A Yale University-led study suggests that abrupt shifts in climate caused by massive volcanic eruptions helped to trigger poorly understood revolts — such as the great 20-year Theban revolt — and other political upheaval in Ptolemaic Egypt. This piece of papyrus from the mid-third century BC describes a period of famine in Egypt that occurred when the Nile River failed to flood for several years in a row. It was collected from the Egyptian...
