Review of UPZ I 148

Knowledge of ancient Greek is required for the seminar.

Generally dated to the 2nd^century B.C.,UPZ I 148 contains a letter written in Greek, in which the sender expresses her delight that her correspondent is learning Egyptian letters, because, once back in town, he will be able to teach them and thus provide himself with a viaticum for old age. Although this document is undoubtedly one of the most famous papyri from the Lagid period, and one of the most commented on in the literature on multilingualism in Egypt, as a rare illustration of a Greek attempting to master Egyptian and, even more rarely, Demotic, its provenance has always been considered unknown. In fact, a detailed re-examination of the historical context of its acquisition and its various purchasers in the 19th^century has made it possible not only to establish its provenance (Memphis) and its belonging to an archive (those of the recluses of the Serapium of Memphis), but also to specify its dating (the 160s B.C.), to understand its layout - which may seem unusual, since the letter contains no prescript, final greeting or address - to determine the state in which it arrived in Great Britain, and, more generally, to place it in the context in which it was written.