Michigan Papyrus Collection

Languages and Scripts

Coptic- The Egyptian language, written in the Greek alphabet. Coptic appears at the end of the third century, and increases in use over the next 350 years.

Demotic- The cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. Demotic was used from the sixth century BC until at least the fourth century AD, yet began to fade as early as the first century AD.

Greek- Greek became the language of the administration under the Ptolemies and remained the dominent language in Egypt through the Roman and Byzantine periods.

Latin- The use of Latin in Egypt is more infrequent than that of Greek. Under the Romans, the administration in Egypt continued to use Greek. However, the Roman military continued to use Latin. Therefore, the nature of Latin documents in Egypt tend to pertain to the military or were written by Roman soldiers.