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True Stories From Ancient Times
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What is an Ostracon?
When dealing with ancient texts, the term ostracon refers to pottery sherds and limestone flakes that were reused to write documents. Pottery is by far the more common material used, but some areas…
Coz likes this. 
Protecting the Tax-Payer and the Tax Man
On 17 April 731, an Egyptian priest John son of the late Victor wrote a declaration for the state treasury, represented by the Muslim official Rashid. He had paid two gold coins (holokottinosin the…
Living (and Dying) in Interesting Times
*GUEST POST by Luigi Prada At the age of 21 years and 29 days, a sistrum-player Kheredankh died. A fragment of her funerary stela survives and is today housed in the Petrie Museum of Egyptia…
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Thinking about Translations
What are we doing when we translate ancient texts and who are we doing it for? These questions have been on my mind for a while, and they lie behind a lot of my pieces for Papyrus Stories. Thinking…
Rodrigo RM likes this. 
“I could not alleviate her mother’s grief”: On the loss of children
At birth, there was only a 66 per cent chance of celebrating your first birthday: one-third of all new-borns in the ancient world died before reaching that milestone. Once a child reached the age o…
Sickness, Treatments, and Medical Books in Late Antique Egyptian Villages
“I greet my Father Athanasios. I spoke to you about the medical book. I often wanted to come south, but looking after here has not allowed me to come south. I wanted to come south, (but) the roads …
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One-way Tickets to the Netherworld: Mummy Labels and Inscribed Mummy Shrouds
*GUEST POST by Luigi Prada (see his bio here) On 26th April of the 24th year of reign of an unspecified Roman emperor (probably Commodus, which equals the year 184 AD), a modest Egyptian priest nam…
The Governor’s Orders: Part One
*Guest post by Eline Scheerlinck. This blog post was originally posted on the website of the European Research Council project, “Embedding Conquest”, and was reposted on the Leiden Isla…
Pay After Reading
In the ancient world, education – learning to read and write – wasn’t a right and was accessible by only a small number of people. Only 5–10% of the population was literate. But what does this mean…
“If God saves him from death”: Donation of a boy to a Coptic monastery
On the 29 August 766 CE, a woman named Tachel daughter of Sophia from Luxor (ancient Apê
donated her son Athanasius to a local monastery, the monastery of Apa Phoibammon at Deir el-Bahri. “In thi...
donated her son Athanasius to a local monastery, the monastery of Apa Phoibammon at Deir el-Bahri. “In thi...