[German version]

OA (Egyptian Aramaic, standard literary Aramaic) was the language of administration and correspondence (lingua franca) of the Achaemenid Empire from the time of Cyrus [2] II (6th-3rd cent. BC). OA does not represent a homogeneous Aramaic dialect but shows dialect characteristics that are  in parts highly divergent. OA was widespread throughout the whole of the Near East and Egypt and was used for a variety of textual genres. In a cursive writing (square script), OA is encountered on papyri and ostraka that were mostly found in Egypt (Syene, Elephant…