Hands of the Ptolemaic Era (332 - 30 BC)

The Ptolemaic Era covers the period of time in which Egypt was ruled by the Greek family of Ptolemies, the descendents of Ptolemaios.

It has been said that hands of the Ptolemaic Era resemble clothes hanging from a clothesline; the letters are written so that the top of each letterform is even with the others, but the lower portions of the letters may extend downward significantly. The example below illustrates this point.

P.Mich.inv 3218 Royal decree 248 B.C. full image: front

The example below is a private letter. The hand is rapid, not the work of a professional scribe. Notice how there are relatively few ligatures in the body of the letter, but the farewell (erroso), which the author has presumably written many times, is highly ligatured. The final three letters were all made with a single movement of the pen.

P.Mich.inv 3235 Private Letter 2nd century BC full image: front