 Their use of common Greek, known as koine, is instructive as to how the ancient dialects gave way to a more standardized language.Although most examples of papyrus originate from Egypt, papyrologists generally study documents which are written in Greek—the official language of the government from the time of Alexander the Great until the Muslim conquest of Egypt.The Michigan Papyrus Collection was initially developed by Professor Francis W. Kelsey, Chairman of the Department of Latin from 1889 to 1927.