Sometimes an object just seizes my imagination and I need to find out more about it. This happened to me recently when I saw a photograph of a piece of papyrus excavated at Saqqara in Egypt and now in the collection of the Egypt Exploration Society.
The papyrus caught my eye because of the lovely (to me) Greek script, which struck me as resembling the type of epigraphy one might see in an inscription. The fact that it was Greek helped, as I don’t read hieroglyphs or demotic, and it was short. The text is just three lines on a relatively large piece of papyrus, written across the grain of the fibres rather than along them - I was intrigued.
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| From Turner, as below. His own photograph |
The text is short because it is a notice, one might call it an ‘order’. But what makes this order extra special is that it was very likely given by a Commander-in-Chief of Alexander the Great.
The papyrus was excavated in 1972 under the direction of Dr G. T. Martin during the 1972/3 season of work at north Saqqara. Saqqara is a vast site, famous for the Step Pyramid of Djoser and the Sacred Animal Necropolis, and was a huge complex of pyramids, funerary and ceremonial structures. It served as the burial ground for the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis.
The papyrus (inv 1972 G.P.3), along with others, was found in a dump in an area that Martin described as not ‘the admin centre of the Sacred Animal Necropolis, but an adjunct to the main temple complex’ – the temple being that of Nectanebo II (360—342 BC). He describes the dump as being on the far south side of this temple complex, near some domestic buildings. He notes ‘a papyrus with extremely badly written Greek letters’ (I must have very bad taste – I love them!).
E.G Turner visited the excavations within a couple of weeks of the find and was able to photograph and study the papyrus, and later published an article on the discovery. He notes that the papyrus is of interest for three reasons, firstly because it is a papyrus ‘notice’ (it even has pin holes at the top to fix it) making it almost unique, secondly it names a person who we can identify as connected to the command of Alexander the Great, and thirdly, it is the oldest surviving Greek document in papyrus – the previous known being a marriage contract from Elephantine with a date of 311BC.
So what does it say, and who is this individual? This is the Greek text:
[[μ]] πευκεστου
μηπαραπορευεσθαιμη
δεναιερειωστοοικημα
The scribe made a mistake and accidentally started with the second line, then corrected himself and wrote the name ‘Peukestos’ in the genitive form, that is ‘from’ or ‘of’ Peukestos. Turner’s translation is:
Of Peukestas.
No one is to pass
The chamber is that of a priest.
The text is written on a piece of papyrus that measures 35.8cm by 13.4cm. It has four holes at the top centre continuing to the right (though none to the left) to affix it. A name in the genitive form at the beginning of a Greek text usually denotes authorship, and a number of Ptolemaic documents begin with an official’s name, so we may assume that this papyrus is a notice or order written for the benefit of a Greek reader.
It was initially tempting for some scholars to guess that this Peukestas was the famous shield-bearer of Alexander the Great who saved the king’s life in India. But that Peukestas was satrap of Persis and we have no evidence of him commanding in Egypt. However, we don’t have to look far for an historical personage named Peukestas who was in the right place at the right time.
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| Alexander visits the Apis bull in Memphis by Andre Castaigne (1898-1899) |
Alexander conquered Egypt in 331, the Persian troops surrendering to him without a fight. He visited Memphis twice, sacrificing to the sacred bull, the Apis, and holding games and musical contests. During his second visit, he learnt of a revolt in Samaria, and so left Egypt forthwith. Whilst in Egypt he had appointed two Egyptian governors, Petesis and Dolaspis for civil administration, and two Macedonian generals were given the overall command, with various officers under them including garrison, border and mercenary commanders. The two generals, or Commanders-in-Chief, were Balakros, son of Amyntas, and Peukestas son of Makaratos. We know a little of the garrison at Memphis from Arrian’s account. He tells us that the phrourarch or garrison commander was a man named Pantaleon, a Macedonian from Pydna who had been a member of the Companion Cavalry. Of Peukestas we know nothing other than his and his father’s name.
The site of the discovery of the tablet, North Saqqara, was special to the ancient Egyptians. It was the location of the first pyramid, of Djoser (2649–2575BC), and the burial place of its architect Imhotep. It was the necropolis of kings and officials, and the Sacred Animals in their millions. It must have been fascinating for those Macedonian soldiers to have been stationed in such a place: to see the beautiful ‘stairway to heaven’ that is the step pyramid, and the other temples and buildings.
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| The step pyramid, Saqqara CC BY-SA Dennis Jarvis |
This is why this brief text on the papyrus is so interesting to me. While Jona Lendering has suggested that the order means that the possessions of the priest were to be exempt from Macedonian taxation, and that this is evidence that the military commander also had civil responsibilities, other scholars, including Turner, have seen it more as a ‘keep out’ sign, perhaps aimed at curious ‘sight-seeing’ troops. I can easily picture them, as interested as I was when I visited Saqqara, marvelling at the sights and sounds, the beautifully decorated temples and shrines.
The respect that the note, under the name Peukestas Commander-in-Chief rather than a local commander, affords the sacred space of the Egyptians is very much in keeping with the respect shown by Alexander and his officers for sacred areas throughout his campaign. His conspicuous sacrifices to the Egyptian gods, such as Apis in Memphis, and the inclusion of a temple to Isis in the planning of his new city of Alexandria in the north, are recorded by the ancient authors. This respect and regard for the local religion would continue under the Ptolemies.
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| Alexander wearing the ram's horns of Zeus Ammon |
We may know nothing of Peukestas other than his name, but his order has given us a tantalising glimpse of Egypt at the time of Alexander the Great.
Further Reading
Turner, E.G., A Commander-in-Chief’s Order from Saqqara, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology Vol 60 (1974) pp 239-242
Shipley, G., The Greek World After Alexander 323–30 BC, The Routledge History of the Ancient World, 1999
Lendering, J., https://www.livius.org/articles/person/peucestas-2/
Thompson D, Ptolemy I in Egypt: Continuity and Change in McKechnie, P., and Cromwell, J. A., (eds) Ptolemy I and the Transformation of Egypt, 404-282 BCE, Mnemosyne, Supplements, Volume 415, 2018
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