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An enigma to experts for years, this inscription is written in Egyptian demotic script, but the language is Aramaic. Found in the second half of the 1 9th century in an earthen jar near Thebes, the second-century B.C. papyrus has been only recently translated and only in part. The scholars who made the translation also made a startling discovery: these seven lines from the Egyptian papyrus bear a striking resemblance to Psalm 20 of the Hebrew Bible.

Taken around the turn of the century, this photograph is more legible than the now-faded original inscription. Scholars Charles Nims and Richard Steiner worked primarily from the photograph to decipher the ancient script.