Corpus of Inscriptions of Ptolemaic Egypt

This project will create a corpus of up-to-date editions of the Greek, bilingual and trilingual inscriptions on stone from Ptolemaic Egypt (323-30 BCE), numbering almost 400 items, based on material collected and annotated by the late Peter Fraser FBA (1918-2007), who was the leading authority of the 20th century in the field of hellenistic epigraphy in Egypt and the wider context. The editions will include introductory material, commentaries, translations and digital images and will be made available both in book form and an on-line version. Fraser collected little material after the mid-1970s and his manuscript therefore needs extensive revision and updating. Furthermore, a significant number of inscriptions published since the mid-1970s need to be added, and editions with translations of the Egyptian sections of bilingual and trilingual texts need to be provided in order to provide a uniquely accurate representation and explanation of the original state, character and meaning of the monumental texts.
From the takeover of Egypt by Ptolemy after Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE, until the deaths of Cleopatra and Antony in 30 BCE, government and administration was conducted almost entirely in Greek, which became the predominant language. Both in the public and private spheres, epigraphic inscriptions on stone were central to Greek culture, commemoration and communication, and the Ptolemies brought this tradition with them into the newly formed hellenistic monarchy. Among hellenistic kingdoms, Egypt is unique, however, in that epigraphy in its indigenous language survived alongside the politically dominant Greek mode of communication.
The project will make available for the first time a full corpus of scholarly editions, which will replace older publications and other partial collections which are organised by specific local region of provenance and therefore do not offer a full conspectus of the Greek epigraphy of the Ptolemaic period. This is important for several reasons. The new corpus will give proper weight to the importance of public and private documentation on stone, which, in Egypt, has tended to be overshadowed by the preponderance of documents on papyrus. It will illustrate the ways in which this mode of public pronouncement and display became important in what was originally a language culture 'alien' to the Greeks, not merely in 'Greek cities' (Alexandria, Ptolemais, Naukratis) but also in indigenous Egyptian towns.
Fraser's work between 1950 and the mid-1970s recognised the importance of this material and provided the basis for understanding and exploiting it. Bringing it to completion will afford a deeper understanding of Ptolemaic Egypt and maximise the achievement of a great scholar.

The Ptolemaic system was a brilliantly successful and long-lived experiment in multiculturalism and officially sanctioned bilingualism and even trilingualism (Greek, two forms of Egyptian - demotic and hieroglyphic). It lasted three centuries (Egypt succumbed to the Romans later than any of the other dynastic kingdoms which succeeded Alexander the Great, d. 323 BC). It combined a Greek-speaking system of government with conciliation of the indigenous population, mainly through measures involving Egyptian cults and the Egyptian priesthood. Some famous (and many newer and less familiar) inscriptions on stone, notably the Rosetta Stone, attest this delicate process, and it is vital that they be properly edited and translated, provided with up-to-date commentaries, and made accessible to a non-specialist as well as a scholarly readership.
The Egypt of the Ptolemies (and the Ptolemaic overseas empire) can be considered a well-documented case-study with impact on the following communities:
1. Modern governments, organisations and agencies can benefit from better understanding of historical patterns in handling cultural diversity and inter-community tensions especially in bilingual contexts. This is particularly relevant to Egypt in its current political state and will be important for determining how it presents the economically vital pre-Islamic part of its heritage in the new political regime. An emphasis on the Greek and Graeco-Roman aspects of that culture will underpin the Egyptian sense of the past and also reinforce modern initiatives, such as the archaeological work by J.-Y. Empereur and F.Goddio on the harbour at Alexandria and at Herakleion, and the development of the profile of the New Library of Alexandria.
2. It is intended that towards the end of work on this project, there will be outreach events (visits and talks) involving schoolchildren and their teachers. These events, in conjnction with the web resources, will show (i) that Egyptian civilisation continued to flourish for several centuries, in interestingly modified ways, after the 'age of the Pharaohs' as usually understood (in fact the Ptolemaic rulers presented themselves as Pharaohs), and (ii) that Greek inscriptions on stone are a vital and fascinating part of the evidence for this period and its mixed culture. We will explain in terms understandable to non-specialists, how scholars go about retrieving information from such inscriptions.
3. Museum audiences can benefit from improved presentation and contextual material for a number of very important monuments. Millions of people know, for example, of the importance of the Rosetta Stone for the 'decipherment' of the Egyptian language, but relatively few know what it actually says and why it is important for understanding how the Ptolemies managed the relationship between the Greek-speaking governing elites and the indigenous religious institutions of the native Egyptian populace.