Abstract
This paper is devoted to the problems and challenges in the research of ancient Egyptian history that are caused by the extremely extensive and diverse source base. This material includes mainly papyri and ostraca, inscriptions, literary texts, archaeological and numismatic sources. Integration of information provided by different categories of sources is a major problem in the research on Egypt and requires an interdisciplinary approach. Moreover, texts from Egypt are linguistically diverse, which requires researchers to read and analyse documents written in several languages, including Egyptian (which is written in different types of script), Greek, Coptic, Latin and Aramaic. On the other hand, this unique material allows for a detailed study of certain social and economic aspects in Egypt, which is often difficult or impossible in the case of other parts of the ancient world. This paper aims to present the source base from ancient Egypt, considering both the problems posed by the analysis of these sources and the opportunities they offer. The article focuses on sources dated to the Ptolemaic period that are related to the activity of temple personnel in Egypt. The above issues are discussed based on the results of a research project financed by the National Science Centre aimed at examining the social and economic status of priests and temple workers in the Ptolemaic period.
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