Egypt too speaks Greek – Greek in Egypt during the early Byzantine period

A letter written in Greek script on papyrus from Egypt. Source: Sepia Times / Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

In Egypt, Greek was naturally the dominant language of Alexandria and of the other Hellenistic regions. Administrative texts addressed to the people as a whole, however, were consistently issued in both Greek and Coptic, and it is almost certain that many Greeks and Egyptians remained essentially monolingual. But although the upper urban classes were "inward-looking" (and mixed marriages were expressly forbidden in certain cities), social relations between ordinary Greeks and the native Egyptians were an everyday phenomenon. This, together with the employment of many Egyptians in the local administration, promoted bilingualism, as is attested by the great number of papyri written in Greek by Egyptians. In particular, official documents were usually written in impeccable Koine, and only in samples from private correspondence does some differentiation in language skills become apparent (cf. Teodorsson 1977, 11-24; Liddeckens 1980, 248-260).

(Geoffrey Horrocks, Greek, Estia Bookshop Publications, p. 309).