OSTRAKON (plur. ostrakas). - Sherds of amphorae and vessels, used on their convex side for writing, generally for votes (the well-known Athenian "ostracism" is an example), for receipts, short communications, and also, exceptionally, for literary texts. They have been found in Rome (Testaccio), Alexandria, and especially in Upper Egypt (Thebae, Pathyris, Edfu, Elefantina, Ombos) and in Nubia (Talmis, Dekka); the writing is generally Greek or Coptic, more rarely Latin.
Besides mostly financial documents concerning Egyptian churches or monasteries, some non-documentary texts are also found on ostraca: the most substantial contribution in this regard is provided by W. E. Crum (v. BIBLICA) in *Coptic ostraca with Ps. 24, 50, 103, 117*, along with the fragment of *Lk. 1, 28.42* and liturgical texts in honor of the Virgin; elsewhere, ostraca published by J. G. Tait (v. BIBLICA., p. 145) contain *Jn. 2, 12-14*; hymns to the Virgin in an ostracon from Aberdeen, perhaps from the 6th century (Paderb. 4), and in one from Cambridge (J. G. Tait, pp. 117-18); in Aberdeen there is also an ostracon text narrating the Baptism of Jesus in dialogue form (Paderb. 3, 6th century); a Christian prayer is written on an ostracon from Tuna el-Gebel (Hermopolis; cf. *Etudes de papyrologie*, 3 [1936], p. 106, n. 26).
For Hebrew ostraca, V. LACHIS; SAMARIA.
BIBL.: U. Wilcken, *Griechische Ostrakas aus Ägypten und Nubien*, 2 vols., Leipzig-Berlin 1899; W. E. Crum-E. F. Brightman, *Coptic ostraca from the collections of the Egypt Exploration Fund, the Cairo Museum and others*, London 1902; H. R. Hall, *Coptic and Greek texts of the Christian period from ostraca, stelae etc. in the British Museum*, ibid. 1905; *Theban ostraca*, ed. H. Thompson-J. G. Milne, London-Oxford 1913; F. and W. Preisigke, *Die Prinz Joachim Ostrakas*, Strasbourg 1914; H. G. Evelyn White, *Graeco-Roman ostraca from Dikka Nubia*, in *Classical Review*, 33 (1919), pp. 49 ff.; P. Viereck, *Griechische und lateinische demotische Ostrakas der Königlichen Museen zu Berlin*, Berlin-Leipzig 1922; P. Viereck, *Griechische und griechische demotische Ostrakas der Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek zu Strassburg im Elsass*, I. Texte, Berlin 1923; *The monastic history of Epiphanius at Thebes*, II, *Coptic ostraca and papyri*, ed. W. E. Crum-H. G. Evelyn White, New York 1926; J. G. Tait, *Greek ostraca in the Bodleian Library at Oxford and other various collections*, I, London 1930; L. Amundsen, *Ostraca Oslensis, Greek ostraca (Norwegian collections)*, Oslo 1933; id., *Greek ostraca in the University of Michigan collection*, I, *Texts*, Ann Arbor 1935; Cl. Précaux, *Les ostraca grecs de la collection Charles Edwin Wilbour au Musée de Brooklyn*, New York 1935.
