Corpus of Ptolemaic Inscriptions, Alexandria and the Delta Nos. 1-206: Greek, Bilingual, and Trilingual Inscriptions from Egypt: Vol 1

This is the first of three volumes of a Corpus publication of the Greek, bilingual and trilingual inscriptions of Ptolemaic Egypt covering the period between Alexander's conquest in 332 BC and the fall of Alexandria to the Romans in 30 BC. The Corpus offers scholarly editions, with translations, full descriptions and supporting commentaries, of more than 650 inscribed documents, of which 206, from Alexandria and the region of the Nile Delta, fall within this first volume. The inscriptions in the Corpus range in scope and significance from major public monuments such as the trilingual Rosetta Stone to private dedicatory plaques and funerary notices. They reflect almost every aspect of public and private life in Hellenistic Egypt: civic, royal and priestly decrees, letters and petitions, royal and private dedications to kings and deities, as well as pilgrimage notices, hymns and epigrams. The inscriptions in the Corpus are drawn from the entire Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, from Alexandria and the Egyptian Delta, through the Fayum, along the Nile Valley, to Upper Egypt, and across the Eastern and Western Deserts. The Corpus supersedes older publications and other partial collections organised by specific region or theme, and offers for the first time a full picture of the Greek and multilingual epigraphic landscape of the Ptolemaic period. It will be an indispensable resource for new and continuing research into the history, society and culture of Ptolemaic Egypt and the wider Hellenistic world.

Alan K. Bowman, University of Oxford,Charles V. Crowther, University of Oxford,Simon Hornblower, University of Oxford,Rachel Mairs, University of Reading,Kyriakos Savvopoulos, University of Oxford

Alan Bowman is Camden Professor Emeritus of Ancient History at the University of Oxford and the former Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford.

Charles Crowther is Associate Professor of Greek Epigraphy and Associate Director of the Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford.

Simon Hornblower was a Senior Research Fellow in Classical Studies at All Souls College, Oxford, until his retirement in 2016.


Rachel Mairs is Professor of Classics at the University of Reading.


Kyriakos Savvopoulos is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies.