18 
THE GREAT EGYPTIAN 
REVOLUTION. 
(mt-sgrh) in Egypt’’—a very remarkable confession by an inscription in the official style. 
After a remark on liberality to the Greek troops (see below), the same inscription informs us: 
(12) amo trav brapxovoay 
év AiylirTw mpocddwv xa 
popod\oyl@v, Twas pev eis 
TéX\os adnKkev, GAdas de 
Kekougdikev, Ows 6 TE QOS 
kal of &\Aou wavtes €v (13) 
evOnvia wow él THs EavTOU 
Baoctretas. 
Of the revenues and taxes existing 
(before) in Egypt he abandoned 
some entirely and lightened others 
in order that both the (ordinary?) 
people® and the whole rest (!) be 
in prosperity under his reign. 
DEMOTIC TEXT (I. 7). 
The taxation (ity) (and) revenue 
(skr)! which had been continuing 
(‘h‘)*in Egypt, he had taken parts 
(ps?) from them (and) he had 
abandoned them entirely (z:'z) to 
make the people (? see below) 
and all the other men to be well 
(off) at the time of his reign. 
See above on the excessive caution manifested in these reluctant allusions to the rebellion 
and on the distinction of two classes of population which seems to contain a hint at the 
warriors. The great difficulty is that the word of the demotic version, which corresponds 
with the Greek ads, is ambiguous, as it may mean “multitude, people,” or “‘soldiers.”’ See 
below on Philae II, 17e, etc., about the difficulty that both Egyptian versions lacked a clear 
distinction between those two expressions. The possibility that the demotic writer may have 
thought here of the native warriors as the element first to be placated is increased by the hiero- 
glyphic version (Damanhur, 12). It has “mmnft-soldiers,”’ 7. e.,a word which ought to designate 
even a privileged soldier class (p. 10; cp. p. 60). The hieroglyphic version, as usual, follows the 
demotic and seeks to make its sense more distinct; it seems here a valuable guide, although its 
strong disfigurement by the illiterate engraver would not exclude the possibility of connecting 
that expression “mnft-soldiers’’ with the Greek 6 \ads instead of with “the rest.” 
Even more important seems the next concession (Greek, line 13): 
DEMOTIC TEXT (I. 8.) 
Ta TE Baoittka OperAnuata & 
, = 5 oe. 4 / 
Tpotwdetdov ol ev TH Aly UTTH 
Kal ol €v TH AotTH PBacirela 
avtov d6vTa wo\\Ga TH TANOGEL 
adnkev. 
and the debts due to the govern- 
ment which still were owed by the 
inhabitants of Egypt and of the 
rest of his kingdom, he remitted, 
(although) being a great amount. 
of the king which owed the Egyp- 
tians and all those in his kingdom, 
amounting to (’r) a great figure, 
he abandoned to them. 
In connection with this, a far-reaching amnesty to criminals was granted, liberty to those 
imprisoned and a remission of private debts of long standing (1. 14) ; this latter concession meant, 
likewise, a freeing from imprisonment in many cases.’ 
The inscription passes over to the concessions to the priests, which are rather moderate, I 
think. Some modern writers exaggerate their importance in order to prove that the Ptolemaic 
government wanted to win the pious masses first by benefits to their gods and priests. Whoso- 
ever is not deceived by the prominence which the priests, of course, must give to their special 
grants, and looks at the practical meaning of these grants, will judge more soberly. I think an 
unprejudiced examination will not confirm the belief that the Egyptian rebels had fought in any 
religious interest, for their gods and temples. The prominence given by the priests to their 
1 This word means in Coptic: “‘rent, income from the use of something.’ 
2 Lit. “standing, remaining, established.” 
3 That is, the natives; but compare the other versions. 
