The Ptolemaic Decrees were a series of decrees by
synods of
ancient Egyptian priests. They were issued in the
Ptolemaic Kingdom, which controlled
Egypt from 305 BC to 30 BC. In each decree, the benefactions of the reigning pharaoh, especially towards the priesthood, are recognised, and religious honours are decreed for him.[1]
There exist three copies plus a fragment of the Decree of Canopus, two copies of the Memphis Decree (one imperfect), and two and a half copies of the text of the Rosetta Stone, including the copy on the
Nubayrah Stele and a temple wall inscription with edits, or scene replacements, completed by subsequent scribes.
243 BC Decree of Alexandria (Ptolemy III)
The Decree of Alexandria was issued on the 13rd of Gorpiaios = 3 december 243 BCE. It proclaimed that statues of Ptolemy III and his wife
Berenice II as well as a shrine for them should be set up in each temple to worship them as beneficent gods.[3]
239 BC Decree of Canopus (Ptolemy III)
The Decree was issued on 7 Appellaios (Mac.) = 17 Tybi (Eg.) year 9 of Ptolemy III = Thursday 7 March 238 BCE (proleptic Julian calendar).
Stone 1: Stele of Canopus, (no. 1), found 1866, 37 lines of hieroglyphs, 74 lines of
Demotic (right side), 76 lines of Greek
'capitals', fine limestone.
Stone 2: Stele of Canopus (no. 2), found 1881, 26 lines hieroglyphs, 20 lines Demotic, 64 lines Greek 'capitals', white limestone.
3rd partial text with lines of hieroglyphs (now in the
Louvre).
4th text was discovered in 2004 at
Bubastis, by the German-Egyptian 'Tell Basta Project'.
217 BC Decree of Memphis (Ptolemy IV)
Stone 1: Raphia Decree, found 1902 at the site of ancient Memphis, hieroglyphs, Demotic, and Greek, dark granite.
Stone 2: Pithom Stele, No. II, found 1923, hieroglyphs (front), 42 lines Demotic (back), virtually complete, providing an almost total translation, and Greek (side), sandstone.
Stone 1: Stele of Rosetta, "The
Rosetta Stone", found 1799, (remaining) hieroglyphs, 14 lines, 32 lines Demotic, 54 lines Greek
'capitals', dark granite (
granodiorite).
Stone 2: Nubayrah Stele, found in the early 1880s, hieroglyphs, lines 1–27 were used to complete the missing lines on the Rosetta Stone, Demotic, Greek capitals, limestone.
Site 3: the Temple of
Philae, inscribed hieroglyphs from the Third Decree on walls, also overwritten, with scenes and figures of humans/gods.
186 BC Philensis II Decree (Ptolemy V)
Issued at Alexandria upon the suppression of a revolt.[2]
185 BC Philensis I Decree (Ptolemy V)
Issued at Memphis upon the enthronement of an
Apis bull.[2]
El-Masry, Yahia; Altenmüller, Hartwig; Thissen, Heinz-Josef (2012). Das Synodaldekret von Alexandria aus dem Jahre 243 v. Chr (in German). Buske.
ISBN9783875486223.
Von Recklingshausen, Daniel (2018). Die Philensis-dekrete: Untersuchungen Uber Zwei Synodaldekrete Aus Der Zeit Ptolemaios' V. Und Ihre Geschichtliche Und Religiose Bedeutung (in German). Otto Harrassowitz.
ISBN9783447108027.