Knowledge of ancient Greek is required for the seminar.
In the sociolinguistic landscape of8th-century papyrological documentation, the trilingual papyrus P. Cair. Arab. III 167 dating from 754-757 appears to be quite unique. The concomitant use of three languages (Coptic, Greek, Arabic) is indeed exceptional and has never been satisfactorily explained. The presentation of this papyrus gave rise to a discussion that helped to advance our understanding of the problem. It shows the notables of Panopolis and several surrounding villages, as well as representatives of the region's monasteries, declaring to Yazīd b. 'Abd Allāh, pagarch of Akhmīm (Panopolis) and Ṭahṭā, that they had not suffered any exactions at the hands of a tax official, 'Amr b. 'Attās, and his office. The declaration is drawn up by a notary and signed by 67 people, in the Coptic language one would expect for a document emanating from private individuals. This is followed by an Abstract of the document including the names of the subscribers, written by the same person in Greek (l. 82-92), the use of Greek being justified by the administrative function of this declaration. More astonishing is the section in Arabic that closes this document (l. 93-101): nine Muslim witnesses confirm that the pagarch summoned the notables of his pagarchy, questioned them and that they indeed drafted the present declaration. The validation of a Coptic administrative document by Arab-Muslim witnesses according to Islamic law is a new development that says much about the rise of both Arabization and Islamic law.
