Brackets as a Correction Sign: Shapes and Functions in Greek Papyri

Besides sponged passages, cancelling strokes and exponctuation dots, another attested method of textual correction is the use of round brackets in order to erase a sign, a word, a line or several lines. By examining both literary and documentary papyri as well as literary sources, this paper aims at providing an overview of the different shapes and specific contexts of use of brackets, compared to other cancelling signs that could sometimes coexist within the same text or even be combined with the brackets, especially when a bracketed section is also crossed out.