855
may be interpreted as a means to retain cultural identity.^191 By the
second century B.C.E., agreements were recorded in Greek as well
as Demotic. Other groups organized themselves into professional
associations for the payment of professional taxes and for social life.9.2 Oracles and Oracular Questions^192
Divine oracles were a standard medium through which disputes were
resolved and in front of which oaths were sworn. Most of the evi-
dence for the institution, written in Demotic, comes from the Ptolemaic
period. In this process, a petitioner wrote out a question or a declar-
ative statement in the negative and in the affirmative. The question
was then split in two and submitted to the oracle. The statue of the
oracle would either nod in reply, or one of the questions was handed
back, providing the answer to the query. Children appear to have
been important as media of oracular questions, as P. Dodgson from
the Ptolemaic period shows.^193BAllam, S. “Women as Holders of Rights in Ancient Egypt (During the Late Period),”
JESHO32 (1990) 1–34.
——. “Egyptian Law Courts in Pharaonic and Hellenistic Times,” JEA77 (1991)
109–27.
——. “Papyrus Turin 2021: Another Adoption Extraordinary.” In Individu, société et
spiritualité dans l’Égypte pharaonique et copte: Mélanges offerts au Professeur Aristide Théodoridès,
ed. C. Cannuyer and J. Kruchten. Ath: Illustra, 1993, 23–28.
——. “The Agreement After Judgement.” In Acta Demotica:Acts of the Fifth International
Conference for Demotists,Pisa, 4th–8th September 1993. Egitto e Vicino Orient 17. Pisa:
Giardini, 1994.
Andrews, C. Catalogue of the Demotic Papyri in the British Museum, vol. 4.Ptolemaic Legal
Texts. London: British Museum, 1990.
Assmann, J. “When Justice Fails: Jurisdiction and Imprecation in Ancient Egypt
and the Near East,” JEA78 (1992) 149–62.
Austin, M. M. The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1981.
Baer, K. “The Low Price of Land in Ancient Egypt,” JARCE1 (1962) 25–45.
Bagnall, R. “The Beginnings of the Roman Census in Egypt,” GRBS31 (1991) 255–63.
——. Egypt in Late Antiquity. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.
Baldwin, B. “Crime and Criminals in Graeco-Roman Egypt,” Aegyptus43 (1963) 256–63.(^191) Ibid., 161.
(^192) See 2.1.4.2 above for the bibliography on oracles.
(^193) The text comes from Elephantine. See further Martin, The Child.. ., esp.
206–9; Martin, “Demotic Texts.. .,” text c18.
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