Omnia tempus habent: the response time of Egyptian justice in the Ptolemaic period

This project investigates the temporal functioning of justice in Ptolemaic Egypt (305–31 BCE), a crucial yet understudied dimension of ancient legal practice. By systematically analysing dated petitions and juridical acts, it aims to reconstruct the average response time between submission and official decision, exploring how judicial speed varied across time, space, political conditions, and status, gender and ethnicity of the petitioner. Building on a substantial corpus of Greek, Demotic, and bilingual papyri, the study combines philological scrutiny, historical contextualization, and statistical analysis to quantify patterns of administrative efficiency. Beyond filling a significant gap in scholarship, this research introduces time as a key analytical category for understanding state–society relations in Hellenistic Egypt. Supported by abundant and diverse documentation, the project promises robust and measurable results, offering new insights into the operation of justice and governance in the ancient Mediterranean world.