196 C. KUNDEREWICZ—H. KUPISZEWSKI — A. ŚWIDEREK
Anna Świderek, Kiedy piaski egipskie przemówiły po grecku ( == When the Egyptian Sands Spoke Greek) Warszawa, Wiedza Powszechna (1959) pp. 236.
The popular papyrological literature in Poland takes pride in its distinguished tradition. It was initiated b y Smolka and Manteuf-fel with a booklet Papyrologia, edited in 1933, and since then has found its continuation in a series of articles published by the latter author. Especially his pamphlet Ze świata papirusów (The World of the Papyry 1950) has enjoyed wide popularity. The first of the mentioned works has been used as a manual b y the students of ancient culture (the philologists, historians, and archeologists), the second destined for the broadest circles of readers, modestly does not claim to offer a systematized outline of papyrology. Through a selection of translated papyrological texts it has for its aim to present some interesting scenes from the life of the ancients.
The work of Miss Świderek realizes in part the purposes of her precursors. In the first chapters she gives an outline of the history of papyrology. The interresting story of discoveries and excavations is interlaced with the biographies of the great scholars, the fathers of papyrology: Petrie, Grenfell, Hunt, Wilcken and others. The author leads the reader to the dried up b y the sun ruins of the villages and towns of the Upper Egypt which once were full of life, to the tombs and rubbish-heaps, to all those places where papyrus fragments were found. She tells him about the production of writing-materials in the antiquity and initiates him in the mysteries of the scientific workshop of the papyrologist-editor. T h;s part of the work as well as chapter Y ,,The Meeting Place of the two Worlds on the Nile" which gives an outline of the political, social and eco-nomic history of Greco-Roman Egypt, is for a reader who is a stranger to the problems of papyrology. This part of the book can be used b y him as an excellent introduction. It is written vividly, not in-frequently presenting this venerable subject in light anecdotic form.
In the second part of her work the author gives voice to the ancients and permits them to speak to us in their own medium. She translates into Polish the original texts and skillfully intersperses with her own highly informative commentary. Before our eyes pass the teams of slaves, the peasants who b y the sweat of their brows till the soil which they can never call their own, the poor
SURVEY OF LITERATURE 197
hirelings, t h e s h e p h e r d s , t h e small c r a f t s m e n . Beside t h e m t h e r e a r e also these less n u m e r o u s , b u t powerful m e m b e r s of t h e m o n e y e d classes, t h e p r o p r i e t o r s of v i n e y a r d s a n d gardens, m i l i t a r y colonists, a n d officials deriving great p r o f i t s f r o m t h e lease of t a x e s .
I n lier book t h e a u t h o r h a s p r e s e n t e d n o t only t h e economic s i t u a t i o n of i n d i v i d u a l s a n d social groups, not only t h e e x p l o a t a t i o n b y m a s t e r s , a n d t h e revolt or resignation of t h e opressed, b u t also she h a s d e p i c t e d t h e i r home- a n d family-life, daily interests a n d a m u s e m e n t s , t h e i r beliefs a n d s u p e r s t i t i o n s . F r o m her account Ave come t o k n o w t h e people who are o f t e n so different f r o m us, a n d at t i m e s v e r y m u i h like our selves.
W i t h u t m o s t ease t h e r e a d e r m o v e s a b o u t in this r e m o t e world t h a n k s t o t h e a l m o s t novelistic p r e s e n t a t i o n of t h e s u b j e c t , t h e c a r e f u l selection of d o c u m e n t s a n d t h e c h a t t i n g style of t h e a u t h o r . T h e b o o k h a s n u m e r o u s well chosen illustrations which present n o t only t h e E g y p t of t h e p a p y r i b u t also t h e s e scenes a n d things f r o m t h e c o n t e m p o r a r y E g y p t which r e m i n d us of her ancient p a s t . I t is a g r e a t m e r i t of t h e a u t h o r t h a t she h a s w r i t t e n a highly r e a d a b l e s t o r y of ancient E g y p t destined for wide circle of t h e r e a d e r s w h o will follow w i t h c u r i o u s i t y t h e u n c o m m o n problems, h e r e b e f o r e a p p a r e n t l y r e m o t e a n d k n o w n t o a small n u m b e r of specialists. T h e f a c t t h a t t h e book h a s gone i n t o second edition t e s t i f i e s how excellent are its qualities. [ H . K . ]
Claire P r é a u x , Reflexions sur la Misanthropie au Theatre.
À propos du Dyscolos de Ménandre (Chronique d'Egypte t . 34
N o . 68 (1959) p p . 3 2 7 - 3 4 1 ) .
T h e a u t h o r e n d e a v o u r s to p r o v e t h a t t h e rôle of Cnemon i n t h e Dyscolos of M e n a n d e r corresponds t o t h e m u l t i f a r i o u s f u n c t i o n s assigned t o t h e c o m e d y . [C.K.]
J a c q u e s S c h w a r t z , La terre d'Égypte au temps de Trajan
et d'Hadrien. Archives de Sarapion (Chronique d'Egypte t . 34
No. 68 (1959) p p . 3 4 2 - 3 5 6 ) .
This l e c t u r e delivered a t t h e session of t h e „ F o n d a t i o n égyptologi-q u e Reine E l i s a b e t h " on 23-rd J a n u a r y , 1959, concerns t h e life of a f a m i l y of l a n d e d p r o p r i e t o r s in t h e Middle E g y p t a n d shows t h e process of social elevation a n d t h e Hellenisation of t h i s f a m i l y . [C.K.]
