This volume publishes 293 texts inscribed in Greek on potsherds excavated at Ismant el-Kharab, Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt. These texts date from the 2nd to the 4th centuries AD, and they contain documentary evidence for a wide range of subjects such as taxation (in the form of tax receipts), private letters, lists and accounts, contracts, memoranda, school texts, and astrologica. The volume includes texts, translations, and commentaries for each ostrakon, as well as comprehensive indices and concordances. It also includes a chapter on the ostraka and archaeology of Ismant el-Kharab by Colin A...

Egypt is the richest source of primary documents for the economy, society and everyday life of the late antique Mediterranean world. Its thousands of papyri provide insight into aspects and topics ignored by ancient authors. This handbook is an indispensable tool in navigating these documents, which use a host of complex systems to date legal transactions. Extensive tables and lists help the reader understand the use of consulates, the indiction cycle, eras, and dates by imperial reigns. Other formal aspects of the documents, including Christian invocations and sworn oaths, are also fully...