This study investigates a particular pattern of communication employed for the exchange of
information between the offices of Ptolemaic Egypt: the cascade-letters. This definition refers
to the mechanism of appending copies of letters by reproducing them in the same sheet of
papyrus often in chronological order. This template which relates to certain stylistic
textual visual and material features is frequently introduced and marked by the formula ni
Gamma phi ni pi a copy is subjoined below of which there are many parallels.The attempt to
retrace the intentions for the adoption of the model and the stages of its evolution from the
third to the second century B.C. constitute the core of a diplomatic-administrative research on
official epistolography. The philological and historical analysis of the texts contributes to
the interpretation of the documents characterized by a multi-layered transmission of
notifications. Far from being a mechanical reproductionof the texts that were to be multiplied
this scribal practice responded to basic needs of the Ptolemaic administration which included
the aspect of control of various collaborating sectors and that of the authentication of the
forwarded communication.
