Blemmyes, new Documents and New Perspectives. DFIFAO 52.

In the Ptolemaic station of Bi'r Samut ( ^3rd century BC), on the trans-desert route from Edfu to Berenike, the same African nomads were called Trôgodytai in Greek and Blhm.w in Egyptian. In the latter word, we recognize the Blemmyes of Greek and Latin literature and documents from Late Antiquity. However, three centuries later, these nomads would simply be referred to as Barbaroi in the Roman garrisons of the Eastern Desert. From this came the idea of publishing together the demotic ostraca of Bi'r Samut mentioning Blemmyes and a file of vouchers for wheat rations distributed to Barbarians, found in the praesidium of Xeron Pelagos and dating from the reign of Gallienus.
The only archaeological remains clearly attributable to nomads are containers or shards of Eastern Desert Ware, a shaped and polished ceramic decorated with incisions: the examples found at Bi'r Samut are published in the volume. The three chapters devoted to unpublished documents are preceded by a presentation of the history of nomadic settlement in the Egyptian Eastern Desert over the long term since the Pharaonic era, and by a reflection on the names that the Greeks and the Romans gave in turn to the nomads who occupied the desert to the east of Egypt and Nubia.