Demotic Grammar in the Ptolemaic Sacerdotal Decrees (Egyptian Edition)

This is the first full analysis of the grammar of demotic Egypt as found in the Canopus decree of 238 BC, the Raphia decree of 217 BC, the Memphis (Rosetta) decree of 196 BC and the two Philae decrees of 186 and 184 BC. These texts, which have been famous since the discovery of the Rosetta stone, were promulgated in Egyptian and Greek by annual synods of the Egyptian priesthood, and were intended to express gratitude for royal patronage and to regulate the royal temple cults. This study which presupposes no specialist knowledge of demotic, aims to use the decrees to advance understanding of linguistic constructions and idenitify peculiarities in this corpus. The book includes transcriptions and translations of all the texts on facing pages.