IFAO

The designation “Ptolemaic hieroglyphs” is used by Egyptologists to refer to the script employed by the scribes of Egyptian temples after the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great until the end of the second century CE. Ptolemaic Hieroglyphs are mostly used for historic or religious texts of the Greco-Roman Period. Although the hieroglyphic signs are mostly known, the scribes assign different phonetic values to them based on a different system that needs to be understood and practiced. Religious texts in the Greco Roman Period are written in a more elaborate manner, with more details and explanatory glosses and are, therefore very important for a better understanding of Ancient Egyptian religion and its development across time.

The purpose of this workshop is to introduce the Participants to the so-called Ptolemaic writing system.

First, participants will be introduced to the major issues concerning the study of Ptolemaic, the history of its decoding and its main grammatical characteristics will be presented. In a second step, particular attention will be paid to Greco-Roman temples as well as objects from that era through an analysis and a classification of the different types of texts that are documented in these buildings and objects.

finally participants will be introduced to resources and digital tools that can help them studying Ptolemaic texts.