Proseuchē Inscription, Schedia, Egypt

240 BCE

Ancient stone tablet with engraved Greek inscription in several lines, showing clear and well-defined letters. — *Proseuchai* (“houses of prayer” or “prayer halls”) seem to have served as focal points for Jewish communities in Egypt in antiquity. Inscriptions from the *proseuchai* highlight the good standing of these communities and their close ties to the Ptolemaic dynasty. This inscription reads, “On behalf of king Ptolemy and queen Berenice his sister and wife and their children, the Jews (dedicated) the proseuchē.”

Credits

From Catalogue générale des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée d’Alexandrie (Cairo: Primerie de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1911), p. 335.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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