri, as he is with the technical-philosophical writings of the

Epicurean Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism. Later its main opponent became Stoicism. Few writings by Epi ...

Philodemus Philodemus of Gadara ( grc-gre, Φιλόδημος ὁ Γαδαρεύς, ''Philodēmos'', "love of the people"; c. 110 – prob. c. 40 or 35 BC) was an Arabic Epicurean philosopher and poet. He studied under Zeno of Sidon in Athens, before moving ...

, the text of which he helped recover from the carbonized papyrus rolls discovered in The Villa of the Papyri at

. In 2001, Obbink was awarded a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to ...

for his work on the

papyri Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a d ...

from

and

. In May 2007, the

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...

awarded him an honorary doctorate.
Honorary Doctorates awarded by Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (2007) In March 2010, Obbink appeared in

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's series ''Alexandria: The Greatest City'', presented by

Bettany Hughes Bettany Mary Hughes (born May 1967) is an English historian, author and broadcaster, specialising in classical history. Her published books cover classical antiquity and myth, and the history of Istanbul. She is active in efforts to encourage ...

. In the programme he talked about the ancient

Library of Alexandria The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. The Library was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to the Muses, th ...

. He also featured briefly in the 2015

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Alleged sale of stolen papyri

Egypt Exploration Society The Egypt Exploration Society (EES) is a British non-profit organization. The society was founded in 1882 by Amelia Edwards and Reginald Stuart Poole in order to examine and excavate in the areas of Egypt and Sudan. The intent was to study and ana ...

In May 2018 Obbink and Daniela Colomo published the papyrus fragment P.Oxy. 5345 in volume LXXXIII of the ''Oxyrhynchus Papyri'' series of the Egypt Exploration Society. This fragment contained portions of six verses from the first chapter of the

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark), or simply Mark (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to h ...

, and was designated 𝔓¹³⁷ in the standard classification of

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

papyri. Obbink and Colomo dated it to the later second or earlier third century, but rumours of its content, provenance and date had been widely discussed since 2012, fuelled by an ill-advised claim by

Daniel B. Wallace Daniel Baird Wallace (born June 5, 1952) is an American professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He is also the founder and executive director of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, the purpose of whi ...

in 2012 that a fragmentary papyrus of Mark had been authoritatively dated to the late first century by one of the world's leading paleographers, and might consequently be the earliest surviving Christian text. Following publication in 2018, the EES, the owners of the papyrus fragment, released a statement clarifying both the provenance of the fragment and Obbink's role in the circumstances of misleading information subsequently emerging on social media. The EES stated that the text in the fragment had only been recognised as being from the Gospel of Mark in 2011. In an earlier cataloguing in the 1980s by Revel Coles, the fragment had been described as 'I/II', which appeared to be the origin of the much discussed assertions of a very early date. In 2011/2012 the papyrus was in the keeping of Obbink, who had shown it to Scott Carroll, then representing the

Green Collection The Green Collection, later known as the Museum Collection, is the one of the world's largest private collection of rare biblical texts and artifacts, made up of more than 40,000 biblical antiquities assembled by the Green family, founders of th ...

, in connection with a proposal that it might be included in the exhibition of biblical papyri ''Verbum Domini'' at the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

during Lent and Easter 2012. It was not until the spring of 2016 that the EES realised that the rumoured "First Century Mark" papyrus that had become the subject of so much speculation was one and the same as their own fragment P.Oxy. 5345, whereupon Obbink and Colomo were requested to prepare it for publication. In June 2019, the EES released a further statement following the publication by Michael Holmes of the

of a contract between Obbink and

Hobby Lobby Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., formerly Hobby Lobby Creative Centers, is an American retail company. It owns a chain of arts and crafts stores with a volume of over $5 billion in 2018. The chain has 969 stores in 47 US states. Hobby Lobby is owned by ...

dated 17 January 2013 for the sale of a number of fragmentary texts, one of which Holmes identified as P.Oxy. LXXXIII 5345. The Egypt Exploration Society reaffirmed its previous statement that this fragment had never been offered for sale by the EES, while offering the clarification that, in that statement, they had "simply reported Professor Obbink's responses to our questions at that time, in which he insisted that he had not sold or offered for sale the Mark fragment to the Green Collection, and that he had not required Professor Wallace to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement in relation to such a sale". In the July/August 2019 issue of ''

Christianity Today ''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "evange ...

'',

Jerry Pattengale Jerry A. Pattengale (born 1958) is a faculty member and administrator at Indiana Wesleyan University. He coined and founded the approach of “ purpose-guided education” in 1997 while leading the implementation of student success programs at Ind ...

wrote an article in which he published for the first time his own perspectives on the 'First Century Mark' saga. Pattengale stated that he had been present with Scott Carroll in Obbink's rooms in

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

in late 2011, when the 𝔓¹³⁷ fragment was offered for sale to the Museum of the Bible, which Pattengale then represented. Also offered for sale were fragments of the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John, all of which Obbink had then proposed as likely to be of a second century date, while the Mark fragment was presented as more likely first century. According to Pattengale, he had undertaken due diligence in showing images of the four fragments to selected New Testament textual scholars, including

– subject to their signing non-disclosure agreements in accordance with Obbink's stipulations; and the purchase was eventually finalised, with the fragments agreed to remain in Obbink's possession for research prior to publication. It was not until a gala dinner in November 2017, celebrating the opening of the Museum of the Bible, that Pattengale realised that the First Century Mark fragment had been the property of the Egypt Exploration Society all along, and consequently had never legitimately been offered for sale. In October 2019, the EES announced that twelve papyrus fragments and one parchment fragment were being returned to them by the Museum of the Bible, which acknowledged that the fragments belonged to the EES. The Museum of the Bible stated that eleven of these pieces had come into their possession after having been sold to Hobby Lobby by Obbink in two batches in 2010. The other two pieces are reported to have been bought from a dealer based in Israel. The EES said that the corresponding catalogue card and photograph for most of these thirteen items were also missing from the EES collection, and that they were only able to identify the missing items because backup copies of the catalogue cards and photographs had been made. The EES is continuing to check its collection for any more items that may have been taken without permission. These thirteen items are: * P.Oxy. inv. 39 5B.119/C(4–7)b: ''Genesis'' 5 * P.Oxy. inv. 20 3B.30/F(5–7)b: ''Genesis'' 17 * P.Oxy. inv. 102/171(e): ''Exodus'' 20–21 * P.Oxy. inv. 105/149(a): ''Exodus'' 30.18–19 * P.Oxy. inv. 93/Dec. 23/M.1: ''Deuteronomy'' * P.Oxy. inv. 8 1B.188/D(1–3)a: ''Psalms'' 9.23–26 * P.Oxy. inv. 16 2B.48/C(a): ''Sayings of Jesus'' * related to P.Oxy. inv. 101/72(a): ''Romans'' 3 * P.Oxy. inv. 29 4B.46/G(4–6)a: ''Romans'' 9–10 * P.Oxy. inv. 106/116(d) + 106/116(c): 1 ''Corinthians'' 7–10 * P.Oxy. inv. 105/188(c): ''Quotation of Hebrews'' * P.Oxy. inv. 3 1B.78/B(1–3)a: ''Scriptural homily'' * P.Oxy. inv. 8 1B.192/G(2)b: ''Acts of Paul'' (parchment) Since June 2019, Obbink has had his access to the EES collection removed, and he is under investigation by Oxford University for removing texts belonging to the EES from university premises. In a statement to the ''

Waco Tribune-Herald The ''Waco Tribune-Herald'' is an American daily newspaper serving Waco, Texas, and vicinity. Background The newspaper has its roots in five predecessors, beginning with the ''Waco Evening Telephone'' in 1892. The ''Tribune-Herald'' took its curr ...

'', Obbink denied all accusations of wrongdoing and claimed that documents linking him to the sale of the papyrus fragments were forgeries deliberately intended to damage his reputation and career. In October 2019, Obbink was suspended from his role at Christ Church, Oxford. In November 2019, the chairman of the EES stated that 120 pieces had been discovered to be missing from their collection of Oxyrhynchus papyri, including the thirteen items from the Museum of the Bible and another six items now in the collection of Andrew Stimer in California. Both the Museum of the Bible and Stimer have agreed to return the pieces to the EES. The alleged thefts of these items were reported to the

Thames Valley Police Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. It the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, covering a ...

on 12 November 2019. Obbink's arrest by officers from Thames Valley police was reported on 16 April 2020 in the student newspaper ''The Oxford Blue''. In June 2021 the

stated it was suing Obbink for £5 million.

, the company behind the Museum, alleges that Obbink sold fragments of papyrus and ancient objects stolen from an Oxford University collection in seven private sales between 2010 and 2013, worth a total of $7,095,100. In December 2021, ''Christianity Today'' reported that a default judgement had been issued against Obbink.

Select publications

* Alan K. Bowman (Author, Editor), R.A. Coles (Editor), N. Gonis (Editor), Dirk Obbink (Editor), Peter John Parsons (Editor), ''Oxyrhynchus: A City and Its Texts'' Egypt Exploration Society (2007) * Christopher A. Faraone (Editor), Dirk Obbink (Editor) ''Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion'' OUP USA (1997) * Marcello Gigante (Author)and Dirk Obbink (Translator) ''Philodemus in Italy: The Books from Herculaneum (The Body in Theory: Histories of Cultural Materialism)'' The University of Michigan Press (2002) * Dirk Obbink (Editor), ''Philodemus and Poetry: Poetic Theory and Practice in Lucretius, Philodemus, and Horace'' Oxford University Press USA (1995) * T. V. Evans (Editor), D. D. Obbink (Editor) ''The Language of the Papyri'' Oxford University Press (2009) * A.E. Raubitschek (Author), Dirk Obbink (Editor), Paul A.Vander Waerdt (Editor), ''The School of Hellas: Essays on Greek History, Archaeology and Literature'' Oxford University Press Inc (1991) * Dirk Obbink, ''Philodemus On Piety: Part 1, Critical Text with Commentary: Critical Text with Commentary Pt.1'' Clarendon Press (1996) * Jean-Jacques Aubert (Contributor), Roger S. Bagnall (Editor), Dirk D. Obbink (Editor) ''Columbia Papyri X (American Studies in Papyrology)'' American Society of Papyrologists (1996) * N. Gonis (Editor), Dirk Obbink (Editor), P. J. Parsons (Editor) ''Oxyrhynchus Papyri 68 (4639-4704) (Graeco-Roman Memoirs)'' Egypt Exploration Society (2003) * N. Gonis (Editor), Dirk Obbink (Editor), D. Colomo (Editor) ''Oxyrhynchus Papyri: v. 69 (Graeco-Roman Memoirs)'' Egypt Exploration Society (2005) * N. Gonis (Author), Dirk Obbink (Author) ''Oxyrhynchus Papyri: Pt. 73 (Graeco-Roman Memoirs)'' Egypt Exploration Society (2009) * John T. Fitzgerald (Author, Editor), Dirk Obbink (Author, Editor), Glenn Stanfield Holland (Author, Editor), et al. ''Philodemus and the New Testament World (Novum Testamentum Supplements)'' Brill (2003) * Anubio, ''Carmen Astrologicum Elegiacum'', ed. Dirk Obbink, Bibliotheca Teubneriana; K. G. Saur, Munich and Leipzig (2006) * David Sider and Dirk Obbink (eds.), ''Doctrine and Doxography: Studies on Heraclitus and Pythagoras'', de Gruyter, Berlin 2013.

References

External links

Obbink on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln websiteNew poems by Sappho
by Obbink

'' (2005)] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110131070815/http://lsa.umich.edu/umich/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=23b7a5786014d110VgnVCM100000a3b1d38dRCRD&vgnextchannel=9fe77787314f3110VgnVCM1000003d01010aRCRD Obbink on the University of Michigan website]
Short biography on Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced StudiesA Biblical Mystery at Oxford
The Atlantic {{DEFAULTSORT:Obbink, Dirk Academic scandals American papyrologists University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni Stanford University alumni MacArthur Fellows Fellows of Christ Church, Oxford University of Michigan faculty Living people 1957 births People from Lincoln, Nebraska American people of Dutch descent American emigrants to England American expatriates in England