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The Baths in Roman and Byzantine Egypt: the Evidence of the PapyriKarl STROBELChair of Ancient History, Alpen Adria Universität Klagenfurt - AUTRICHEType de contribution : communication longueThe archaeological research on the public baths and the bathing in Antiquity had achieved great progress. However, many aspects of the organisation, personal, administration and maintenance of the Baths in the cities of the Roman Near East and in Egypt cannot be reconstructed within the archaeological methods and results. Ancient literary texts and the law-codices of Late Antiquity provide us only a small and very selective evidence for the questions considering the above mentioned questions. Thus we have to study a huge volume of primary sources given to us in thousands of Greek papyri coming from the smaller towns and villages in Roman and Byzantine Egypt.The papyri give us the necessary evidence to study in detail the administration of the baths within the organisation of the city, the role of the city council and its members, the contribution of the benefactors, eating and drinking, shops and enterprises in the baths, taxes and fees, costs for heating, public rents, prostitution etc. We are able to study private and public investment done for the baths, revenues from the baths etc.The public baths became important institutions of the civic life, of political communication, of social relations and of public health. All these aspects can be shown in the papyrological evidence. This material is especially important, because it only stopped in early Islamic times and provide us information about the transitional process from the Byzantine city and its baths to the Islamic city in Egypt. The papyri in Arabic language coming from the early Islamic period in Egypt will not be included in the proposed contribution.The study should give an overview over the evidence origination from the papyri for the development of public baths in Roman and Byzantine Egypt, their functions within the city, the financial and economic aspects, an will discuss detailed problems of business, administration and maintenance.