gems, ancient history

The issue of relations between the Bosporus and Egypt in the 3rd century BCE has been the subject of many studies. The main focus of all these investigations has been the question of Bosporan-Egyptian competition in the grain trade. This problem was first raised in the work of Mikhail Ivanovich Rostovtzeff. Sergey Alexandrovich Zhebelev, Viktor Fyodorovich Gaidukevich, Vladimir Dmitrievich Blavatsky, and Ivan Georgievich Shurgaya recognized this competition as real, which, according to the latter, indicates tension in the contacts between the Bosporus and Egypt. Doubts about the possibility of trade competition between the Bosporus and Egypt were expressed by Maria Konstantinovna Trofimova, and later by E. Willems. Meanwhile, written sources contain no direct reference either to Bosporan-Egyptian competition or to its absence. The only written testimony of contact between the Bosporus and Egypt in the 3rd century BCE is a document from the Zenon archive, which mentions an embassy sent by the Bosporan king Paerisades to the court of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. The purpose of the embassy is not disclosed. Thus, the assumptions expressed are entirely based on indirect evidence. However, it seems that drawing on a group of sources directly reflecting the relations between the Bosporus and Egypt in the 3rd century BCE may allow for a new perspective on the issue under consideration.