22 The Linguist Vol/59 No/5 2020
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Why there is still so much to discover in the trilingual inscriptions of the
ancient world, and how to uncover their secrets. By Rachael Mairs
E
gypt under the rule of the Ptolemies –
a dynasty of Greek origin – was a
very multilingual place. Unusually
for the ancient world, we have copious
surviving evidence for this multilingualism in
the form of everyday documents written on
papyrus (preserved because of the dry
climate) and stone inscriptions (which kings
and private individuals erected for any
number of purposes).
Carian, Egyptian, Greek and Aramaic are
among the languages for which we have
written evidence in Egypt during this period,
which began with Alexander the Great's
conquest of the country in the late fourth
century BC and ended with the death of
Cleopatra VII (the famous queen) in 30 BC.
We have to assume that the number of
languages spoken but not written was
considerably larger.
In the Ptolemaic period, there were two
main written forms of Egyptian in use. The
Egyptian written in the hieroglyphic script
was, by this stage, a classical language. It
used a script which very few people – mostly
priests – could read or write, and the
language itself was archaic. The relationship
between hieroglyphic Egyptian and the
language spoken and written by people at
the time was akin to the relationship between
Latin and French or Italian today.
The other main form of written Egyptian
used the demotic script, which is essentially a
very cursive form of the hieroglyphic script.
The language written in demotic is much
closer to what people were speaking in the
Ptolemaic period, but not identical. We know
from later phases of Egyptian that massive
Greek immigration to Egypt had brought
large numbers of Greek loanwords into the
language. Written demotic, however, has a
tendency to keep out foreign influence and
retain indigenous Egyptian terms.
I have been working on the translation of
Greek inscriptions from this period which
have Egyptian text on them too. This is part
of the Corpus of Ptolemaic Inscriptions
project, which aims to produce new editions
and translations with commentaries of around
650 Greek inscriptions from Egypt.
1
Some of the inscriptions are very well-
known. The Decree of Memphis is an
agreement between the Ptolemaic dynasty
and powerful Egyptian priesthoods. In this
public statement of mutual support by the
Greek kings and Egyptian priests, the priests
recognise the kings' benefactions to the
temples, and their protection of Egypt from
foreign invasion. It was set up in several
copies – in Greek, demotic Egyptian and
hieroglyphic Egyptian. One of these is the
Rosetta Stone, now in the British Museum.
The stone has been known to scholarship
for a very long time. It played an important
role in the decipherment of the hieroglyphic
and demotic scripts, so you might think that
there is nothing new to be said about it. I
had assumed this myself until fairly recently.
The kind of work that goes into preparing a
Time travellers
