World history: Ancient priest’s archive unearthed in Egypt

During excavations in Egypt an Italian archaeological mission unearthed an archive of an ancient priest, which may cast the light on the life and religious rites of Egyptians in the Greco-Roman epoch.

The treasures have been unearthed at the Dime Al-Sebaa archaeological site, two kilometres north of Qarun Lake near Fayoum.

Civilization at the site reached its peak during the first and second century AD as it sat along a major trade route. In addition to the Ptolemaic temple of Soknopaios, the site is well known for a collection of sphinxes, as well as Roman and demotic papyri.

An unearthed archive represents a large collection of 150 Roman “ostraca” (a clay fragment engraved with ancient Egyptian writings) engraved with demotic text. Each ostracon is inscribed with the name of a priest who served in the Soknopaios Temple. “It is really a complete archive that highlights not only the names of priests who served in the temple during the Roman era but religious practices and the prosopography of Greco-Roman Egypt as well,” said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

The newly discovered ostraca are supposed to have been originally kept in a storeroom situated in a courtyard in front of the Soknopaios Temple, however it might have been thrown out of the temple during a clandestine excavation at the end of the 19th century.

Further studies on the newly discovered ostraca will reveal more of the site’s history and religious aspects. Mario Capasso, director of the Italian mission, from Università del Salento, promised that specialists in demotic texts will decipher texts and publish them in a scientific work.