Egyptianizing the Chancellery during the Great Theban Revolt (205-186 BC): a new study of limestone tablet Cairo 38258

Abstract

A new study of the probably fictive letter preserved on limestone tablet Cairo 38258 shows that the indigenous rebel pharaohs did 'Egyptianize' their chancellery by appointing their allies in high positions. A court title such as 'pharaoh' s letter scribe', otherwise only appearing in Demotic literary texts, thus reappears in a documentary context. The chronological problems of the revolt, for which this document has hitherto almost exclusively been used, are also addressed. In 1912 Wilhelm Spiegelberg published the limestone writing tablet Cairo 38258,1 a Demotic letter on an unusual writing surface2 which has attracted attention mainly because of its date early in the reign of pharaoh Haronnophris.3 This article offers a new transliteration and translation of the text with several new readings and examines the historical background of this important document.