Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth International Congress of Papyrology, Ann Arbor 2007 American Studies in Papyrology (Ann Arbor 2010) 197–206 Standard Koine Greek in Third Century BC Papyri  T.V. Evans The Idea of Standard Koine Greek in the Papyri The linguistic significance of the Greek non-literary papyri has been recognized since the late nine- teenth century. Nevertheless, although valuable work has been done over the last hundred years, it has to be acknowledged that language specialists have still barely begun to exploit the richness of the resource. 1 One result is that papyrological literature is sprinkled with linguistic comment which should be regarded as provisional in nature, and often in serious need of reassessment. A particular problem is that many ob- servations, especially in older editions of papyrus texts, are based on aesthetic judgments, and an unsym- pathetic view of the post-classical language. We meet, for instance, numerous statements concerning "ungrammatical" usage, "bad" Greek, and so on, such as the representative examples from the pen of the great C.C. Edgar in (1) below. Note too that the authors mentioned there all have Egyptian names. The perception of bilingual interference looms large over interpretation of texts from such authors. (1) The idea of "bad" Greek in third century BC documents The grammar here becomes as hopeless as the plight of the petitioners. (Edgar, P.Cair.Zen. II 59291 [to Zenon, Harmais and Teos], n. to lines 6–8) One of the most ungrammatical pieces in our collection, and the meaning can only be guessed at. (Edgar, P.Cair.Zen. III 59490 [Pasis to Zenon], introd.) The text is so mutilated and the Greek is so extraordinarily bad that it is difficult to give a clear account of what Petosiris means to say. (Edgar, P.Cair.Zen. III 59499, introd., on lines 84 [recte 85]–101). But what is "good" Greek in the times and places illustrated by the evidence of the papyri? What should be our point of comparison for linguistic analysis? There has been a natural enough, but increas- ingly unsatisfactory tendency to interpret these texts in relation to literary prose of the classical period. Sven-Tage Teodorsson compared them to Attic inscriptions of the fourth century in The Phonology of Ptolemaic Koine, 2 but that material too is remote in place, time, genre, and registers, and has restricted value for analysing many linguistic categories. The argument of this short paper is that a more apposite point of comparison is available among the papyri themselves. The focus is mid-third century BC documents from Alexandria and the Fayum  For advice and practical assistance relevant to the production of this paper it is a pleasure to thank Mark Depauw, Traianos Gagos, John Lee, Nikos Litinas, and Franziska Naether. 1 For a developed statement of these introductory assertions, see T.V. Evans and D.D. Obbink, "Introduction," in T.V. Evans and D.D. Obbink (eds.), The Language of the Papyri (Oxford 2010) 1–12. 2 S.-T. Teodorsson, The Phonology of Ptolemaic Koine (Göteborg 1977) 256–257.