Requests and letters of recommendation: the case of Amyntas in the Zenon archive

Abstract

Requests and letters of recommendation in Ptolemaic Egypt in the third century B.C. were some effective ways used by Greek immigrants to improve their conditions, to obtain a good job or to solve the problems facing them in their new country. Amyntas, the director of Apollonios Palace in Alexandria, was one of the most influential officials who wrote such requests and letters on behalf of some fellow Greek immigrants.