Ptolemaic Pathyris Project – interdisciplinary research on the urban layout and domestic architecture of the town (PoPaP)
All good research projects start with a murder, and so does this one:
The body of Kaies was found floating in a canal, as we learn from an ancient papyrus written in Pathyris and dated to 91 B.C. Where exactly did he live and what did his town look like?
We will try to answer these and many more questions. Our project envisions interdisciplinary research on the urban layout and residential architecture of the town of Pathyris under the Ptolemaic rule (322–30 B.C.), based on a wide range of data: archival, papyrological, and geospatial.
Our research will provide a rare glimpse into the life of a provincial administrative centre from the end of the pharaonic epoch. We will try to understand the relations between its ancient Egyptian and Greek inhabitants and explore their lifeways by 3D-modelling the town itself. Thanks to the model, we will be able to meet a renowned businesswoman, Apollonia alias Senmonthis, and her husband Dryton, a Greek cavalry officer. Not only will we try to establish where exactly in the town Apollonia lived, but also discover the secret behind her success as an enterprising woman. We will also learn the whereabouts of the property of Lady Tamenos, the object of a long-standing inheritance dispute. Pathyris was definitely not a sleepy provincial town where nothing ever happened!