Languages and scripts

Ancient Egyptian written in hieroglyphs:

There are no papyri with hieroglyphs in the Duke papyrus collection. Hieroglyphs were used to embellish a variety of religious texts on papyrus, such as the Book of the Dead. Their main use, however, was in inscriptions on stone. It was in use for about three millenia until the end of the fourth century AD.

Ancient Egyptian written in a formal script used for papyri, so-called Hieratic

Hieratic was developed from the Hieroglyphs for writing on papyrus. Initially both documentary and literary texts were written in Hieratic. Later its use was restricted to literary, i.e. mostly religious, texts. It is last heard of in the third century AD.

Ancient Egyptian written in a less formal script, so-called Abnormal Hieratic

Abnormal Hieratic was developed specifically for documentary texts while Hieratic was increasingly restricted to literary texts. It was in use until the sixth century BC.

Ancient Egyptian written in a cursive script used for papyri, so-called Demotic

Demotic is a cursive script derived from Hieratic. It was used for documents and occasionally for literature for about nine centuries until it was replaced by Coptic in the third century AD.

Ancient Egyptian written with mainly Greek characters, so-called Coptic

Coptic was invented in the third century AD to replace Hieratic and Demotic. It was written with the letters of the Greek alphabet plus a few letters representing sounds peculiar to Egyptian. It was very convenient, because at the time a large number of Greek words were adopted by the Egyptian language. The Duke papyrus collection holds a large number of sometimes quite important Coptic texts. They range in date from the fourth to the tenth century A.D. and can be anyhting from private letters to liturgical texts.

Aramaic

There are no Aramaic papyri in the Duke papyrus collection. Aramaic was used in Egypt mainly by the military installed by the Persians in 525 BC. It was also used by some of the veterans, who settled in Egypt in the fifth century BC. Among them we find a Jewish settlement on the island of Elephantine in the south of Egypt. Outside Egypt Aramaic papyri have been found in the Judean Desert, the so-called Dead Sea scrolls.

Greek

Greek was used in Egypt after the conquest by Alexander the Great in 331 BC until about AD 750. The majority of the texts from this period are in Greek. It was not only the language of the administration, but also that of businessmen and schools. The Duke papyrus collection holds a large number of Greek texts ranging in date from the early third century BC to the eight century AD. Among them we find works of literature, sometimes hitherto unknown, magical texts and all kinds of documentary texts, such as private letters, contracts, tax accounts, receipts and petitions.

Latin

Latin was used in Egypt mainly by the military installed by the Romans in 30 BC. It was also used by some of the veterans, who settled in Egyptian villages in the first two centuries AD.

Hebrew

There are no Hebrew papyri in the Duke papyrus collection. Hebrew was used in Egypt mainly in late antiquity, from the fifth century AD onwards. The Jewish population of Egypt was almost annihilated by the Romans in the early second century AD and only recuperated once the Roman empire turned Christian. Outside Egypt Hebrew papyri have been found in the Judean Desert, the so-called Dead Sea scrolls.

Pahlavi

There are no Pahlavi papyri in the Duke papyrus collection. Pahlavi was used during the Persian or Sasanid occupation of Egypt in the early seventh century AD (616-628).

Syriac

There are no Syriac papyri in the Duke papyrus collection. Syriac was used in Egypt in late antiquity by immigrants from Syria, mainly Christian monks.

Arabic

Arabic was introduced in Egypt by the Arab conquest in AD 640. It was initially used for administrative purposes only, but soon replaced Greek and Coptic in everyday use. The introduction of paper by the Arabs put an end to the use of papyrus, which is not heard of after about AD 1000.

Picture (no text)

Sometimes a papyrus has no text on it, but just a drawing. It may be a professional drawing by an artist, a pattern for a weaver or just a doodle.

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Last updated by Peter van Minnen and Suzanne Corr on 5/10/95