Multilingualism in Ancient Egypt: Papyri Reveal Insights into Roman Era

Bernhard Palme, from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, highlights the multilingual nature of Roman and late antique Egypt, drawing from papyri research presented at the FWF-Exzellenzcluster EurAsian Transformations conference. Even during the Hellenistic period, under the Ptolemaic kings, Greek became the official language. However, the Egyptian language persisted. Both languages coexisted for centuries. Egypt was annexed to the Roman Empire in 30 BC. The Romans pragmatically used Latin for the army and high administration, while Greek remained for lower officials, and Egyptian for the general population. Approximately 2000 Latin papyri exist, including documents from Roman soldiers, birth declarations, wills, and literary texts. One example is a debt agreement between soldiers, detailing a loan of 200 silver drachmas at a 9% interest rate, secured by valuable weapons. The papyri offer insights into daily life, revealing disputes and concerns. A soldier's letter warns a comrade about gossip: "Diaconus grüßt seinen Macedo. Ich kann es nicht vermeiden, Dir zu schreiben, dass Du kräftig angeschwärzt wirst bei Iucundus und Dido vom Freigelassenen des Domitius..." Palme notes the directness of these ancient communications.