Elephantine papyri and ostraca

The Elephantine Papyri are a collection of ancient Jewish manuscripts dating from the fifth century BCE . They come from a Jewish community at Elephantine , then called Yeb , the island in the Nile at the border of Nubia , which was probably founded as a military installation in about 650 BCE during Manasseh 's reign to assist Pharaoh Psammetichus I in his Nubian campaign. The dry soil of Upper Egypt preserved documents from the Egyptian border fortresses of Elephantine and Syene ( Aswan ). Hundreds of these Elephantine papyri, written in hieratic and Demotic Egyptian , Aramaic , Greek , Latin and Coptic , span a period of 1000 years. Legal documents and a cache of letters survived, turned up on the local 'gray market' of antiquities starting in the late 19th century, and were scattered into several Western collections. Though some fragments on papyrus are much older, the largest number of papyri are written in Aramaic , the lingua franca of the Persian Empire, and document the Jewish community among soldiers stationed at Elephantine under Persian rule, 495-399 BCE. The Elephantine documents include letters and legal contracts from family and other archives: divorce documents, the manumission of slaves, and other business, and are a valuable source of knowledge about law, society, religion, language and onomastics , the sometimes surprisingly revealing study of names. The 'Passover letter' of 419 BCE (discovered in 1907), which gives detailed instructions for properly keeping Passover is in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin . Further Elephantine papyri are at the Brooklyn Museum . The discovery of the Brooklyn papyri is a remarkable story itself. The documents were first acquired in 1893 by New York journalist Charles Edwin Wilbour . After lying in a warehouse for more than 50 years, the papyri were shipped to the Egyptian Department of the Brooklyn Museum. It was at this time that scholars finally realized that "Wilbour had acquired the first Elephantine papyri".

The Elephantine Papyri consist of 175 documents from the Egyptian border fortresses of Elephantine and Syene (Aswan), which yielded hundreds of papyri in hieratic, Demotic, Aramaic, Greek, Latin and Coptic, spanning a period of 2000 years. The documents include letters and legal contracts from family and other archives, and are thus an invaluable source of knowledge for scholars of varied disciplines such as epistolography, law, society, religion, language and onomastics. They are a collection of ancient Jewish manuscripts dating from the 5th century BC. They come from a Jewish community at Elephantine , then called Yeb , the island in the Nile at the border of Nubia , which was probably founded as a military installation in about 650 BC during Manasseh 's reign to assist Pharaoh Psammetichus I in his Nubian campaign. The dry soil of Upper Egypt preserved documents from the Egyptian border fortresses of Elephantine and Syene ( Aswan ). Hundreds of these Elephantine papyri, written in hieratic and Demotic Egyptian , Aramaic , Greek , Latin and Coptic , span a period of 1000 years. Legal documents and a cache of letters survived, turned up on the local 'gray market' of antiquities starting in the late 19th century, and were scattered into several Western collections. Though some fragments on papyrus are much older, the largest number of papyri are written in Aramaic , the lingua franca of the Persian Empire, and document the Jewish community among soldiers stationed at Elephantine under Persian rule, 495–399 BCE. The Elephantine documents include letters and legal contracts from family and other archives: divorce documents, the manumission of slaves, and other business, and are a valuable source of knowledge about law, society, religion, language and onomastics , the sometimes surprisingly revealing study of names. The 'Passover letter' of 419 BCE (discovered in 1907), which gives detailed instructions for properly keeping the passover is in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin . Further Elephantine papyri are at the Brooklyn Museum . The discovery of the Brooklyn papyri is a remarkable story itself. The documents were first acquired in 1893 by New York journalist Charles Edwin Wilbour . After lying in a warehouse for more than 50 years, the papyri were shipped to the Egyptian Department of the Brooklyn Museum. It was at this time that scholars finally realized that "Wilbour had acquired the first Elephantine papyri".

The Elephantine Papyri consist of 175 documents from the Egyptian border fortresses of Elephantine and Aswan , which yielded hundreds of papyri in Hieratic and Demotic Egyptian , Aramaic , Koine Greek , Latin and Coptic , spanning a period of 100 years. The documents include letters and legal contracts from family and other archives, and are thus an invaluable source of knowledge for scholars of varied disciplines such as epistolography , law, society, religion, language and onomastics . They are a collection of ancient Jewish manuscripts dating from the 5th century BCE. They come from a Jewish community at Elephantine , then called ꜣbw . The dry soil of Upper Egypt preserved the documents. Hundreds of these Elephantine papyri span a period of 100 years. Legal documents and a cache of letters survived, turned up on the local " grey market " of antiquities starting in the late 19th century, and were scattered into several Western collections. Though some fragments on papyrus are much older, the largest number of papyri are written in Aramaic, the lingua franca of the Achaemenid Empire , and document the Jewish community among soldiers stationed at Elephantine under Achaemenid rule, 495–399 BCE. The Elephantine documents include letters and legal contracts from family and other archives: divorce documents, the manumission of slaves, and other business, and are a valuable source of knowledge about law, society, religion, language and onomastics , the sometimes surprisingly revealing study of names. The "Passover letter" of 419 BCE (discovered in 1907), which gives detailed instructions for properly keeping the passover is in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin . Further Elephantine papyri are at the Brooklyn Museum . The discovery of the Brooklyn papyri is a remarkable story itself. The documents were first acquired in 1893 by New York journalist Charles Edwin Wilbour . After lying in a warehouse for more than 50 years, the papyri were shipped to the Egyptian Department of the Brooklyn Museum. It was at this time that scholars finally realized that "Wilbour had acquired the first Elephantine papyri".

5th- to 4th-century BCE Egyptian texts Papyrus narrating the story of the wise chancellor Ahiqar. Neues Museum, Berlin The Elephantine Papyri and Ostraca consist of thousands of documents from the Egyptian border fortresses of Elephantine and Aswan , which yielded hundreds of papyri and ostraca in hieratic and demotic Egyptian , Aramaic , Koine Greek , Latin and Coptic , spanning a period of 100 years in the 5th to 4th centuries BCE. The documents include letters and legal contracts from family and other archives, and are thus an invaluable source of knowledge for scholars of varied disciplines such as epistolography , law, society, religion, language and onomastics . The Elephantine documents include letters and legal contracts from family and other archives: divorce documents, the manumission of slaves, and other business. The dry soil of Upper Egypt preserved the documents. Hundreds of these Elephantine papyri span a period of 100 years, during the 5th to 4th centuries BCE. Legal documents and a cache of letters survived, turned up on the local " grey market " of antiquities starting in the late 19th century, and were scattered into several Western collections. A number of the Aramaic papyri document the Jewish community among soldiers stationed at Elephantine under Achaemenid rule, 495–399 BCE. The so-called "Passover Letter" of 419 BCE (discovered in 1907), which appears to give instructions for the observance of the Festival of Unleavened Bread (though Passover itself is not mentioned in the extant text), is in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin . The standard reference collection of the Aramaic documents from Elephantine is the Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt . Biblical Aramaic and Related Dialects: An Introduction . Imperial Aramaic (IA) [Footnote: Other names: Official Aramaic, Reichsaramäisch. Because many of the surviving texts come from Egypt, some scholars speak of "Egyptian Aramaic."]… As noted, the documentation of IA is significantly greater than that of Old Aramaic; the hot and dry climate of Egypt has been particularly favorable to the preservation of antiquities, including Aramaic texts written on soft media such as papyrus or leather. The primary, although not exclusive, source of our knowledge of Persian-period Aramaic is a large number of papyri discovered on the island of Elephantine… All of the Egyptian Aramaic texts have been collected and reedited in the Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt… This is now the standard text edition… Outside of Egypt, Aramaic texts written primarily on hard media such as stone or pottery have been discovered, including texts from Palestine, Arabia, Asia Minor, Iraq (Babylon), and Iran (Persepolis). A recent discovery, of uncertain provenance, is a relatively large collection of documents, now in a private collection, consisting mainly of the correspondence of the official Akhvamazda of Bactria dating from 354 to 324 BCE (Nave & Shaked 2012). They are similar in some ways to the Arshama archive published by Driver; the find-spot was no doubt Afghanistan.

5th- to 4th-century BCE Egyptian texts Papyrus narrating the story of the wise chancellor Ahiqar. Neues Museum, Berlin The Elephantine Papyri and Ostraca consist of thousands of documents from the Egyptian border fortresses of Elephantine and Aswan , which yielded hundreds of papyri and ostraca in hieratic and demotic Egyptian , Aramaic , Koine Greek , Latin and Coptic , spanning a period of 100 years in the 5th to 4th centuries BCE. The documents include letters and legal contracts from family and other archives and are thus an invaluable source of knowledge for scholars of varied disciplines such as epistolography , law, society, religion, language, and onomastics . The Elephantine documents include letters and legal contracts from family and other archives: divorce documents, the manumission of enslaved people, and other business. The dry soil of Upper Egypt preserved the documents. Hundreds of these Elephantine papyri span 100 years, during the 5th to 4th centuries BCE. Legal documents and a cache of letters survived, turned up on the local " grey market " of antiquities starting in the late 19th century, and were scattered into several Western collections. A number of the Aramaic papyri document the Jewish community among soldiers stationed at Elephantine under Achaemenid rule, 495–399 BCE. The so-called "Passover Letter" of 419 BCE (discovered in 1907), which appears to give instructions for the observance of the Festival of Unleavened Bread (though Passover itself is not mentioned in the extant text), is in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin . The standard reference collection of the Aramaic documents from Elephantine is the Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt . Biblical Aramaic and Related Dialects: An Introduction . Imperial Aramaic (IA) [Footnote: Other names: Official Aramaic, Reichsaramäisch. Because many of the surviving texts come from Egypt, some scholars speak of "Egyptian Aramaic."]… As noted, the documentation of IA is significantly greater than that of Old Aramaic; Egypt's hot and dry climate has been particularly favorable to the preservation of antiquities, including Aramaic texts written on soft media such as papyrus or leather. The primary, although not exclusive, source of our knowledge of Persian-period Aramaic is many papyri discovered on the island of Elephantine… All of the Egyptian Aramaic texts have been collected and re-edited in the Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt… This is now the standard text edition.