Lutz Pharaoh


Joined: 02 Sep 2007 Posts: 4060 Location: Berlin, Germany
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Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 10:28 pm Post subject: Mark Depauw : A Companion to Demotic Studies (1997) |
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Mark Depauw : A Companion to Demotic Studies. - [Papyrologica Bruxellensia 28]. - Brussels : Fondation Egyptologique Reine Élisabeth, 1997. - 198 p., tables. - [PDF - 75 or 16 MB] :
Quote: | This introduction to Demotic studies is in so far limited that it does not survey the culture of late pharaonic and Graeco-Roman Egypt in extenso. The precise goal of this book is to make Demotic studies more accessible so that Greek papyrologists or Egyptologists interested in the later periods will be better equipped to take full account of Demotic material. After a brief general introduction, the author presents a systematic approach in nine chapters, all divided into sections and subsections, the descriptions in which are followed by bibliographical references.
Chapter 1 deals with the Demotic script and language: first use and etymology of the term Demotic; Demotic script and orthography and the Demotic language (its rise and decline; other factors of influence; Demotic and the other indigenous scripts); Demotic and non-Egyptian scripts and languages.
Chapter 2 is devoted to the origin of Demotic studies and its evolution as practised in various centres of study and during conventions. Chapter 3 is devoted to the tools, general such as handbooks, bibliographies etc. as well as to palaeographies, grammars, dictionaries and onomastic reference works, and to surveys of Demotic texts. The methodology of the discipline is discussed in chapter 4, i.e. the collection of the source material, how to publish a Demotic text, and the criteria for the classification of texts. In chapter 5 the various writing materials, in the first place papyrus, ostraca, writing tablets, and the writing equipment are described.
Chapter 6 is concerned with the rich Demotic literature, which can be arranged in literary, mythological and ritual texts, into scientific and reference texts (mathematics and astronomy/astrology, the medico-magical papyri, juridical manuals, and onomastica), and into funerary and mortuary texts (e.g. Opening of the Mouth liturgies and Breathing Permits). The survey of texts proceeds in chapter 7 with documentary texts: dealings with the state and the temples, including contracts, decrees and regulations, accounts, tax matters, and landed property matters; the richly varied legal documents of private individuals; and further the unofficial documents like letters and oracle questions.
Chapter 8 discusses the private archives, mostly from the Ptolemaic Period, administrative archives, and temple archives and libraries. In chapter 9 are included a number of selected topics: the calendar system, metrology and money, prosopography, and some samples exemplifying what Demotic as a source can contribute to the Late Period and Graeco-Roman Period political history.
Four appendixes on the Demotic 'Alphabet', the abbreviations used, the use of the Internet, and the Demotic transliteration system, and the indexes used. (OEB - W.H.) |
Greetings, Lutz. _________________ Ägyptologie Forum (German) |
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