A Ptolemaic ‘Speculum Principis' in P.Berol. inv. 13045, A I-III?

The paper intends to shed light on the first three columns of what is usually referred to as the Demades papyrus, which contain the remains of an eulogy of Ptolemaic monarchy. Although found in the necropolis of Βουσῖρις ἐν τῷ Ἡρακλεοπολίτῃ, P.Berol. inv. 13045 is supposed to have been written in Alexandria and dates to the end of the second century BC. The content of the fragment, which has received scarce critical attention since the editio princeps (1923), can be summarized as follows: after comparing various political constitutions in the first column, the author goes on to praise Egypt and Alexandria in the second and expounds an ideal of kingship in the third. Besides providing a new edition, with an English translation, of the text, the paper addresses the question of its nature and destination (a philosophical treatise, a rhetorical piece περὶ βασιλείας or an oration πρὸς βασιλέα τινά), and considers the problem of the historical context it reflects. Particular attention is paid to assessing to what extent the stock virtues listed in the third column coincide with those codified in the treatises of advice to monarchs and princes of the late Classical and Hellenistic periods.