Coptic Documentary Texts from Kellis, Volume 2: P. Kellis VII (Dakhleh Oasis Project Monograph 16). Documentary Sources in Ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman Economic History Methodology and Practice

This is the second volume on fourth century Coptic documents written on papyri and boards, found in the ruins of houses at Kellis, the Roman predecessor of the village of Ismant el-Kharab in the Dakhleh Oasis. It is concerned with 75 letters and associated household accounts and lists, mostly from House 3. The documents are transcribed and translated with commentary. Together, these two volumes break new ground in providing a unique insight into the social and economic relations of a sectarian group within a late antique village, and the opportunity to study that group’s interaction with other communities. They give voice to ordinary people and provide genuine insights into literacy and the role of women, communications and travel, multilingual society and normative forms of belief and practice.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Preface
Introduction
Abbreviations

HOUSE 3

Letter on a wooden board (with traces of an earlier text in Syriac)
Texts perhaps additional to groups published in Volume 1
Manichaean letters
Letters by Pamour (and Maria)
Letters by Pegosh (brother of Pamour)
Letters from Philammon to Theognostos (Louishai) and Hor
Letters from Theognostos
Letters from and to Ploutogenes
Kyra / Loihat / Timotheos group
Individual and unplaced documents and letters
List of other (not edited) Coptic fragments from House 3

HOUSE 4

Letters
Inventory
Invocation
List of other (not edited) Coptic fragments from House 4

TEMPLE ENCLOSURE
Letters
Varia
List of other (not edited) Coptic fragments from the Temple Enclosure

Indices:

Native words
Loan words
Greek words in Greek context
Personal names
Geographical and ethnic names
Conjugations
Triadic pronominals (PTN)
Subject index (English language)
Inventory numbers
Note concerning the photographs
P. Kellis addenda and corrigenda

“The volume is excellently produced, reliable in transcription and translation, and use-friendly... a signal contribution to the field of Coptic papyrology and the history of fourth-century Egypt.” (Michael Peppard)

The translations, with their underlying analysis, are sensitive and acute, never ignoring or evading difficulties. (Prof. A. Shisha Halevy)

This long-awaited volume sheds light on (among other matters) the textile trade, Coptic epistolography, women’s literacy, book copying, travel between valley and the Oasis, religion, and above all, the life of an extended family over several decades. It provides both a new perspective on previously published material and a major addition to the dossier of fourth-century Coptic documentary material. (Malcolm Choat, Macquarie University)

P.Kellis VII is a fine addition to scholarship and I warmly welcome its appearance. Edited by a “dream team” of Coptologists, this volume—which is quite large—contributes to discussions about an ancient Egyptian village, Manichaeism, prosopography, family life in the Egyptian desert, Coptic language, palaeography, epistolography, and more. (Brice C. Jones Brice C. Jones An Academic Website Devoted to Papyrology and More)