A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

820 

C.E.). Demotic was a local script from the Delta and gradually re-

placed the hieratic tradition in the Nile valley as the Saite dynasty

gained control of Egypt.^4 It was, at first, a legal and business language.^5

1.1.2 Scholars usually distinguish between phases of Demotic texts

based on paleography and on the format of legal texts: Early, Middle

and Late Demotic. Early Demotic includes the Saite and Persian

periods (650–332 B.C.E.); Middle Demotic describes texts from the

Ptolemaic period (332–30 B.C.E.) and Late Demotic covers the

Roman period (30 B.C.E.–ca. 250 C.E.). Throughout most of this

period, Egypt was ruled by foreigners, and although Egyptian law

continued in force with only minor alterations, there was no doubt

some influence of foreign law upon Egyptian; under the Persians, Egypt

was a province (satrapy) of the Persian empire (Aramaic loan words

came into Demotic at this time); in the Ptolemaic period, Egypt was

ruled by a general of Alexander, Ptolemy, and his descendants.^6

1.1.3 With new populations came new legal systems. Thus Aramaic

legal papyri in the Persian period and the abundant Greek evidence,

which reflects a kind of Greek common law under the Ptolemies

and Romans, certainly influenced Egyptian law, although it is not

always easy to assess.^7 During the Ptolemaic regime, Greek and

Egyptian law existed side by side with parallel court systems.^8 A thor-

ough study of the legal system in this period must include both

Egyptian and Greek evidence.^9 This need is most keenly felt in the

study of bilingual family archival material, in state administration

and in legal procedure, since for most of the period under discus-

sion Aramaic or Greek was the administrative language of Egypt. It

(^4) Donker van Heel, Abnormal Hieratic.. ., 48–49.
(^5) Vleeming, “Phase initiale.. .”; Pestman, “Démotique comme langue juridique.. .”;
Ray, “Literacy and Language...”
(^6) For possible Aramaic influence, see Muffs, Studies.. ., and Porten, “Aramaic-
Demotic Equivalents...”
(^7) On the supposed “Jewish” law in Ptolemaic Egypt, see Mélèze-Modrzejewski,
“Jewish Law.. .” The acknowledgment of the receipt of a satisfactory price in
Demotic sale contracts may have been inserted into the contractual language under
the influence of the Greek law of sale. See Pierce, Three Demotic Papyri.. ., 99–100.
(^8) See Mélèze-Modrzejewski, “Chrématistes et laocrites...”
(^9) For an overview, see Rupprecht, Einführung.. ., 94–135, and Seidl, Ptolemäische
Rechtsgeschichte, 8–9. Hecataeus, preserved in Diod. Sic. I, 77–80, provides an inter-
esting Greek perspective on the Egyptian legal system. See the brief description by
Welles, “Ptolemaic Administration.. .,” 40–44.
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