500 Years of Writing and Literacy in the Fayum (2nd Century BCE to 3rd Century CE): Greek Writing Practice in Soknopaiou Nesos

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Martin Andreas Stadler, since 9/2024
• Subject Area: Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 536675991

The proposal aims to study writing and literacy in the ancient Fayum through a comprehensive analysis of one key community, Soknopaiou Nesos which offers one of the largest and most wide-ranging corpora for the study of village writing practices. The sources are concentrated between the second century BCE and the early third century CE. Nearly all the Demotic documentation and some of the Greek was produced in the village’s cultural and economic centre, the temple of Soknopaios, while the grapheion was the most important institution for Greek writing. We find clear evidence for collaboration between Egyptians and Greeks and even Egyptian priests holding notarial positions simultaneously. Despite the massive accumulation of evidence (or perhaps because of it), there has been little systematic and synthetic work on this corpus. Researchers can build upon a large corpus of already identified relevant sources. However, the project members must continue to edit additional texts to gain a more comprehensive picture. Text genres pertinent to the topic include Demotic religious sources, Demotic receipts and accounts drawn up by or for temple personnel, Greek documents attesting to communication between temple personnel or the head of the temple and the Roman authorities, Greek documents relevant to grapheion operations, and texts that belong to family or professional archives. The work programme is structured in four research areas and covers overlapping historical periods. "Greek Writing Practice in Soknopaiou Nesos" examines the village notary office (grapheion) and papyrus archives from the site. The grapheion can be seen as an institution that helped forge a ‘middle ground’ between Greek and Egyptian cultural traditions. This project aims to elucidate the relationship between the grapheion and the temple, as well as its role in the larger legal and administrative institutions of the Ptolemaic and Roman states. 180 published notarial deeds form the core corpus of this study, in addition to internal grapheion documents, notarial deeds from related grapheia, and other documents known or suspected to have been written by notaries. The project also includes case studies of known and newly discovered archives of priests and priestly families. Through a combined study of such archives and the institution of the grapheion this project will offer a better understanding of the social place of Greek writing in Soknopaiou Nesos from the Ptolemaic to the Roman period.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Dr. William Graham Claytor, until 9/2024