Book Review: Dizionario dei nomi geografici e topografici dell’Egitto greco-romano

Bryn Mawr Classical Review (Reviewed by Amin Benaissa)

S. Daris, Dizionario dei nomi geografici e topografici dell’Egitto greco-romano, supplemento 5 (2006-2009). Studi di Egittologia e di Papirologia 8. Pisa/Roma: Fabrizio Serra editore, 2010.

The Dizionario dei nomi geografici e topografici dell’Egitto greco-romano is a familiar reference work to all papyrologists and historians of Graeco-Roman Egypt. Launched in 1935 by Aristide Calderini, its goal has been to collect 1) all Egyptian toponyms attested in Greek and Latin texts, both literary and documentary (papyri, ostraca, inscriptions), and 2) toponyms from other parts of the ancient world mentioned in documents from Egypt. Its chronological framework spans roughly the period from the beginning of the Ptolemaic dynasty to the Islamic conquest of Egypt (c. 300 BCE-750 CE), but does not exclude some earlier or later Greek authors (e.g. Herodotus) and documents. The toponyms assembled range in scope from cities and villages to streets and canals.