The first record of the national self-identification “Jewish-Egyptian” is revealed in a written request to King Ptolemy. Could this papyrus fragment be the first surviving peтιтion in Greek by a Jew addressed to an Egyptian king?

About 2,300 years ago, somewhere in a village in ancient Egypt, Palous was outraged. “To King Ptolemy,” Palous began his reference to the great king at the end of the 3rd century BC by writing his peтιтion, on a papyrus, in Greek.

The content of the cryptic application

“Greetings from Palous, a Jewish-Egyptian … from Themistos of the prefecture of Arsinoe. [I was wronged by] … from the same village. For [year]… the sheep of Socrates… this land. Say… about grain but when I said that…”, writes the man.

This is not the whole text. However, only this has been found by Palush’s written application. Nine broken lines of text written in ink, on a piece of papyrus measuring 8.5 cm by 13 cm.

Pieces of text from the edges of this pᴀssage have been lost. Since the application was folded like paper, the text along the fold (line six) has become illegible. In fact, the name Ptolemy, if it existed there, has been lost.

However, the original intent of the text and the recipient can reasonably be reconstructed, argue Professors Lincoln H. Blumell and Kerry Hull of Brigham Young University in the Journal of Jewish Studies.

Today, the papyrus is in the Matsusнιтa Museum of Art in Kirishima, Japan. He was among 20 Greek and ten more papyri in Greek purchased in Egypt in the early 1970s by the founder and owner of the museum Kanetomo Matsusнιтa (1905-1989)

Most of the Greek texts in the collection were written during the Ptolemaic period, around 332 to 30 B.C., Blumell and Hull say. Unfortunately, there is no exact origin for the artifacts beyond “Cairo,” they say.

Scholars try to substantiate their hypotheses. Of course, the fact that the villagers had a quarrel over sheep is not something remarkable.

Remarkably, however, the peтιтion is the only written document where the (self-proclaimed) composite reference to “Judeo-Egyptian” ethnicity appears, Blumell and Hull explain. It is also the oldest surviving claim in Greek to any ancient Egyptian king by a Jew.

The statues of King Ptolemy II and Arsinoe from about 283-246 BC, in the British Museum in London. PH๏τo: Justin Tallis/AFP

One day in May 2025 BC

As noted, the first words of each line are missing. But, more importantly, the document starts with a standard phrase indicating it’s an application, Blumell and Hull say.

No one writes to the king without good reason, and it is well known that complaints in writings go back to the beginnings of written history, as archaeology has proven.

The part of the papyrus is undated, but much evidence suggests that it comes from the Ptolemaic period.

The text was written by a person in a style typical of the time, based on the form of “omicron”, “tau” and some other letters, the authors explain.

In addition, two other Greek documents in the Matsusнιтa collection bear dates: One is from May 10, 225 BC, and the other from May 12, 225 BC, when it was translated into modern dates. (Dates in ancient Egyptian texts usually consist of month X in year Y during the reign of King Z, which can be converted into modern dates, Blumell explains.)

“The cumulative weight of these factors – palaeographic and external – suggests that this reference originated in the second part of the 3rd century BC,” they say.

In addition, they explain that the vast majority of references from the 3rd century BC beginning in this form are directed at the king. In this case, based on the above, to King Ptolemy.

Which King Ptolemy? There was more than one. We can’t say that, Blumell clarifies, but one of those royals.