Tebtunis is an Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

ian city. Its modern site is the village of Tell Umm el-Baragat in the Al Fayyum Governorate

Al Fayyum Governorate

Faiyum Governorate is one of the governorates of Egypt in the middle of the country. Its capital is the city of Faiyum, located about 81 mi south west of Cairo...

. It was also known as Theodosiopolis during the Greco-Roman period.

History

Tebtunis was founded by Amenemhat III

Amenemhat III

Amenemhat III, also spelled Amenemhet III was a pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from c.1860 BC to c.1814 BC, the latest known date being found in a papyrus dated to Regnal Year 46, I Akhet 22 of his rule. He is regarded as the greatest monarch of the Middle Kingdom...

 around 1800 B.C. The town flourished during the Ptolemaic period and was famous for the many papyri in Demotic

Demotic

Demotic may refer to:*Demotic Greek, a variety of the Greek language*Demotic , a script and stage of the Egyptian language...

 and Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

found there. These papyri give information about how people in Tebtunis lived from day to day. For example, one papyrus was found that gave 'minutes' of a meeting of a group of priests. On this papyrus were the names of the priests, what the meeting was about, and a date - indicating that it was written during the Ptolemaic period. In Tebtunis, there were many Greek and Roman buildings. Tebtunis was a rich town and was a very important regional center during the Ptolemaic period.

Tebtunis Papyri Volumes

• The Tebtunis papyri vol. I, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell, Arthur S. Hunt and J. Gilbart Smyly, 1902 at the Internet Archive
• The Tebtunis papyri vol. II, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell, Arthur S. Hunt and J. Edgard Goodspeed, 1907 at the Internet Archive
• The Tebtunis papyri vol. III part 1, edited with translations and notes by Arthur S. Hunt and J. Gilbart Smyly, 1933 at the Internet Archive