Nouvelles données sur un papyrus relatif au bilinguisme gréco-égyptien. Réexamen et mise en contexte de l'UPZ I 148

Abstract

Traditionally dated to the 2nd century BC, UPZ I 148 preserves a letter written in Greek in which the sender expresses his delight at the fact that the recipient is learning «Egyptian letters», because, once he is back in town, he will be able to teach the boys in the establishment of an enema doctor, and will thus have the means to support himself in his old age. This document is undoubtedly one of the most famous papyri of the Ptolemaic period, and is very often referred to in studies on multilingualism in Egypt, as a rare example of a Greek-speaker attempting to master the Egyptian language, and, what is even rarer, the Demotic script. However, the provenance of the papyrus has so far been unknown. A detailed reexamination of the historical context of acquisition of the papyrus and of its various purchasers in the 19th century allows not only to determine its provenance and the archive to which it belonged, but also to specify its date, clarify its layout, and, more generally, replace the document withing its historical context.