about disputed ethnic origin of persians the papyri from tebtunis record several sites in the fayum which appear to have been founded as ethnic communities in the third century bce these include the village of the syrians syr n k m village of the arabs arab n k m and samareia which contained a sizable jewish population and was probably named after the city in palestine although ethnic designations like boeotian macedonian syrian arab and jew probably refer to geographic origin persian proves problematic its precise origin or significance is disputed in the early ptolemaic period it seems to describe people with greek names functioning in a greek context although they enjoy a privileged status they are counted separately from greeks in tax lists in late ptolemaic and roman contracts persian of the epigon refers to the legal status of a debtor who had waived certain personal rights in order to secure the collection of a debt persians june bce in this demotic contract summarized in greek at the bottom pakemis son of pakemis acknowledges the loan of the dowry of his wife tameische greek tameischis daughter of sokonopis and promises to repay it here persian does not seem to indicate descent but describes a man with the status of a debtor in this example the subject has an egyptian personal name but persian of the epigon is just as frequently used to describe people with greek names p tebt ii read and learn