Littérature et histoire du christiannisme ancien

This volume is a reprint of a book originally published in 1981, Greek Historical Documents : The Hellenistic Period (Chico, Calif., Scholars Press for the Society of Biblical Literature [coll. “Sources for Bible Study,” 16], 1981). Both books are divided into several sections : Political History, the Foreign Possessions of the Ptolemies, Life in Greek Cities, the Bureaucracy of Ptolemaic Egypt, the Royal Economy of Egypt, the Military and Police of Ptolemaic Egypt, the Ptolemaic Legal and Judicial System, Social Relations and Private Life, and Religion. The documents contained are dated between 336 b.c.e. (the death of Philip II of Macedon) and 30 b.c.e. (the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt), and contains no literary texts, which would have required a far larger book. Most of the work on the texts included was in the mid-1970s but several documents published since the previous publication in 1981, as well as some not included in the original (52 extra documents in total), encouraged the editors to put out a new version, as well as to incorporate new scholarship and bibliography where applicable. The introduction, “A Note on Reading Documents,” provides useful information as to the differences between literary and documentary texts : what constitutes a “document,” why one material rather than another was used to record documents, and a description of how scholars decide how and when to complete lacunae, presenting the unfamiliar reader with useful information they may not have previously been aware of. For example, many of the documents are from Egypt, due more to the preservative nature of the dry Egyptian environment and its effect on papyrus than to the preference of the editors, but several stone documents from other areas are also presented. The editors take care in the introduction to explain the importance of documentary texts to the illustration and description of those segments of society that were normally not described in literary texts, but required just as much administration within society, that is, those who were not affluent, educated, or, usually, men. Each entry follows the pattern of citation, year, context, translation, and definitions. The citations are “according to the system described in J.F. Oates et al., Checklist of Editions of Greek, Latin, Demotic and Coptic Papyri, Ostraca and Tablets, 5^th ed., Oakville, Conn., American Society of Papyrologists, 2001” and inscriptions are cited by the “reference (or references) by which they are commonly known and can be tracked down” (p. xxii). The accepted date for each document is provided beside the citation. Below the citation and date is a brief description of the historical, and sometimes, archaeological context, ancient and modern references, some speculation as to meaning, as well as a periodic drawing of the reader’s attention to details in the text. Following this section is the translated document, within which are sections in bold, definitions for which are at the end of the entry, offering further historical context and often clarifying details possibly unclear from context. Appendices are also included : Ptolemaic Administration ; charts of the Ptolemaic, Seleucid, and Antigonid kings as well as the Attalid rulers ; Athenian, Delian, Macedonian, and Egyptian month names ; currency conversions ; a glossary and index of Greek terms ; papyri, and inscription concordances as well as a concordance between the 1981 and 2004 editions ; and an index of persons, places, and subjects. These extra details assist the motivated undergraduate student or general reader to understand the circumstances surrounding the original publication of each document, rendering it more than a simple translation, and despite the lack of the original Greek, placing …