Cache of demotic ostraca found at Soknopaiou Nesos

A Roman cache of demotic ostraca has been discovered at the
Greco-Roman site of Soknopaiou Nesos/Dime es-Seba, located
two kilometers north of Qarun Lake in the Fayoum.
Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosny, announced today that the cache
was uncovered during an excavation carried out by an Italian
archaeological expedition from Universit‡ del Salento.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council
of Antiquities (SCA), said that 150 ostraca were found. Each
ostracon was inscribed with the name of a priest who worked at
Soknopaiou Nesos in a temple dedicated to the god, Soknopaios.
The texts written on the ostraca date back to the Roman period
and have been very helpful in illuminating the religious practices
and the prosopography of Greco-Roman Egypt.

Dr. Mario Capasso, Director of the mission, suggests that the
newly discovered ostraca were originally kept in a storeroom
situated in a courtyard in front of Soknopaios’ temple. Dr.
Capasso believes that the ostraca were thrown out of the
temple during a clandestine excavation at the end of the
19th century.

Soknopaiou Nesos is very important for the understanding
of Greco-Roman society in Egypt because of its excellent state
of preservation and the amount of papyri and other inscribed
material found at the site. Civilization at the site reached its peak
during the first and second century AD as it sat along a major
trade route. In addition to the Ptolemaic temple of Soknopaios,
the site is well known for a collection of sphinxes, as well as
Roman and demotic papyri.

Source: SCA, 26/12/10