Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt

Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt, often referred to as TAD or TADAE, is a four volume corpus of Aramaic inscriptions written in Egypt during the Ancient Egyptian period, written by Bezalel Porten and Ada Yardeni.^[1]

Originally envisaged to be the Corpus Papyrorum Aramaicarum, following the Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum, it grew to incorporate all Aramaic inscriptions from the region, not just on papyrus, so the title was changed – this time borrowing from J. C. L. Gibson's 1971 Textbook of Syrian Semitic Inscriptions.^[1]

Each of volumes 1-3 contains 40-50 texts (vol. 1 letters (A); vol. 2 contracts (B); vol. 3 literary texts (C)), and volume 4 contains 478 texts, including D1-5: 216 papyrus fragments; D6: 14 leather; D7-10: 87 ostraca. The collection does not include the Saqqarah papyri^[a] and most of the Clermont-Ganneau ostraca.^[b][4][5]

It is the standard reference textbook for the Aramaic Elephantine papyri and ostraca, as well as other examples of Egyptian Aramaic, which together provide the primary extant examples of Imperial Aramaic worldwide.^[6]

Concordance

Name		Discovered	Date	Location	TAD	Cowley (C)	Grelot	Other ref	Museum number
Adon Papyrus		1942	600s BCE		A1.1			KAI 266
Hermopolis Aramaic papyri		1945	400-500 BCE	University of Cairo	A2.1		28	Bresciani-Kamil 4[7]
					A2.2		26	Bresciani-Kamil 2[7]
					A2.3		25	Bresciani-Kamil 1[7]
					A2.4		27	Bresciani-Kamil 3[7]
					A2.5		29	Bresciani-Kamil 5[7]
					A2.6		30	Bresciani-Kamil 6[7]
					A2.7		31	Bresciani-Kamil 7[7]
Private Letters		1906-08	400-500 BCE	Egyptian Museum	A3.1	54	-	Sachau 39	Pap. No. 3456 = J. 43493
					A3.2	55	-	Sachau 40	Pap. No. 3457 = J. 43494
	Padua Aramaic papyri	1815-19 (published 1960)		Museo Civico di Padova	A3.3		14		Aramaic Papyrus 1
					A3.4				Aramaic Papyrus 2
		1906-08		Egyptian Museum	A3.5	41	-	Sachau 13	Pap. No. 3437 = J. 43474
					A3.6	40	16	Sachau 14	Pap. No. 3438 = J. 43475
					A3.7	39	15	Sachau 12	Pap. No. 3436 = J. 43473
					A3.8	42	17	Sachau 16	Pap. No. 3440 = J. 43477
	Wilbour Aramaic papyrus	1893		Brooklyn Museum	A3.9			Kraeling 13[8]	Brooklyn Museum 47.218.151
		1970		Egyptian Museum of Berlin	A3.10				P. Berlin 23000
		1959		Museo Archeologico di Firenze	A3.11				Inv. n. 11913
Jedaniah Communal Archive	Passover Letter	1906-08	419 - 407 BCE	Egyptian Museum of Berlin	A4.1	21	96	Sachau 6	P. 13464
				Egyptian Museum	A4.2	37	97	Sachau 10	Pap. No. 3434 = J. 43471
					A4.3	38	98	Sachau 11	Pap. No. 3435 = J. 43472
				Egyptian Museum of Berlin and Egyptian Museum of Cairo	A4.4	56+34	100	Sachau 15	Berlin P. 13456 + Pap. No. 3439 = J. 43476
	Strasbourg Aramaic papyrus	1898		Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire (Strasbourg)	A4.5	27	101		Aram. 2
		1906-08		Egyptian Museum of Berlin	A4.6	66			P. 13445
	Temple Reconstruction Letter				A4.7	30	102	Sachau 1	P. 13495
				Egyptian Museum	A4.8	31	102	Sachau 2	Pap. No. 3428 = J. 43465
				Egyptian Museum of Berlin	A4.9	32	103	Sachau 3	P. 13497
				Egyptian Museum	A4.10	33	104	Sachau 5	Pap. No. 3430 = J. 43467
Official (semi-official) Letters	Maspero Saqqara Aramaic papyrus	1902	436 - 300s BCE	Académie des Inscriptions	A5.1				Inscriptions 5-7
		1906-08		Egyptian Museum	A5.2	16	18	Sachau 7	Pap. No 3431 = J. 43468
	Turin Aramaic Papyrus	1824		Musco Egizio di Torino	A5.3	70		CIS II 144	Prov. 645
	Memphis Serapeum Aramaic papyrus	1862[9]		Egyptian Museum	A5.4	76		CIS II 151	Pap. No. 3654 = J. 59204
	Maspero Elephantine Aramaic papyrus	1902			A5.5	80		RES 248	Académie des Inscriptions 2-4
The Letters of Arsames and his Colleagues		1906-08	427 - 400 BCE	Egyptian Museum	A6.1	17	60	Sachau 4	Pap. No. 3429 = J. 43466
					A6.2	26	61	Sachau 8	Pap. No. 3432 = J. 43469
		1933 (published 1954)		Bodleian Library	A6.3		64	Driver 3 + Frag 7.1[10]	Pell. Aram. VII
					A6.4		62	Driver 2 + Frag 9.6[10]	Pell. Aram. IV (bottom left) + XII
					A6.5		63	Driver 1 and 1a[10]	Pell. Aram. VI
					A6.6			Driver Frag. 5[10]
					A6.7		66	Driver 5[10]	Pell. Aram. IV
					A6.8		65	Driver 4[10]	Pell. Aram. II
					A6.9		67	Driver 6[10]	Pell. Aram. VIII
					A6.10		68	Driver 7[10]	Pell. Aram. I
					A6.11		69	Driver 8[10]	Pell. Aram. XIII
					A6.12		70	Driver 9[10]	Pell. Aram. III
					A6.13		71	Driver 10[10]	Pell. Aram. IX
					A6.14		72	Driver 11[10]	Pell. Aram. V
					A6.15		73	Driver 12[10]	Pell. Aram. XIV
					A6.16		74	Driver 13[10]	Pell. Aram. X
Mibtahiah archive					B2.1	5	32	Sayce-Cowley A
					B2.2	6	33	Sayce-Cowley B
					B2.3	8	34	Sayce-Cowley D
					B2.4	9	35	Sayce-Cowley C
					B2.5	48	-	Sachau 38
					B2.6	15	38	Sayce-Cowley G
					B2.7	13	36	Sayce-Cowley E
			Quit Claim		B2.8	14	37	Sayce-Cowley F
					B2.9	20	39	Sayce-Cowley H
					B2.10	25	40	Sayce-Cowley J
					B2.11	28	41	Sayce-Cowley K
Anani archive					B3.1	10	4	Sachau 28
	Mika cedes property to Anani b. Azariah			Brooklyn Museum	B3.2		42	Kraeling 1+18[8]
	Anani b. Azariah marriage to Tamut				B3.3		43	Kraeling 2[8]
	Bagazusht and Ubil sell house to Anani b. Azariah				B3.4		44	Kraeling 3[8]
	Gift from man to wife				B3.5		45	Kraeling 4[8]
	Emancipation of female slave				B3.6		46	Kraeling 5[8]
	Father-daughter adjoining house				B3.7		47	Kraeling 6[8]
	Ananiah son of Haggai marriage				B3.8		48	Kraeling 7+15[8]
	Slave adoption				B3.9		49	Kraeling 8[8]
	Father-daughter gift				B3.10		50	Kraeling 9[8]
	Father-daughter house donation				B3.11		51	Kraeling 10[8]
	Sale contract				B3.12		53	Kraeling 12[8]
	Grain loan				B3.13		52	Kraeling 11[8]
					B4.1	49	1	Sachau 44
					B4.2	11	3	Sayce-Cowley L
					B4.3	3	-	Sachau 26
					B4.4	2	54	Sachau 25
					B4.5	29	6	Sachau 29
					B4.6	35	7	Sachau 35
					B5.1	1	2	Sachau 30
					B5.2	65,3+67,3
					B5.3
					B5.4	47	-	Sachau 37
					B5.5	43	8	Sachau 33
					B6.1			Kraeling 14[8]
					B6.2	36	-	Sachau 9
					B6.3	46	-	Sachau 31
					B6.4	18	5	Sachau 34
					B7.1	45	11	Sachau 36
					B7.2	7	9	Sachau 27
					B7.3	44	10	Sachau 32
					B7.4	59		Sachau 47
Lepsius Aramaic papyrus		1849			B8.5	69		CIS II 149
Literary Texts	Story of Ahikar	1906-08		Egyptian Museum of Berlin and Egyptian Museum of Cairo	C1.1 (+3.7)			Sachau 49-52, 54-59	Berlin P. 13446A-H, K-L + Pap. No. 3465 = J. 43502
	Blacas papyri	1825		British Library	C1.2	71		CIS II 145	Pap. 106
Historical Texts	Behistun papyrus	1906-08		Egyptian Museum of Berlin	C2.1 (+3.13)			Sachau 61-62	P. 13447
Accounts		1880s (published 1915)		Egyptian Museum	C3.1			RÉS 1791	Pap. No. 3466 = J. 36499
	Göttingen papyrus	1884 (published 1974)		Göttingen State and University Library	C3.2				Cod.Ms.or.var.1,xx
		1906-08		Egyptian Museum	C3.3	52	-	Sachau 22	Pap. No. 3445 = J. 43482
		1906-07 (published 1974)		Egyptian Museum of Berlin	C3.4				P. Berlin 23103
		1917		Egyptian Museum	C3.5	p. 318		Aimé-Giron	Pap. No. 3656 = J. 59209
		1966-72 (published 1983)		Egyptian Antiquities Service	C3.6			Segal 47	Register No. 5881
	Ahigar erased text	1906-08		Egyptian Museum of Berlin and Egyptian Museum of Cairo	C3.7 (+1.1)			Sachau 49-52, 54-59	Berlin P. 13446A-H, K-L + Pap. No. 3465 = J. 43502
		1926		Egyptian Museum	C3.8			Aimé-Giron 5-20, 24, 39	Pap. No. 3470, 3471, 3472, 3474 J. 50053, 50054, 50055, 50057
		1906-07 (published 1988)		Egyptian Museum of Berlin	C3.9		105	Kraeling 13	P. Berlin 23128–32, 23134
	Bresciani papyrus	1940 (published 1971)		Egyptian Museum	C3.10				Pap. No. 3484 = J. 72527
		1966-72 (published 1983)		Egyptian Antiquities Service	C3.11			Segal 20+19	Register No. 2212 + 2195
	Louvre Aramaic papyrus	1826 (published 1863)		Louvre	C3.12	72		CIS II 146	AF 7991
	Memorandum from verso of the Behistun papyrus	1906-08		Egyptian Museum of Berlin	C3.13 (+2.1)	61–63, 64,21 + 68,5		Sachau 61-62	Berlin P. 13447 verso
		1906-08		Egyptian Museum	C3.14	24	55	Sachau 19	Pap. No. 3442 = J. 43479 + 43479A
		1906-08		Egyptian Museum of Berlin	C3.15	22	89	Sachau 18	P. 13488 + Nos. 64 and 76 of 96 Frags. + P. Berlin 23101
		1893 (published 1953)		Brooklyn Museum	C3.16		-	Kraeling 17[8]	Brooklyn Museum 47.218.153
		unknown		Egyptian Museum	C3.17			Aimé-Giron 78+77	Pap. No. 3476 = J. 59202
		1966-72 (published 1983)		Egyptian Antiquities Service	C3.18			Segal 45	Register No. 2201
		1827 (published 1869)		Vatican Museum	C3.19	73		CIS II 147	Inv. No. 22955
		1966-72 (published 1983)		Egyptian Antiquities Service	C3.20			Segal 57	Register No. 2215
		1862 (published 1887)		Egyptian Museum	C3.21	75		CIS II 150	Pap. No. 3653 = J. 59203
		1966-72 (published 1983)		Egyptian Antiquities Service	C3.22			Segal 48	Register No. 1560
					C3.23			Segal 87	Register No. 5891
					C3.24			Segal 106	Register No. 5666
		1880s		Egyptian Museum	C3.25	78		CIS II 153	Pap. No. 3478 = J. 60144
		1924-25			C3.26			Aimé-Giron 87	Pap. No. 3469 = J. 50052
	Harrow papyrus	1880s (published 1923)		Harrow School Museum	C3.27	83
		1906		Bodleian Library	C3.28	81			MS. Heb. a. 5 (P)
		unknown		Museo dell'Istituto di Studi del Vicino Oriente, Università di Roma	C3.29				Pap. Levi Della Vida
Lists		1913		Egyptian Museum	C4.1	p. 317		Aimé-Giron	Pap. No. 3655 = J. 59208
		1926			C4.2			Aimé-Giron 46 + 50 + 25 + 47; 26, 30, 33, 61, 75	Pap. No. 3473, 3474 = J. 50056. 50057
		1966-72 (published 1983)		Egyptian Antiquities Service	C4.3			Segal 53	Register No. 1558
		1906-08		Egyptian Museum	C4.4	12	56	Sachau 17	Pap. No. 3441 = J. 43478
					C4.5	19	57	Sachau 21	Pap. No. 3444 = J. 43481
					C4.6	23	58	Sachau 20	Pap. No. 3443 = J, 43480
					C4.7	51	-	Sachau 23	Pap. No. 3446 = J. 43483
					C4.8	53	59	Sachau 24	Pap. No. 3447 = J. 43484
	Vatican papyrus	1827 (published 1884)		Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana	C4.9	74		CIS II 148	Papiro Borgiano Aramaico 1
Other	Chester ostraca			British Museum	D7.13			KAI 271, CIS II 138	E14219
	Dream ostracon				D7.17			KAI 270, CIS II 137
	Serapeum Offering Table				D20.1			KAI 268
	Saqqara Aramaic Stele				D20.3			KAI 267
	Carpentras Stele				D20.5			KAI 269
	Ankh-Hapy stele				D20.6			KAI 272

Reviews

Volume 1

• Williamson, H. G. M. (1987). [Review of Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt 1: Letters, by B. Porten & A. Yardeni]. Vetus Testamentum, 37(4), 493–493. https://doi.org/10.2307/1517566
• Lipiński, E. (1988). [Review of Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt ('wsp t’wdwt ’rmywt mmşrym h’tyqh), newly copied, edited and translated into Hebrew and English by..., 1. Letters. Appendix: Aramaic Letters from the Bible, by B. Porten & A. Yardeni]. Orientalia, 57(4), 434–436. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43077597
• Kaufman, S. A. (1988). [Review of Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt. Vol. 1. Letters, by B. Porten & A. Yardeni]. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 47(4), 289–290. http://www.jstor.org/stable/544888
• Grelot, P. (1988). [Review of Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt, Newly Copied, Edited and Translated into Hebrew and English, I. Letters. Appendix: Aramaic Letters from the Bible. 34 × 24, by B. Porten & A. Yardeni]. Revue Biblique (1946-), 95(2), 294–299. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44088910

Volume 2

• Lipiński, E. (1990). [Review of Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt ('wsp t’wdwt ’rmywt mmşrym h’tyqh), newly copied, edited and translated into Hebrew and English by..., 2. Contracts. Vol. 1: text, copies in reduced size (LIV-191 p.); vol. 2: copies (37 foldouts), by B. Porten & A. Yardeni]. Orientalia, 59(4), 552–554. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43075793
• Grelot, P. (1990). [Review of Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt, by B. Porten & A. Yardeni]. Revue Biblique (1946-), 97(2), 270–276. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44089014
• Segal, J. B. (1992). [Review of Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt, II, Contracts, by B. Porten & A. Yardeni]. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 78, 344–344. https://doi.org/10.2307/3822102

Volume 3

• Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (1995). [Review of Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt, 3: Literature, Accounts, Lists, by B. Porten & A. Yardeni]. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 115(4), 710–711. https://doi.org/10.2307/604758
• Grelot, P. (1996). [Review of Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt, 3: Literature, Accounts, Lists, by B. Porten & A. Yardeni]. Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period, 27(3), 351–355. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24660077

Volume 4

• Gianto, A. (2000). [Review of Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt. Newly Copied, Edited and Translated into English. 4: Ostraca and Assorted Inscriptions (Texts and Studies for Students), by B. Porten & A. Yardeni]. Biblica, 81(3), 443–445. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42614297
• Dion, P.-E. (2000). [Review of Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt. Newly Copied, Edited and Translated into Hebrew and English, Vol. 4: Ostraca and Assorted Inscriptions, by B. Porten & A. Yardeni]. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 318, 77–79. https://doi.org/10.2307/1357731

Work

• Volume 1
• Volume 3
• A Grammar of Egyptian Aramaic

Previous corpuses

• Clermont-Ganneau, Charles Simon (1878). "Origine Perse Des Monuments Araméens d'Égypte (Notes d'archéologie orientale) Premier Article". Revue Archéologique. 36. Presses Universitaires de France: 93–107. ISSN 0035-0737. JSTOR 41735287.
  • "Deuxième Article". Revue Archéologique. 37. Presses Universitaires de France: 21–39. 1879. ISSN 0035-0737. JSTOR 41735338.
• Sayce and Cowley, Aramaic Papyri Discovered at Assuan, (London, 1906)
• Arthur Ungnad, 1911, Aramäische Papyrus aus Elephantine
• Eduard Sachau, 1911, Aramäische Papyrus und Ostraka aus einer jüdischen Militär-Kolonie zu Elephantine
  • Text
  • Plates
• Arthur Ernest Cowley, 1923, Aramaic papyri of the fifth century B.C
• Noël Aimé-Giron, 1931, Textes araméens d'Égypte
• Grelot, Pierre (1972). Documents araméens d'Égypte. Littératures anciennes du Proche-Orient (in French). Éditions du Cerf.

Notes

1. Discovered from 1966-73, the group consists of 202 papyrus fragments and 5 ostraca; none of these are full or almost full texts: Pardee writes “As a matter of connected text, however, this collection is much less important than the groups of texts published by Sayce, Sachau, Cowley, Driver, Kraeling, and Bresciani and Kamil, for there is not a single complete document among these 202 papyri.”^[2]
2. Discovered in the early 20th century, but very few have been published.^[3]

References

1. Botta, A.F. (2012). ""Mr. Elephantine" Bezalel Porten". In the Shadow of Bezalel. Aramaic, Biblical, and Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honor of Bezalel Porten. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East. Brill. p. xi-xvi. ISBN 978-90-04-24083-4.
2. Pardee, D. (1988). [Review of Aramaic Texts from North Saqqâra with Some Fragments in Phoenician, by J. B. Segal]. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 47(2), 154–156. http://www.jstor.org/stable/544400
3. Porten, B., & Yardeni, A. (1993). Ostracon Clermont-Ganneau 125(?): A Case of Ritual Purity. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 113(3), 451–456. https://doi.org/10.2307/605393
4. Gianto, A. (2000). [Review of Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt. Newly Copied, Edited and Translated into English. 4: Ostraca and Assorted Inscriptions (Texts and Studies for Students), by B. Porten & A. Yardeni]. Biblica, 81(3), 443–445. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42614297
5. Dion, P.-E. (2000). [Review of Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt. Newly Copied, Edited and Translated into Hebrew and English, Vol. 4: Ostraca and Assorted Inscriptions, by B. Porten & A. Yardeni]. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 318, 77–79. https://doi.org/10.2307/1357731
6. Cook, Edward (2022). Biblical Aramaic and Related Dialects: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. p. 3-7. ISBN 978-1-108-78788-8. Imperial Aramaic (IA) [Footnote: Other names: Official Aramaic, Reichsaramäisch. Because many of the surviving texts come from Egypt, some scholars speak of "Egyptian Aramaic."]… As noted, the documentation of IA is significantly greater than that of Old Aramaic; the hot and dry climate of Egypt has been particularly favorable to the preservation of antiquities, including Aramaic texts written on soft media such as papyrus or leather. The primary, although not exclusive, source of our knowledge of Persian-period Aramaic is a large number of papyri discovered on the island of Elephantine… All of the Egyptian Aramaic texts have been collected and reedited in the Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt… This is now the standard text edition… Outside of Egypt, Aramaic texts written primarily on hard media such as stone or pottery have been discovered, including texts from Palestine, Arabia, Asia Minor, Iraq (Babylon), and Iran (Persepolis). A recent discovery, of uncertain provenance, is a relatively large collection of documents, now in a private collection, consisting mainly of the correspondence of the official Akhvamazda of Bactria dating from 354 to 324 BCE (Nave & Shaked 2012). They are similar in some ways to the Arshama archive published by Driver; the find-spot was no doubt Afghanistan.
7. Edda Bresciani; Murād Kāmil, 1966, Le lettere aramaiche di Hermopoli, Memorie (Accademia nazionale dei Lincei. Classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche)., ser. 8 ;, v. 12, fasc. 5.
8. Kraeling, Emil G.H. (1953). The Brooklyn Museum Aramaic Papyri: New Documents of the Fifth Century B.C. from the Jewish Colony at Elephantine. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-405-00873-3.
9. Bargès, J.J.L. (1862). Papyrus égypto-araméen appartenant au Musée égyptien du Louvre (in French). Duprat.
10. Driver, G.R.; Mittwoch, E. (1968). Aramaic Documents of the Fifth Century B.C. Zeller.