58 articles
Alexandria School of Medicine
The Alexandria School of Medicine was a Greek medical school in Ptolemaic Alexandria from the third century BC, where Herophilus and Erasistratus performed antiquity's only systematic human dissections.
Archive of Hor
The Archive of Hor is a private archive of the 2nd-century BC Egyptian priest Hor of Sebennytos, found at Memphis, holding 63 texts of dreams, oracles, petitions, and prayers.
Arsinoite nome
The Arsinoite nome, Greek Arsinoites or Crocodilopolites, was the administrative district of Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt covering the Fayum basin, renamed for Arsinoe II under Ptolemy II and heavily reshaped by land reclamation.
Athlophoros of Berenice
The athlophoros of Berenice was an annual eponymous priestly office of the Ptolemaic dynastic cult at Alexandria, serving the deified Queen Berenice II from 211/210 BC.
Aulic titulature
Aulic titulature is the system of court ranks and honorific titles that regulated protocol and precedence among officials and courtiers of Ptolemaic Egypt, with titles like philos and syngenes.
Basilikos grammateus
The basilikos grammateus (βασιλικὸς γραμματεύς), the royal scribe, was the highest-ranking Egyptian official in each nome of Ptolemaic Egypt, handling records, land surveys, and fiscal transactions from 263 BC into the Roman period.
Berenice Venus
The Berenice Venus is a statue of Venus (Aphrodite), named for the ancient city of Berenice at Benghazi in Cyrenaica, which replaced Euesperides around 247 BCE.
Book of the Faiyum
The Book of the Faiyum is an ancient Egyptian text presenting the Faiyum oasis as a mythical center of prosperity, centered on the crocodile god Sobek.
Books of Breathing
The Books of Breathing are Egyptian funerary texts of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, descended from the Book of the Dead and meant to reanimate the dead.
Bust of Cleopatra
The Bust of Cleopatra is a Ptolemaic royal portrait sculpture in granitic stone, dated c. 47–30 BC and probably depicting Cleopatra VII, held in the Royal Ontario Museum.
Cleruchy
A cleruchy (Greek klerouchia) was the Ptolemaic Egyptian institution by which soldiers received land allotments and served as army reservists, first documented under Ptolemy II Philadelphos.
Coffin of Nedjemankh
The Coffin of Nedjemankh, also known as the Gilded coffin of Nedjemankh, is a gold-sheathed Ptolemaic Egyptian coffin (150–50 BC) made for a priest of the ram-god Heryshef.
Decree of Canopus
The Decree of Canopus, also called the Canopus Decree, is a trilingual priestly decree issued at Kanopos near Alexandria in 238 BC honoring Ptolemy III.
Decree of Memphis
The Decree of Memphis (Memphis Decree) is a priestly synod decree issued at Memphis in March 196 BC honoring the 13-year-old Ptolemy V, best known from the Rosetta Stone.
Decree of Ptolemy VIII (118 BC)
The Decree of Ptolemy VIII of 118 BC is a cluster of 46 royal ordinances issued by Ptolemy VIII and two queens, opening with a general amnesty.
Dendera zodiac
The Dendera zodiac is a circular sandstone ceiling relief from the Hathor temple at Dendera, Egypt, carved around 50 BC and now held by the Louvre.
Dioiketes
The dioiketes (διοικητής; plural dioiketai, also Dioecetes) was the chief financial official of Ptolemaic Egypt, seated in Alexandria; Apollonios under Ptolemy II is the best-known holder.
Dryton and Apollonia archive
The Dryton and Apollonia archive is a bilingual Greek–Demotic family archive from Pathyris (Gebelein) in Upper Egypt, kept by a Cretan cavalry officer and his wife in the 2nd century BC.
Egyptian synodal decrees
Egyptian synodal decrees, also called priestly decrees, are collective enactments of priests in Ptolemaic Egypt, issued between 238 and 161 BC and inscribed on stelae, most famously the Rosetta Stone.
Epistates
The epistates (Greek ἐπιστάτης, 'overseer') was a supervisory office of Ptolemaic Egypt: a judicial official under the nome's strategos and a royal overseer of temple finances.
Epistrategos
The epistrategos (ἐπιστράτηγος, epistrategus) was a senior Ptolemaic Egyptian official, best known as governor of the Thebaid in Upper Egypt from the late 3rd century BC.
Famine Stela
The Famine Stela, or Sehel famine inscription, is a rock inscription on Sehel Island near Aswan in which King Djoser ends a seven-year famine through Khnum's favor.
Gabiniani
The Gabiniani were Roman soldiers left in Egypt by Aulus Gabinius in 55 BC as a garrison for Ptolemy XII, serving the Ptolemaic court until 47 BC.
Gurob papyri
The Gurob papyri are Greek documentary papyri found at Gurob in the Fayum during Flinders Petrie's excavation, covering court records, petitions, and tax papers from 226 to 209 BC.
Insinger Papyrus
The Insinger Papyrus is a Demotic Egyptian wisdom instruction of over 800 maxims in numbered chapters, a six-meter roll held in Leiden since its 1895 purchase from collector Jan Herman Insinger.
Instruction of Ankhsheshonq
The Instruction of Ankhsheshonq, also given as Onchsheshonqy, is a Demotic wisdom text of Ptolemaic Egypt, framed as advice written in prison by a priest for his son.
Kanephoros of Arsinoe
The kanephoros of Arsinoe, the "basket-bearer," was the eponymous priestess of Arsinoe II Philadelphos's cult in Alexandria from 269/268 BC, naming each year in dated documents.
Library of the temple of Edfu
The library of the temple of Edfu is a wall-inscribed catalog of the Ptolemaic temple's papyrus books, the only surviving House of Books chamber in ancient Egypt.
Macedonian dynasty (Egypt)
The Macedonian dynasty of Egypt, also called the Argead dynasty, ruled Egypt from Alexander the Great's conquest in 332 BC until Ptolemy became king in 305/4 BC.
Mendes Stele
The Mendes Stele, or Great Mendes Stela, is a hieroglyphic stela of Pharaoh Ptolemy II found at Mendes in the Nile Delta and kept in Cairo.