A PUZZLING EPISTOLARY EXCHANGE: EUROMUS AND ITS INTERLOCUTORS IN SEG XLIII 705

In this article we oπer a new critical edition and historical commentary of the so-called “Funktionärsbrief” of Euromus. A new analysis of the fragmentary text, letter forms and content of the inscription leads to a reinterpretation of this puzzling document. Contrary to what has been suggested, the author of the missive to Euromus must have been an authority of higher rank than the dioiketes and the Ptolemy mentioned in the text. The latter was neither a king nor a son of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, and there is no need to assume that the epistolary exchange took place under the Ptolemaic administration.