The aim of the Oxford Classical Monographs series (which replaces the

Oxford Classical and Philosophical Monographs) is to publish books

based on the best theses on Greek and Latin literature, ancient history, Landowners and Tenants
and ancient philosophy examined by the Faculty Board of Literae
Humaniores. in Roman Egypt
The Social Relations of Agriculture
in the Oxyrhynchite Nome

JANE ROWLANDSON

CLARENDON PRESS · OXFORD

1996
 Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford OX2 6oP
Oxford New York
Athens Auckland Bangkok Bombay PREFACE
Calcutta Cape Town Dar es Salaam Delhi
Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi
Kuala Lumpur Madras Madrid Melbourne
Mexico City Nairobi Paris Singapore
Taipei Tokyo Toronto
and associated companies in This study originated in a D.Phil. thesis submitted in January
Berlin Ibadan
1983. To revise a work more than a decade old is a messy task. In
Oxford is a trade mark of Oxford University Pms addition to incorporating the substantial quantity of new source
material and scholarly work published in the meantime, I have
Published in the United States
by Oxford University Press Inc., New York altered my interpretation of many points, sometimes very sig-
nificantly, in light of the new material, the comments of collea-
C Jane Rowlandson 1996 gues, and my own greater experience. However, the basic
Al ~ghts ~eroed. No part of this publication may be reproduced, approach and shape of the study remain largely unaltered,
stored in a retneval system, or transmitted in any fio- ~ by although I hope I have succeeded in making them clearer for
· ho h • . ' · ...
V, any means
. ~t ut t e Pnor P~rmusion in writing of Oxford University Press. , the reader; any attempt to impose the radically different perspec-
Within the UK, exceptions_are allowed in respect of any fair dealing for the
purpose of research or pnvate study, or criticism or review as permitted tive from which I should now approach this material would have
under the c_opyright, IJ_esi~ and Patents Act, 1988, or in the case of involved writing an entirely different book.
rep,:ographic reproducti~n in accordance with the terms of the licences Apart from the debts of gratitude which I acknowledged in the
issued by _the Cop_ynght Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning
reproduction outside these terms and in other countries should be thesis, I have incurred many more. I benefited greatly from
sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, comments on the thesis, particularly by my examiners, Profes-
at the address above sors P. J. Parsons and J. D. Thomas, and by Professor R. S.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Bagnall. The chance to discuss issues with Dr R. Alston and
Data a'Vailable Dr D. W. Rathbone, as well as other colleagues in London
University, has been an invaluable stimulus. Dr D. Montserrat
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
and R. Muller-Wollermann kindly allowed me access to their
Lando":ners a~ tenants in Roman Egypt: the soda[ relations of
agnculture in the Oxyrhynchite Nome/Jane Rowlandson. work before publication. Miss E. C. Dove facilitated the task of
(Oxford classical monographs) revision by transferring the typescript to a word-processor; there-
Includes bibliographical references. after the staff of King's College Computing Centre provided help
1. Land tenure-Egypt-Oxyrhynchite Nome. 2. Agriculture-Social
aspects--Egypt-Oxyrhynchite Nome. 3. Oxyrhynchite Nome (Egypt)- at critical moments. My husband, Michael Roberts, has been
Social conditions. I. Title. II. Series, ready with all kinds of assistance, intellectual and practical,
HDJ 30.R68 1996 333.3' .0932-dc20 95-38301 when he could have been doing his own work. But my most
ISBN 0-19-814735-X substantial debts are to Dr J. R. Rea, whose understanding of
13579108642 the Oxyrhynchus papyri is matched only by generosity in sharing
his time and skills, and to Dr A. K. Bowman, for many years of
Typeset ~y J&L Composition Ltd, Filey, North Yorkshire invaluable criticism and advice, as well his persistence in coaxing
Pnnted in Great Britain on acid-free paper by
Bookcraft (Bath) Ltd., Midsomer Norton me to bring this study to publication.
 CONTENTS

List of Figures ix
Notes for the Reader: Abbreviated References, Egyptian
Dates, and Technical Terms x
Maps I. Egypt in the Roman Period xn
2. The Region of the Oxyrhynchite Nome xm
3. The Oxyrhynchite Nome in the Roman Period xiv
Introduction I

Chapter I: The Oxyrhynchite Nome

I. Topography and Population 8
2. Agricultural Conditions 18
Chapter II: The Land Category System and its Development
I. Introduction 27
2. Preliminaries: Contexts of Use 31
3. Categories of Public Land: The Distinction between
basilike and demosia ge 38
4. Categories of Private Land 41
5. Ge ousiake and Imperial Estates 55
6. Sacrt!d Land 61
7. In Retrospect: Changes in the Balance between Public
and Private Land 63
Chapter III: The Tenure of Public Land
1. Introduction 70
2. The Taxation of Public Land 71
3. Diamisthosis, Security of Tenure, and the Filling of
Vacant Tenancies So
4. The Imposition on Private Landowners of the
Obligation to Farm Public Land 88
5. The Holders of Public Land 93

Chapter IV: The Landowners and their Properties

I. Introduction 102
2. Landownership and Social Hierarchy 103
vn
 Contents
3. The Spectrum of Landholding Size: Comparative
Evidence II8 LIST OF FIGURES
4. The Extent of Landholding Fragmentation 124
5. The Composition of Landholdings 131
Chapter V: The Inheritance of Land
1. Introduction Hermopolite Landholdings: Distribution of
1.
2. Testacy and Intestacy Landholdings by Size 121
3. Demography and Inheritance 2. The kleros of Eubios near Pela 133
4. Property Devolution to Females
3. The Proportions of Different Crops specified in
5. Partible Inheritance and the Distribution of Oxyrhynchite Land Leases 237
Landholdings 171 Rents in Wheat 2 49
4·
5. Rents in Money 250
CHAPTER VI: The Sale and Mortgage of Land
1. Introduction
6. Estimate of Yields of Wheat deduced from the Rents
2. The Nature of the Sources
charged
3. The Contents of the Sale Documents
4. The Sales as Evidence of Investment or Speculation
in Land
5. Other Reasons for Buying and Selling Land
6. Mortgages of Agricultural Land
Chapter VII: Private Agricultural Tenancy and its Context
1. Introduction 202
2. Land Management: Tenancy and its Alternatives 203
3. The Contributions of Landlord and Tenant 213
4. Leases and Labour in Vineyards 228
5. Crops and Rents on Arable Land 236
6. The Duration of Tenancies 252
7. The Landlords and their Social Circumstances 2 59
8. Conclusion: The Social Relationship between
Landlord and Tenant and its Implications 272

Conclusion 280
Appendices 1. Tables 1-19 286
2. Oxyrhynchite Land Leases 32 9
Bibliography 353
Glossary 366
Index of Sources 367
Index of Proper Names 377
General Index 380
Vlll ix
 Notes for the Reader
Thoth I August 29 Phamenoth r February 25
NOTES FOR THE READER phaophi I September 28 Pharmouthi I March 27
}Iathyr I October 28 Pachon I April 26
Extra days Aug. 24-28

3. TECHNICAL TERMS
I. ABBREVIATED REFERENCES
Direct quotation in Greek has been avoided except where it is
Papyri and related works are cited by the standard abbreviations essential to discuss the precise words used; it is always accom-
listed in J. F. Oates et al., Checklist of Editions of Greek and Latin panied by a translation. However, Greek terms, particularly f~r
Papyri, Ostraca and Tablets, 4th edn. (BASP Supp. 7, 1992); this types of land, crops, and official positions, are frequently used 1~
also lists (pp. 88-g) the full publication details of the Proceedings transliteration. Readers unfamiliar with Egypt and the papyn
of the International Congresses of Papyrology, which are cited by may find this proliferation of technical terms intimidating; but
abbreviated titles. Explanation of the abbreviations used for I feel that it is essential for the proper discussion of a system of
periodicals may also be found in the Checklist (76-8), or in land tenure, agriculture and administration which is highly
L'Annee Philologique (Paris, 1927- ). Books and articles are cited complex and alien to most English speakers.
in full at their first occurrence, and normally abbreviated on The most common technical terms, and their meanings, are
subsequent occasions. listed in the Glossary, p. ooo; these, and all other unfamiliar
The following other abbreviations are not covered by these terms are explained in the text on their first occurrence (which
conventions: may be found from the index). But anyone who wishes for a basic
Le Monde grec Le Monde grec: Hommages a Claire Preaux (ed. J. introduction to Roman Egypt and its administrative structure
Bingen et al.) (Brussels, 1975) should consult one of the following recent surveys: N. Lewis,
P. Pher. P. J. Sijpesteijn and K. A. Worp, Eine Steuerliste aus Life in Egypt under Roman rule (Oxford, 1983); A. K. Bowman,
Pheretnouis (Stud. Amstel. xxxiii) (Amsterdam, 1993) Egypt after the Pharaohs: 332 BC-AD 642: From Alexander to the
Proc. 20th lnt. Congr. Pap. Proceedings of the 20th International Arab Conquest (London, 1986), esp. eh. 3, with the diagram of the
Congress of Papyrologists, Copenhagen, 23-29 August, r992 (ed. bureaucratic hierarchy, p. 67.
A. Bulow-Jacobsen), Copenhagen, 1994
Full details of papyri published only in periodicals are given in
the Index of Sources.

2. EGYPTIAN DATES

Dates in the papyri used in this book are normally given by the
regnal year of the emperor(s), the name of the Egyptian month,
and the day. The Egyptian months with their Julian equivalents
are as follows (the year began on Thoth 1):

Choiak 1 November 27 Pauni r May 26

Tybi I December 27 Epeiph I June 25
Mecheir r January 26 Mesore I July 25
X Xl
 ••::

5 10 15 20 25km :// •Safl Aasin

0
--===---==::=:lo---
3
.(}
SESPHTHA?

Sumisla al waqf • Ba<lahl-NazlatSaid

Taposlrls •
p ;;ff TSIMISTEA /
Athribla al-Korn al-Ahmar Mazu.~;:~ ) • ~~~O
TAKONA Tait ;~.Quli'a • • Absug
THOLTHIS PSYCHIS
ARSINOITE NOME
(Fayum) Lake Memphis
:l!/
n • SaftaJ-'Urata • aJ~Fashn
al-Gafadun
Sokn.opaiouNesos§;,Moenarar,s
_./j .
Theadelphia Arsi/ni{e Shif~ra1

li~,
SINARY
Teblunis ;erakleopolla
HEPTANOMIA

Oxyrhynchua Kynopolla

\
SMALL OASIS

i:;i .>C Bllhasa • TAMMOROU

Hermopoll lnoopolla al-O~y~t • le
i:f: tiff (
/\
~
I PALOSIS •ltnitJ,1
. /./

al-Korn al-Ahm~ Shimm al-Basal• PEJJ'j,,

f'j.i \ ____/ • Ta.,,,bidi • al-Sheikh Ziyad
Billa al-Gaba/ '•Shimm al-BasaJTAMPITEloJhKJ(/
THOLTHIS ARTAPATOLJ? al-Oibliya TERYTHIS?
Bani ;'(q]-Lams):•1zbatHasan Basha 'Abd~ ·
. •Saqula • , 0 f3d )J
THEBAID }[ SEN~KELEU u a / /
:;:: \Shulqam • Salt Abu Girg
\,\ SENOKOMIS • , PSO~,:HIS?
al•Bahnasa1• Abtuga • Abu Girg
OXYRHYN!'.,,HUS Ashruba • PTHOCHIS PAKERKE
:i;i~ERYPHISrambu• \
,Y;./ TAAMPEMOU
KEY . ,•,.,,· • al-Qais ~.Al Sheikh Fadl
Antlnoopolla Greek(XieiSand Bil~;{;;J~i!agadda• KYNOPOUS \\) (NECROPOLISOF KYNOPOLJS)
nomecapitals

;:,,
•i •
_.'.-:;:,-· / • Bardanuha
Theadelphia Other place names
:i!f Korn an-Namrud PHERETNOUIS
(Only place names mentioned in Iha book ::ii•• Korn al-Banal • ldqaq al-Misk KEY
are marked on the map) Mimbal
K~':: ..al-Manaqir 'i:)". Edge of weslem desert
• lstal
:::,KomTir1a• SADALOU Modern name of site with evidence
Philae ~Ft
al-Korn a)thmar Manq,Jtin•
of ancient settlement(taken from
~zwischenSama/Ut
unddemGabaJAbJSireh. 6)
Korn Tunakla
• Bilhasa Other modem place-name
Korn ar:Rahib •
SINARY Probableancientequivalent
Korn al-Matlab •
tt~\ of modern place-name
:;h
Map r. Egypt in the Roman period
Map 2. The Region of the Oxyrhynchite Nome: Sites with
Evidence of Ancient Settlement and Probable Ancient Equiva-
lents of Modem Place-Names
Xll
xiii
 INTRODUCTION

-·-·-·Boundary of nome (approx)

- - - Boundary of toparchy (approx)
········:;:::· Boundary of pagus (approx)
i(li! Edga of weslam dasart The site of the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus lies some 180 km
Lower Nameof toparchy
4th Numberof pagus south of Cairo, at the junction between a desert route from the
•efilA Oxyrhynchlt$ vlllaga Small (Bahriya) Oasis and the major watercourse running along
Identifiedwith a modem
place-name(see Map2) western edge of the Nile valley, the Bahr Yusuf. The town, called
SOUIS Oxyrhynchlte vlllage Permedjed in Egyptian, was already in Pharaonic times the centre
which can be located of its administrative region (the Nineteenth nome). It had an
only approximately
important cult of Thoeris, the hippopotamus-goddess of child-
birth, and later also a cult of the 'sharp-nosed' fish, the oxy-
rhynchos, from which the town derived its Greek name. Under
Ptolemaic and Roman rule Oxyrhynchus became an increasingly
important centre of regional administration, reaching a peak of
prosperity in the Byzantine period. After the Arab conquest of
Egypt it retained some significance, suffering a sharp decline only
under the Mamelukes. The site of the ancient city was aban-
doned, but its impressive limestone ruins became a source of
building material and lime for the remaining inhabitants of
Bahnasa, the small town which now clings to the western bank
of the Bahr Yusuf, and of the equally modest Sandafa al-Far on
the opposite bank. Part of the site has also been covered in
modern times by a cemetery. 1
Thus, when the Oxford scholars Grenfell and Hunt first
arrived in 1897 to excavate for papyrus texts, little remained of
the ancient temples, civic buildings, and private houses. But the
rubbish mounds of the Roman and Byzantine period yielded a
prolific harvest of texts; so that Grenfell and Hunt's six seasons of
digging, followed by Italian excavations in the 1920s, made
Oxyrhynchus the most important single source of Greek

' ]. Kruger, Oxyrhynchos in der Kaiserzeit: Studien zur Topogmphie und Lit-
eraturrezeption (Frankfurt, 1990) now provides the most thorough survey of the
history of the site of Oxyrhynchus, material remains and excavations. See also H.
Map 3. The Oxyrhynchite Nome m the Roman Period: An Kee3, RE XXVII I. 1, cols. 2043-6. On the changing form of the city's Greek name,
see D. Hagedorn, 'OBYPYI'XQN fIOAIE und H OBYPYI'XITQN fIOAIE', ZPE
Approximate Reconstruction r2 (1973), zr,~z.

xiv
 Introduction Introduction
papyri."' Many of these papyri are now dispersed in libraries and documentation is precisely a consequence of the region's distinc-
other institutions throughout Europe and America, as a reward tive history. Major agricultural development under the early
for their contribution to the original excavations, but the bulk of Ptolemies, followed by decline and abandonment of the peri-
published texts are contained in the series the Oxyrhynchus pheral villages in the later Roman period, left a string of sites
Papyri and Papiri delta Societa Italiana. The former series has along the desert edge in a condition ideally suited to the preserva-
recently reached its sixtieth volume, comprising over four thou- tion of papyri. Several of these villages were unusually large, but
sand Greek texts, mostly documents of the Roman and Byzantine their position necessitated a constant battle against sand blown
periods. from the desert and the silt which choked the lengthy irrigation
These papyri have provided the source material for several canals. These villages on the margins of the Fayum may therefore
general socio-economic surveys of Oxyrhynchus, as well as other not be representative of the villages in the less adverse conditions
studies of specific topics. 3 Several of these include discussions of of the Nile valley and the southern Delta.
landholding as part of the wider urban economy and society. But, What I am attempting to do, therefore, in this study of
no doubt because the papyri emanate from the town rather than landholding and agrarian social relations in the Oxyrhynchite
the country villages, no study has hitherto had as its main focus nome, is to offer an alternative and complementary perspective
the agrarian conditions within the Oxyrhynchite nome. to the often rather pessimistic picture based on papyri from the
Our picture of rural society in Roman Egypt has instead been Fayum. Of course the evidence from Oxyrhynchus is no less
primarily based on another region, the Fayum (the ancient Arsi- partial; the discarded papers of an urban community give a
noite nome), an oasis immediately adjacent to the Nile valley, somewhat distorted view of conditions in the countryside.
irrigated by the Bahr Yusuf which turns west through the Lahun What emerge most clearly are the patterns of landholding and
land management by the urban propertied class; villagers are in
gap some 80 km north of Oxyrhynchus. This region is another
general documented only to the extent that they somehow
source of Greek papyri in large numbers, but this excellent
impinged on the urban community, whether through private
2
For a brief account of Grenfell and Hunt's excavations, see T. G. H. James transactions, such as leases, sales, or loans, or through their
(ed.), Excavat£ng £n Egypt: The Egypt Exploratfon Sodety 1882-rgllz (London, appearance in administrative records of various kinds. Even the
198z), eh. 9 (by E. G. Turner), based on the Egypt Explorat£on Fund Archaeological administrative records are scantier than might be anticipated,
Reports (ed. F. LI. Griffith) for 18967, pp. 1-12; 19ov'3, pp. 1--9; 1903"4,pp. 14-17;
1904"5, PP· 13-17; 190~, pp. 8--16; 19067, pp. 8--n. B. V. Darbishire's map of the since villages had their own local officials and record-offices,
site fo~ the frontispiece to P. Oxy. vol. L, and several photographs of the while the chief nome officials, the strategos and basilikogramma-
excavations are published, in Excavating in Egypt, and in H. D. Schneider, teus, were required to serve away from their own place of resi-
Beelden van Behnasa: Egyptische kunst uit de Romeinse Keizertijd 1e-3e eeuw na
Chr. (Zutphen, 1982), 24. On the Italian excavations, see E. Breccia, 'Fouilles a dence, and customarily took their papers home with them once
Oxyrhynchos et a Teb~nis. 1928-30', Le Musie Greco-Romain d'Alexandrie, 1925- their period of service was concluded. A further disadvantage of
JI /Rome, 1970: anastattc reproduction of 1st edn., Bergamo, 1932), 6o-3. the Oxyrhynchite texts, numerous though they are, is their
H. Maclennan, f!xyrhynchus: An Economic and Soda[ Study (Princeton,
1935); R. L. B. Morns, 'A Study in the Social and Economic History of Oxy- predominantly disparate content, including few identifiable
rhyr:chus for the First Two Centuries of Roman Rule' (Duke University Ph.D. 'archives' or 'dossiers'; groups of texts which together can be
thesis, 1975); I. Fikhman, Oksirinkh-gorod papirusov. Social'no-economiceskie used to make much more effective sense of an individual's or
otnoseniya v Egipetskom gorode iv-serediny vii v (Moscow, 1976); E. Kutzner,
Untemu:hungen zur Stellung der Frau im romischen Oxyrhynchos (Frankfurt, family's activities than can single documents alone.
1989); Kruger, Oxyrhynchos in der Kaiserzeit; H. Rink, Strassen und Viertelnamen How far can we, therefore, reconstruct a balanced view of
von Oxyrh~nch?s (Diss. Giessen, 19z4); E. G. Turner, 'Roman Oxyrhynchus', jEA agricultural conditions in the Oxyrhynchite nome? In particu-
38 (1952); 1d.,_ Oxyrhynchus and Rome', HSCP 79 (1975), 1-24. There are also
prosopograph,es: B. W. Jones and J. E. G. Whitehorne, Register of Oxyrhynchites, lar, in so far as the evidence suggests a different picture of
JO BC-AD 96 (Am. Stud. Pap. 25), (Chico, Calif., 1983), and the computerized agrarian conditions from that based primarily on texts from the
prosopography in preparation at King's College London by D. W. Rathbone.
Fayum, is it possible to judge how far this reflects substantive
2
3
 Introduction Introduction
regional differences, and how far it is simply the product of the first chapter attempts to describe, as precisely as the evidence
different origin of the documents, between a metropolis, the permits, the topography of the Oxyrhynchite nome; it also con-
central town of the nome, and villages at the margin of cultiva- tains a brief introduction to the agricultural conditions. The next
tion? The metropolitan bias of the material is in any case only an two chapters address questions posed by Rostovtzeff's still fun-
aspect of the major limitation on our understanding which arises damental work on Egyptian land tenure. 5 The complexities of
from reliance on a single source: papyrus texts written in Greek, land tenure, less fashionable now than when Rostovtzeff wrote,
at a time when Egyptian was the language spoken by the rural are apt to make a reader's concentration wander. Neverthless, the
population, and was still used for some documents (no texts in subject remains of primary importance to our understanding of
Egyptian from Oxyrhynchus have been published from the entire all aspects of landholding; it was the system of land categories
Roman period). 4 The rural agricultural population, the least which determined the rates of taxation on different parcels of
powerful, literate, and articulate section of society, is almost land, and the conditions under which they could be acquired or
inevitably documented only patchily, and then indirectly, disposed of, thus setting out the 'rules of the game' for individual
through the concerns of the powerful.
landholders. The essentials of this system are summarized at the
To be aware of such bias offers the chance of allowing for it and start of Chapter II, and readers not interested in the technicalities
using imagination to fill the gaps in our knowledge. There is may prefer to skip the discussion, occupying the central sections
sufficient evidence to provide some sense of what Oxyrhynchite of the chapter, of its detailed development as illustrated in the
villages were like; and, even if the villagers' point of view has
Oxyrhynchite papyri. Chapter III subjects the picture of the
rarely been preserved, we do know that metropolitans had a
tenure of public land presented by Rostovtzeff (largely based
significant presence in landholding at every village. It is difficult
on the papyri from the Fayum) to comparison with the evidence
to imagine that the livelihood of many villagers could remain
from Oxyrhynchus, identifying substantial differences between
entirely free from contact with residents of the metropolis,
the two areas which cannot wholly be accounted for by the
whether these were their tax-collectors, landlords, creditors,
metropolitan origin of the latter evidence.
purchasers of their produce, or relatives who had migrated to
the city. The remaining chapters focus mainly on land in private own-
ership, or effectively in private possession. Chapter IV begins
Much of this book is in fact concerned with exploring the
with a sociological survey of the landowners, and then looks at
means by which, and the extent to which, the prosperity of the
the composition and location of their properties, which were
urban population was derived from their ties with the residents of
often fragmented into several discrete parcels. This chapter in
the villages of the nome. It is organized, not around a single
the main treats the evidence synchronically; the following chap-
linear argument, but around a sequence of topics which
approach the available evidence from a variety of angles. The ters explore how far the various methods by which land was
transmitted from one owner to another, inheritance and mar-
4
The use of demotic for legal documents seems to have contracted rapidly over riage (Chapter V), and sale (Chapter VI), served to preserve or
the first two centuries AD, so that the only two sites to have produced demotic to change the existing landholding patterns.
papyri after the reign of Augustus are Soknopaiou Nesos and Tebtunis: K.-T.
Zauzich, 'Demotische Texte romischer Zeit', in G. Grimm, H. Heinen, and E. Finally, Chapter VII considers the conditions under which the
Winter (eds.), Das rihnisch-byzantinische Agypten (Aegypt. Trev. II) (Mainz, 1983), land was actually farmed. Short-term leasing arrangements have
77-80. The hundreds of demotic ostraca said to be from Oxyrhynchus, relating to left by far the fullest evidence, but does this abundance of
provisions for desert travel, are now dated to the Ptolemaic period: W. Clarysse,
Bib. Or. 4z (1985), 338-44. One demotic papyrus of Roman date from Oxyrhynchus evidence exaggerate their significance? A close analysis of these
is described in P. Oxy. VI 961, and Dr J. R. Rea informs me that a very small leases, in juxtaposition with the other available evidence of forms
number of papyri containing demotic are listed among the unpublished Oxy-
rhynchus texts. But who knows what the village temples of the nome might 5 M. Rostowzew (Rostovtzeff), Studien zur Geschichte des romischen Kolonates
have produced, if only they could be excavated? (Leipzig and Berlin, 1910), pt. II.
4 5
 Introductian Introduction
of land management, shows that they do illuminate an important the entire period of Greek documentation in Egypt, also offer the
aspect of the agrarian conditions in the nome. The leases depict possibility of a longer perspective. Thus, although the main focus
in some detail a form of relationship between the metropolitan of Chapter VII remains the period of the Principate, it also
landowners of Oxyrhynchus and the local village tenants who exploits the continuity in the evidence for tenancy (and paid
cultivated their land, which persisted throughout much of the labour on estates) in looking forward to developments of the
Roman Principate, but was apparently eclipsed in the late third fourth and later centuries, which have themselves been treated
century AD by more permanent forms of dependence by cultiva- in important recent studies. 6
tors on their landlords. What wider relevance does this study have? Oxyrhynchus is the
Female landowners are referred to constantly throughout the best-documented provincial city of the Roman empire, and its
book. Except for the discussion of female inheritance (Ch. V § 4) papyri offer a unique opportunity to examine how an urban
it is not appropriate to devote a separate chapter to them. In some landowning class derived its wealth from the rural hinterland.
respects female landowners behaved no differently from their Much has traditionally been made of the 'uniqueness' of Egypt
male counterparts, while the particular problems which female among Roman provinces, but we must not exaggerate the sig-
landholding did pose (e.g. in the compulsory imposition of public nificance of the undoubted differences, both of administrative
land, see Ch. II § 4) are most effectively treated in the relevant structure and agricultural conditions, between this province
context. But some very interesting general points do emerge and other parts of the empire. 7 In particular, it is clear that the
about the role of female landholders, which are summarized in prosperity of a substantial class of urban landowners in the
the Conclusion, and can be traced in more detail by using the metropoleis of Egypt was a specific development of the Roman
index. period, and was at least in part the direct result of government
The chronological focus of this study is essentially the period policies specifically designed to create such a class on analogy
of the Roman Principate, between 30 BC, when Egypt became a with other provinces of the Greek east. 8 The inevitable differ-
province of the Roman empire, and the late third century AD. The ences of detail, for instance arising from the agricultural regime
documentary record from Oxyrhynchus in any case begins only at based on the annual inundation of the Nile, should not be
the very end of the Ptolemaic period, and becomes plentiful only allowed to obscure the underlying similarities between land-
in the mid-first century AD; documentation is fullest from then owners in Egypt and those elsewhere in the empire, in their
until the mid-third century. Administrative changes in the later social aspirations and attitudes to their property.
third century (many pre-dating the reign of Diocletian, usually
perceived as the 'watershed' between the early and late Roman
6
empire) led to the cessation of many forms of administrative Fikhman, Oksirinkh-gorod papirusov; J. Gascou, 'Les Grandes Domaines, la
cite et l'etat en Egypte byzantine (Recherches d'histoire agraire, fiscale et admin-
documentation characteristic of the earlier period. Most types istrative)', Travaux et Memoires 9 (1g85), 1-90; R. S. Bagnall, Egypt in Late
of private legal contract also become rare after the mid-third Antiquity (Princeton, 1993).
7 Cf. D. W. Rathbone, 'The Ancient Economy and Graeco-Roman Egypt', in
century, although they do not disappear entirely. Diocletian's
L. Criscuolo and G. Geraci (eds.), Egitto e storia antica dell'ellenismo all'eta Araba:
reform of land tenure, unquestionably of major importance, bilancio di un confronto (Bologna, 1989), 159-76.
8
was in a sense only the culmination of long-term developments. A. K. Bowman and D. W. Rathbone, 'Cities and Administration in Roman
This process can best be appreciated by briefly viewing the Egypt', JRS Sz (199:i), 10-,-,z7.
history of land tenure from a fourth-century perspective (Ch.
II § 7), not least because our only precise figure for the area of
land under cultivation in the Oxyrhynchite nome comes from
that century. The land-lease contracts, the only type of docu-
ment to have survived in reasonable quantity from throughout
6 7
 The Oxyrhynchite Nome
AD 30']'8, the toparchies were replaced by ten pagi. 4 The number-
CHAPTER I ing of the pagi is known to have followed a south-north sequence,
which can provide a helpful guide in locating villages, although
the pagus-number of relatively few villages is known, except in
The Oxyrhynchite Nome the well-documented 8th pagus. 5
Neither the boundaries of the nome, nor those of the toparchies
and pagi, are known precisely, but they can be established
approximately from several plausible identifications between
x. TOPOGRAPHY AND POPULATION ancient and modern village names. This in turn assists in the
approximate location of many more villages using the internal
Almost all the texts used in this study come from finds at the site evidence in the papyri. Recent studies have made an important
of Oxyrhynchus itself; but their subject matter concerns the contribution to our knowledge of the topography of the nome,
agricultural area of the nome, stretching from over 40 km to although scope still remains for further work. 6
the north of the metropolis to about 25 km to the south. This In reconstructing the topography of the nome, it is important
territory contained about a hundred villages, some evidently to be aware of major changes in the physical geography of the
quite large, as well as numerous smaller settlements. In princi- Nile valley. The Nile itself has moved perhaps 3 km eastwards
ple, a distinction existed between komai (villages) and epoikia since Antiquity. 7 In the papyri, the Nile is referred to as the Great
('tied' estate villages); however, some of the latter tended to River. 8 The Bahr Yusuf (the ancient Tomis River) which
develop into ordinary villages, and were sometimes eventually branches from the Nile near Asyut, pursuing a meandering
officially recognized as komai. The annual inundation necessi- course along the western side of the valley until turning into
tated a highly nucleated pattern of settlement, with villages the Fayum through the Lahun gap, has also altered its course.
situated on higher ground than the surrounding arable fields, North of Oxyrhynchus, an old channel is marked on the 1 : 100,000
although vineyards and orchards, which were not inundated,
could have buildings associated with them. 1
During the Principate, the administration of the Oxyrhynchite
nome was based on a division of the area into six toparchies: the
Upper, Western, Eastern, Middle, Thmoisepho, and Lower.
4
J. Lallemand, L'Administration ciuile de l'Egypte de l'avenement de Dioc/etien a
la creation du diocese (284-382), (Brussels, 1964), 97 f.
Divisions of the toparchies, called merides, do not seem to have 5
The evidence is collected in P. Oxy. LV 3795 introduction and notes, and P.
had consistent administrative importance." The survival of sev- Pruneti, 'Toparchie e pagi: precisazioni topografiche relative al nomo Ossirinch-
ite', Aegyptus, 6g (1989), 113-18; new information is provided by P. Oxy. LX 4089
eral lists of villages, especially P. Oxy. X 1285, XIV 1659 and and 4092.
XXIV 2422, enable most villages to be assigned to a toparchy, 6
The fundamental papyrological groundwork was done by P. Pruneti in I centri
as well as indicating approximately the relative size of the topar- abitati dell'Ossirinchite: Repertorio toponomastico, (Florence, 1981); J. Kruger,
Oxyrhynchos in der Kaiserzeit, traces the attested connections between villages
chies and of the individual villages during the third century. 3 In (49ff.), and includes a useful gazetteer (265-308); F. Gomaa, R. Muller-Woller-
1
mann, and W. Schenkel, Mittelagypten zwischen Samalut und dem Gaba/ Abu Sir:
Kriiger, Oxyrhynchos in der Kai;erzeit, 41-6 analyses the evidence for kumai, Beitriige zur histomchen Topographie der pharaonischer Zeit (TAVO Beihefte ser. B
epoikia, ktemata and choria. no. 6g), (Wiesbaden, 1991), eh. 4 contains a gazetteer of place-name identifications
a Refs. given in P. Koln III 137 (where Talao is in the Eastern mern of the using written evidence (although some suggested identifications are inconsistent
Lower toparchy). After the rst c. AD, merides usually have personal names (e.g. of with the known toparchy or pagus locations of villages), while eh. 6 provides
Thermouthion and Eudaimon, P. Oxy. XX 227r); some, although not all, of these invaluable archaeological descriptions of the sites throughout this part of the Nile
may relate to sections of private estates rather than to public administration. valley, including some plans and photographs.
3
See Table 1. This data is further analysed by D. W. Rath bone, 'Villages, Land 7
K. Butter, Early Hydraulic Civilization in Egypt (Chicago, 1976), 35.
and Population in Graeco-Roman Egypt', PCPhS NS 36 (1990), 103-42, at 125--9. 8
On this and the Tomis, see H. C. Youtie, ZPE 24 (1977), 133-'7, at p. 136.
8 9
 The Oxyrhynchite Nome The Oxyrhynchite Nome
scale map running to the west of the modern one: significantly, Upper toparchy, including its most prosperous villages, lay to the
Shinara (ancient Sinary) lies on this old course. 9 east of the Bahr Yusuf. But it did not stretch as far as the Nile: the
The western boundary of the Oxyrhynchite nome, for most, if J{ynopolite nome extended to the west bank of the Nile at this
not all of its length, was the desert edge, which here is less an point, occupying as much as half the width of the valley, if
escarpment than a gradual rise. Oxyrhynchus itself lies at a point Pheretnouis, a Kynopolite village close to the Oxyrhynchite
where the ground rises directly on the west of the Bahr Yusuf boundary, is correctly equated with modern Bardanuha. ' 3 Other
with no modern cultivation on that side of the river. In th~ villages along the border were Thmoithothis and Keuothis. 14 It
Roman period, however, there was certainly some arable land seems increasingly likely that Al Qais is the site of ancient
as well as vineyards, immediately to the north of Oxyrhynchus, i~ J{ynopolis. 15 Even at its most northerly point, the Upper topar-
the area of the village of Paimis. 10 But it is unlikely that in chy apparently lacked direct access to the Nile: wheat from Sko
Antiquity the cultivated land extended significantly beyond the was embarked at the Nile harbour of Satyros in the Eastern
modern edge of cultivation at any point from Oxyrhynchus north- toparchy. 16 This is confirmed by the existence of a border
wards in the nome, since there the ground rises relatively quickly between part of the Eastern toparchy and the Kynopolite
west of the Old Bahr Yusuf from around 32 m to over 40 m. nome. 17 Further links help to locate certain villages within the
To the south of Oxyrhynchus, on the other hand, the ground north-east corner of the Upper toparchy: Episemou had links
rises even more gently. Modem cultivation extends from 1-6 km with both Sko and with Terythis and Adaiou in the Eastern
west of the Bahr Yusuf, and irrigation could easily be taken toparchy, while Monimou was a close neighbour of Sko. 18
further by canals branching from the Bahr Yusuf at a height of Useful information about the location of villages in the Upper
about 40 m. That the ancient cultivation did stretch further west and Western toparchies may be derived from a papyrus listing
is supported by the existence of several koms in the desert, at obligations to repair sections of the Canal of Apollophanes. 19 The
least some of which seem to have been settlement sites not sequence of the fourteen villages named has puzzled commenta-
merely necropoleis. Here lay the ancient village of Ision P;nga, tors, since the last four patently follow a topographical sequence
through the territory of which ran the Large Canal, with the (Pela, Lenon, Paimis, Senekeleu, all known to be in the Western
Other Canal to the west of it. 11 toparchy, south to north along the Bahr Yusuf), not on the face of
This area formed part of the ancient Upper toparchy, which is it borne out by the earlier names in the list. The text describes the
generally agreed to have occupied the whole southern part of the canal as running first westwards from the Nile, then turning and
nome, from the boundary with the Hermopolite at Chusis running northwards. In fact the list begins on the left bank of the
(modem Shusha) northwards almost to the Western toparchy
3
village of Pela (modern Billa al-Mustagidda). 12 The bulk of the ' It certainly lay in that vicinity. P. Pheretnouis now confirms that lands of
Pheretnouis adjoined the Oxyrhynchite border (refs. on p. 7).
4
9 ' P. Oxy. XLIX 3488 and 3489 are both leases of land near Thmoithothis (stated
. See P. Oxy: LI 3638 line 12 with note; the Tomis ran immediately west of a to be in the Upper toparchy) to villagers from the Kynopolite nome; other refs. are
vineyard near Smary. Cf. the ~ourse of the Bahr Yusuf depicted in the maps of the P.Hibeh II 248 frag. 2 line 17 (c.250 BC; spelled Tµ,o,6wtrr), P. Oxy. IV 794, P. Prine.
Napoleonic Description de l'Egypte, in Mitteliigypten zwischen Samalut und dem
II 42 with ZPE 82 (1992), 123. No references are yet known after the 1st c. AD; was
G~~al ~bu Sir plates I:-IX. 10
P. Oxy. XII 1 5. the village later transferred to the Kynopolite? Keuothis was in the Kynopolite by
47
. Mitteltigypten zwuchen Samalut und dem Gaba/ Abu Sir, 222-6 (settlement the 6th c. AD, but may earlier have belonged to the Oxyrhynchite: see Pruneti, I
sites: Korn al-Matlab; Korn ar-Rahib; Kom Tunaida?; Korn Tirfa; Korn al- centri abitati, 8,4and P. Oxy. LX 4091.
Manaqir?; Korn al-Banat?; Kom an-Namrud, the last a substantial settlement 5
' See N. Litinas, KVl'wV,ro.\,s and Eu<pytT<S, Archiv 40 (1994), 143-55; cf.
and necropoli~. On Ision Panga, see P. Oxy. VI 988 (canals); references to sandy Mitte/iigypten J&Wischen Sama/ut und den Gabal Abu Sir, 73-5.
!and here_and m PSI XII~ 1330 support the location suggested in P. Oxy. LV 38o4 '
6
P.Oxy. XVII 2125, assuming that the harbour in question was that of Satyrou
mtrnduct1on. Its location m the 1st pagus (P. Oxy. LX 4092) suggests that it should epoikion. ' 7 P. Oslo III 114.
be equated with one of the more southerly koms. 8
' See Krllger's diagrammatic plan, Oxyrhynchos in der Kaiserzeit, 51; the
" For Chusis, see M. Drew-Bear, Le Nome Hermopolite: toponymes et sites (Am. evidence he cites there and in his gazetteer is further supported by P. Oxy. VII
Stud. Pap. 21), (Missoula, 1979), 322 f. 19
1031, XVII 2137. SB XIV 12108 (=ZPE 24 (1977), 133-']).
10
I I
 The Oxyrhynchite Nome The Oxyrhynchite Nome
canal in the south of the nome, with Athychis (which is known to placed in the 3rd pagus; however, Lenon was grouped with some
be near Chusis), followed by Senyris, Sinkepha and Sadalou former Eastern toparchy villages (including Terythis ai:id
epoikion, all in the Upper toparchy. These last two villages are Adaiou) in the 4th pagus. 24 Most known Eastern toparchy vtl-
known to have been in the 2nd pagus, the territory of Sinkepha lages, however, were placed in the 5th pagus.
extending 'west of the river'; 20 Sadalou is presumably the modern The Eastern toparchy certainly had a Nile frontage, with Nile
Istal. 21 We then cross the canal and return to the southernmost harbours attested not only for Satyrou already mentioned, but
village on the right bank, Mermertha (1st pagus), followed by 25
also for Terythis and probably Lile (and Akanthon) as well.
Monimou and Kerkemounis; and continue on the same bank into This is in fact the only toparchy for which Nile harbours are
the Western toparchy past Mouchinaxap, Kerkethyris, and Sery- certainly documented; it is clear that the nome was generally
phis, before crossing once more to the final four villages. The fact oriented far more towards the Bahr Yusuf than towards the
that at least Paimis and Senekeleu were not only on the left bank of
Nile, not surprisingly, given the location of Oxyrhynchus itself.
the canal, but on the left bank of the Bahr Yusuf, rather implies that
the canal at this point ran close to the latter, without significant The ease of communication brought to the Eastern toparchy by
settlements between the two waterways. The canal might possibly its proximity to the Great River may explain why we find there
have provided a link between the Nile and the Bahr Yusuf. both an estate sacred to Isis of Taposiris (in the Delta), and a
To recapitulate, the Upper toparchy occupied the southern- former Ptolemaic gift-estate which became incorporated in a
. . l 26
most part of the nome, on both sides of the Bahr Yusuf. In the 1arge 1mpena estate.
fourth century, it was mostly split between the 1st and 2nd pagi; The Middle toparchy poses the most intractable topographical
but Episemou is now known to have been in the 3rd pagus (P problems. In the Roman period, it contained a large number of
Oxy. LX 4089), and it is possible that other villages in the north- rather small villages, many of which were closely associated with
east of the toparchy, such as Sko and Monimou, were likewise put one another, but not with other villages elsewhere in the nome, as
into the 3rd pagus. The Western toparchy, as we have seen, Kruger has shown." 7 Three Middle toparchy villages, Plelo,
occupied the western side of the valley from Pela, 7 km south Pakerke, and Senopothis, are known to have been in the 6th
of Oxyrhynchus itself to beyond Senekeleu (Saqula) 5 km to its pagus; several others, including Istrou and Petne, were in the
north. The villages of Pela and Antipera Pela faced each other 7th pagus. 28 Place-name evidence suggests that this toparchy
across the Tomis, the ancient course of which may have been to stretched right across the valley to the north of the Western
the west of modern Billa al-Mustagidda. Pela was probably on the and Eastern toparchies from Burtubat (Artapatou?) on the west
eastern bank; parts of its territory had the river both on the east
and on the west and north-west, either because the river maean- ._. This fact combined with the links between Terythis, Adaiou, and the Upper
dered or because the territory spanned both banks (P Gen. II toparchy men;ioned above, makes the identification of Terythis wit? Dahrut very
n6). The lands of Antipera Pela probably reached the desert unlikely, despite the undoubted similarity of nam~. On Teryth1s. see also N.
Litinas, 'Villages and Place-names of the Cynopohte Nome', Archtv 40 (199_4),
edge. 22 Several links are attested between villages in the Western 157--64. The same objection applies to the equation of Ophis (also 4th pagus) with
and Eastern toparchies, suggesting that they adjoined one another Aba al-Waqf. .
for much of their length. 23 Many Western toparchy villages were 2 s Terythis: SB XIV u272; Lile/Akanthon: P. Oxy. XLV 3250, which does not
actually state that the harbour was on the Nile. .
"6 The ousia of Isis of Taposiris at Toou: PSI IX 1036; the dorea of Artem1-
•o i.e. the Tomis; P. Oxy. XIX 2241 line 34; cf. line 53, 'north of the river'.
•• Suggested to me in private correspondence by J. R. Rea; neither of us has doros at Tychinnechotis: P. Oxy. II 280, P. Oxy. XLII 3047 (where it formed part
found the identification made anywhere in print. of the land-all in the Eastern toparchy-'registered to those of the House of the
"' P. Coll. Youtie II 68 refers to land of the village stretching eastwards from the deified Vespasian and Titus' listed in Calpurnia Heraklia's ~eclaratio_n of ~min-
Northern Desert (canal) (&p.tvov {Joptlvov). undated land). •7 Kruger, Oxyrhynchos in der Kal!i~rz~t, 52.
• 3 See Kriiger's diagrammatic plan, Oxyrhynchos in der Kaiserzeit, 52 (which a8 P. Oxy. LX 408g, Pruneti, 'Toparchie e pagi', 117. If the ascription of
erroneously places Mouchinaxap in the Eastern toparchy). Also Senepsau (Wes- Seryphis to the 6th pagus in P. Oxy. LV 3795 is not simply a scribal error (see
tern) lay near the epoikion of Sarapion son of Chairemon (Eastern): P. Oxy. L 358g line 13n.; it is elsewhere attributed to the 3rd pagus), it suggests that the 6th pagus
lines 2-4 with note. extended a surprising distance south into the former Western toparchy.

12 13
 The Oxyrhynchite N Q771e The Oxyrhynchite Nome
bank of the Bahr Yusuf to beyond ltnih (Petne?) near the Nile. salbo, a satellite of Sinary, bordered the desert edge, although
Although there are no direct references to harbours, the corn Sinary itself probably lay on the east bank of the Tomis. 32 A list
from the toparchy was stored at Nemera before being delivered of desert guards indicates the sequence of major villages along
to the shippers, implying that this village was close to, if not this desert side of the toparchy: Souis, epoikion Dositheou,
actually on, the river (.P. Oxy. XLII 3049). Bagnall has suggested Sinary, Psobthis, Takona(?), Tychinphagon, Sesphtha. 3J Dosi-
that a group of Middle toparchy villages not attested after the theou prospered over the centuries: originating as an epoikion,
early fourth century, including Nemera, Peenno, and Toka, were by the third century it was one of the larger settlements of the
moved from the Oxyrhynchite to the Kynopolite nome at that nome; by the fourth, it had become a kome, responsible for
period, which would again make sense if they were near the river, several epoikia in its turn. 34 Other villages, such as Tholthis
or perhaps even on an island. 29 and Talao, lay further east. There is no certain evidence that
The Thmoisepho toparchy, situated north of part of the Mid- the Lower toparchy reached the Nile at any point. Sesphtha, in
dle toparchy, contained relatively few villages (although it the extreme north, was certainly on a waterway, but since it
included Teis, one of the largest villages in the nome), and provided desert guards, this is more likely to have been either
probably also occupied the smallest area. On the east, it may the Bahr Yusuf itself or a canal linking this with the Nile.JS Corn
have formed a narrow wedge between the Middle toparchy and from Psobthis was embarked on the River Tomis. 36 If the identi-
part of the Herakleopolite nome. Jo Whether it extended on the fication of modern Dahmaru with Tammorou is correct, the
west as far as, or across, the Bahr Yusuf is very uncertain Herakleopolite nome will have cut off the Lower toparchy from
(particularly if the waterway has itself changed its course). One the Nile for its entire length. The extensive evidence for links
Thmoisepho village, Sepho, was placed in the 7th pagus along between Herakleopolite villages and the Oxyrhynchite Lower
with some of the Middle toparchy villages; most went into the 8th toparchy suggests a lengthy border between the two. 37 The
pagus, along with Souis and Dositheou from the Lower toparchy. Herakleopolite name certainly stretched along the eastern bank
The Lower toparchy was long and narrow, stretching for 20 km of the Nile to a point south of Dahmaru. Such a longitudinal
or more along the Bahr Yusuf. Apart from the two southerly division of the centre of the valley may seem implausible to the
villages just mentioned, its villages were divided between the modem observer, but we must remember that routes of commu-
9th and 10th pagi. Takona was listed in the Antonine Itinerary nication followed the waterways, whether one travelled by boat or
as twenty-four (Roman) miles north of Oxyrhynchus; it can by road along their banks. It was less easy to travel across the
therefore be identified with the substantial remains at Korn al- valley, perhaps involving several ferries across canals. 38
Ahmar Mazura. 3 ' The territory of both Takona and Tychinp-
P P. Wash. unin II 78; P. Oxy. LI 3638 line 12, with n.
39 R. S. Bagnall, 'The Taxes of Toka: SB XVI 12324 Reconsidered', Tyche, 6 33 P. Oxy. XLVII 3333 (AD 92); see the introduction to the text.
(1991) 37-43. Th~ link ofToka with Keuothis, which P. Oxy. LX4091 implies to be 34
Pruneti, I Centri abitati, 43, P. Oxy. XII 1285, XLVI 3307.
near the ut pagus, remains a puzzle; but SB XVI 12324 suggests only that the two 35
Sesphtha was in the IOth pagus, perhaps to be identified with modern Saft
villages were in the same name, not that they were physically close. The refusal of Rasin. In the 3rd c. ac, it had been the collecting-point for conveying corn from
the sitologos of Toka to take note of information posted at Keuothis would in fact the Oxyrhynchite nome towards the Nile: BGU XIV 2400, cf. 2419, P. Hibeh I 45,
be more understandable if the two villages were not close neighbours. SB XVI and P. Oxy. XII 1554 (AD 251).
12579 implies that Toka was close to the river, as well as again suggesting a robust J6 P. Oxy. X 1259; cf. P. J. Sijpesteijn, 'The TDMIJ: canal', Mnemosym, 4th ser.
independence in its inhabitants, who refused to accept written instructions to 35 (1982) I 53-5.
hand over cypress wood to persons unknown to them. 37
In general, P. Hibeh passim, BGU esp. vol. xiv. Specific links are attested for
30
Based on the identifications of I tnih : Petne, Bilhasa: Palosis (Thmoisepho Sesphtha, Psychis, Phebichis, Mouchis, Koba, Assua, Tammorou; see entries in
toparchy), Dahmaru: Tammorou (usually, if not always, in the Herakleopolite Pruneti, I Crntri abitati. Apart from Sesphtha, these villages were normaJly, if not
nome, although probably close to the Oxyrhynchite Lower toparchy: Pruneti, / always, in the Herakleopolite nome.
Centri abitati, 195). 38 For a cogent discussion of travel and transport, see R. S. Bagnall, Egypt in
3
' Mitttda'gypten zwischen Samalut und dem Gaba/ Abu Sir, 233 f. Late Antiquity (Princeton, 1993), 18 f., 34-40.

15
 The Oxyrhynchite Nome
The Oxyrhynchite Nome
44
purposes, and the embankments enclosing them. 'Pleurismos'
Even though inundation agriculture does not in principle
also seems to refer to some kind of embankment or natural
require a complex system of canals, the papyri make clear that
canals, large and small, were to be found throughout the nome. 39 Jevee.45
Apart from those already mentioned, the Munthoteu canal ran A fourth-century text gives the taxable arable land in the nome
3 46
near the villages of Sinary and Ision Tryphonis, while the as 202,534 arouras; that is, almost 560 km • There was no decline
Themothis canal was provided with a sluice and fish-traps at in prosperity in this region in the third and fourth centuries as
Phoboou. 4° Fishing was a useful by-product of the necessity for there undoubtedly was in the villages on the edge of the Fayum;
canals and cisterns (lakkoi) to supply water to villages, as well as indeed, it was to the Oxyrhynchite and Kynopolite nomes that
to irrigate vineyards. The increasing use of machines to irrigate villagers from Theadelphia fled in response to the decline of their
even arable land from the third century onwards is associated own village in the early fourth century. 47 If we estimate that
with more frequent reference to canals. 4 ' vineyards and gardens comprised some ten per cent of the area
The 'convex' character of the Nile floodplain means that land of the nome, and allow a further twenty per cent for villages,
near the banks of the Nile, forming originally natural levees, was canals, dikes, and all other uncultivated land, giving a total area of
higher than that further west; this explains why several declara- Soo km\ the fourth-century figure fits well enough with the
tions of uninundated land (abrochos) concern land close to the boundaries suggested above.
river. 42 Canal banks were artificially raised above the level of the We naturally possess no firm figures for the population of the
agricultural land, and needed regular strengthening, as did the nome, either in total, or for the metropolis and the villages
dikes which criss-crossed the countryside to control the flood separately. But, accepting a relatively low maximum population
water. 43 Only as the flood began to recede was the water released for Roman Egypt as a whole of no more than five million, our
onto the fields below, as an application from villagers in the estimated area would suggest a rural population for the nome of
2
Lykopolite nome makes clear (P. Oxy. XLIV 3167). The term around xoo,ooo (i.e. 120-130 persons per km ), with a further
48
'perichoma' was used both of the inundation basins and of their 20 ooo-25 ooo inhabitants of the metropolis. Thus many small
' ,
surrounding dikes; village territories would typically be divided communities would have scarcely more than one hundred inha-
among more than one perichoma, which must each have contained bitants, although the ten largest villages must each have com-
several hundred arouras. 'Guos' or 'gues' similarly designated prised several thousand. The enormously lower density of rural
both areas of land, sometimes given numbers for administrative population in Antiquity (as indeed even as late as the nineteenth
century) must have given the Egyptian countryside a very differ-
39 Ibid. 17£., based partly on Butzer, Early Hydraulic Civilization in Egypt, eh. ent aspect from that experienced today, when one's arrival at any
5.
•• P. Oxy. XLIX 3462; P. Oxy. XLVI 3268; leases of fishing rights (see Para- site, however remote, immediately draws a crowd. The ancient
ssoglou's list in Aegyptw, 67 (1987), Sg: the text published there now= SB XVIII Egyptian countryside was by contrast a lonely place, where an
13150) provide insights into the hydrology of the nome, particularly the sluices at
Pela (P. Oxy. XLVI 3269, 3270); cf. P. Oxy. XIX 2234, a report of fish stolen from a
cistern near Teis. Fishermen from Monimou epoikion provided supplies for the « C. Gallazzi in ZPE 31 (1978) 94·
•s .P.Oxy. XLIX 3482 line 22n . .P. Oxy. LII 36go_lin_e ~o ~- The most rec:nt
metropolis: P. Oxy. XLV 3244. discussion of these terms and all others connected with 1rr1gatton and the admin-
_4'See e.g. _P.Ox)'.- XLIX 3498, a sale of arable land near Seryphis, equipped D.
istration of water, is in Bonneau, Le Refflme administratif th l'eau du Nil dans
with a rnachme, with a canal on the western boundary; cf. P. Oxy. IX 1208
l'Egypte grecque, romaine et byzantine, (Leiden, 1993); sec also J. Kruger, 'Termi-
(Pakerke, Eastern toparchy).
nologie der kilnstlichen Wasserliiufe in den Papyri des griechisch-romischen
.- Butzer, Early Hydraulic Civilization in Egypt, 15-17; BGUXIII 2234, P. Oxy.
XLII 3046, 3047, probably also P. Oxy. XII 1549, SB XII 11033. Agypten', MBAH 10 (1991) 1&--27.
43 P. Oxy. XLIX 3462 (including work on a lock(?) at Paimis, no doubt on the
4" SB XIV 12208. 47 P. Sakaon 44; cf. Historia Monachorum v.
.S See Rathbone's discussion of population ('Villages, Land and Population',
Tomis); SB XIV 12108 (P. Mich. inv. 412); P. Harr. I 76 (revised by K. A. Worp, cap. n9-24), which I am convinced gives an order of magnitude preferable to
ZPE 78 (198g) 133f.); P. Oxy. XLIX 3475; SB XVI 12335 (cf. R. Milllcr-Woller- Kruger's larger estimates: Oxyrhynchos in der Kaiur:uit, 37 f.
mann, ZPE 96 (1993) 133f.).
I The Oxyrhynchite Nome
j, The Oxyrhynchite Nome
unfortunate estate worker, falling from a palm tree which he was and at Antipera Pela conditions were particularly suited to flax
pollinating, could have his body ravaged by dogs and lie dead cultivation. 53 Permanent pasture may also have been character-
several days before being discovered. 49 istic of the desert margin. 54
There is little evidence that vineyards and gardens were con-
centrated in particular parts of the name, either close to the
2. AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS
metropolis or on the higher ground beside the Nile; although
Given that the surviving papyri originate in the rubbish dumps vineyards are documented in both these locations, they are also
of the metropolis, the evidence they provide for different parts of found elsewhere. Vegetables were often grown in vineyards and
the nome is surprisingly evenly distributed. The textual docu- orchards, between the rows of vines or trees, since they too
mentation of villages generally accords closely with estimations of required perennial irrigation. Landowners who wished to con-
their relative size (see Table I). The main exceptions, Pairnis and vert land to vines or trees were required to apply to the autho-
Senepta, apparently quite small villages but disproportionately rities, because it involved placing the land in a different taxation
well-documented, can be explained by their proximity to Oxy- category. 55 Productive vineyards, orchards and vegetable gardens
rhynchus. 50 But in what follows, it should always be remembered were subject to money taxation, while newly planted vineyards as
how scanty and partial our evidence for individual Oxyrhynchite well as ex-vineland (chersampelos, ge ampelitis) were taxed in
villages is: a few dozen papyri at most, in contrast to the hundreds wheat, as was most arable land.
of texts on which our knowledge of some Arsinoite villages is The main tenurial categories of land, especially the ge katoikike
based. and ge basilike, were also broadly dispersed in the nome, although
As far as we can tell, there was some, but not a marked degree the balance between categories must have varied significantly
of, regional diversity in social and agricultural conditions within from one village to another, as it certainly did in the Arsinoite
the nome. Density of population was probably least in the Lower name. This in turn implies differences between villages in both
toparchy, greatest in the Western and Upper toparchies. 51 The social structure and methods of agricultural exploitation. The
largest village of the nome was Seryphis (Ashruba), whose public land held by villagers was probably least intensively
inhabitants and notables sought the presence of the name strate- farmed, in terms of both labour and capital input; arable private
gos at their local festival and rose-ceremony in honour of land leased to tenants was subject to much more intensive
Ammon. 52 The sense of solid prosperity of much of the Upper exploitation, with yields pushed up by the practice of crop
toparchy, suggested by the cluster of large villages in P. Oxv. X rotation; while 'large estates' characteristically practised mixed
1285 (Table I), is borne out by, for instance, the large number of agriculture, including arable fields (not necessarily subject to the
leases of good arable land at Mermertha. But towards the desert most intensive farming methods), and viticulture which required
edge agricultural prosperity declined. lsion Panga had more than considerable capital outlay as well as needing the support of rural
its fair share of problems, with land sanded over, land damaged industries such potteries and brick-making.
by floods, and more evidence of fodder than of cereal crops. Here Throughout the nome, wheat was the most important crop; it
was both a prime component of the diet of the inhabitants of
+9 P. Oxy. inv. (22] 3B.20/N(a), published in BASP 8 (1971) 7-10 (apparently not
in SB).
Roman Egypt and a medium for tax payment. Wheat was sown in
5
° Certainly Paimis: P. Oxy. XII 1475. The exact location of Senepta within the
Middle toparchy is uncertain, but it may have been close to Senao (Western 53 Ision Panga: to refs. inn. r r above, add P. Mich. XI 610, P. Oxy. I 103, VI 899,
toparchy): P. Oxy. XLIV 316g. XII 1502, XIV 1687, XXXI 2585, XLV 3255, 3257, PSI III 187, V 46g, VII 772,
5' Rathbone's suggested low density for the Middle toparchy ('Villages, Land VIII 880, IX 1071, SB X 10216. Flax cultivation at Antipera Pela: P. Coll. Youtie II
and Population', 128) is in my view based on an overestimate of its area. 68, P. Oxy. XLV 3256, 326o. .
s• P. Oxy. LII 3694. Many other Oxyrhynchite villages had temples: Kruger, s+ Note also the 'pastures of Dionysias' near Chusis; P. Oxy. VI 899 lme 6.
55 See P. Oxy. VII 1032.
Oxyrhynchos in tier Kaiserzeit, 54---'7·

18 19
 The Oxyrhynch£te Nome The Oxyrhynchite Nome
Phaophi or Hathyr, after the flood had receded, and harvested the (P. Oxy. XLVIII 3392), or dried as hay. 59 Arakos was a legumi-
~ollowing spring. The crop was then taken to the village thresh- nous crop, identified as Lathyrus annuus, wild chickling. Arakos
mg floors where officials would collect the state taxes in kind and· and chortos could be cultivated as a mixture.6o
ii1 I . . '
private rents m kind would be handed over to the landlord Terminological change probably explains the later disappear-
usually in the month of Pauni. The cultivation of a second ance of arakos from the leases after regular occurences in the first
crop, either before the main crop was sown or between the main and second centuries AD, since incidental references continue at
harvest and the inundation, was apparently very unusual. We have least to the fourth century. 61 The word that replaces arakos in the
at most a handful of references to three-months' wheat and on leases is chlora, a more general term for any kind of green fodder.
this point the silence of the leases, many of which state ;recisely This presumably left the tenant free to choose whether to sow
what crops are to be cultivated, is strong. 56 Under the system of amkos, or another fodder crop such as chortos, or the various crops
basin inundation, it would be extremely laborious to irrigate the such as lotos/lotinon (clover?) or orobos (vetch) which are not
arable fields at low water, unless a mechane (sakiya) was available. specifically mentioned among the Oxyrhynchite papyri. 62
The poorer sections of the population will have needed to Fodder cultivation was vitally important to the agriculture of
culti:ate w~eat every year, without practising the cereal/fodder the name, since there was little natural pasture available, and a
rotat10n which we find specified in many leases. Thus the leases large number of animals to be fed. The crop could be cut and
which provide our best evidence for the proportion of differen: stored for future use, 63 sold, or grazed as a standing crop, the last
crops grown (see Ch. VII § 3(a) ), must understate considerably having the advantage that flocks would incidentally manure the
the overall proportion of wheat grown in the nome. No cereals land. A single sowing could be both cut and grazed. 64 The
other than wheat were grown on a large scale; nothing is heard in pressing need to obtain fodder for working animals is a common
the Oxyrhynchite papyri of olyra (emmer?), a cereal once much theme of private letters on agricultural matters. It is surprising
how rapidly a sluggish rise of the Nile produced a fodder short-
~avoured by the Egyptians. 57 Even barley is mentioned relatively
age: this might be apparent as early as 27 Thoth. 65 Correspon-
~nf~equently; comparison of rent levels in wheat and barley
dents informed each other where fodder might be obtained, and
indicates that ~he latter was considered much less valuable by
at what price; there was sometimes difficulty finding ready cash
volume. <?ertam taxes were collected in barley, probably on for payment. 66 But it is unlikely that all the references to sale and
land unsuited to wheat.
Probably second only to cereals in the extent of cultivation 59 M. Schnebel, Die Landwirtschaft im hellenistischen .Agypten, (Munich, 1925)
were the fodder c~ops, both grass and leguminous plants, which 21 I ff. See Rathbone, Economic Rationalism, 232 ff. for a detailed description of
fodder cultivation on the Appianus estate at Theadelphia.
often alternated with cereals in an 'improved two-field' pattern of 6o P. Oxy. XXXVIII 2874, SB VIII 9918; cf. H. Cadell, Proc. XII lnt. Congr.
58
crop rotation. The Oxyrhynchite papyri contain a rather Paf.-, 70.
' LSJ, s.v. For the leases, see Appendix 2. Also P. Oxy. XXXVI 2781, VII 1056
restricted terminology for fodder crops: only arakos, chortos, (Ao 360), probably SB XIV 12208 line 17.
62
and chlora are attested. Although, according to Schnebel, chor- For the use of chloro to include both arakos and chortos, see G. M. Browne,
tos could be ~sed as a general designation for fodder crops, its 'Two Land Leases from First Century Tebtunis', BASP 6 ( 1969) 6 ff., no. I lines 4
and 7 with nn. Lotos/lotinon: in Arsinoite leases, Hennig, Unters. zur Bodenpacht,
normal meamng was clearly 'grass', either green and freshly cut t25 n. 35; in accounts from the archive of the descendants of Laches, P. Mil. Vogl.
III 152 ii 31, IV 212 passim, etc. Orobos: P. Mil. Vogl. II 69 (/5p{3i.a.),
Schnebel, Die
56
_ P.. Oxy. XXXV~II 28ft, with refs. to II 384 and II 287 (probably). A few Landwirtschaft, 190.
Arsmo1te leases provide e:.'.den~o! doub!_e-cropping: D. Hennig, Untersuchungen
63
Herakleios son of Diophantos at his death left a store of hay in a barn,
presumably for his sheep and asses: P. Oxy. XXXI 2583.
zur Bodenpacht 1m ptolemaisch-romrschen Agypten (Munich, 1967), 54 f. See also D.
W. Rathbone, Ec~nomic Rationalism and Rural Society in Third-Century A.D. ~ See the phraseology of the leases P. Lips. 118, P. Oxy. XIV 1686,SB VIII 9918.
65
Egypt: The_Heronrnos Archme and the Appianus Estate (Cambridge, 1991), 235, P. Oxy. XXXI 2569, with discussion line 20n.
66
on the App1anus estate at Theadelphia. P. Oxy. XLI 2985 (straw to be purchased with proceeds of sale of wine) with
:; See Bagnall, Egypt in Late Antiquity, 24, for refs. 2986 (fodder not available in Sento at 4 mouia ('bundles') for 24 dr; 2 mouia cost 20
Hennig, Unters. zur Bodenpacht, 5off. dr.; 15 mouia bought from 'Horigenes' son' for 17 dr. 1 ob.); XII 1482 (price in the
village 7 dr. the bundle, to be paid for after four months); cf. VIII u56 lines 9ff.
20 2I
 The Oxyrhynchite Nome
The Oxyrhynchite Nome
purchase of fodder represent conditions of particular shortage; a
or slave. 72 The shepherds' inability or unwillingness to keep their
vigorous and volatile market in fodder crops was the eventual
animals away from ripening crops belonging to other villagers
outcome of the early Ptolemies' policy of introducing a mone-
tized market in fodder. 67 gave rise to petitions from irate farmers, and a late third-century
edict threatened trial in the Prefect's court for herdsmen who
The beasts which consumed the fodder included numerous
allowed their beasts to trespass, prescribing the confiscation of
flocks of sheep and goats which grazed within the nome. The
the offending animals. 73
large scale of pasturage is suggested by one early document which
Asses must also have been a common sight in the Oxyrhynchite
records a total of 4,241 sheep and 336 goats for one unidentified
countryside, providing the normal means of transport within the
village, a number which must exceed that of the human inhabi-
valley (camels were used mainly for long distance or de~ert
tants, perhaps by several times, if the village was a small one. 68 transport). Estates needed asses in large numbers for carrying
Substantial landholders, including a member of the Imperial agricultural produce; but, since prices were relatively low for
family, might possess sizeable flocks: 320 sheep and 120 goats such a hardy and useful animal, ownership must have been
were grazed in the Oxyrhynchite and Kynopolite nomes under relatively widespread. 74
the charge of Kerinthos, slave of Antonia Drusi, whose Arsinoite In contrast, oxen, used for ploughing, irrigation, and heavy
estates are well documented. 6() A second-century landowner, transport, seem to have been relatively scarce and cos~ly to k~ep.
Dionysia daughter of Theon, sold to her son sheep and cattle A writer of a private letter expressed concern that 1t reqmred
from three ktemata for a total of 6,100 drachmas. 70 On a more three pairs of oxen to irrigate a rather unproductive vineyard; it
modest scale, Sarapion son of Herodes, whose family had inter- was not so much the cost of hiring the extra pair that troubled
ests in olive growing at Psobthis, declared nineteen sheep and one him but their feed and expenses (P Oxy. XLII 3063). Shortage of
goat in AD u6.7' fodder for the oxen could have immediate repercussions on the
Most of the surviving livestock declarations record small num- irrigation of the fields (P. Oxy. VI 938). A woman w~ose mo~her
bers of animals in the possession of villagers. The owners were had bequeathed 200,000 HS claimed to own only a smgle pair of
not always shepherds themselves; animals belonging to several draught oxen. 75 Oxen provided the normal motive power for
persons could be collected into a single flock under the care of one irrigation machines, but their expense must have been one of
the factors inhibiting the more extensive installation of these
shepherd, who would normally be a humble villager, even a boy
machines on arable land. Similarly, although they were essential
67 for breaking up chersos ready for cultivation, and possibly used
cf. J. Bingen, 'P. Cair. 103II et le marche du fourrage', Archiv, 33 (1987) 5-'7,
with further refs. H.-J. Drexhage, Preise, Mieten/Pachten Kosten und Lahne im for annual ploughing if available, poorer farmers must have
riimischen Agypten bis zum Regierungsantn'tt Diokletians (St Katharinen, 1991), managed without regular recourse to cattle m · ara bl e cu 1t1vat10n.
. . 76
319-26, collects fodder prices from the Roman period. The Appianus estate
refilllarly purchased fodder from outsiders: Rathbone, Economic Rationalism, 215.
.,.. Shepherd not the owner: e.g. P. Oxy. II 350, P. Koln II 86; Bocks of mixed
P. Oxy. IV 8o7; for comparison, the ratio of sheep to humans in mid-\Vales is
ro: r. See also the numerous individual declarations of sheep and goats, listed most ownership: P. Oxy. II 245, XXXVIII 2850. Boy shepherd: XXXVIII 2850, SB XII
recently by C. Balconi, 'Le dichiarazioni di bestiami nell'Egitto romano', Aegyp- 10795; slave: P. Wash. univ. II 77. . ..
tus 70 (1990), rr3-:z2, at p. n4 n. 4. 73 P. Oxy. XXXIV 2704; cf. P. Wash. univ. II 77, and a series of pet1t10ns from

~ P. Oxy. II 244; cf. G. Parassoglou, Imperial Estates in Roman Egypt (Am. Euhemeria in the Fayum: P. Ryl. II 126 etc.
74 For prices, see Drexhage, Preise, Mieten/Pachten Kos~~ und Lohne, 28o-6.
Stud. Pap. 18), (Las Palmas, 1978), 70. From sources such as this, the ousiakos fogos
later obtained possession of livestock in villages throughout Egypt, administered 1s P. Oxy. XXXVIII 2849 with VIII rrr4; see H. C. Yout1e m ZPE 22 (1976), 44-
by the komarchs, according to P. Oxy. XIX 2228 (AD 2831). 6.
70 76 SB XII 10942 seems to imply that oxen were ne~ded for ordinai,: agricultural
PSI X ru9. For other sheep prices, see Drexhage, Preise, Mieten/Pachten
Kosten und Liihne, 302, 305. purposes (presumably ploughing) until after the.sow1r.ig; only after this was a team
7 made available for breaking up chersos. Pharaomc agricultural scenes mostly seem
' P. Oxy. I 74 and n. 82 below; his prosperity is indicated by a later loan of r,ooo
dr. (P. Oxy. III 506). Sarapion and his brother were also landowners and farmers of to show the plough drawn after the sower, coverin~ the, see~, ~ut t~eir int~rpret_a-
arable public land: P. Oxy. III 499, 517, IV 730, SB XIV u280. tion is not beyond doubt; see J. Vandier, Manuel d archeologie egyptienne, v1 (Pans,
1978), 1-57.
22
23
 The Oxyrhynchite Nome The Oxyrhynchite Nome

Other leguminous crops were also, of course, suited to rotation Date cultivation, too, seems to have been relatively small
with cereals, although they are mentioned only infrequently in scale, and intended for local use, both of the fruits and of
the papyri from Oxyrhynchus. A late Ptolemaic lease prescribed the fibrous branches and trunks which had numerous uses.
the equal division of a plot between lentil and barley cultivation; There existed groves devoted primarily to dates, but palms
and early in the Roman period, lentils were grown along with also commonly formed an incidental crop cultivated along
wheat on two plots of public land. 77 Lentils were used, among with vines, on otherwise unused ground, or even in the back-
other purposes, for feeding pigeons (SB V 7814), which in their yards of houses. 83
turn provided fertilizer for vineyards as well as being a source of Both wood and shade were extremely scarce resources in
meat. Egypt, and palms to some degree provided both. But better
Oil crops represent another product crucial to the dietary and quality wood was supplied by acacia trees, which were grown
other needs of the population. The most important oil crop at along embankments. 84 Acacia wood could fetch a high price,
this period was lachanospermon. This was clearly one of the oil- particularly that sold privately, rather than by the idios logos,
producing vegetables, although its precise identity is not cer- which had the right to dispose of fallen trees on public embank-
tain. 78 Radish-seed was also grown for its oil. It is curious that ments as adespota (ownerless objects). 85 The strategos ordered
the evidence for the wide variety of oils grown under detailed the village officials of Taampemou and Seryphis to convey acacia
government regulation in the Ptolemaic period ceases from the wood from Ionthis to a state boat (P Oxy. XII 1421).
Roman period onwards. 79 When, in subsequent chapters, the discussion is more narrowly
The rarity of references to olive trees in the Oxyrhynchite concentrated on the ownership and tenure of land, the varied
nome bears out Strabo's observation that olives were hardly rural resources and industries peripheral to agriculture in the
grown in Egypt except in the vicinity of Alexandria and in the narrow sense must not be forgotten. Every landholder needed
Arsinoite nome; even the latter, he remarked, failed to produce resources much more complex than a mere stretch of virgin
good-quality oil because of the careless methods of harvesting ground in order to produce an income from it. Even the peasants
(XVII I 35). Claudia Isidora alias Apia obtained olives from her who tilled the soil by their own labour needed simple agricultural
Arsinoite, not her Oxyrhynchite, estates. 80 Probably sufficient implements, and seed to sow, and some will have possessed an ass
were grown to meet the local demand for consumption of the and perhaps a few sheep. The property bequeathed by Heraklios
fruit, rather than for large-scale manufacture into olive oil. son of Diophantos, a tenant and farmer who seems to have owned
Orchards containing a variety of fruit trees would include a no land himself, included implements, utensils, household furni-
few olive trees alongside the date-palms, peaches, citrons and ture, wheat, other grain, asses and probably also sheep and hay (P
fig-trees. 81 We hear of one garden within the village of Psobthis Oxy. XXXI 2583). The wealth of the municipal aristocracy of
predominantly devoted to olives, although even this contained Oxyrhynchus lay not simply in the number of arouras which
date-palms and other fruit-trees, and the owners' oil press they controlled, but in their capacity to apply to this land
nearby was also used to process the more commonplace
lachanospermon. 82 S3 P. Oxy. XIV 1692, SB XIV 11899, P. Oxy. III 503, XXXIV 2723, XLV 3242,
XLVII 3354, PSI XIII 1328, and refs. in the two previous notes.
77 P. Oxy. XIV 1628 (73 BC); P. Oslo II 26. l4 For the uses of these and other woods (e.g. persea), see A. H. El Mossallamy,
78
See the discussion and refs. in Bagnall, Egypt in Late Antiquity, 29-31; he 'Trees in Greco-Roman Egypt', Proc. 19th lnt. Congr. Pap. i. 513-41.
79 Ibid. Ss Fourteen acacias on the embankment of a vineyard were sold for 1,200 dr. in
suf,gests that it may have been a variety of lettuce.
AD 225; P. Oxy. VI 909. But the idias logos in AD 188 sold acacias from various
P Oxy. VI 919; cf. the evidence for olive cultivation on the Appianus estate at
Theadelphia: Rathbone, Economic Rationalism, esp. 44 ff. embankments much more cheaply (P. Oxy. VIII II 12), and in AD 13 for a mere 4 dr.
8
' P. Oxy. XIV 1631, P. Ross. Georg. II 19.
each (P. Oxy. IX n88; single branches of persea wood cost 2--6 dr.); see G.
s. P. Oxy. III 639 descr., published by B. E. Nielsen, BASP 29 (1992), 152-63; Parassoglou, 'On the Idios Logos and Fallen Trees', Archiv, 24'5 ~1976) 9 1-<J,
PSI IX 1030. and for more prices, Drexhage, Preise, Mieten/Pachten Kasten und Lahne, 112ff.

25
 The Oxyrhynchite Nome
efficient methods of irrigation and agriculture, and then to
~~rket the produce profitably; and they needed the services of CHAPTER II
1rngators, carpenters, brickmakers, potters, transporters, and
merchants in addition to that of cultivators.

The Land Category System and its

Development

r. INTRODUCTION

When Ptolemy son of Lagos established himself in Egypt after

Alexander the Great's death in 323 BC, he encountered a relatively
sophisticated administrative machinery for tapping the predomi-
nantly agricultural wealth of the country, which had evolved
during more than two thousand years of Pharaonic rule and
subsequently been modified during the Persian rule of Egypt.
All agricultural land was categorized according to the terms
under which Pharaoh had conceded it to the individual posses-
sors in return for regular revenues in kind; a prime duty of the
bureaucracy of royal officials was to keep meticulous written
records of these revenues, as well as actually to collect them.
Rather than attempt to dismantle this complex but lucrative
system, Ptolemy and his successors introduced modifications to
suit the new needs of Egypt as a Hellenistic kingdom. Thus
individual landholders in Ptolemaic Egypt continued to have
their rights to the land articulated by an all-embracing system
of land classification which, with its tripartite division into royal
domain, temple estates, and land conceded to soldiers and offi-
cials, bears some resemblance to that which had prevailed in
Pharaonic times. 1

' J. Pirenne, 'La Tenure dans l'ancienne Egypte', Recueils de la sociite jean
Bodin, iii: La Tenure (Brussels, 1938), 7-40; B. Menu, 'Le Regime juridique des
terres en Egypte pharaonique', RHD 4th ser. 49 (1971), 555-85, repr. in ead.,
Recherches sur l'histoire juridique, iconomique, et sociale de l'ancienne Egypte
(Versailles, 1982). Land tenure in the Persian period, including the granting of
gift-estates to officials, is illustrated by the late 5th-c. Arsames correspondence: see
P. Grelot, Documents arameens d'Egypte (Paris, 1972), eh. 7. Herodotus 2. 168
records land grants of 12 arouras each by Pharaoh to soldiers. The tripartite
26
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development
However, in reality the Ptolemaic period saw both extensive and for fiscal purposes a close supervision of crop production. Royal
profound change in the conditions of land tenure. The region most interest in the ge hiera (sacred land) may have been stricter under
visibly affected was the Fayum, where Ptolemy II Philadelphos the early Ptolemies than later, and is more evident in the Fayum
greatly increased the productive area with extensive irrigation than in the Thebaid, where a form of tenure persisted on the
works. This area, which was renamed the 'Arsinoite nome' after temple estates which allowed small-scale possessors effective~y
Philadelphos' second wife Arsinoe, supplies the most detailed free rights of inheritance and sale. The land grants en dorea (m
evidence of land tenure conditions in both the Ptolemaic and gift) to high officials were temporary, and all seem to have been
Roman periods. But although we should not assume that the rest revoked by the second century BC. In contrast, the smaller but
of Egypt was equally subjected to direct royal intervention, it is much more numerous allotments, or 'kleroi', granted to Greek
clear that no region of Egypt remained wholly unaffected by new and Egyptian soldiers throughout the Ptolemaic period produced
settlement and tenures; in particular, the Oxyrhynchite and neigh- a deep and lasting effect on the pattern of land tenure; for after
bouring nomes of the lower Nile valley were also extensively settled the initial phase these kleruchic holdings were not in practice
by military and other immigrants. 2 taken back by the Crown, but developed progressively wider de
Furthermore, a more subtle and pervasive change occurred in facto rights of inheritance and alienation. 5
the character of land tenure in the course of the Ptolemaic period. When Octavian's Roman army gained control of Egypt in 30
The view has now been discredited that the Ptolemies claimed BC, the reorganization of the country as a Roman province
ownership over all the land of Egypt as ge doriktetos, 'spear-won included fundamental changes to the system of land tenure.
land' .3 But nor was there a place in the Egyptian chora (hinter- The Romans introduced a primary distinction between public
land) for extensive individual private ownership of land such as and private ownership of land. The old royal land (which
Greek cities granted to their citizens (including, presumably, the retained the name basilike ge in many contexts) formed the bulk
Greek cities of Egypt: Alexandria, Ptolemais, and Naukratis), or of the public land, while the kleruchic holdings comprised the
which existed under Roman law. In a Hellenistic monarchy many core of the katoikike ge, one of the main categories of private land.
aspects of 'the state' depended essentially on the personal deci- Private land was distinguished by the right of free disposition
sion of the monarch, and in this sense, all tenures of land in through sale, gift, or inheritance, by essentially the same proce-
6
Egypt remained conditional throughout the Ptolemaic period. 4 dures as applied to other private property. Of course, Rome did
The royal land, basilike ge, contributed up to half its produce to not wholly forego her interest even in the private land, which was
the Crown. The revenue in grain was collected directly by myal subject to regular taxation. Katoicic land paid a standard rate of
officials, who, at least in the Fayum, also attempted to maintain one artaba of wheat per aroura, other private categories rates of
between one half and two artabas. There is no evidence, however,
division of Egyptian land described by Diodorus r. 73. z ff. may rest on Greek that an individual's property rights were directly dependent on
theories of land division rather than on either the situation contemporary with his
visit in 59 BC, or that in pre-Ptolemaic times, when the power of the temples would his or her ability to keep up the tax payments.
have better accorded with his statements: C. Preaux, L'Economie royale des Lagides The advantage to the state of retaining large quantities of land
(Brussels, 1939), 483 n.3. in public ownership lay not so much in the relative insecurity of
2
Note esp. the Ptolemaic texts relating to Tholthis and Takona in the north of
the Oxyrhynchite nome: see n. 45 below. For the Herakleopolite nome, see esp. P.
tenure possessed by its tenants, but in the fact that the land
Hibeh I and II; BGU XIV.
3
J. Modrzejewski, 'Regime foncier et statut social clans l'Egypte ptolemaique', s Modrzejewski, Terre et paysans, 17off., with refs. to more detailed earlier
in Terre et paysans dependants dans les societes antiques (Paris, 1979), 163-88, an works.
important reassessment of the traditional view, at 164 f. 6 Except that a sale of katoicic land was effected by paracho=is, not prasis; see §
4
See F. Dunand's criticism of Modrzejewski's view that Ptolemaic 'sover- 4(b) below. Arrangements between private individuals to transfer publ'.c land
eignty' was like that which every state (including a Greek city) exercises over its could be made; hut, if sanctioned by contract at all, they took a quite different
territory; Terre et paysans, 195. form from transfers of private land: see e.g. P. Oxy. VIII I 123.

28 29
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development
produced a much higher revenue per aroura than was customarily The imposition of Roman conceptions and innovations on the
charged on private land. The concept of public land was, of pre-existing system of tenure produced a more complex pattern_ of
cour_se, one already familiar to Roman experience both in Italy land categories. Indeed, it is not always evident when a word which
and m the provinces, and it was not difficult to accommodate this occurs in a particular document should be considered to designate a
aspect of the Ptolemaic system to Roman ideas on land tenure.7 distinct land category, and it may be difficult to decide whether
Revenues in kind from both public and private land are often there existed a substantive difference in the terms of tenure
found in tax documents recorded side by side, and described by between two categories, or whether they were distinguished
the same word, 'demosia' ('public dues'). All this revenue fell merely by a difference of origin. Much effort has been expended
withii:1 ~he _competence of the main public financial department, on attempts to produce satisfactory definitions of the various
the d1oikesis. Somewhat apart from this bipartite division stood categories, but the problems in many cases remain unsolved.
the sacred land. Its revenue to the state was on occasion listed in The following pages examine in what contexts land-category
the sari:ie registers as were those from the public and private land, terms are actually employed in the Oxyrhynchite evidence. It is
but this 8went, not to the dioikesis, but to the separate hieratic important to take into consideration not only those contexts in
account. Some ge hiera disappeared through confiscations under which land-category terms were clearly in use, but also docu-
the last Ptolemies and Augustus, and it is clear that some of the ments which do not appear to use category terminology, since the
sacred land which remained was allocated for cultivation in aim is not so much to establish the formal distinctions between
effectively the same manner as the public land. 9 On the other the various categories for their own sake as to examine how far
hand, we also hear of sacred land on hereditary lease, and even of these distinctions held practical consequences for the inhabitants
sales of sacred land in the Fayum, implying that some of the hiera of the nome involved in agriculture. The nature of tenures and
ge was closely assimilated to the private land. 10 The parts of the extent of taxation imposed by the state authorities defined the
:Upper ~gypt from which Ptolemaic papyri attest temple land framework within which the ambitions of individual landholders
m effectively private possession unfortunately have produced might be achieved.
no record of the later fate of this land.
Other financial accounts were created during the Roman period
to deal with new categories of land which fell under state admin- 2. PRELI:\1I);ARIES: CO:KTEXTS OF CSE
istration. The ousiakos logos was formed when, as a result of The land-category system was essentially the product of the fiscal
Flavian reorganization, Imperial estates began to be adminis- interest of Egypt's administrators in ensuring that they collected
tered as a category of public land rather than as the personal as much as possible of the revenue that was due to the state. This
possession of the reigning emperor. Under the Jewish account led to the production of complex tax registers and summaries of
fell th_e revenues from land confiscated as a result of the Jewish revenue, a procedure with an ancient Pharaonic pedigree.' 2 The
rebellion. Eventually, too, the idios logos became involved in the precise format varied with local tradition and the immediate
administration of productive confiscated land in addition to purpose of the document; but it is here that we find the most
acting as agent for the disposal of unproductive land. 11 coherent formulation of the system of land categories.
7
No substantial registers survive from Oxyrhynchus; the only
A. Tomsin, ,'Les Continuites historiques dans le cadre des mesures prises par extant tax summaries are either very fragmentary, or contain few
les Romarns en Eg)'pte concemant I~ propriete de la terre', Actes X' Congr. Int.
Pat· 8i-95.. . See e.g. W Chr. 341, discussed below, § 2.
lncludmg bemg compulsorily assigned; below, § 6. For a general account of
distinctions of land category, or both. The fullest evidence comes
from the Arsinoite nome, but this does not necessarily provide
the admm1strat1on of sacred land under Roman rule see \Vilcken Gru d iJ
Jooff. , , n z ge,
12
See Crawford, Kerkeosiris, eh. 2. For the types of land survey in the
:: e.g.P. Harris I 138 17 ff (hereditary lease), P. Mich. V 254-5, 260-1 (sale). Ptolemaic and Roman periods, see A. Deleage, 'Les Cadastres antiques jusqu'a
, For a summary of recent work on the various accounts see A. K. Bowman, Diocleticn', Etudes de Pap. ii (1934), 73-228, and H. Cuvigny, f,'Arpentage par
Papyn and Roman Imperial History, 196o--75', JRS 66 (1976), 153-73, at 16J-S- especes dans l'Egypte ptolbnafque d'apres les papyrus grus (Brussels, 1985).
30 31
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development
A carbonized tax register from Thmouis in the Mendesian
the best model for understanding the Oxyrhynchite material. I
shall therefore look in turn at the land classification used in three nome presents a selective view of land categories in that area,
4
registers, one each from the Arsinoite nome, the Delta, and since it relates only to arrears of money tax on 'dry' land.' Thus
Upper Egypt, before turning to the Oxyrhynchite evidence. 'royal' land is mentioned only twice, as 'basilikou hypologou'; hiera
One of the largest and best-known land registers from Roman ge appears more commonly, but entries for private land predo-
Egypt deals with Hiera Nesos and other villages near Karanis in minate. These include eonemene ('bought' land) rated at one
the north-east of the Arsinoite nome in AD 167 (.P. Bouriant 42). artaba, idioktetos and chersampelos rated at r½ artabas, and one
Despite its length, the basic system of land classification is entrv for 'r¼(artaba-land) phylakitikon'. The last was a legacy
relatively simple. The land under the dioikesis at each village is of the Ptolemaic distribution of land to lower grades of kleruch,
divided into three categories: basilike ge (and other land under who received smaller plots than the katoikoi; another Mendesian
rents, along with hieratic and the Philodamiane ousia); prosodika land register a topographically arranged survey of uninundated
edaphe; and idiotika edaphe. Under each of these headings, land is and artificially' irrigated land (P. Mendes. Genev.) , 1s preserves a
classed by agricultural use and then as productive or uninun- full range of similar kleruchic categories; but it is i~t~resting that
dated. Then, after summarizing the land in each category for neither of these Mendesian registers includes katotktke ge.
the whole komogrammateia (lines 64ff.), the register moves on A more complete system of classification appears in W C~r.
from the dioikesis to list the ousiac land at each village, discrimi- 1, dealing with Naboo, a village in the Lesser Apollonopoltte
nating between ousiai of Vespasian and of Titus, and listing each 34
nome at the start of Hadrian's reign. This shows much more
ousia by name. Ousiac land was in fact the largest single land clear!~ than either of the preceding examples the relationship
category within the district. After a final 'grand summary' of
between the overall distinction of public and private land and
both land under the dioikesis and ousiac land, the document
the various sub-categories of each; its structure is set out in Table
proceeds to rearrange the same basic information, now focusing
. Under the rubric 'dioikesis' there are distinguished the basilike
on amounts of 'productive' and 'uninundated' land; and then 2
provides lists of cultivators and their holdings, which occupy assessed at five different rates of taxation and the idiotike (private
the bulk of this substantial text. A very similar system of tenurial land) under six headings: basilike on which a specially l,oW:rate of
categories is found in P Berl. Leihg. I 5 (A; r58) and other tax has been conceded (for which see Ch. III § 2(b) ), pnvately-
contemporary land registers from Theadelphia. owned' land (idioktetos) at two rates of taxation, land at i¼artabas
Here, therefore, the distinction between public and private per aroura in a category associated with either the _city or with
land is latent rather than explicit. Private land indeed forms citizens, 16 katoicic land, and 'bought' land. To this are ad~ed
one of the three categories, defined by its payment of fixed taxes three categories of land under the hieratic account, wh1~h,
(Ka87"Jdvr(wv)), but without subdivision into ge katoikike etc.; but although it is not stated explicitly, should no doubt be c~ns1d-
the public land is dismembered into one large category of basilike ered to comprise the hiera ge. No ousiac land appears m the
(to which sacred land and an ousia administered by the dioikesis summary, presumably because no imperial estates lay within
are appended), and the much smaller prosodika edaphe. This
•~ P. Thmouis I; see introd. 2of. for a summary of the catego~i~s employed.
'revenue land' (also termed ge prosodou) reappears fairly often •s V. Martin, 'Un document administratif du nome de Mendes, SPP XVII 9-
in Arsinoite documents, but very rarely in those from the 46 The categories include: '1 artaba'; 'd'; 'i½ chersampelou'; '! artaba of the ten-
Oxyrhynchite and other Nile valley nomes. 13 ar~ura holders'; '¾ artaba of the fifteen-aroura holders'; 'of the seven-arou~a
holders' (without tax rate); '? artaba of the staff-bearers'; for an extre1;1ely lucid
commentary on these, see 40-3, but note that the 't art_aba enaph(esion) has b_een
' 3 It was subject to very high rentals and was perhaps the category to which
re-read by Kambitsis as' 1 artaba eone(mene)' (P. Thmou1s I p. 20). Martm plausibly
confiscated land was assigned until a more permanent allocation could take place;
connects the •1 ! chersampelou' with the ge ampel1t1s found fr~qu~ntly elsewhere,
see P. Bour. pp. 156ff. The (ovam(tjs) rrpo(a6Sou?) of P. Oxy. XVIII :u85 paid
also taxed at d art.far.: ex-vineland now used for arable cult1vat1on.
revenue to the dioikesis, not to the ousiakos logos. 1rp[oa]6owvB,o,K~a~w, appears in a
•6 On this (and other points), see Wilcken's introduction to the text.
summary of taxes of metropolitan landholders at Sinary: P. Oxy. XLIV 3170.

32 33
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development
the pen·choma of the village of Naboo. The document then sum- preserve parts of detailed surveys kat'andra. Unlike the corre-
marizes the areas under each condition of irrigation, and finally sponding section of W Chr. 341, however, these rely almost entirely
proceeds to a detailed analysis of the holdings of individual on the basic dichotomy between basilike and idiotike."'' In particu-
landholders, of which only a little survives. lar, the usage in one mid-third century document (basilike and
We find significant differences of detail in P. Giss. 60, an almost idiotike, esparmene, hypologos, asporos) seems to anticipate the
contemporary register from the same village. Here, a small categories found after the Diocletianic reform(§ 7 below).2:1
quantity of hypologos is listed after the basilike, and the total of One list of landholdings which may all have been in the
thes: two '.s,termed 'dioikesis, demosia'. 17 The eonemene, 1¼pol() possession of a single person divides the land (all presumably
and coloma are all subsumed within the category klerouchike. 18 private} into monartabos, land taxed at i½artabas per aroura, at
Moreover, the document contains an additional criterion of clas- 2 art.far., and paradeisos (orchard) (P. Oxy. Hels. 22, 2nd-3rd c.).
sification, into epeiros and nesos, the Greek equivalents for demotic Another official report of an individual holding, in connection
ter~s d~signati?g land which remained in position despite suc- with debt, is particularly useful in revealing the terminology in
cessive inundations, and less permanent land deposited by the use in the early first century (P Oxy. Hels. 9, AD 26). This records
Nile. 19
three plots of land: 15 arouras composed of '9½ar. "artaba-land"
Despite the underlying similarities of conception, the extent of (artabias), s½ar. from the (kleros) of Artemidoros bought in the
both local and regional variation in the organization of land fifteenth year'; land bought in the forty-third year of Augustus
registers will now be evident, 20 and so we shoulc.! not expect consisting of 1 aroura of dry land (chersos); and ex-vineland
any such documents from the Oxyrhynchite nome to conform bought in the forty-first year consisting of 2 arouras of uninun-
precisely to any of the models given above. The closest parallel to datcd chersos. A summary of the tax-allocation for this land is
the Apollonopolite registers, P. Oxy. XII 1445 (if, indeed, it does then given: 'monartabos 16 (ar.), in vines 2 (ar.): 3 art. wheat'. 23
refer to the O~rhynchite nome) which is probably roughly Thus the total tax due on this land was 19 artabas of wheat. Hert,
contempor~r~ w~th them, contains in its extant section only therefore, 'monartabos' is used, not as a distinct land-category
the bare d1stmct10n of taxation category between demosia and term, but as an overall designation of land taxed at one artaba
idioti:ke: these are subdivided only according to the physical char- per aroura. But, in view of the significance of tax rates within the
act~nst1cs of the land, into nesoi (diapseiloi and potamophoreto£"),and whole category system, it is easily understandable that monartabos
epeiros. The areas recorded are in fact those which were at the time should develop later into something much closer to a land
out of c~lt!vation; although it is possible, as the editors suggest, that category in its own right.
the surviving papyrus is only part of a comprehensive report of the This can be seen in the documents relating to the episkepsis
type of the Apollonopolite registers. (inspection) of uninundated and artificially irrigated land. 24 In a
Several fragmentary texts from the second and third centuries report of the episkepsis of land at Talao in 135'6 (P land. 136), all
17
the plots of which details are preserved carry the designation
p. 167.
Line 22, with the editors' correction of .S17>.(w6do-11s)to Sw1.(oo-,as)· P. Gi'ss. I
• •
monartabos. Individual declarations of abrochia also record land
,s Th ..
. . e. surviving text contains no reference to katoikike; did this fit in the
" P Oxy. XII 1533, 1534, 1535, 1537, P Giss. 113, SB XVIII 14067; cf. P. Oxy.
illegible hnes at the start of col. iii, which would also come under the category
k/erouch1ke? XII 1441, a tax receipt.
9
F•or de fi nations,
· · " SB XVI II 1.io67= ZPE 70 (1987), 12S-32: the editors' argument for a 3rd-c.
'
see D. Bonneau, u Fisc et le ,Vil. Incidence, du irrigulan'tis date seems valid. P. Oxy. XII 1534 also employs the term eiparmene (and note that
de la crue du Nil sur la fiscalitti fonciere dans l'Egypte grecque et romaine (Paris Ko,() should be expanded 1<0{(T')S), not K(a,-)o,(rnojs): P. J. Sijpestcijn and K. A.
1 2
97 ), 791 115, and H. Cadell, 'Le Vocabulaire de !'agriculture d'apres les papyru~
gr~~s d'Egypte', Proc. 12 lnt. Congr. Pap. &r-76, at p. 71. Worp, 'Numbered koitai in the Oxyrhynchite nome', Aegyptus, 58 (1978) 157-<}),
' 3 The editor infers that the 9½ ar. was katoicic land, but there seems no warrant
A. C. Johnson, Rom~n Egypt to the reign of Diocletian (Baltimore, 1936), ::i9ff., for this. There may have been land rated at I art./ar. which was neither katoikike
esp. 71-4, has refs. to various other land registers.
nor tonemene. >< On episkep,is see Bonneau, Le Fisc et le Nil, 89 ff.

34 35
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development
categories, generally using the classification into monartabos, land petitions about the destruction of crops, and for the latter, private
taxed at 1½ artabas per aroura, and basilike; it is perhaps surprising sale and mortgage contracts.
that on the last, tax rates are usually not recorded. Katoicic ·land It is worth emphasizing that land leases from Oxyrhynchus
forms a sub-category of monartabos. 2 s rarely state explicitly the tenurial category of the land. Even
The longest surviving declaration, P. Oxy. XLII 3047, is more public land, when subleased privately, was not necessarily
elaborate than this. The format varies a little between the five labelled basilike or demosia; the phrases 'arouras registered to'
villages listed, but the basic principles are similar to those of the and 'arouras belonging to' evidently could be thought adequate
other declarations. Basilike at two different tax rates appears; to indicate the public or private status of a plot. 27 No leases of
idiotike at r½artabas per aroura; monartabos; and small quantities private land from Oxyrhynchus use the description katoikike,
of productive hypologos rated at z½ art. per ar. and land at 2 artabas although it is inconceivable that none of the plots fell into this
26
on hereditary lease. Katoicic land is treated as a sub-category of category, which may well have formed over half the total amount
monartabos, as also is eonemene, to which a date of purchase is of private land. Why only one lease should use the explicit
usually appended. description idiotike (P. Oxy. XIV 1686) is unclear; perhaps it
If we compare this Oxyrhynchite evidence with the registers assisted the definition of the land to be leased from other lands
discussed earlier, the most obvious difference is the prominence owned at Talao by the lessor. 28
The title to the land was not in question in a lease as it was in a
of monartabos used as a category term, which is completely absent
sale or even a mortgage; and, since the lessor in the vast majority
from the Arsinoite and Apollonopolite documents; and the
of cases retained the obligation to pay the tax, the tax rate was
smaller range of categories employed than in the Apollonol-Jolite
perhaps considered of no relevance to the terms of the lease. One
registers and (with respect to private land) in the Mendesian
lease of unsold land of the idios logos does indeed refer to the tax
texts. This is perhaps not surprising if we bear in mind the
rate (of 1½ art. per ar.), which the tenant was obliged to pay on top
incomplete nature of the Oxyrhynchite evidence; Table 2 shows
of the rent (BGU IV 1091). However, it is remarkable that record
that well over half the private land at Naboo fell into the two of the tax rate is absent even from most leases where the tenant
categories katoikike and eonemene, the only other category of undertook tax responsibility, as well as from the (more numerous)
some size being that rated at -liart. per ar. It is not unlikely that cases which provided for reimbursement by the landlord should
there were small categories in the Oxyrhynchite which have the tax be initially collected from the tenant. 29 The most prob-
remained unrecorded by the surviving evidence. able reason for this would seem to be that the basic rate of one
Land category terminology is also found in various documents artaba per aroura was so widespread that it could be taken for
not directly connected with taxation. The types of documenta- granted. 30
tion differ depending on whether land was public or private: for The general absence from the leases of land category terms
the former, it includes requests for and grants of seed corn and prompts the question how significant the official classification
was for individuals in their private dealings with each other. To
•s The category_ is eit~er not stated or lost in BGU XIII 2234 i, P Harr. II 198, invoke the leases here commits one to the view that the official
P Oxy. VII_~ u13 1 and u, PSI Congr. XVII 25, SB XII uo33; recorded in BGU
?'III 2234 n,. P Oxy. XII 1459, 1549, XLII 3046, 3047, P. Col. inv. 478 (which
• 7 Leases of public land without reference to basilike or demosia: e.g. PSI V 46S,
mcludes ge htera), P. Lond. inv. 2174 (which records a tax rate on basilike of 41\
art.far.). A 3rd-c. taxing list, P Oxy. VII 1044, does not state the land category in VII 739.
.s This seems to have been the usual purpose of descriptions of land in the
eve_ry e'1:try for the common categories monartabos and basilike (these could easily
be_1denttfied by calculatmg the tax rate from individual entries). But other rates on leases; see Ch. VII § 3(a).
"I e.g. P Oxy. XLI 2973 (tenant pays tax); P. Strass. VI 534, P. Oxy. I 101 (tenant
private land are noted explicitly, twice designated idiotikes: see J. Rowlandson, •p
o~r- VII 1044, XLH_ 3047 and the Land Tax in Kind', ZPE 67 (1987) 283-92.
Rowlandson, 1b1d.
reimbursed for payments).
0
J Not in leases of chersampelos (P Oxy. IV 729, P. Ross. Georg. II 19) where
perhaps a rate of 1½art.Jar. could be assumed (see above, n. 15).

37
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category S:ystem and its Development
terminology was of greater relevance to the participants in the the Roman period, at least until the changes at the end of the
Arsinoite lease contracts than to their counterparts in the Oxy- third century, to be a normal and officially sanctioned term for
rhynchite nome--a view which other discrepancies discussed parcels of public land which originated from the old Ptolemaic
below (Ch. III § 5) may indeed suggest to be not as implausible royal land. But do the references to demosia ge designate a distinct
as it initially sounds.
substantive land category; and if so, how was this defined? Or is it
On the basis of the foregoing discussion of the use of category an overall term for public land as a whole; or merely an alter-
terms in official tax documents, and of the other contexts in native designation for exactly the same land as the basilike? The
which the terminology appears, certain specific difficulties in question cannot be settled neatly by appealing to evidence from
the meaning and use of the terms in the Oxyrhynchite evidence
other parts of Egypt; even this provides no really satisfactory
may now be approached.
justification for an explanation in terms of different origin or
administrative treatment, although various suggestions have
3. CATEGORIES OF PUBLIC LAND: THE DISTINCTION been put forward. 35
BETWEEN BASILIKE AND DEMOSIA GE It is important to start from the official context of the registers.
P. Giss. 60 provides a clear instance of the use of demosia ge as an
From the first years of Roman rule in Egypt there survive two
overall designation for public land, with basilike as a subordinate
complaints from Oxyrhynchite demosioi georgoi ('public farmers')
category. On the other hand, the basilike here comprised by far
that crops sown by them had been destroyed. In both cases, the
the largest proportion of public land as a whole; only a tiny
land was described as basilike ge.31 A century later, the earliest
amount of hypologos remained. Thus the scope of the two terms
Oxyrhynchite documents of the Roman period concerning seed
in practice largely overlapped.
provision refer to 'basilike ge and (land) of other categories'. 32
Most similar second-century documents mention no land cate- The failure to isolate a clear difference of origin or tenure
gory, although they evidently concern public land, 33 while one between the two categories, as well as peculiarities in the distri-
describes the land as basilike (P. Oxy. XLIX 3474). In the early bution of the evidence, 36 suggests that, in most instances, there
third century, two seed-corn documents describe the land as
JS Wilcken, Grundziige, 288f.: demosia edaphe an overall term for pu~lic land;
demosia ge; others seem to refer to basilike. 34 In other contexts demosia ge and basilike ge substantive categories thereof. The Romans increased
as will be seen from the complete listing of the evidence for publi~ the amount of barilike as well as creating the demosia ge to accommodate con-
fiscated land, but Wilcken gives no criterion for the differen! treatment. Johnson,
land in Table 5, basilike predominates, but demosia ge and related
Roman Egypt, :z6: demosia ge consisted of 'beaches, accretions of new land on
expressions also occur. In the evidence from Oxyrhynchus, both islands or river banks not yet definitely assigned to any other category, and canal
terms never appear together in a single document, with the bottoms'. A. Toms in, 'Pa.u,A11<~ yi/ clans l'Egypte romaine', Milanges
et S1JfLOulo.
exception of the petition of Apollonarion discussed below. Fohalle (Gembloux, 1969), 271-Bo: parcels abandoned at the moment o~ con_quest
became demoria ge. R. L. B. Morris, 'A Study in the Social and Economic H1Story
What is the nature of the distinction he~·e? From the frequency of Oxyrhynchus for the First Two Centuries of Roman_ ~ule' (Dis~. ?u~e _Univ.,
of its use, it certainly seems that basilike continued throughout 1975), 105£.: the two categories fell under the admm1strattve Junsd1ct1on _of
different officials; or the demosia ge provided revenue at the local level, ~h1!e
31 the income from barilike ge was used at imperial level. I follow 1:omsm m
P. Wash. uniu II 77, P. Oslo II 26; cf. P. Oxy. XII 1465, complaint of theft doubting the strict validity of Wilcken's distinction between demosia ge and
(reign of Cleopatra or Augustus).
32 demosia edaphe; the uses of the latt~r strongly sugg~st, ho"';ever, that_ it .~ame
P. Coll. Youtie I 22, P. Koln III 137, probably P. Oxy. LVII 3902, 3907. 3903-4, into vogue early in the Roman penod as a translation for ager publtcus . see
3905 and 3908--9, of the same date, do not seem to have referred to any category.
next note.
Seed could also be supplied on ousiac land: P. Oxy. XVIII 2185, P. Rob. inv. 59. 6
33 3 Note particularly the change in the Arsinoite leases of public land, from the
P. Oxy. VII 1024, X 1262, XLI 2956. In the two latter, but not the first, the almost exclusive reference to demoria edaphe in the 1st c., towards the later use of
papyrus is broken at the point where a category might have appeared.
3 basilike ge (evidence in Hennig, Unters. zur Bodenpacht, 201 ff.). P. Te~t. II 373
+ Demoria: P. Oxy. Reis. :z4, P. Oxy. VII 1031; basilike: P. Hamb. l 19, P. Oxy.
LVII 3906. shows that both terms could be used of the same plot of land. Demosia ge also
occurs in a few of the :znd-c. leases.

39
 The Land-Category System and its Development
The Land-Category System and £ts Development
was in fact no substantive distinction between the two· it was
4. CATEGORIES OF PRIVATE LAND
essentially an arbitrary choice of one description rather than the
other. If the basilike ge (composed of Ptolemaic royal land, with When we come to consider the various categories of private land,
additions and subtractions effected by the Roman administra- evidence is found, not only in land registers and other adminis-
tion) was the only significant category of public land under the trative documents which have been used earlier in this chapter,
administration of the dioikesis apart from the unproductive hypo- but also in private legal documents, such as contracts of sale and
logos, (imperial estates came under the separate ousiac account), mortgage. The early date of some of these texts is helpful in that
most public land could equally well be described as either demosia it presumably reflects the system as first instituted under the
or basilike. Roman administration, unlike the predominantly third-century
However, very occasionally demosia and basil£ke do seem to be evidence discussed in § 2 of this chapter.
treated as mutually exclusive categories. The numerous texts This evidence taken as a whole overwhelmingly relates to the
relating to the issue of seed-corn at Karanis and its satellite category katoikike ge, particularly during the early Principate.
villages refer to several distinct categories, which include both For instance, we find no reference to any other category in
basilike and demosia (or demosiou); once, both occur in the same either a sale or a mortgage until the third century. However,
document, implying that they refer to different substantive some non-katoicic private land must surely have existed in the
categories.37 In the petition of Apollonarion, the case of Ptol- Oxyrhynchite nome in the first two centuries AD and one text
lion, who was appointed to cultivate 'royal and public land' in the perhaps attests non-katoicic eonemene (P. Oxy. Hels. 9). The bias
Herakleopolite nome, is cited as a precedent (P Oxy. VI 899 line in the Oxyrhynchite evidence towards the more Hellenized
22). Furthermore, Hadrian issued a decree applying to 'the royal metropolitans must partly account for its concentration on the
land and public and ousiac land' (.P. Giss. 4). katoicic land over other categories. But more comprehensive
Lawyers and emperors might of course not be fully conversant data from elsewhere in Egypt confirms the predominance of
with _the niceties of Egyptian land-category terminology, and katoikike ge among private land: it formed over half the total
Hadrian was no doubt anxious to ensure that all public land area of private land at the Apollonopolite village of Naboo (W
however it might be described locally, should fall within th; Chr. 341; Table 2).
competence of his decree. But it does appear that in some By the third century, a greater diversity of private land category
instances, at least, 'demosia ge' was employed, not as an overall designations appears, both in the evidence discussed in earlier
term for P_Ublic land, which subsumed the basilike ge within it, sections and in the contracts. For instance, in AD 241 a sale listed
but to designate a specific type of public land not co-terminous monartabos, idiotike, katoikike, chersampelos, neglected vineland,
with the basilike. There is an analogy for this in a more regular and hypologos (P. Coll. Youtie I 65). This echoes the system of
usage of 'idiotike' (see the following section). The proportion of categories found in the more 'official' context of land surveys,
demosia ge which was not basilike was probably relatively small, and is particularly close to the almost exactly contemporary
however. Some idea of its relative significance may be derived declaration of abrochia, P. Oxy. XLII 3047.
from a tax list from the Kynopolite village of Pheretnouis near
In general, then, the developments in private land-category
the border of the Oxyrhynchite nome, where we find a single
terminology seem to suggest a gradual move away from an
reference to demosia (P. Pher., line 22) alongside frequent refer-
ences to basilike. emphasis on categorization by origin (katoikike as old Ptole-
maic kleruchic assignments, eonemene as land bought from the
37
The texts are mostly published in BGU vols. I and II, P. Cai"ro Goodspeed, P. state), towards an increasing preoccupation with differences of
Chic. G~odspeed. BGU l 285 acknowledges receipt of seed for both s µo<1,ovand tax rate; this explains not only the appearance of the category
71
/lam>.(,K"JS)at Patsontis. The categories for which seed was issued also include monartabos, but also the identification of land as ex-vineland,
various ousiai", pro$od(ou), and aigialou ('shoreland').
which, as we know from elsewhere, was normally taxed at 1½
41
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development

artabas per aroura. 38 This evolution of the category system that which fell outside the categories already mentioned in the
seems to have taken place, however, against a background of document. Thus an extract from an official taxing-list (P Oxy. I
substantive changes in the composition of the private land by 8) lists half an aroura of katoicic land and two plots of idiotike
7
the third century, as public land increasingly passed into private esparmene. In the declaration of abrochia P Oxy. XLII 3047,
ownership. But further specification of these changes can be 'idiotike' is generally applied only to the land taxed at i½artabas
sought only after a discussion of the individual land categories per aroura, not to the monartabos, which unquestionably fell,
4
and of the procedure by which state land was sold off. strictly speaking, into the category of private land. ' Similarly
p Coll. Youtie I 65, a sale of numerous parcels of land all in
( a) The Distinction between idiotike and idioktetos private ownership, refers only to one plot as idiotike. The two
occurrences of idiotike in the unpublished col. ii of P Oxy. VII
The problem of the distinction to be drawn between idioktetos
104442 both distinguish rare categories of private land from the
and idiotike ge may be dismissed briefly, since it has little bearing
common monartabos. In two further third-century sales of land,
on the Oxyrhynchite material. Wilcken (Grundzii.ge, p. 303)
argued that idiotike designated the whole body of private land;
idiotike may also be intended in a specific sense, although not
43
idioktetos, eonemene, and the other categories formed sub-divi- explicitly contrasted with any other category.
sions of this, as in the Naboo register W. Chr. 341. Stollwerck In sum, therefore, idiotike seems to have been applied as a land
endorses this distinction as valid between the latter part of the category term in two different senses: firstly to designate private
first century and the third. 39 But only one of the twenty instances land as a whole, and secondly (perhaps in a looser sense) as
of idioktetos over this period cited by Stollwerck is derived from shorthand for 'other private land', different from the categories
Oxyrhynchus. 40 In some Oxyrhynchite documents, idiotike func- which the writer had mentioned explicitly. Idioktetos would seem
tions in the same role as does idioktetos in W. Chr. 34r: a designa- to have been a specific category, which if it existed at all in the
tion for private land falling outside the categories katoikike and Oxyrhynchite nome, was probably not extensive.
eonemene (see shortly below). In other contexts, the tax rate alone
was treated as a land-category designation (e.g. in P Oxy. XII (b) Katoicic Land
r459). We must now turn to consider in more detail a category of land
There is no doubt that in many of the papyri from Oxy- which was not only always marked off in official registers from
rhynchus, particularly in the tax documents mentioned earlier the other varieties of private land (even from those taxed at the
in the chapter, the use of idiotike accords with Wilcken's inter- same rate of one artaba per aroura), but which also retained a
pretation of it as the overall designation for private land, unique system of registration for more than two centuries after
although in non-official contexts, it is difficult to distinguish the Roman administration had recognized the private ownership
between its use as a technical term and as a straightforward of this land. Ge katoikike and klerouchike originated in the land
adjective, 'private', as it is probably used in P. Oxy. XXIV handed out under the Ptolemies to the katoicic cavalrymen and
2410, for instance. other ranks of soldiers, a procedure discussed in detail by
Some third-century documents, however, seem to use idiotike Uebel, and by Crawford with respect to the Arsinoite village
44
(even in semi-official contexts) to mean 'other private land'; i.e. of Kerkeosiris.
38 4 ' Except in line 30, where land is described as "a-ro,"(,,qs) ;" -roii M-,,voliwpov
J. L. Rowlandson, 'P. Oxy. XLII 3047, VII 1044 and the Land Tax in Kind',
ZPE 67 (1987), 285 n. 6. lo<(w('T,"'JS)](µ.ovap'TaPov)WV"f/(µ.-v-,,s)
I( (c,,-ou<;),
etc .
.•
39
A. Stollwerck, Untersuchungen zum Privatland im ptolemiiischen und riimischen 4' See L. C. Youtie, ZPE 21 (1976), 1 '-

Agypten (Diss. Koln, 1971), 27. u P. Oxy. XIV 1636 (line 14, describing a neighbouring plot); XLIX 3498. .
0 « F. Vebel, Die Kleruchen .4.gyptens unter den ersten sechs Ptolemaern (Berhn,
• " Ibid. 51: restored in P. Oxy. I II 506 line 28 (see BL I); but even if the reading
1s correct, the usage may be non-technical, meaning 'in private possession'. 1968); Crawford, Kerkeosiris, 53 ff.

42 43
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development
an offer to purchase land from kleroi which had been confiscated
~he im~ediate effects of this process on land tenure and
at some time under Augustus (the dates were never filled in), and
agncultu_re m the Oxyrhynchite nome can be seen in the group
which was subsequently described as hypologos basilikes. Presum-
of papyn, mostly of the third century BC from Tholth 1' d
T k 45 ' s an ably there existed similar land which, being productive, was not
a ona. That these Ptolemaic military settlements were
sold off into private ownership, but was retained as basilike.
spread on a massive scale throughout the nome is indicated by
The long persistence of kleroi named after the original holders
the _prevalence of references throughout the papyri of the Roman
must be attributed to the profound impact of the Ptolemaic
pe;od to kleroi named after the original Greek military holders. 46
allocation on the physical appearance of the land; the boundaries
~ the Roman period, however, there was no necessary con- of the kleroi were the most evident physical divisions of the
~ect1on between a kleros and the ge katoikike; much of the basilike agricultural land. Perichomata (inundation basins) provided a
m th~ Oxyrhynchi~e ~ome in the Roman period also lay within much less precise means of topographical description, since
kleroi, and land w1thm a single kleros commonly fell into more 50
they were large enough to contain several kleroi.
th~n on~ te~urial category. 47 It must be emphasized that it is References to ge katoikike in the Oxyrhynchite nome during
quite :1nJust1fied to draw any conclusion about the land category the Roman period are exceedingly numerous; in contrast, the
to which a parcel belonged on the basis of its description as 'from term ge klerouchike has as yet only one uncertain attestation.51
the k~er~sof so-and-so'; a kleros-name was merely a topographical By the late Ptolemaic period, katoikos had replaced klerouchos as
desc~1pt10n. This situation arose through the confiscation and the standard term for military allotment-holders of higher status,
reassignment of plots at various times in the Ptolemaic and early although the latter continued to be applied to lower statuses,
Roman eras. 48 The original grants of land were not intended to be including the civil officials who received allotments, such as
permanent, and in the third century BC were in practice still phylakitai. 52 It was not uncommon for men to rise from the
revocable by the king; some Oxyrhynchite kleroi are known to lower to the higher status through enrolment in the katoikia
have been taken back by the king at this time · 49 P.• Oxy · IV 721 lS· and the acquisition of a larger allotment. 53 Thus it would appear
that, by the time of the Roman occupation of Egypt, the bulk of
45
• M~y published in the following volumes: BGU VI X XIV SB XII R f land allotted under the Ptolemies belonged to the higher status,
m J. Bingen, 'Land leases from Tholthis', Ill. Class.' St~d 3 ' (1978) · e80s:
Crawford, Kerkeosin's, 171 f. · • 74- , and so when it was privatized became known as ge katoikike. The
46 F. Zucker, 'Beobachtungen zu den pennanenten Klerosnamen' F h if term klerouchike is much rarer, although it is interesting that it
Oertel (Bo?-n, 1964), 101--0. P. Pruneti, '[ KAHPOI del nomo Ossirinch't ~sts_cn t appears in one of the Apollonopolite land registers (P. Giss. 60) as
topographrca' 'h.Aegypt us, 55 ( 1975 ) , 1 59-244, lists all the kleros names attested
1 e. ncercain
th e O xyr h ync 1te nome.
a comprehensive term including several substantive categories.
wi:~ eJ. P. Oxy. VII 1044, kleros of Polemon; P. Oxy. XII 1459, kleros of Andron Katoicic land predominates in the Oxyrhynchite evidence for
kl h enest~eus (s_ee Tab)':' 7). Even in the Ptolemaic period, land held by private lard as a whole, particularly in the first two centuries of
~~c s_was mtermmgled with royal land; Crawford Kerkeosiris 72 £
r1:ih1s p7cess probably also accounts for som~ otherwise' obs~ure labels
6J 1\vto a ew plots of land: (i) pareimene, of Thrasymachos near Peenno (P.
50 Land is identified in leases by perichomata only in certain villages, presum-
ably in locations which had never been subject to kleruchic assignment: Tychin-
A Y: 713, XII 1549), of Etearchos near Phoboou (P. Koln II roo) d f
nt10chos near Pela (P. Col inv 8) f P. H"b
'conceded' or 'abandoned' I · d· (:.)47k ' ~ :k ·
1 h I
e
. ' an
53: _variously translated as
° nechotis: P. Oxy. II 280, cf. XLII 3047; Ision Panga: P. Oxy. I 103, XXXI 2585, etc.
Kleroi are also mentioned in the vicinity of the latter village; e.g. P. Oxy. II 250.
I I . an , 11 ato1 1 e ge en aphesei, m P. Oxy. XVII 2134 is
51 P. Prine. II 42 lines 9 and 13, as revised by W. Clarysse and K. Kruit, 'Notes
c e~r Y dtff~~~t from the ge en aphesei attested in the Ptolemaic Arsinoite la,nd
on P. Princeton II 42', ZPE 82 (1990), 123-5. But 'klerouchoi' continued to be an
regi sters, W ic 1s always distinguished from kleruchic or katoicic land althou h
~~e theory that it encompassed all the land over which the King had relinquish!d
acceptable collective term for the landowners of a village (P. Oxy. XLIX 3473 line
34), as it was in the Fayum (P. Berl. Leihg. I 1, 4, 5 etc.).
1rect Kcontrol
Riim l d b abandoned· · Wilcken • G nm dzuge,
ff has now• been .. 2 71, Rostovtzeff
s> See further P. Tebt. I pp. 545ff. The 1st-c. BC Herakleopolite texts in BCV
· 0 ·• 3 •, questwne Y J. Herrmann 'Zurn Begriff der • ' ' ' CE '
(i955) '. 95-10 6 an d J. C . Sh el ton, Ptolemaic Land
' "'P"'""' 3° XIV well illustrate how the different terms were applied at the end of the
Terminology CE 6 ( )
o-d'P"''<Jff · An Ob<Vservat10n
·
on the
, 4 1971 , I 13-19. Ptolemaic period.
49 Sl Crawford, Kerkeosiris, 58--o9, includes several cases of promotion.
e.g. P. Hamb. II 184 (see Crawford, Kerkeosiris, 55 n. 8).

44 45
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development
R~man rule, and it undoubtedly formed an important part of the also finds mention in PSI XIII 1328 of AD 2or; here it is not clear
~r1vate land. On the other hand, the significance of katoicic land whether the land had recently been purchased from the state, or
1s pr?bably t? s_o~e degree over-emphasized in the evidence by whether the appellation referred to a sale of much earlier date.
certain pecu!tantics which set it apart from other private prop- Other references to purchased katoicic land use the expression
erty. Although it featured in the property register, the bibl£otheke 'katoicic and bought into the katoikia'. 58 Roberts and Skeat took
enk_teseon,in the same way as did other real property,54 a separate this phrase to support their view, based on their publication of an
register of katoicic land continued to exist, the graphe katalochis- Arsinoite sale of public land 'from katoicic hypologos' (d.110Ka-roi-
mon, administered by an official known as 'the man in charge of K,Kov v110>.oyou),that land retained katoicic status throughout
the katalochismoi of Egypt', with subordinates in the various confiscation and re-sale. 59 But even if it were the case that former
55
nomes. On changes of ownership a special tax, the telos kata- katoicic land was always placed after sale in the category katoikike
lochismon, was charged. 56 Although it certainly possessed the kai eonemene, this would not preclude other land, which formerly
~egal status of private property, and owners could sell it openly had not been katoicic, also receiving this status. It may be that the
m return for a purchase price presumably to anyone who wished distinction of phraseology between PSI 320 and P. Oxy. 270 is
to buy it, a relic of its non-private status remained; it was sold, significant, the former referring to land newly placed in the
not t~rough _a contract of sale proper (one/prasis), but by para- katoicic category after sale, and the latter having the meaning
choresis (cess10n); the price was termed the parachoretikon (see attributed to it by Roberts and Skeat; but in default of clearer
further Ch. VI § 2). evidence of the exact circumstances of confiscation and resale, we
M~ch k~toici~ land in the Roman period was no doubt physi- should not perhaps press the terminology too hard.
cally 1dent1cal with plots originally in the possession of Ptolemaic If there were obvious benefits in acquiring katoicic status for
settlers, although the poor documentation from the period imme- land, there would be the more reason for purchasers to attempt to
diately before and after the Roman conquest greatly hinders the have it placed in that category. However, positive evidence is
realistic assessment of how much disruption in the continuity of lacking that katoicic land possessed advantages over other pri-
tenures took place in these years. vate land. The different procedure of alienation only added to the
It also seems that some land may have been granted katoicic trouble and expense. Katoicic land was always taxed at one artaba
status during the Roman period. A cession of AD 18 concerns land per aroura; but this also seems to have been the rate on non-
previou~ly bought (from the state) at twelve drachmas per aroura katoicic eonemene, and on much other private land.
and assigned to the katoikia. 51 Land 'bought into the katoikt"a' There is certainly no connection between the ownership of
4
katoicic land and the privileged personal status of the katoikoi,
~ Only P. Oxy. II 248 in the Oxyrhynchite nome; cf. BGU II 420 , XI , P. the old view that the ownership of katoicic land conveyed exemp-
2017
Mich. IX 53g--4_0,M. Chr. 218 (Fayum); P. Oxy. IV 715 (Herak.Jeopolite)· M. Chr.
210 (Hermopohte). ' tion from the poll tax having been conclusively refuted. 60 Until
55 f ' ~ • \ .-, ,. 1 I
0
TTJSA1yV1TTov. P. Oxy. XLIX 3482.6n. lists references
1rpo, To,, _KO.Ta/\ox,a'-!'o,s the bibliotheke enkteseon was created under the Flavians, owners
to the katalochtsmos officials; that text provides the earliest evidence of such an of katoicic land would have had better proof of their title through
official at nome level (73 BC). See also L. C. Youtie 'Notes on T t p · ·
h c ·· R • , , ex s ertam1ng to reference to the graphe katalochismon, but it is curious that the
t e ato1c1c eg1st,y ,_ZPE 40 (1980) 78-80. See also P. Ki:iln V 227 , apparently an
e~tract from an Arsmo1te gmphe katalochis-mon dated AD 12/13, and the further refs. separate katoicic register should have been so assiduously pre-
given there.
56
P. Oxy. XVII 2129, P. Pn'nc. III 131, and S. L. Wallace Taxation in Egypt 58
WJrfJJLEVT/
1((1T011<11<'7 1((1< (d, Ka-ro,1<{0.v):II 270, 346, LII 3690.
from Augustus to Diocletian (Princeton, 1938), 232f. The ka;alochismon tax was 59 'A sale of &ro-\oyo, at Tebtunis in the Reign of Domitian', Aegyptus, 13
assessed per aroura, not in proportion to the price; P. land. VII 137 gives the rate (1933), 455-'71, esp. 466 (=SB V 7599). The text was originally published as
as 4 dr./ar. for males and_ 8 dr./ar. for females on arable land, and double that rate BGU II 422.
on land under trees or vmes.
57 ' ' • O '0 o , 6o 0. Ashm. 24, note; cf. A. K. Bowman and D. Rathbone, 'Cities and Admin-
W"TJJJ,<VTJ,
YT/1'OWOfl(a opo.xµ.[w]v d, TTJVTWV Ka-ro{1<wvauv-rafw, PSI IV 320. istration in Roman Egypt', JRS 82 (1992) 107-27, esp. 121.

47
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development
62
served even after the creation of a general property register. But if or completely unproductive of revenue. The price at which it
this category of land did possess concrete privileges, the extant was put up for sale was exceptionally low; twelv~ drachmas p_er
papyri have as yet failed to indicate them. aroura is consistently attested in the Oxyrhynchite nome, while
Most references to katoicic land describe it as 'productive prices elsewhere were only a little higher. 63 The aim
·
_wastom· d_uce
cornland' (a,rorfo6posa1r6p,µ.os).Because the land-category system private individuals to use their own capital to ~rmg back 1~to
was most closely concerned with the collection of taxes in wheat, cultivation unproductive plots of land by offering a low price
land which was not used for arable cultivation, and was not taxed with the additional favour of freedom from taxation, ateleia, for
in wheat, held a somewhat anomalous position with regard to the three years. Subsequently the land was taxed, normally at the r~te
land categories. Oxyrhynchite documents which refer to vine- of one artaba per aroura. Purchasers were granted full ownership,
yards or other planted land normally do not mention any land not hereditary leasehold, although evidently some unscrupulous
category. However, there is clear evidence that katoicic land could public rent collectors had been trying, in the mid-first century
be used for viticulture, as well as for arable cultivation. P. land. AD to extract rents (ekphoria) from the unfortunate purchasers.
VII 137, an Arsinoite list of taxes on the transfer of katoicic This abuse was noted and condemned by Ti. Julius Alexander in
land, set differential rates on arable land and land with trees or his edict (para.5).
vines (the latter being twice the former). We also find from the This in itself suggests that considerable quantities of land had
Arsinoite nome explicit reference to katoicic land planted with already been sold off; and the early sales have also left other traces
vines or trees (e.g. M. Chr. 219, BGU XI 2017). We can infer that in the evidence. A report of debts of AD 26 mentions land bought
katoicic vineyards also existed in the Oxyrhynchite nome; for in the fifteenth, forty-first, and forty-third years of Augustus (P.
instance from the sale of a vineyard using a contract of parachor- Oxy. Hels. 9). The earliest extant application is that made to ~-
esis (P. Oxy. LI 3638). A further possible case is P. Oxy. III 506, a Seppius Rufus in AD 1y14 to buy parcels at three Oxyrhynchite
loan of money on security of a former vineyard (now chersampelos) villages (P. Oxy. IV 721).
from a 'cavalry kleros'. How were the land categories affected by these sales? It would
seem that the category eonemene was a creation of the earliest
years of Roman rule to accommodate the ~and s~l_d off at fixed
( c) Ge eonemene and the Sale of Land by the State
price from the hypologos; part of this was m add1~10n classed as
We may now turn to consider in more general terms the circum- katoicic (see previous section). This category co°:tmued ~o gr~w,
stances under which land was sold off by the authorities to in the Oxyrhynchite nome at least, probably until_ the m1d-th1rd
private individuals, and the connection between this process century, although it is difficult to judge, on the basis of the scanty
and the land category eonemene. A distinction must be made evidence, whether there was land on offer in this way more or less
between land sold at fixed price and that sold at auction to the
highest bidder. 61 The two will be considered in turn.
Land sold at fixed price consisted of uncultivable land, often 6• See the definition given in P. Oxy. XXXVIII 2847 lines 12ff., 'Hypologos: the
revision of all unproductive imperial land takes place every three years, and the
described as hypologos. This designation signified that it had been
)and is called hypologos ("land in deduction"), since it. is de~ucted from the
set aside from the other categories of arable land as almost amount of land in each area, so that the productive part is left. Some hypologos
was leased out and produced a small cash revenue: P. Oxy. X 1279, XII 1436 I. 45
with note. Th~ hypologos enphoros of P Oxy. XLII 3047 yielded a rent of 2½ art.far.
6
' Wilcken, Grundziige, 307. On both procedures, see M. Talamanca, 'Con- wheat-a far from negligible revenue (lines 7--8; for the readmg, see Rowlandson,
tributi allo studio delle vendite all'asta nel mondo classico', Atti della Accademia ZPE 67 (1987), 283-92, esp. 284.
63 The price was 20 dr./ar. in the Hermopolite (P. A~h. II 68 and P Lond. 1157
Nazionale dei Lincei, 351 (1954), Memorie. Classe di Scienze morali storiche e
filologiche ser. 8 vol. vi fasc. 2, 35-251. See also Tomsin, 'Les Continuites histor- verso (III pp. 109f.); in the Arsinoite, it apparently vane~: P Petaus 17, 18, 20, SB
iques', 83 ff. V . For the Oxyrhynchite, see P Oxy. IV 721, P Koln III 141, PSI IV 320.
7599
49
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development
continuously throughout the period, or whether the sales were hypologos after sale was classed as eonemene. That which had
intermittent. 64 katoicic status in addition was termed katoikike kai eonemene or
Calpurnia Heraklia's declaration of inundated land (P. Oxy. an equivalent expression, but there is as yet no positive evidence
XLII 3047) would provide interesting evidence of how purchase that katoicic status prior to confiscation was adequate reason for
of such land contributed to the growth of a large estate, if only we land to be placed in the latter category.
were certain which reigns the regnal dates of purchase refer to. 65 The vast bulk of the eonemene was in any case taxed at the same
In any case, the total quantity of eonemene comprised only about rate as was the katoikike; one artaba per aroura. 68 Former vine-
one-fifth of the whole amount of land mentioned, less, indeed, land in the class eonemene was, however, taxed at r½artabas per
than the area of idiotike rated at r½artabas per aroura at Thmoi- aroura, the usual rate on ex-vineland.69
nepsobthis alone. Thus the purchase of hypologos cannot be seen In summarizing the likely effect of the sales on the total
as a major factor contributing to the size of Calpurnia's estate. amount of private land in the nome, we should distinguish
In order to assess the effect of the sales of hypologos on the between the earliest sales and those which took place when the
balance between the total amounts of land in public and private land category system was fully established. Augustus increased
ownership, we need to consider not only the destination of the the amount of basilike by confiscations of private kleroi (either
parcels sold, but also their ultimate origin. The origin of the plots because they were ownerless or perhaps because the owners were
for sale in P Oxy. IV 721 is recorded in some detail. In several political undesirables) as well as of hiera ge. 70 The unproductive
years in the reign of Augustus, private holdings (klerot) were part of this new basilike was soon disposed of. In this period,
confiscated and assigned to the basilike. Subsequently some of therefore, the sales of unproductive land in one sense reduced the
these became aphoroi, unproductive of revenue, were assigned to potential area of public land, even if the sales were made only
the hypologos, and then put up for sale. from land which, had it not been confiscated, would have
remained in private possession. Later sales provide explicit
Later documents from the Oxyrhynchite and Hermopolite
evidence of the disposal only of land of private origin, although
nomes do not appear to have recorded the category to which
it is not in itself unlikely that the deterioration of basilike of long
the land belonged before its assignation to the hypologos. 66 The
standing to the point where no revenue could be derived from it
Arsinoite sales, however, regularly did so, not only if the land had
resulted in its disposal into private ownership. 71
previously been katoicic, but with other classes too. There seems
Before turning to the sale of confiscated land to the highest
little reason in these cases for taking this to indicate a connection
bidder, another sale of hypologos must be mentioned. P Oxy. XII
between the earlier category and that to which it would be
1508 records that a veteran, M. Julius Valerianus, had made a
assigned after sale, thus providing no support for the view of
purchase of land near Senepta from the hypologos for a colony. 72
Roberts and Skeat that katoicic land retained its status through-
In P Giss. 60 (col. II.6), a category 'colonia' follows eonemene; it
out confiscation and resale. 67 The likelihood is that all the
probably formed only a small proportion of the land under the
6-i The Oxyrhynchite evidence is chronologically concentrated in certain reigns:
general heading klerouchike, providing only about a thirtieth of
Augustus(riberius: P. Oxy. IV 721, 835, XLII 3047, P. Oxy. Hels. 9, PSI IV 320;
68
Nero: P. Koln III 141; Commodus: P. Oxy. VI 988v, XLII 3047; Septimius P. Koln III 141; cf. SB V 7599.
Severns, Caracalla, Severus Alexander, Gordian III: P. Oxy. XLII 3047 (if the 69 P. Oxy. Hels. 9; cf. P. Petaus 18, a sale of dry vineland hypologos for the future
editor's interpretation of regnal years is justified; introd. 114. But it is possible that cultivation of pot-herbs, on which 'orchard taxes' were to be paid.
70
all the unassigned years of purchase referred to Augustus). This, however, was explicitly excluded from the sale of hypologos in P. Oxy.
65 IV 721.
See the previous note, and Bowman and Rathbone, 'Cities and administra-
7
tion', II 2 n. 24. ' Hadrian found a different means of achieving the same result (see Ch. III §
66
P. Koln III 141 has a lacuna in line 4 where such a description might have 2(b)); in that case, however, the land had not become completely unproductive, but
been, but there is no doubt about SB I 5673 and P. Lond. 1157 verso (III pp. 109f.). merely incapable of rendering the ~ demanded on basilike. There was
67
See § 4(b) above. Other Arsinoite sales: P. Petaus 17-23. therefore no need for a period of /[4tta;;::.;,,_
0
/;;._'\ 7 " lmo inro>.6yovds Ko>.wv,lav.

50
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development
the total revenue in wheat. Whatever were the distinctive features not only made responsible for the usual tax (at the rate of x½
of the 'colonia' it cannot have been a colony in the normal Roman artabas per aroura), but was also liable to a rent to be fixed on
sense, and it is rarely mentioned within the system of land inspection. 77 One assumes that only the rent was destined for the
categories. 73 idios logos; the tax would be collected in the normal way by the
In contrast with the hypologos, which was unproductive at the dioikesis. Land available for auction was publicly advertised, and
time of sale, land sold at auction was in a fertile condition. No intending purchasers submitted tenders. At least in some cases,
period of ateleia was therefore required. The absence of ateleia there was competition, and prices were very much higher than
requires emphasis particularly in the case of P. Oxy. XIV 1633; those charged on the hypologos.78
asporos, unsown land, with which this sale was concerned, must Presumably the land sold at auction had no effect on the overall
be distinguished from chersos, dry land, which required lengthy composition of the land categories, nor did it affect the balance
and expensive reclamation. The role of the idios logos, in addition between public and private land as a whole. One relatively early
to the dioikesis, in both the sale and the short-term lease of such bid describes the land as katoicic (P. Turner 24); a later sale
productive land was a natural consequence of the increasing apparently uses 'lo[,wn,,:~s]'. 79 It therefore seems that the cate-
powers of this department in the adjudication and administra- gories to which the land originally belonged were retained after
tion of all cases involving confiscation of property. 74 sale. Only private land was affected, and it merely resulted in a
Documents concerned with the sale of productive land nor- redistribution of property between individual landowners. On
mally record the name of the previous owner; 75 this was done the other hand, this could have assisted the accumulation of
even in one private contract of lease for land which the owner had property in fewer hands. We should expect land available for
acquired at auction from the fisc (.P. Coll. Youtie II 70). Unfortu- sale at auction to have been most abundant at times of demo-
nately, the reason for confiscation is never supplied, but it may be graphic or economic stress, when more people died without heirs
surmised that a frequent cause was the death without heirs of the or were unable to meet their tax obligations. However, the
previous owner. Property confiscated for this reason, as well as evidence is so sparse that it provides no scope for determining
bona damnatorum, fell within the competence of the idios logos. fluctuations in the availability of the land. Serenos alias Sarapion,
Confiscation could also result from a debt to the state; in this the purchaser in P. Oxy. XIV 1633, has been seen as a 'speculator',
case, if the debt was owed to the dioikesis, this department but even if this interpretation of his transactions is justified, the
administered the property after confiscation. 76 Thus both depart- evidence supplies no indication whether many of his fellow-Oxy-
ments were involved in leasing or selling confiscated land during rhynchites made similar purchases in the politically disturbed
the second and third centuries (see e.g. P. Oxy. XIV 1633, BGU 27os.8o
IV 1091).
One lease of land 'from the unsold property of the office of the ( d) Private Land: Summary of Categories and Tax Rates
idios logos' shows that the process of confiscation had no impact The categories katoikike and eonemene were essentially defined in
on the rate of tax to which the land was subject. The tenant was terms of their origin; they distinguished from the private land as
73 The term is also found in P. Oxy. III 653, but the context offers no help. See
a whole that which derived from the Ptolemaic military land
also U. Wilcken, Archiv, S (1913), 434.
allotments and that which was the product of sales of unproduc-
74 P. R. Swamey, The Ptolemaic and Roman Idios Logos (Am. Stud. Pap. 8)

(Toronto, 1970), 111 ff., 122 ff.; D. W. Rathbone, 'Egypt, Augustus and Roman n BGU IV 1091. I owe this point to J. R. Rea.
78
Taxation', Cahiers du Centre G. Glotz, iv (1993), 81-II2, esp. 1ooff. As in P. Oxy. XIV 1633 (an additional T40 dr. promised on top of the original
75 As in P. Oxy. XIV 1633, but not P. Turner 24; cf. bids to purchase buildings: P. offer of 660 dr. for 11 arouras). In P. Turner 24, 3,200 dr. was offered for 16 arouras.
Oxy. III 513 and P. Mich. inv. 3779 as re-edited by D. Hagedorn and L. Koenen in P. Oxy. XX 226g seems to be an advertisement (in Latin) for an auction.
19 P. Oxy. XIV 1633; if the reading is correct, either the inclusive or the
ZPE 74 (1988) 225-8, but not P. Oxy. LVII 3334.
76 Swarney, The Ptoiemaic and Roman Idios Logos, 112. exclusive sense of idiotike could be understood. So See Ch. VI § 4.

52 53
 The Land-Category System and its Development
The Land-Category System and its Development
tive land made in the Roman period. But the only system of
is possible, it must be left for treatment in connection with a
classification which really comprehended all private land was
document of mid-fourth-century date (below, § 7).
that in terms of the tax rate.
It appears that most private arable land in the Oxyrhynchite
nome, as elsewhere, was rated at one artaba of wheat per aroura. 5. GE OUSIAKE AND IMPERIAL ESTATES
This included all katoicic land and most eonemene. In documents
When Octavian gained control of Egypt in 30 BC, he used the
which provide details of plots at different tax rates, the monarta- spoils taken from his adversaries, which included property
bos is always overwhelmingly prevalent. However, since Wallace's recently confiscated by Cleopatra from temples and prominent
nome by nome summary, evidence of other rates has gradually individuals, to pay his troops, repay loans, and reward loyal
increased. 81 References to land rated at 1½ artabas are now rela- senators and equites (Dio Cassius 51. 17. 6-8; cf. 5.5). Shortly
tively numerous, although it would still seem that this category afterwards, close relatives and friends of Augustus, including his
was a specialised one, particularly associated with ex-vineland. 82 wife Livia, are found in possession of Egyptian estates (ousiai),
One case is known in the Oxyrhynchite nome of land rated at i¼ although Augustus himself is attested very rarely as the owner of
artabas, a rate occasionally attested for other nomes. 83 There is no land in Egypt. 86 Later Julio-Claudian emperors, as well as their
explicit evidence as yet for rates of less than one artaba per families, friends, and freedmen, are known to have held Egyptian
aroura, although the average of rather less than one artaba per estates. 87
aroura found in P. Oxy. XII 1445 (line 8) implies that some land The ousiai were long understood as closely parallel to the
was assessed at a low rate. The high rate of two artabas per aroura Ptolemaic doreai, revocable gifts from the emperor to his favour-
occurs three times in relation to private land; the same rate was ites. 88 More recently, Panissoglou argued for a fundamental
also charged on land not private but held on hereditary lease. 84 difference between the ousiai and the Ptolemaic doreai: the dor-
Several documents show these basic rates to have been subject to eai were temporary grants, held at the pleasure of the king,
supplements of around ,. 85 whereas there are no firm grounds for supposing that the ousiai
Since the taxation of private land was significantly lower than were anything other than the private property of their holders.
The gradual acquisition of these ousiai by the emperors was the
that on public land, it would be of the greatest importance if it
result, not of the reversion back to its owner of a temporary grant,
were possible to assess the relative proportion of public and
but of the general tendency for the emperors to receive inher-
private land and how this changed. But while there is strong
justification for the view that any change which occurred tended 86 SB XIV n933 (27 Be); P. Oxy. XII 1434.
87
to enlarge the proportion of private land, there is no firm evi- All holders of ousiai are listed in Parassoglou, Imperial Estates 69 ff. Persons
known to have possessed Oxyrhynchite properties are: Antonia Drusi (P. Oxy. II
dence of the balance between private and public land from any 244); Claudius (XXXVIII 2837); Seneca (P. Lips. u5, P. Oxy. XXXVIII 2873,
time during the Principate. In so far as discussion of this question XLII 3051; P. Yale inv. 443 (SB XVI 12583; cf. XIV rr336). Pariissoglou (p. 65)
classes the Nikanoriane ousia (P. Oxy. XXIV 2410) as non-imperial, i.e. one for
81
Taxation, 11 ff. which there is no evidence of connection with Julio-Claudian properties or with
82
BGU IV 1091, P. Oxy. XIV 1459, VII 1044, XLII 3047 (ex-vines) (see the ousiakos logos. It is true that explicit evidence is lacking; but, whether or not
Rowlandson, ZPE 67 (1987) 283-92 on the last two), P. Ox)'· Hels. 9 (ex-vines), the former owner is to be identified with the son of the philosopher Areus (Suet.
22; and see V. Martin, SPP XVII p. 42. Div. Aug. 89. 1), the context strongly suggests that the property at the time of the
83
L. C. Youtie, 'P. Oxy. VII 1044', ZPE 21 (1976), 1-13, at p. r 1 (P. Oxy. VII document (AD 120) formed part of the ousiakos logos (not the basilike ge, as
1044 col ii 18) as interpreted in ZPE 67 (1987), 288, where the line number is Pariissoglou infers). It is not clear to me why the estate formerly of Anthos was
incorrectly given. See also Wallace, Taxation, 15, 16, 18. accounted separately from the ousiac revenues in the summary of metropolitan
84
P. Oxy. XXVII 2473, P. Coll. Youtie 65, P. Oxy. Hels. 22; P. Harr. I 138 as read grain taxes at Sinary (P. Oxy. XLIV 3170. 247ff.) if this Anthos was identical with
by Shelton, ZPE 77 (1989), 205-6, P. Oxy. XLII 3047 lines 32, 39. the owner of Arsinoite estates in the Julio-Claudian period; see Parii.ssoglou pp.
85
For instance, P. Oxy. VII 1044, XII 1445; see Ch. III § 2(a). 18£. and 75.
83 Following the view of Rostovtzeff, Rom.Kol. 119££., esp. 128.

54
55
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development
itances from prominent Romans, by unscrupulous means, if their absentee landlords. The tax-exempt status of the ousiai, however,
wills had not been sufficiently generous. 8<J must have made them particularly desirable to farmers. 93 After
Parassoglou's view that the individual holders of ousiai pur- the death of Nero, the estates which he had accumulated were
chased them, rather than receiving them by gift, has not found taken over by successive emperors, and some time after Flavian
favour, 90 although his dissociation of the ousiai from the Ptole- rule was established, a new department of public administration,
maic doreai has been more widely accepted. In the latest treat- the ousiakos logos, was set up to administer the Imperial proper-
ment of the subject, however, Rathbone has reverted to the older ties.94 Thus it was recognized that Imperial land was public
view, arguing that the ousiai were from the start part of Augustus' rather than private in nature, and the ousiake ge was constituted
patrimonium, from which he granted grace-and-favour estates to as a new category of public land.
friends and relatives, consciously modelled on the doreai of the Some of the ousiake ge was farmed in a manner closely equiva-
Hellenistic kingdoms. 91 lent to the ge basilike; small-scale farmers, who might be
Gifts certainly formed an important element in the relationship described as either demosioi or ousiakoi georgoi, held terms of
between emperors and their friends; but cases of repossession by tenure apparently similar to those which applied to the other
the emperor could equally well be accounted for by the practical public land of normal productivity (see Ch. III). 95 Farmers
impossibility of refusing any Imperial request (especially when could receive seed loans from the village sitologoi on the orders
the emperor was Nero), as by invoking the model of the revocable of the strategos, as did the tenants of other public land. 96 Ousiac
doreai. 92 The Roman legal conception of property-ownership, land for which willing cultivators could not be found was evi-
with which the status of the ousiai presumably always accorded dently assigned to owners of private property; sale contracts
(hence their tax-free status; see below), was utterly unlike that of sometimes guaranteed that the object was free of 'georgia of royal
the Hellenistic kingdoms, and if Augustus derived the idea of and ousiac and every category (of land)' .97
temporary grants of land from these precedents it is difficult to However, in other respects, the distinctness of the ousiac
see how such gifts could have had any formal legal standing. New estates was maintained. The properties continued to be called
evidence will perhaps one day emerge to clarify the status of the after the names of their original holders long after they passed
ousiai in the crucial early years of the Principate. into Imperial ownership; indeed, it is largely due to this feature
Both the Julio-Claudian emperors and the other holders admi- that we possess so much information about who the original
nistered their Egyptian ousiai in much the same manner as other holders were. 98
As well as the ousiac land leased to small-scale farmers, there
89 Imperial Estates, 5ff.
90 D. J. Crawford, 'Imperial Estates', in M. I. Finley (ed.), Studies in Roman 93 See A. Tomsin, 'Le Recrutement de la main d'ceuvre dans Jes domains prives

property (Cambridge, 1976), 35-'70 at p. 41. It seems to me less implausible that de l'Egypte romaine', Festschrift Oertel (Bonn, 1964), 81-100, and Panissoglou,
Augustus might have invited friends and relations to purchase properties from the Imperial Estates 50 ff.
Egyptian booty through a tightly controlled and privileged 'closed' market; this ~ Initially, Vespasian and Titus may have divided the revenues of the various
would explain why no other prominent Romans are attested owning Egyptian estates between them; Parassoglou, Imperial Esttltes, 28f., who also argues that the
property. Sales would have increased the amount of cash available to meet ousiakos logos was instituted by Vespasian, contra Rostovtzeff (SEHRE 2 ii 670)
Octavian's huge commitments, and would accord with his insistence that much and Tomsin ('Notes sur Jes ousiai de l'epoque romaine' Studi in onore di Aristide
of his personal wealth was spent on the public good (cf. Res Gestae 15ff., Suet. Calderini e Roberto Paribeni II (Milan, 1957), 2u-24, at p. 222).
Div. Aug. 101). If any resentment could be expected against him for keeping 95 H.-C. Kuhnke, Ouo«iK~ Y"l· Domanen[and in den Papyri der Prinzipatzeit

personally the spoils of victory, this would surely have been greatly increased, (Diss. Koln, 1971), 53ff. None of the farmers of ousiac land attested in the
and not lessened as Crawford implies, by transferring the land into the possession O~rhynchite nome are given either description.
of his wife and other persons who could claim no right to it at all (cf. Parassoglou, P. Rob. inv. 59, P. Oxy. XVIII 2185 (with BL III and IV); the land involved
Imperial Estates, 42). here (ouo,a(K,jr) 1Tpo(o61lour);line 23) probably has no connection with the category
9
' Rathbone, 'Egypt, Augustus and Roman Taxation', 102ff. and 109f. ge prosodou, which paid revenue to the dioikesis, not the the ousiakos logos; see § 2
9 97 e.g. P. Oxy. Ill 577 and many other cases.
' Thus the cases cited by Rathbone (ibid. 103 n. 58) are not conclusive in above.
favour of his interpretation. 98 Parassoglou, Imperial Estates, 11 ff.

56 57
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development
seem to have been stretches of Imperial property in the hands of advantage of both the Imperial account and the head-lessees
larger-scale lessees, or misthotai. This method of exploitation themselves.
seems essentially to have been a continuation of that used when A glimpse into the administration of ousiac land in the third
the estates had been in private ownership, and was perhaps century may be derived from a private letter found at Oxy-
particularly suited to properties which had retained their char- rhynchus among the papers of the wealthy landowning family
102
acter as unified and self-contained estates, with farm buildings, of Sarapion alias Apollonianus (PSI XII 1260). The writer,
rather than those which were merely stretches of arable land. 99 who seems to have been an agent of Apollonianus, and who had
Ti. Claudius Theon, a wealthy Alexandrian who also owned land been in the Hermopolite nome, wrote to inform him about the
in the Oxyrhynchite nome, was misthotes of the estate of Seneca progress of registration for tenancies of twenty-six arouras of
there in AD 62, when it was probably still in private ownership; ousiake ge. Already registered were 'those from Ibion', and two
individuals from the city of Oxyrhynchus, one of whom had been
Theon seems to have continued in this capacity for some years
put forward by a certain Sarapion. The official who had supplied
after the estate was taken over by the emperor. 100 Theon's man-
this information said also that the land had not been ('would not
ager (oikonomos) dealt with the sub-tenants ,vho actually farmed
be' would make better sense) given to non-existent persons, who
the land.
did not possess land in the kleros. The writer went on to discuss
The same pattern of large-scale leasing combined ,vith sub- the possibility that Apollonianus should register in the name of
tenancy continues to be found in the second and third centuries. other persons, including that of Sarapion the misthotes, since he
In AD 120 some villagers complained that pastures from the did not wish to register in his own name. A postscript added that
Nikanorian estates which had formerly been in their hands the official also said that persons not wishing to register in their
were now being subleased to strangers by a certain Horion, own names could use the names of phrontistai (bailiffs). It is a
who had obtained the lease by offering a higher bid than the plausible suggestion that Apollonianus was unable to register in
villagers could presumably afford. 101 As a result, the villagers' his own name because he was, or would shortly be, strategos of the
beasts were starving; but it appears that the transition to leasing Hermopolite name.
to relatively wealthy head-lessees instead of to villagers \Vas to the It is interesting to note how many persons seem to have a hand
in the farming of this rather modest area of land; unfortunately,
99
cf. Kuhnke, Ouo-iaK~ ri, 64 ff., esp. 7r. Kuhnke, however, and Parassoglou
(Imperial Estates, 55), unduly minimize the distinction between georgoi and
the letter does not clarify further the relationship of these with
misthotai. each other and with the misthotes. The range of social status is
00
' P. Oxy. XXXVIII 2873, XLII 3051. The latter, a receipt of rent arrears also striking, from a group of villagers to a member of the
dating from AD 89, does not make clear whether Theon was still connected with
the Senecan ousia, nor from what date the arrears were due. However, even though
'municipal aristocracy', on whose wealth the tenancy of a por-
it was the indebted farmer's son who paid the outstanding rent in Sg, it see~s tion of twenty-six arouras of ousiac land can surely have had little
unlikely that the debt should date back to the time when the ousia belonged to impact. The document shows that the complexity of tenure on
Seneca, or even to Nero. Theon owned land at Tychinncchotis; P. Oxy. II 290.
Either Theon or another misthotes of the (former?) ousia of Seneca in the
this, or any other public land, must not be underestimated. The
Oxyrhynchite nome is addressed in P. Yale inv. 443, a notification of death dated 'names' found in official lists may be merely a cover for the real
by Parassoglou to AD 83 (BASP 12 (1975), 89ff. = SB XIV 11336), but by A. Martin beneficiaries of the land, and may conceal the extent to which
to 55/6 (CE 55 (1980), 27rff.=SB XVI 12583). Rathbone notes the scope offered
by these arrangements for the development of patronage networks emanating out
small- and large-scale farming were intermingled. Much of the
from the Imperial court to families in Egypt; 'Egypt, Augustus and Roman
102
taxation', 103 n. 60. See Ch. IV § 2 for further details about this family. The translation of this
10
' P. Oxy. XXIV 2410; the relevant portion of the text is translated in Ch. III n. letter is unfortunately problematic: for instance, a.rroyparp,-o0m normally means 'to
85. Parassoglou, Imperial Estates 12 and 65, denies that this ousia was imperial, but declare'; but here it seems to refer not to the declaration of existing tenancies, but
see note 87 above; cf. the misthotai of the ousia of Julia Polla (P. Lips. 113), also to the registration of new ones. It has therefore been translated here as 'to
rejected as imperial by Parassoglou (ibid.). register'

58 59
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development
land declared by Calpurnia Heraklia as uninundated in AD 245 by a superior to the strategoi of the Heptanomia and the Arsinoite
was registered to 'those from the House of the deified Vespasian nome in AD 188 (P. Oxy. I 58 = W Chr. 378). The confiscation of
and Titus' (P. Oxy. XLII 3047). these estates presumably had no formal effect on the land cate-
The involvement of large-scale landowners with ousiake ge gory of the parcels of land involved, although in practice, of
encouraged the use of their personal employees on the land, course, the fisc would derive the whole surplus revenue from
and the adoption of patterns of exploitation similar to those on the property, not merely the appropriate tax. In the case of
the privately-owned portions of their estates. Because of the estates confiscated by the idios logos, and administered in a
combination of this with the frequent use of the word 'ousia', similar way, the tax no doubt continued to be paid to the fisc
in itself a general word meaning 'estate', 'property', to refer while the idios logos received the rest of the revenue (see P. Oxy.
specifically to an Imperial estate, doubt may easily arise in XLVI 3287). It may be noted that in a summary of taxes paid by
individual cases whether a landholding belonged to the ousiakos the metropolitan landholders of Sinary (P. Oxy. XLIV 3170
logos or not. Rostovtzeff regarded the property of Claudia Isidora 247 ff.), the properties formerly of Anthos and of Salvi us Justus
alias Apia as having consisted largely of ousiake ge, but such a were accounted separately from both the dioikesis and the ousiakos
conclusion is warranted neither by the mode of administration of logos.
the estate nor by the use of 'ousia' to refer to it (after confiscation;
SB XIV 11403). 103 We do not know from what category any of
6. SACRED LAND
Claudia's land came. 10 4
The land belonging to the ousiakos logos must be distinguished It is difficult to assess how much sacred land there was in the
from the various confiscated estates described as tamiakai ousiai. Oxyrhynchite nome in the Roman period. Some hiera ge was
The property of some of the most prominent landowners in the confiscated early in the reign of Augustus, but, unlike the other
nome in the third century fell into the hands of the fisc, for unproductive confiscated land at this period, it was not put up for
reasons which are not entirely clear. 105 The farming of fiscal sale (P. Oxy. IV 721). The scarcity of evidence for this category of
estates seems to have been conducted in much the same way as land should not necessarily be taken to indicate its negligible
when they were private property, under the overall control of importance, but the small quantity listed in the Apollonopolite
either a head-lessee or officials employed directly by the fisc. 100 register W Chr. 341 (Table 2) offers some support for the suppo-
The multiplication of these officials for their own profit and to sition that the sacred land in the Oxyrhynchite is unlikely to have
the detriment of the treasury was the subject of a complaint sent been at all comparable in area to the ge demosia or idiotike. An
account of hieratic taxes at an unnamed village in the early third
03
' SEHRE"ii. 747 n. 6I; cf. i. 490. century included payments of more than 940 drachmas, inclusive
104
The same is true of two other basically private estates, sections of which are
described as ousiai: P. Theon. passim (the 'Lower' and 'Upper' ousiai), and the of extra charges, on behalf of hiera ge; this revenue was very small
archive of Nemesianus (P. Oxy. XLIX 3521). in comparison with the total for apomoira (vineyard tax) in the
105
Most notably Claudia Isidora alias Apia; also Aurelius Ammonion (P. Oxy.
same document (P. Oxy. XII 1437). The temples attested in the
XXXVI 2775).
'° 6 See refs. in previous note, and probably P. Oxy. XXXVIII 2854 (Septimius villages of the nome, and even in Oxyrhynchus itself, were
Eudaimon, a lessee of the former estate of Claudius Syrion). It may be this kind of presumably quite modest in scale, not endowed with vast estates
estate from which is derived P. Oxy. XIX 2241, a list of rents compiled by Severns,
'surveyor of the ousia' in AD 283"4. The land listed, from the ktema called 'of
as were the most important Egyptian temples. 107 However, these
Dioscoureios' at Sinkepha, was farmed by small-scale farmers from the ktema, estates could extend to areas of Egypt far from the cult centre; at
although one plot was also described as 'in the leasehold of those from Chusis'.
The official-sounding preamble to the list suggests that the estate was under ' 07 J. Kruger, Oxyrhynchos in der Kaiserzeit, 54ff. lists the temples attested in
public, rather than private, administration, although the distinction becomes the villages of the nome. On temple administration in general see P. Glare, in her
increasingly difficult to maintain by the later 3rd c. forthcoming book (Cambridge 1996).
60 61
 The Land-Category System and its Development
The Land-Category System and its Development
7. IN RETROSPECT: CHANGES IN THE BALANCE BETWEEN
Toou in the Eastern toparchy, we find an estate of over one
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LAND
hundred arouras sacred to the goddess Isis of Taposiris. 108 The
amount of sacred land at different villages was probably very The only explicit information about the overall proportion of ge
variable. demosia and idiotike in the Oxyrhynchite name is contained in a
As we saw in § I of this chapter, the tenure of some sacred land fourth-century summary of wheat revenues. ns At the time of this
was closely analogous to public land, while other sacred land was report, which is not precisely dated, the arable land in the nome
treated more like private land. This distinction emerges most consisted of 38,857 arouras of demosia ge and 163,687 arouras of
clearly from land registers which list both sacred land paying idiotike, a proportion of under 1: 4. This stands in marked con-
rents (ekphoria) and that paying customary dues (kathe- trast to the proportion of demosia which is generally considered
by scholars to have existed in the documented parts of Egypt
konta). 109 The plot of hiera ge at Pela mentioned in a declaration
during the period of the Principate. The consensus of opinion has
of abrochia alongside some basilike ge at Antipera Pela probably
rather suggested that there was actually more public than private
fell into the former category. 110 One Oxyrhynchite sale of land
land, at least in the first two centuries AD; the amount of private
guarantees the property exempt from cultivation of hiera ge, along 116
land is allowed to have risen somewhat by the third century.
with the more ususal basilike and ousiake ge; by implication,
Since we lack any comparable document from the Principate
then, it might be subject to compulsory assignment to private
dealing with the Oxyrhynchite nome, the crucial question of the
landowners. 111 balance between public and private land in this period can
Sacred land on hereditary lease is the subject of an interesting scarcely be approached without taking into account the precise
abstract of a transfer of land from a woman to her grandson. 112 statement of the fourth-century document. We must therefore
The tax rate, two artabas per aroura, intermediate between the consider in some detail how likely it is that the balance between
low rates on private land and the higher ones on public land, is demosia and idiotike was significantly affected by the changes in
typical for land on hereditary lease. u 3 Compulsory assignments land tenure which took place up to the fourth century; use can
of public lands, although in practice hereditary, do not seem to also be made of the comparative material of both early and late
have been formally considered as hereditary leaseholds; they date available from other nomes.
also retained the higher tax rates appropriate to public land The changes in land tenure known to have taken place during
(hence their unpopularity). The case mentioned here, then, is the Principate have already been discussed, but there remains to
not the product of an earlier compulsory assignment, but be considered the impact on local land tenure of Diocletian's
provides a good example of an established form of tenure for major reorganization of the taxation system of the Empire. Are
sacred land. 114 there not reasons for thinking that the last years of the third
century, when a general revision of tenures was effected by the

" 5 SB XIV 12208 (= P. Mich inv. 335 verso); for the interpretation, see R. S.
08 Bagnall and K. A. Worp, 'Grain Land in the Oxyrhynchite Nome', ZPE 37 (198o),
' PSI IX 1036; presumably this was hiero ge, although it is not explicitly
263-4.
described as such. See also P. Oxy. XII 1434 for land in the nome sacred to the 116 A. C. Johnson consistently speaks of there being only a little private land at
same goddess. this period: 'Roman Egypt in the third century', JJP 4 (19 50), 157, Egypt and the
"' 9 As in P. Mendes. Geneu; cf. the hieratic land in P. Berl. Leihg. I 5.
0
Roman Empire (Ann Arbor, 1952), 73f., 'The tm{loAri; of land in Roman Egypt',
" P. Col. inv. 478 (published by D. Delia in BASP 29 (1992) 25-30), line 21. Aegyptus, 32 (1952) 6t. Other writers, while not committing themselves to so
"' P. Oxy. III 633, revised by B. E. Nielsen in BASP 29 (1992) 143-52. extreme a view, have stated that the 'bulk of the land' was public during the
"' P. Harr. I 138 lines 19-25, revised by J. Shelton in ZPE 77 (1989), 205--6. The Principate (A. H. M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire (Oxford, 1964) 779f.), or that
land consisted of 2i arouras from the kleros of Poleitas at Pakerke in the Middle the 'best' land was kept as royal domain (H. I. Bell, Egypt from Alexander the
toparchy. " 3 See Shelton's note on line 24 (ibid.), and eh. III § 2(a). Great to the Arab conquest (Oxford, 1948), 73).
4
" See the parallels cited by Shelton, ibid. 205.

62
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development
census of Sabin us, was the period when a marked reduction in the This evidence accords closely with the picture presented by the
proportion of demosia ge is most likely to have taken place? fourth-century Oxyrhynchite summary of grain revenues dis-
Our knowledge of the initial impact of the reform in Egypt is cussed earlier. The latter admittedly allowed for sub-categories
largely derived from the papers of Aurelius Isidorus of Karanis. within the basic distinction between demosia and idiotike, but
Among these is preserved a copy of the edict of Aristius Optatus none of these sub-categories carried a different rate of tax. This
of 16 March 297, in which, summarizing an edict of Diocletian is particularly remarkable in the case of the demosia, since some of
which is not in itself extant, the prefect announced that in future the categories, such as hypologos and 'land used for dumping
tax was to be related to the character (poiotes) of the land. 117 From refuse', were surely very much less productive than the ordinary
the declarations made in subsequent years, it appears that land arable land, esparmene. As at Karanis, the ratio of tax on the
was classified as sporimos, abrochos, dendrike, and chersos, and demosia and idiotike was 3: 1 (three artabas per aroura on the
subdivided into basilike and idiotike. IIB demosia, a little over one artaba on the idiotike). The level of
This may not seem on the surface to mark a radical departure tax in wheat was twice as high in the Oxyrhynchite document
from the earlier system; land registers throughout the Ptolemaic as in the Karanis archive; in the latter, however, a tax in barley
period and Principate had also divided land into categories based was collected in addition to the wheat. 121
on both productiveness and tenure. But there were important On the basis of the evidence discussed so far, it appears that,
differences of detail. Abrochos no longer received remission of contrary to the assurances of Aristius Optatus, the post-reform
taxation; it seems to have been assumed that uninundated land method of tax assessment paid scant attention even to the general
could produce a crop using artificial irrigation. " 9 Only chersos, 'character' of the land, and was in reality even less attuned than
permanently dry and unproductive, remained untaxed. But the before to differences of productivity. The only distinction of tax
most significant changes concerned the abandonment of many of rate, between the basilike/demosia and the idiotike, cannot have
the old category terms and the simplification of the differential borne any relation to productivity, being based on the old tenurial
rates of taxation. Whereas tax registers from earlier centuries had
categories.
listed basilike at a series of rates (see W. Chr. 341; Table 2), and
Is there also reason to believe that the reforms involved a major
several categories of private land, some distinguished by a differ-
alteration in the relative proportions of these two categories? On
ence of origin, others by their rate of tax, now the only distinction
which mattered was that between the basilike and the idiotike, and this question, too, the archive of Aurelius Isidorus provides
here the difference lay simply in the fact that the tax in wheat on essential evidence; in fourth-century Karanis, the holdings of
the basilike was three times as high as that on the idiotike. 120 villagers showed a ratio between demosia and idiotike of approxi-
mately I : I, although the holdings of two metropolitans consisted
" 1 P. Cairo Isid. 1. On the chronological relationship of this edict to the revolt predominantly of idiotike. 122 This is particularly important for
of Domitius Dornitianus, see J. D. Thomas, 'The Date of the Revolt of L. two reasons. First, the most plentiful evidence for the proportion
Domitius Domitianus', ZPE 22 (1976), 253--'79. Assessment for a while continued
to be based on the aroura rather than the iugum; on which see A. H. M. Jones, of public to private land during the Principate, and that which
'Capitatio and iugatio', in The Roman Economy (ed. P.A. Brunt) (Oxford, 1976), seems to have been most influential in determining the received
eh. 13, and R. S. Bagnan, 'P. Oxy. XVI 1905, SB VI 7756 and Fourth-Century view of the matter, is derived-like the Archive of lsidorus-
Taxation', ZPE 37 (1980), 185-95.
"
8
P. Cairo Isid. 2, 3, etc., and the discussions in the introductions to those from villages on the periphery of the Fayum. The latter archive
texts. P. Leid. Inst. 59, from Oxyrhynchus, seems to be a fragmentary declaration shows that in this area the proportion of demosia ge in the hands
of land for the re-survey which took place in 302-3. of the villagers remained high even in the fourth century, after
119
Cf. PSI IX 1078 (AD 356), a lease of abrochos in which irrigation machinery
was supplied by the landlord. the tax reform. Although the overall proportion of demosia ge was
120
P. Cairo lsid., introductions to 3 and 11. See also the important discussion of
121
changes in the tax level by R. S. Bagnall, 'Agricultural Productivity and Taxation Bagnall and Worp, ZPE 37 (1980) 263 f.; Bagnall, TAPA n5 (1985), 300.
in Later Roman Egypt', TAPA I I 5 (1985), 28()--308. "' P. Cairo lsid. 7; see 7 introd. for their identity as metropolitans.

65
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development
somewhat less than in the Arsinoite documents of earlier centu- Delta; a post-reform register from the Phernouphite toparchy of
ries, the discrepancy is very much less than that between the the same nome records over twice as much idiotike as basilike. 125
fourth-century Oxyrhynchite summary of wheat taxes and the It seems that the proportion of idiotike to demosia ge at all times
earlier Arsinoite documents. Second, if there was a discrepancy varied considerably from region to region within Egypt (and
between the proportions of demosia held by villagers and metro- probably within each region also), and that this factor is of
politans in the fourth-century Fayum, this would help to explain more importance than is any chronological change in accounting
why in the approximately contemporary land registers from the for the relatively low proportion of demosia in the Oxyrhynchite
Hermopolite nome, in which only the holdings of metropolitans summary of wheat taxes. One may readily accept that over the
and Antinoites are recorded, the imbalance between demosia and course of the Principate the amount of idiotike ge tended every-
idiotike was as great as r : 12. 123 where to increase rather than to decrease. Although not all sales
The Oxyrhynchite summary does not, however, make any of confiscated property and hypologos served to enlarge the overall
distinction between metropolitans and villagers; the proportion area of land in private ownership, they had this effect to a limited
of r : 4 was that for all the arable land in the nome, whatever the extent (see § 4(c) above), while there seems to have been no
status of its holders. But if the proportion of demosia in the attempt to add to the area of productive public land, the basi-
Fayum villages had undergone little decline by the fourth cen- like, after the reign of Augustus. The imposition of public land
tury, there seems no need to suppose that there had been a more on private landowners, which in theory should not have reduced
marked decline in the Oxyrhynchite nome. In fact, the registers the amount of demosia ge, in fact offered scope for confusion
surviving from the Nile valley itself suggest that the proportion between categories, and evidently enabled some landowners to
of private to public land had always been greater there than in the pass off parcels of ge demosia as idiotike (see Ch. III § 4).
Fayum; in the two registers of land at Naboo in the Apollono- Account must also be taken of the eventual fate of the ousiac
polite Heptakomia in the reign of Hadrian, private land and sacred land, about which little information is provided by the
sources. The ousiakos logos itself is last attested in the penultimate
accounted for almost two thirds of the recorded areas. 124 We
decade of the third century, and although there are occasional
may note also how few references to public land occur in the
references later than this to ge ousiake, as also to other old
second-century land registers from the Mendesian nome in the
category terms, it was now a mere label, rather than a name
'"
3
Cf. A. H. M. Jones, 'Census Records of the Later Roman Empire', The with current significance. 126 One document suggests that ousiac
Roman Economy, eh. 10, esp. 244ff.). But if the figures computed by R. S. Bagnall land found its way into hereditary possession; 127 it presumably
('Landholding in Late Roman Egypt: The Distribution of Wealth', JRS 82 (1992), continued, like the basilike, to carry a higher rate of tax than did
128-64) from P. Cair. Isid. 9 are valid, public land formed as high a proportion of
metropolitans' holdings as of the villagers': metropolitans held 303.8 ar. private the old private land. The emperors continued to possess estates in
and 282.31 ar. public; metropolitans and villagers combined, 2251.5 ar. private and Egypt, administered by the ratio privata, 128 but we know too
2019.73 ar. public. Note, however, that only one metropolitan entry (Herakles and little about how these were formed t<, be able to trace their
Alexandros) has more public land than private (this entry is large enough to affect
the overall balance for the metropolitans); a much higher proportion of villagers relationship with the land categories of the Principate.
(25.45 per cent as opposed to 5.56 per cent) held a preponderance of public land. It
must be remembered that these figures are reconstructions from incomplete us P. Thmouis I, P. Mendes. Genev., P. Oxy. XLIV 3205 (AD 297-308).
records of tax payments. 126 Wilcken, Grundzuge, 310 ff.; ousiakos logos: P. Oxy. XIX 2228 (AD 283?).

" 7 w Chr. 379 (AD 320): ov[a],aK')V Y,/V K€KTT'Jp.a.<

4
" P. Giss. 6o, which seems to include all the lands of the village, breaks down 1T~p/Tapov0tv (17TOIha/lox* 'TOV
465 6+ ar. of epeiros under the dioikesis into 1017 + ar. of basilike at normal rates, 1ra.,.pos;'I possess ousiake ge near Tarouthis in succession to my father'.
658 + ar. of basilike treated as private, and 2980 + ar. of kleruchic land. Thus us The origin of the ratio privata in Egypt is a matter of some doubt; see the
approaching i of the total area was accounted for by kleruchic land, while over summary of the issues, with references, in A. K. Bowman, 'Papyri and Roman
i of the remaining basilike was classed in the private category. \Vithin the Imperial history, 196o-75', JRS 66 (1976), 153-73, at p. 164, and F. Millar, The
perichoma of the village, the proportion of private land was a little lower (W Emperor in the Roman World (31 BC-AD 337) (London, 1977), 627ff. On the
Chr. 341; see Table 2). administration of these estates at nome level, see P. Oxy. VI 900; XX 2267.

66
 The Land-Category System and its Development The Land-Category System and its Development
The official introduction of Christianity into Egypt also had hereditary possessions of their holders. 132 The culmination of this
important effects on land tenure, although these too are difficult process is symbolized by the sale, in the mid-fourth century, of
to trace in detail. The old sacred land formerly on hereditary basilike ge by one private individual to another. 133 The signifi-
lease probably passed more completely into the ownership of its cance of any change in the balance between demosia and idiotike is
possessors. The Christian Church eventually accumulated landed overshadowed by the fact that even most of the ge demosia had by
estates, but these bore no particular relation to the previous land the fourth century become private property. How and why this
categories, being formed from whatever land happened to be development occurred will emerge in greater detail from the
donated by the faithful. 129 Cities also possessed estates, which following chapter.
they seem to have begun to acquire during the third century,
presumably from land confiscated from individuals. 130 All these
' 3 ' An origin as assigned georgia would explain the typically small amounts of
developments offered ample scope for changes in the composition demosia ge held by the metropolitans and Antinoites as recorded in P. Landlisten.
of the old ge demosia and idiotike. Note the distinction drawn in the documents in P. Cairo Iri"d. between land
However, the most important transformation in the system of possessed by individuals, whether basilike or idiotike, and the assignments of
ownerless land (epinemesis): see esp. 1 I and 12, with introductions. A small
land tenure in Egypt was not directly concerned with the propor- quantity of Oxyrhynchite demosia ge was described as memistho(mener) (SB XIV
tion of demosia to idiotike or with other aspects of the classifica- 12208 line n); this was presumably still in effective public possession, and leased
tion of land, nor was it a consequence of Diocletian's reform of out on short terms, rather than being land on hereditary lease.
' 33 SB III 6612; the plot of basilike ge was quite separate from the plot of idiotike
taxation. Rather it lay in the gradual erosion of the tenurial ge sold in the same document, and cannot be regarded as 'epibole' on it; cf. a
distinctions between the old 'public' and 'private' land. Even in transfer of both private and royal land now dated 36-,,8: P. Michael. 33 with BL IV
the mid-third century, the possession of public land could be and R. S. Bagnall, CE 66 (1991) 284---,.
referred to in leases by the verb hyparchein, which earlier in the
Roman period was strictly confined to privately-owned land,
while the declarants of land for the census of Sabinus used
kektesthai ('possess') of both their idiotike and their basilike
ge. 131 Although some of the basilike ge in the possession of
metropolitan landowners may have originated in assigned geor-
gia, it is clear that scholars are correct to see these parcels not as
assignments of recent date, but as the established and presumably

" 9 For general remarks on the fate of the sacred land and the growth of Church
estates, see Wilcken, Grundziige, 313; in more detail, E. Wipszycka, Les Ressources
et les activites iconomiques des eglises en Egypte du IV' au VIIr siecle (Pap. Brux. 10;
Brussels, 1972), eh. 1, esp. 48ff. on Oxyrhynchus.
130
Ousiai politikai (not a significant area) in the Hermopolite land registers:
Wilcken, Grundziige, 314, and P. Landlisten index Illb (p. 159); this land, however,
was also classified into idiotike and demosia. For land belonging to the city of
Oxyrhynchus, see PSI IX io70, XIII 1330.
131
SB XII 11081; cf. SB IV 7474 from the Arsinoite nome, and P. Cairo Isid. p.
39. See also the remarks of M. A. H. el Abbadi on a division of property from
Hermopolis, which included demosia ge held voluntarily ('P. Flor. 50: reconsid-
ered', Proc. XIV Int. Congr. Pap. 91-6).

68 69
 The Tenure of Public Land
diamisthoseis, the demosioi georgoi could sub-lease or divide their
CHAPTER III plots, or offer the right to cultivate them as security, but there is
no evidence that they possessed the legal right to bequeath the
public land to their descendants. Although in practice there
The Tenure of Public Land might have been considerable continuity in tenancies, the tenure
thus fell short of being a true hereditary lease. It was the com-
munity, not the individual georgoi, which was held primarily
responsible for the lands assigned to it. Land which habitually
T. INTRODUCTION failed to receive normal inundation, the hypologos, was leased to
The papyri concerned with the Oxyrhynchite nome have pre- the highest bidder for fixed durations of time, often five years.
served relatively little information about the terms of tenure of Here, too, so long as no higher bid was offered, a tenant could
public land. Any discussion of tenure must, therefore, take retain the same land for long periods, either from choice, or
account of the much more abundant documentation from the under pressure from the authorities.
Fayum. However, the latter documents, although numerous Rostovtzeff was surely right to suggest that most tenants of
enough, are also difficult to interpret consistently. It must be public land did not have written contracts; otherwise the paucity
borne in mind that details of land tenure may have varied even of such documents in comparison with the large number of
from one village to another, and, although systems of tenure are surviving private tenancy agreements would be inexplicable.
usually extremely conservative, the conflicting pressures of defi- But this creates problems for the historian, who is forced to
ciencies in the irrigation system and the need to produce a reconstruct the 'normal' terms of tenure from indirect evidence
constant supply of grain to Rome led to modification and impro- (mostly tax registers and sub-leases) and from written contracts
visation. We cannot hope that all the documents, from different which seem to have been the product of conditions unusual in
districts and different periods, can be fitted into a single orderly some respect.
pattern. The interests of the Roman administration dictated that as
Rostovtzeff's view, which has never been systematically chal- much land as possible should produce the highest possible rev-
lenged, was that in the Roman period the tenure of the basilike enue to the state. In practice, this posed two related problems;
(and of those stretches of ousiake ge not placed in the hands of how to fix the amount to be paid on each plot of land, and how to
large-scale lessees) preserved many features of the Ptolemaic find tenants who could pay what was demanded of them.
administration of the royal land. 1 He argued that the bebreg-
mene, the inundated (and therefore the best) land, which corre- 2. THE TAXATION OF PUBLIC LAND
sponded to the Ptolemaic ge en arete, was worked by demosioi
georgoi who paid a fixed rent per aroura in kind to the state. (a) The Range of Rates Recorded
Tenancies were held under customary conditions, without writ- It is convenient to begin by considering the variety of tax rates
ten contract. The position of the demosioi georgoi was precarious actually recorded for public land in the Oxyrhynchite nome,
in that they could be displaced at any time as the result of a about which we are relatively well informed through the survival
higher bid, and in that, at indefinite intervals, a diamisthosis, or of tax registers and other related documents. Although strictly
general leasing-out, was held, when farmers had to offer new speaking the revenue collected from public land should perhaps
tenders for the cultivation of their land. In the period between be regarded as rent, the similarity of methods of collecting public
1
dues from both private and public land makes 'tax' usually the
Rostovtzeff, Rom. Ko:. r 53 ff., esp. 163.
most appropriate word to use when referring to the revenues
71
 The Tenure of Public Land The Tenure of Public Land

collected from the public land. The main distinction, so far as VII 1044.6 Thus we can infer that most farmers of basilike would
revenue was concerned, lay in the fact that public land yielded be paying several times the rate of tax normal for private land,
significantly more per aroura than did private land. although somewhat less than the rents in kind attested in private
The rates attested on ge basilike in Egypt as a whole range from lease agreements.
somewhat over two to around seven artabas per aroura, while One rather problematic document (P. Oxy. XII 1445) appears to
those on ge ousiake could be higher stilV We now have a con- offer summaries of revenue in wheat and barley lost due to the
siderable amount of evidence from the Oxyrhynchite nome, albeit unproductive nature of plots of demosia and idiotike during two
mostly from the third century. All the rates which are either years in the second century. There are three major impediments to
explicitly attested, or which can be calculated precisely, are set using this document as an indication of the rates of tax normal on
out in Table 3. Two Oxyrhynchite seed loan documents appar- public land. First, in the absence of any place-names, it remains
ently record a lower limit for rates on 'normal' basilike: an uncertain that it deals with the Oxyrhynchite nome, although it
application for seed from AD 228 puts the limit at two artabas certainly concerns land adjoining the Nile. Second, it lists only a
per aroura, whereas a much earlier application gave the limit as 2½ small quantity of epeiros, being mainly concerned with land in
artabas. 3 It will be seen from Table 3 that the only two recorded nesoi which, being impermanent, may well have been adminis-
rates of less than 2½ artabas, as well as one somewhat higher rate, tered differently or taxed at different rates from the 'normal'
were supplemented by an additional tax in money. 4 public land in the inundation basins. Finally, the report produces
The most striking feature of the data presented in Table 3 is only generalized figures for areas and amounts of revenue within
surely their minute gradation; this is comparable with the evi- each category, and may therefore conceal variations in the rates on
dence from other parts of Egypt collected by Wallace. The rates individual plots within a single category. But, although its value in
varied even within a single kleros: in the kleros of Polemon, producing typical rates for public land is dubious, certain features
probably at the village of Palosis, five different plots of basilike cast interesting light on the treatment of public land in general.
were taxed at four different rates, in addition to a plot of private From the summary of information in P. Oxy. 1445 in Table 4,
land which paid tax at It artabas. 5 The apparent precision of extra payments can be seen to have been due on every category of
these rates does not necessarily testify to minute concern on the land, adding significantly to the total imposition. Barley was
part of the authorities to assess each plot at no more than it was especially heavily burdened, being subject to the pentartabia in
worth. Awkward fractions could as well result from the inclusion addition to the usual prosmetroumena. To the total inclusive of the
of various supplementary charges which are frequently attested in diapseiloi, 7 the prosmetroumena added 15 per cent in the case of the
tax payments, although the relatively round figures of our earliest wheat and 20 per cent in the case of barley. Extra charges of this
case (P. Wash. univ. II 77) in fact include a supplementary epibole. kind were certainly common in the taxation of land, and may
But it must be noted that the actual variation between rates is have been almost universal. Even if they had once been justified
very small, and over half the known cases are bunched between 3½ as compensation for payment in grain which fell below the
and 4½art.far., including all but three of those attested in P. Oxy. required government standard or by a sub-standard measure, it
8
seems that they were in effect a supplementary tax.
• W Chr. 341, P. Bour. 42 and other references in Wallace, Taxation, II.
3 P. Oxy. VII 1031; LVII 3905 (AD 99). Contrast the 'basilike classed as private'
6 There may be a further rate somewhat over 3 art.far. preserved in P. Hamb. I
in the Apollonopolite documents, on which the rate was reduced to below z art./
ar.; see note 18 below for references. 19 line 11 : (dp.,-a{3as)y[ ...
4 The sums involved were small (5-6 dr. per ar.), but the level of money 7 This term is explained in the notes to the text as 'Land which after the

payment rose proportionately, not in inverse proportion, to the rate in kind. P. inundation had become too dry to be cultivated'.
8 A. Gara, Prosdiagraphoumena e circolazione momtaria: Aspetti dell'organizza-
Oxy. L VII 3906 seems to be the only known case where the main land tax on
'normal' basilike included payment in kind and money. zione fiscale in rapporto alla politica monetaria dell'Egitto Romano (Milan, 1976),
s P. Oxy. VII 1044 lines I 1, 2er1, 25. 3o-z.

72 73
 The Tenure of Public Land The Tenure of Public Land
The only specific category carrying a payment in barley is the as the editor thought, with land in some form of public owner-
diapseilos. The barley assessment was over half that of the wheat ship, although a fiscal estate seems a more likely derivation than
in volume; its value would be on the other hand less than half that the basilt"ke ge itself.
of the wheat. Barley forms a much smaller part of the total before The fact that it is so difficult to distinguish between the
the inclusion of diapseiloi (Table 4 line 1), but this no doubt administration of public land and a private estate at this period
represents the combined total of several categories, and if these is itself testimony that profound changes had begun to affect the
followed a similar pattern to those in the extant part of the public land in the third century. It is interesting to compare the
papyrus, the barley is more likely to have been assessed at a rent levels given in these texts not only to those of the ge basilike,
relatively high rate on a small proportion of the 63.94 ar. than but also to the rents set in private lease contracts of the third
at a low rate on it all. From this it would appear that the policy of century. 10
the authorities was to collect tax in barley only from certain Information is also provided by P. Oxy. XIX 2241, a survey of
minor categories of land, perhaps those where wheat cultivation rents in wheat, vegetable (-seed?) and cash, almost certainly
was particularly inappropriate. derived from a fiscal estate of some kind. The wheat rents are
The tax level on the epeiros in this report is very low for public assessed at s½art.jar. and 6½ art.Jar. Very similar to this are the
land. This cannot, however, be used as a basis for generalization fragments of P. Oxy. XIV 1743, explicitly providing for a two-
about the epeiros as a whole; it is interesting how small an area of field system of crop rotation. In the adjustment of rents to the
epeiros appears as unproductive in the report, and it is likely that, nature of the crops sown, as well as in the relatively high level of
even when productive, this area was of poorer quality than most the rents in wheat (two factors which are probably interrelated),
epeiros. Similar considerations probably explain why the average these cases are more closely comparable to the evidence of private
tax rate on the idiotike was so low; part of the land must have been tenancy arrangements than to what is known of the tenure of the
of unusually poor quality and taxed at perhaps ½or ¾ art.jar. basilike ge.
The nesoi potamophoretoi on the contrary were taxed at a high
rate; being new land temporarily deposited by the Nile, they were (b) The Flexibility of Tax Rates
unusually fertile. Such land appears as unproductive only The evidence discussed in the previous section demonstrates
because it had been carried away again by the river. These again clearly that the government dues on public land were signifi-
reveal little about the conditions on most basilike ge; such tem- cantly higher than on the private land: starting at twice the
porary deposits must have been cultivated under short-term private 'norm' of I art.far., they ranged up to several times that
arrangements (see § 3 below). figure. The 'norm' for public land during the Principate was
There also survive a few third-century texts which list rent or probably close to the 3 art.far. which appears as the average
tax payments due from farmers but which leave very uncertain payment on demosia ge in the fourth-century Oxyrhynchite tax
the exact status of the land. One such document (P. Oxy. XIX register discussed in Chapter II § 7.
2242) contains a list of rents in wheat owed by a series of tenants, However, even the higher rates on public land do not at first
apparently with deductions for abrochos. But was the land here sight seem exorbitant when compared with the rentals in private
public or private? The recto of the same papyrus contains an tenancy contracts, where rents of 7 art.Jar. and more on land
account of a private estate of the early third century, 9 the first growing wheat were common, particularly in the second century
column of which, also listing tenants and rents owed, bears a (see Fig. 4, p. 249). But can a valid comparison be made between
strong similarity to the document with which we are con-
'° For rents in private lease contracts, see Fig. 4 and Appendix 2. P Oxy. 2242
cerned. However, it is perhaps more probable that 2242 deals, attests the following levels of rent: sn art.far .... line 30; 5 art.far .... 4 f., 8, 10f.,
15; 4! art.far .... 21, 25, 33, 34; 3t:i art./ar.? ... 19 (see 19-22n.; but if Jf!!art. is
9 P. Oxy. XIX 2240; see line 42, T'f' y€ovxcp. the total rent on 2 ar. the rate is di art.far.); d art.far .... 39.

74 75
 The Tenure of Public Land The Tenure of Public Land
private rentals and the government dues on public land? The public and private land in Roman Egypt, and was used to
practice of crop rotation and intensive farming methods may establish both the area of parcels of land and their productivity.
well have made the private land on which high rentals were Against the prevailing view that this was an annual procedure,
charged considerably more productive than most public land, Bonneau has plausibly suggested that it was applied only on such
where farming practices, in so far as one can judge, seem to have areas as were deemed necessary, whether on the initiative of the
been more extensive than intensive. Secondly, the short duration authorities, or in response to a request from the landholder. 1:2 The
of private leasing arrangements must have made rents readily appearance of a standard form of document from the mid-second
responsive to changing agricultural and market conditions, century onwards, the declaration of abrochos, made by holders of
including demographic factors. both public and private land at the general invitation of the
Is there reason to believe that the government-fixed rates on Prefect or his subordinate, seems to reflect a shift of policy
public land were, at any time under the Roman administration of towards putting the onus of claiming a reduction of government
Egypt, similarly responsive to such changes? The received view dues firmly on the shoulders of the individual landholder. 13 This
of public land tenure suggests that, in principle, rent adjustments implicitly recognized the failure of the earlier ideal of more
would be made on the occasion of a new diamisthosis, which regular and systematic official adjustment of tax demands, which
occurred at irregular and unpredicable intervals. However, had in theory applied to private as well as public land.
Shelton concluded from registers dealing with royal land in The edict of Tiberius Julius Alexander (AD 68) criticized the
Ptolemaic Kerkeosiris that, in that village in the penultimate fixing of dues by the average of past floods, and prescribed that
decade of the second century BC, the rates on individual plots they should be subject to yearly adjustment according to the level
of royal land were adjusted very significantly from year to year, a of the current flood. 14 This presumably referred to both private
conclusion both inconsistent with the received view, and one and public land; on the former, it could only involve the accurate
which suggests a very surprising degree of official responsive- assessment of the quantities of bebregmene and abrochos, since tax
ness to annual changes in agricultural conditions. II rates on private land were certainly standardized; and the same
But can Shelton's observations be generalized, even to other may also have been true of the public land, rather than referring
times and places under the Ptolemaic administration, let alone to there to the much more complicated process of reviewing
the Oxyrhynchite nome during the Roman period? There is, annually the different degrees of fertility of areas of land within
needless to say, no explicit evidence at all. The enormous variety the bebregmene.
of different rates recorded even within a single village hints at an In any case, the edict seems to have achieved no permanent
attempt to respond to particular nuances of productivity levels; success in ensuring more flexibility in the system. Less than fifty
but, once fixed, were these rates easily adjusted to meet changing years later the emperor Hadrian made a similar intervention,
conditions? When one considers the amount of work that would referring to the rates on public land as previously having been
have been involved in revising each year the tax rate on every fixed 'from the old decree' and ordering that henceforth, the land
plot of public land in each nome, it is clear that, whether or not was to be farmed 'according to the worth of each (plot)'. 15
this was ever an ideal, it would have required a bureaucracy
Whether Hadrian's measure achieved any greater flexibility on
many times greater than the already copious number of nome
and village officials much of whose time was devoted to land " D. Bonneau, Le Fisc et le Nil (Paris, 1972), 92.
administration. r3 Ibid. 184. The earliest known declaration dates from AD 158. Parassoglou, CE
62 ( 1987), 205-18 provides a discussion of the post of 'procurator for episkepseis'
The process of official inspection, or episkepsis, applied to both and a list of declarations (to which add P. Col. inv. 478: B~SP 29 (1992), 25-30).
r 4 Lines 55ff. with the commentary by G. Chalon, L'Edit de Tiberius Julius
" J. C. Shelton, P. Tebtunis vol. iv, introd., p. 6; cf. id., 'Land Register: Crown Alexander (Olten and Lausanne, 1964), 222ff.
Tenants at Kerkeosiris', P. Coll. Youtie I 15 (pp. I 13-52), at 118-19. rs Quoted in the tenders discussed below.

77
 The Tenure of Public Land
The Tenure of Public Land
granted a security of tenure much closer to that of private
the bulk of public land is not clear. The fact that towards the end property. 20 This would, indeed, be a valuable concession if
of his reign he was obliged once again to intervene directly to
most basilike was liable to an upheaval of tenures through the
allow the repayment of tax arrears accumulated in two years of
periodic diamisthoseis. However, there is no direct evidence that
poor flood over the following three, four, or five years, depending
improved security of tenure was granted on this land.
on how badly a region was affected, 16 suggests that his first
measure had not succeeded in making adequate allowance for We thus know singularly little about the effect of Hadrian's
exceptional years. 17 decree on the bulk of the basilike, which continued to be taxed at
One undoubted result of his earlier decree was to allow parcels rates of over two artabas per aroura. A comparison between the
of basilike which had previously been assessed at 'normal' rates to areas recorded under the different rates in two successive years in
be placed, at the request of the landholders, in a special category the Apollonopolite register P. Giss. 60 shows a marked increase in
of basilike paying tax at a rate close to that on private land. This the area paying at the highest rate (s-hart.jar.), from 92M ar. to
was evidently the land referred to in W Chr. 341 as 'Other royal 193~ ar. This could be taken to suggest that land which had
land registered in the class of idioktetos'. Several tenders sent in previously been paying at a lower rate was placed in the higher
by landholders have survived, but unfortunately our entire evi- category in response to the particular conditions of that year, thus
dence of the whole procedure is confined to the archive of indicating a system highly responsive to changes in relative
Apollonios the strategos, concerning the Apollonopolite nome. 18 productivity from year to year. But the increase is open to other
Several important implications of the measure therefore remain explanations. 21 There is thus no unequivocal evidence that, even
obscure. Although the creation of the semi-private category was in the immediate aftermath of Hadrian's decree, rates within the
clearly connected with Hadrian's decree (otherwise it would range for normally inundated public land could be adjusted from
scarcely have been quoted in the individual applications), it year to year; still less is there reason to suppose that his measure
seems unlikely that this could have been the only effect of a had any permanent effect on the flexibility of tax assessment on
measure which criticized the previous general inflexibility of the public land in general.
rates on public land, and which enjoined that henceforth they In conclusion, it appears that the principle of frequent adjust-
should be assessed 'according to worth'. ment of government dues in accordance with the varying pro-
It is quite unclear how much basilike was placed in the new ductivity of individual parcels of public land, although
category. In W Chr. 34r the amount was very small (see Table 2) encapsulated within a more general ideal of flexible taxation on
and Rostovtzeff surmised from the paucity of later references that all land, both public and private, which persisted until the reign
the option of having basilike transferred to the semi-private
of Hadrian, probably had little bearing on the reality of public
category did not outlast Hadrian' s reign. 19 Nor do we know
land administration in the Oxyrhynchite nome. The appearance
precisely what terms of tenure applied to the new category. The
of standardized declarations of abrochos in the reign of Hadrian's
only change explicitly mentioned in the tenders was the reduc-
successor seems to mark the final abandonment of universal
tion of tax, but Rostovtzeff thought that the holders were also
regular adjustment even as an ideal. The very low tax rates on
16
P. Oslo III 78= SB III 6994. private land adequately compensated for their inflexibility; but it
17
. Th~t the emperor was obliged to intervene after only two bad years, follow-
mg a senes o_fgood Niles, demonstrates the inability of many farmers to build up a "' Ibid.
surplus to tide them over years of deficient flood. See Bonneau's discussion of 21
Since the total area in all the rate categories shown for both years shows an
Hadrian's measures, and the quality of the inundations in the 130s: Le Fisc et le increase, and the section recording details of the previous year breaks off after the
N~/ 176f~.• 243f. . . five standard rates on inundated epeiros, it is possible that the extra 100 ar. had
8 P. Gm. 4-'7; P. Lips. mv. 266 (= SB XVII I 13246); P. Bmn. 36; P. Ryl. II 96.
been classified as abrochos in the earlier year, rather than as bebregmene at the lower
S~ Rostovtzeff, SEHRE' ii. 699 n. 13 for refs. to discussions of the measure. rate.
9
Rostovtzeff, SEHRE' i. 367.
79
 The Tenure of Public Land The Tenure of Public Land
seems that the significantly higher rates on public land were in chronological limitations of this evidence also require a prelimin-
reality no more readily adjusted. ary note. Almost all the documentation considered in this section
In this respect, therefore, the farmer of public land may indeed is second-century, although the picture had probably not changed
have been placed at a significant disadvantage in comparison with radically since the previous century. However, there evidently
a private tenant even if the latter were paying a higher rent: the were major changes in the fate of public land over the period of
private tenant's rent had been agreed within the last few years the Principate, which by the third century seem to have had
according to prevailing market conditions, whereas the dues paid considerable impact on the tenure typical of this land. These
by the public tenant had been fixed perhaps decades earlier as a chronological developments will receive more detailed discus-
result of inspection by state officials. The officials, always under sion at the end of this chapter.
pressure to maintain tax revenue, would be reluctant to acknowl- In the edict of Tiberius Julius Alexander (para. 1) the word
edge that a plot had declined in productivity; their energies diamisthosis refers to the procedure for leasing out the collection
would understandably be devoted to inspecting land from which of taxes and misthoseis ousiakai. This procedure took place in
extra revenue might be squeezed. Thus what flexibility existed in Alexandria and involved a relatively small number of people; as
the system would tend towards raising rather than lowering the described in Chapter II, the misthotai of ousiac land were wealthy
public tenants' tax burden. In such circumstances, even though head-lessees, not peasants. The leasing of very much larger areas
~he rates on public land do not in principle seem excessively high, of ge basilike to small-scale demosioi georgoi cannot be understood
1t would not be surprising if a series of poor floods placed some of as equivalent to this kind of diamisthosis. 24
the poorer tenants of public land in financial difficulty. There is one unequivocal reference to a diamisthosis which
would apply to the small-scale farmers (georgoi) of bas£like ge. A
3. DIAMISTHOSIS, SECURITY OF TENURE, AND THE sub-lease of land at Tebtunis provided that" the contract should
FILLING OF VACANT TENANCIES remain valid 'until the coming joint diamisthosis of farmers'. 25
The wording here suggests that the diamisthosis was a procedure
How were tenants found for public land? As with many other carried out at a local level, probably among the farmers them-
aspects of the received view of the system of land tenure in Roman selves. Rostovtzeff connected this case with other contracts
Egypt, the theory that tenancies of public land were subject to between farmers of Arsinoite public land, which were agreed to
intermittent official review in a general diamisthosis depends to a last 'for as long a time as the georgia lasts' or some such phrase. 26
considerable extent on the assumption of a basic continuity Several further contracts envisaged a future redistribution of
between the Ptolemaic and Roman systems of administration. lands at Theadelphia and Polydeukia, where, as one text makes
However, apart from the fact that this continuity is now seriously clear, the redistribution would take place by lot rather than by
22
questioned, the Ptolemaic analogy is particularly weak in this leasing. Hagedorn, reassessing this evidence in light of his reread-
case, since Shelton cast doubt on the readings in all four cases ing of a critical text,2 7 rightly argued that earlier treatments have
where it has been alleged that the word 'diamisthosis', referring to
"4 Diamisthosis on ousiac land: BGU IV 1047. The fiscal property in the
the leasing of royal land, is found in papyri of Ptolemaic date. 2 3 Arsinoite nome formerly of Amatia was leased through a diamisthosis to misthotai
The evidence for diamisthoseis of public land in the Roman who included autourgoi, men who themselves farmed the land: BGU II 475. But
period must therefore be considered on its own merits. The here also relatively small numbers would be involved; fiscal properties cannot have
been comparable in area to the amount of basilike ge.
•s /J.€XP'rij, ~<10µ.£V1}, P. Tebt. II 376 (AD 162).
KOIVl)S y,:wpywv o,aµ.,<18w<1,sws,
"See esp. N. Lewis, "'Greco-Roman Egypt": Fact or Fiction?', Proc. 12 Int. 26
Rostovtzeff (Riim. Kol. 162 f.) cites BGU II 661 and I z34 (BL I); cf. P.Aberd.
Conff'. Pap. 3-14; id., 'The Romanity of Roman Egypt: A Growing Consensus', 57, P. Strass. II 218, SB l 4414, PSI X 1144.
Att1 17 Congr. lnt. Pap. III 1077-84; G. Geraci, Genesi della provincia Romana •
7
D. Hagedorn, 'Flurbereinigung in Theadelphia?', ZPE 65 (1986), 93-100 (P.
d'Egitto (Bologna, 1983).
3 Hamb. I 65 revised: now= SB XVIII 13995); also P. Flor. I 20 = W Chr, 359, P.
• J. C. Shelton, 'BGU VI 1216 and Ptolemaic Smµ.[<18w<11s',CE 50 (1975) 268f,, Strass. IV 218, P. land. IV 52, and P. Laur. II 30 as read by Hagedorn in JJP 23
and P. Coll. Youtie I 15 introd. (pp.119ff.)
( 1 993), 54f,

80 81
 The Tenure of Public Land The Tenure of Public Land
been excessively preoccupied with epimerismos, the assignment of perhaps some evidence of land assigned from one Oxyrhynchite
lands from one village to farmers from another, as evidence of village to the charge of the presbuteroi of another (P Oxy. XVII
compulsory lease (Zwangspacht). 2141), and we should not rule out the possibility of periodic
Hagedorn also expressed doubt that reallocation of public land reallocations of some village public lands among the farmers,
could have could have been a frequent occurrence, giving several whether by local diamisthosis or by lot.
reasons, not least the administrative expense involved. It is But apparently not all basilike ge, even in the Arsinoite villages
indeed difficult to see what the state officials would stand to just mentioned, was liable to redistribution. One contract from
gain from initiating such a procedure, but perhaps less implau- Theadelphia, contemporaneous with those just discussed, pro-
sible to envisage even quite frequent redistributions at a local vided for a deceased farmer's plot to be ceded to a new cultivator
level by the farmers themselves. Periodic redistributions of land without reference to any possible redistribution of the land. More
by the community can be paralleled in other peasant societies, 28 explicitly, the sons of Satabous divided royal and ousiac land at
and would have a particular point where the villages lay on the Patsontis (a satellite of Karanis) between themselves 'for ever';
desert edge, with some of the land poorly irrigated and subject to then, nine years later, presumably when one son died, the other
sand erosion. In Theadelphia farmers of public land were asso- son re-divided much the same land, also 'for ever', with another
ciated in groups, pittakia, each headed by a pittakiarch who seems partner. 32 While this phrase cannot of course be taken too lit-
to have been responsible for allocating land to the individual erally, it pointedly contrasts with the contracts which remained
pittakion members as well as underwriting their payments to valid only 'as long as the georgia lasts', two of which are derived
the state. 29 The numbered kleruchies at Karanis were similar from Karanis. 33
associations. 30 Village elders, presbuteroi, are known to have No Oxyrhynchite evidence for public land suggests the possi-
played a major role in the day-to-day management of farming bility of a redistribution taking place; in particular, sub-leases
activities, and would have been able to organize a redistribution never indicate that the holder's tenure of the land might be
of village lands.31 terminated, even when the contracts were to remain valid for
four years. 34 There is no equivalent here to the basilikon koluma
How widespread this form of tenure was within Egypt it is
clause found in Ptolemaic leases, 35 or to the provision for the
difficult to say. Explicit evidence is wholly confined to the
reallocation of the land in the Arsinoite leases discussed above.
Arsinoite nome, but this may at least in part be attributed to
But neither is there justification for dismissing these cases as an
the fact that only from this district have large numbers of papyri
untypical form of tenure. 36
been found on the sites of villages rather than towns. There is
Rostovtzeff seems to have taken, as a paradigm for his view of
'
8
See e,!,l'·S. L. Popkin, The Rational Peasant: The Political Economy of Rural how a general diamisthosis would operate, the procedure known
Society in Vietnam (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1979), rn4, referring specifically to to have been adopted for the aigialos (shoreland) of Soknopaiou
land of variable quality, liable to flooding and silting, a good parallel to Egypt. N esos in the years when it was inundated. 37 On those occasions,
Z<J Day and Keyes's introd. to P. Col. V 1 verso 4 gives a full description of the
working of the pittakia, although again preoccupied with compulsory imposition. the land was leased out at the fixed rent of two artabas per aroura.
Note that the final clause of P. Struss. IV 218 provides that if the plain of the We happen to possess this information because at least some of
village is divided, the lessee will not be bound to remain in the pittakion. See the contracts were made in writing. But in fact this land posed a
also P. Oxy. XII 1446 for partnerships of farmers at Theadelphia and the
neighbouring villages. fundamentally different problem from most basilike ge. Because
Jo H. Geremek, Karonis: communaute rurale de l'Egypte romaine au Jl'-111'
siecle de notre ere(Warsaw etc., 196g), eh. 4. •• P. Mich. IX 559'6 (AD 107), 557 (AD 116). 33 BGU I 234, SB I 4414.
3 ' For their role in leasing public land, see e.g. P. Bad. VI 170, and generally, A. 34 P. Oxy. XXXIII 2676, LV 3800 (four years' duration); other subleases are
Tomsin, 'Etude sur les ,rpwf3vrcpo, de la xwpa egyptienne, Bulletin de la classe des listed in Table 5. JS Hennig, Unters. zur Bodenpacht, 89ff.
lettres et des sciences morales et politiques de l'Academie Royale de Belgique 5• ser. 38 36
e.g. as the basilike ge classed as private known from W. Chr. 3,p; or forms of
( 1952), n• partie, 467-532. compulsory assignment (see § 4). 37 Rom. Kol. 166ff.

82
 The Tenure of Public Land The Tenure of Public Land
the aigialos was inundated only rarely, and could yield no crop in both in its fixed time limit and greater flexibility in the rent,
most years, no continuity of tenancies could develop, and the which could be collected in money rather than in kind, if this
whole of the land had to be reassigned on every occasion that were more appropriate. In these cases, applicants for tenancies
the land was flooded. Districts under continuous cultivation can apparently be found genuinely offering to pay rent 'kat'
never similarly completely lacked incumbent tenants; here a axian', according to the worth of the land. 44
diamisthosis would have resulted in the disturbance of many A more ambiguous case is that of P. Oxy. II 279. A certain
existing tenants without offering a satisfactory solution to the Theogenes wrote to the basilikogmmmateus, expressing the earn-
problem of finding replacements piecemeal as they grew infirm est desire to benefit the treasury by undertaking the cultivation of
or died. forty arouras of basilike ge near the village of N esla, and offering
There was no doubt land in the Oxyrhynchite nome which to pay, instead of the money rent for fodder (the time chloron) paid
because of its physical nature had to be leased out on short- by the present incumbents, five artabas of wheat per aroura on
term contracts like the aigialos of Soknopaiou Nesos. This form one half of the land, and a rent the nature of which has been lost
of tenure would be appropriate for the nesoi in the Nile valley, on the other half. Several points should be noted. Firstly, the
which were deposits of short duration, soon to be washed away document was not strictly a misthosis. Secondly, the offer was
again. 38 Two of the few surviving written applications to lease apparently not made at the expiry of a previous lease; the land
public land concerned plots of land on nesoi, and one of these was currently being farmed by the sons of Theon. 45 Nor, it seems,
contained provisions in case the land were washed away or did Theogenes' offer specify a time limit. The rent offered by
became sanded up. 39 Theogenes on half the land was towards the top of the range even
Certain other special categories of land were leased out by for good-quality public land, although the money rent paid by
officials by written agreements of relatively short duration. 40 the sons of Theon is more suggestive of hypologos. Theogenes
This was the treatment accorded to land of exceptionally poor seems to have anticipated cultivating the twenty arouras with
quality. One extant lease of hypologos from the Oxyrhynchite cereals, instead of putting the whole area under fodder crops.
nome, P. Oxy. X 1279, exhibits many characteristics found in Perhaps the date of this document, AD 441'5,also has some sig-
other surviving leases of public land. Its format was that of a nificance; most of the leases discussed so far come from the
normal request to lease, addressed to the strategos, and a very low following century, while the mid-first century seems to have
rent in money was offered, connected with the right of pastu- been a period of strain for the administration of Egypt. 46
rage.4' Cultivation of wheat (as well as of isatis and echomenion, Too many unknown factors surround this application for it to
normal for Oxyrhynchite leases), was prohibited. 42 A clause form a secure basis for generalization about the tenure of public
protected the tenant from being pressed to continue the lease land. Was it a response to an official advertisement or the
once its five-year duration had expired. 43 The absence of refer- spontaneous act of an entrepreneur? Was it in effect an offer to
ence to the payment of demosia is to be noted; the negotiable rent transfer the land from the category of substandard land paying
stood in place of the land tax in kind. rent in money, to the class on which rent was paid in wheat? If so,
This kind of tenure differed from that on most public land or if, as Rostovtzeff and Wilcken thought, 47 the land remained in
the substandard category both before and after the application,
38
Cf. P. Oxy. XII 1445.
39
SB X 10533 (Lykopolite? see S. Daris, 'Due note Licopolitane', Anagennesis, 4'4 Note the epithemata, increased rents, offered by the tenants in P. Oxy. III 500
2 (1982), 227-31); P. Flor. Ill 368 (Hennopolite). and P. Flor. III 368. On epithemata in leases, see J. Sheridan, 'Revised bid for the
40 lease of confiscated property', BASP 24 (1987) 103-8.
The fragmentary lines 10-12 of P. Oxy. III 500 (Athribite nome) perhaps
45
refer, not to the previous tenants, but to a special class of land. Twv ycwpyou,uvwv whereas leases normally use Twv 1rpoy<wpyouµ.€vwv.
46
4 ' Cf. P. Tebt. II 325; P. Lond. 1227 (III p. 143). .µ Cf. P. Land. 1227. The so-called 'first-century crisis': P. Mich. X pp. 64ff.
47
43
Cf. SB X 10533; P. Amh. II 94. Rom. Kol. 73 f., W. Chr. 348 introd.

85
 The Tenure of Public Land The Tenure of Public Land
was there any similar procedure on the good land which allowed a which had traditionally been at their disposal. 50 On the other
higher bid made at any time to displace existing tenants? hand, tradition could have varied from district to district, or
In attempting to establish the forms of tenure under which the even within the lands of a single village, as to whether the land
ordinary ge basilike was held, on the basis of this very sparse was more or less permanently held in individual lots, or whether
evidence, we must consider not only the formal rights of the land under the control of the community was subject to periodic
tenants, but also the consequences of the likely demand (or the redistribution among those considered entitled to share in it.
lack of it) for parcels of public land. It is unlikely that tenants of How important was family succession in the replacement of
'normal' public land possessed any formal guarantee against tenants of public land? We know from complaints made by
displacement, since they held no written contracts. The official women that male offspring were expected to succeed to parcels
recognition of their tenancy seems to have consisted essentially of of assigned georgia (see the next section), but there is no reason to
the registration of their names in the list of cultivators; but it is suppose that all the known cases of de facto 'inheritance' took
clear that, as in all official lists, names were frequently out of place under duress. 51 Brothers are commonly found farming
date. 48 If another person, especially one who possessed greater public land in partnership, 52 and it is probable that these cases,
influence, offered to take over a tenant's land at higher rent, the too, result from succession to paternal holdings. Indeed, the
farmer probably had no redress. On the other hand, most of the practice of the joint registration of tenancies would have per-
evidence suggests that the major problem facing the authorities mitted the association of sons with their father as soon as they
was not a superfluity of tenants who pushed rents up in competi- reached maturity, gradually playing a more important part in the
tion with each other, but the difficulty of finding cultivators for cultivation as their father aged. His death would then simply
tracts of land, which, although capable of producing some crop, leave the land in the sons' names.
was taxed at too high a rate to be attractive to farmers. The But about one third of families would have no sons and,
expedients adopted by the authorities in finding tenants for this although there is ample evidence from the Oxyrhynchite nome
land will be discussed in § 4. of women holding public land, there clearly persisted some
What mechanisms existed for finding voluntary tenants for inhibition against their taking it on, at least unwillingly. In a
vacant public land? Only one written advertisement for cultiva- village with a roughly stable population, the number of families
tors is known, and we must presume that the procedure did not without sons should have been balanced by those prolific of
normally involve either written advertisements or written appli- offspring. The public land, at least in theory, provided a much
cations. 49 A papyrus found at Oxyrhynchus lists plots of public
more flexible means of redistributing land from small families to
land at various Arsinoite villages with the names of both past and
large than did the private holdings, which were subject to the
present cultivators (P. Oxy. XII r446); this illustrates the official
rules of partible inheritance. The Arsinoite list of replacements
rubber-stamping of changes of tenancy, but does not solve the
for deceased tenants mentioned above (P. Oxy. XII r446) seems
more interesting problem of how far officials actively intervened
to find new cultivators and to apportion land to them, or how far 50
e.g. P. Oxy. XXIV 2410; see further below, § 5(b).
5'
they merely recorded arrangements made in practice among the Clearest in P. Oxy. LVII 3905 (2of.): Noumenios alias Panechotes son of
Apollonios farms land registered to his deceased father; heirs of a deceased
villagers themselves. person are responsible for public land in P. Oxy. XII 1441, VII 1044 (heirs of
Tradition evidently counted for much in the tenure of public Pausirion: see line 6n., and Petsiris son of Herakleos through his heirs, line 19), P.
land; villagers felt that the basilike ge of their village was 'theirs', Lond. inv. 2174.
sa P. Koln III 137, P. Mil. Vogl. IV 2II, P. Oxy. XLI 2956, LVII 3905 line 24, P.
and resented any attempt to deprive them of access to resources Ryl. IV 683. In one application for seed corn, Pekysis son of Diogenes who took
the oath along with the primary applicants, was very probably a brother of Thatres
48
e.g. P. Oxy. LV 3800, LVII 3905. daughter of Diogenes in whose name the land was registered: P. Oxy. LVII 3903
49 BGU II 656: bids were invited for several plots simultaneously. etc. with Rathbone's review, CR 42 (1992), 413 f.

86
 The Tenure of Public Land The Tenure of Public Land
wholly to have concerned plots moving from the possession of Fayum: the epibole mentioned in an early Oxyrhynchite petition
one family to that of another. The childless farmer may have concerning public land evidently designates a tax additional to
found little consolation in the thought that when he grew· too the main public dues on the land, not the land itself. 54
weak to till his fields they would be available for the use of young However, it does not follow that the institution itself was
men who owed him no obligation, but the same young men were unknown outside the Fayum, or that this was the only manner
secure in the knowledge that they need not wait for the death of in which private landholders were unwillingly made responsible
their own fathers to obtain access to a means of livelihood, and for the tax payments on public land. In the Oxyrhynchite nome,
that an exiguous inheritance might be supplemented, not only by no terminological distinction is apparent between land assigned
those with the capital to purchase extra land, but by anyone with to unwilling farmers and that which was voluntarily cultivated;
the resource of labour-power. 'georgia' was used indiscriminately. 55 But it is clear that georgia
Such were the advantages which in theory the public land sometimes took a form closely similar to the Arsinoite epibole;
possessed. In practice, they were partially counteracted by the Johnson himself draws attention to the sales and mortgages of
financial risks engendered by inflexible taxation. It was to the private land and houses in the Oxyrhynchite and Hermopolite
advantage neither of the cultivator nor of the authorities that nomes which included the guarantee that the property was 'free
areas which could not readily tolerate the rate of taxation at from georgia of royal or sacred land'. Examples of this clause are
which they were assessed should be in the hands of smallholders found in Oxyrhynchite documents from the end of the first
who needed the land as a major contribution to their livelihood. century until late in the third century. 56 There can be no doubt
Barely able to support these taxes in good years, such people had that the clause refers to the imposition of the duty to pay the
no opportunity to build up reserves to tide them over a series of taxes on plots of non-private land on the owners of certain plots
poor harvests. Although small-scale farmers no doubt formed the of private land or certain houses, in a manner similar to the
majority of tenants of public land throughout the period of its Arsinoite epibole; the only difference might lie in the proportion
existence, the authorities increasingly turned to the wealthier of public land to private, since the Oxyrhynchite evidence does
landowners and metropolitans in seeking tenants of land for not supply information about this.
which volunteers did not come forward.
A first-century Oxyrhynchite lease appears also to attest the
attachment of public to private land (PSI IX 1029); the plots
4. THE IMPOSITION ON PRIVATE LANDOWNERS OF THE leased included r5¾ arouras 'from the (kleros of) Ninkanor with
OBLIGATION TO FARM PUBLIC LAND basilike'. Unfortunately even here there is no indication what
proportion of the I si arouras the basilike comprised. If it is
Much of the scholarly discussion of public land in Roman Egypt, correct that this document records an epibole-like assignment, it
from Rostovtzeff's Romisches Kolonat onwards, has been preoccu- would provide earlier evidence of the practice in the Oxyrhynch-
pied with compulsory assignment. In an attempt to offer a more ite than do the sales discussed above, and would suggest that it
balanced perspective, A. C. Johnson argued that the institution
was probably introduced at the same time as in the Fayum, m
known as epibole cannot be invoked to explain how large areas of
response to the 'first-century crisis'.
public land came to be transferred into private ownership, since it
was confined to the Fayum, and even there, was in effect merely a H P. Wash. univ. II 77 line 20; the editorial comments on the text fail to make
low tax in kind. 53 It still seems true that the use of 'epibole' to this distinction.
55 On the evolution of the meaning of this word, see H. Cadell, 'La y,;wpyla en
refer specifically to the attachment of small areas of public land as
Egypte; genese d'un theme economique et politique', Le Monde grec, 639-45.
servitudes to parcels of private land is unknown outside the 56
To the examples cited by Johnson, add e.g. P. Wise. I 9 (sale of land), P. Oxy.
XXXIV 2722 (mortgage of house). The clause appears in a sale as late as AD 291: P.
53
'The hnfio>.~
of Land in Roman Egypt', Aegyptus, 32 (1952) 61-'72. Oxy. rx 1208.

88 89
 The Tenure of Public Land The Tenure of Public Land
In documents of later periods, individuals are frequently found create a connection between the person's private property and the
holding small quantities of public land as well as larger quantities georgt."a;just as normal liturgists had the option of ceding both their
of private land; 57 but there were other ways by which private liturgy and their property, so it seems that women who found
landholders could acquire plots of public land, and there is no someone else to undertake georgia which they had inherited were
compelling reason to suppose that in all these cases the public in danger of losing their private inheritance as well. 59
land was attached to the private plots by compulsory assignment. Tiberius Julius Alexander forbade the imposition of georgi,a on
Once public land became attached to plots of private land, it women against their wish, and this was confirmed by later legal
must have been tempting to try to pass it off as part of the private decisions. But women, particularly if they possessed husbands or
land if the latter were being sold. This would provide scope for adult sons, might have difficulty enforcing this right.6o So if
confusion about the category a piece of land really belonged to, women, despite the legal rulings, had to resort to special mea-
leading to disputes like that recorded in P. Oxy. IV 718. Antistius sures to ensure that they were not deprived of their own property
Primus alias Lollianus, an ex-chief priest of Oxyrhynchus, com- if they ceded some georgi,a, it is probable that men could in
plained to the epistrategos that, forty years earlier, he had pur- practice give up their georgi,a only by losing their property as well.
chased 52½arouras of corn-land and a half-aroura building plot, This kind of tenure of public land tended therefore to be
guaranteed free from the cultivation of public lands, and subject hereditary in practice, even if it was not an hereditary lease in the
only to the ground tax due on private land; now the komogmm- strictly legal sense. In this respect, it was probably little different
mateus (village secretary) claimed that four arouras of this land from the georgi,a willingly undertaken by persons who happened
was basilike. The plausibility of such a claim depended on it also to own private land. Indeed, as in the case of liturgies, the
being possible for a plot of assigned basilike to become comple- boundary between volunteering and compulsion must have been
tely conflated with the private land to which it had been attached. fine: by 'volunteering' for a less onerous duty, one might hope to
In the foregoing cases, the duty of farming (or at least paying escape a burdensome compulsory assignment. There is no reason to
the taxes upon) plots of public land was permanently connected think that any formal distinction was drawn between the tenure of
with the possession of individual pieces of private property: when those landowners who volunteered to cultivate stretches of 'normal'
the property changed hands, so did the public land. Other basilike and that of landowners pressed by the authorities to become
evidence suggests a different form of assignment, to a person, cultivators. 61 The difference lay in practical considerations; land
in the way a liturgy was assigned. In these cases, an individual which was either exceptionally fertile or which was not taxed
might be required to undertake the farming of a stretch of land excessively would pose no problem in attracting willing cultivators
of considerable size; and the obligation was in principle based on or in the replacement of anyone who decided to give up the
the qualification of the person's entire patrimony, not on a specific cultivation. But not only was it necessary to oblige persons to
item of property. 58 Presumably the owner could sell some of the take on the undesirable land; the authorities also could not allow
private property without necessarily disposing of the georgi,a. Even them to give up their holdings, because replacements could be
here, however, the existence of a property qualification tended to found only by compulsion, and the replacement might be even
less capable of supporting the high taxation.
57
P. Prine. II 42, P. Oxy. XII 1441, P. Oxy. VII 1044 (details listed in Table 7) 1 P. That it was the rate of taxation, and not the poor quality of the
Oxf. XLII 3047. soil as such, which made people reluctant to cultivate public land,
5
The different methods of assigning unattractive land in the Arsinoite and the
Oxyrhynchite nomes may reflect other differences in landholding patterns. There may be illustrated by the well-known petition of Apollonarion.
seems to have been a higher proportion of public land in the Arsinoite (much of it
marginal), which meant both more land to assign and fewer landowners to whom 59 See the petition BGU II 648 (Prosopite nome),and P. Oxy. VIII n23.
it could be assigned. Hence the preference for epimerismos (assignment to existing 6oP. Oxy. VI 89928 ff.
6
farmers of public land) and epibole (which could be imposed on small-scale village Cf. the demoti.age held voluntarily which was included in a property division:
'
landowners), rather than the assignment of large areas of georgia to metropolitans. El Abbadi, 'P. Flor. 50: reconsidered', Proc. 14 lnt. Congr. Pap. 91-6.

91
 The Tenure of Public Land The Tenure of Public Land
She inherited the cultivation of over 160 arouras near the metro- 5. THE HOLDERS OF PUBLIC LAND
polis and at five villages, an area which, even if it formed only part
On the basis of the previous discussion of the tenure of public
of her total landholding, could have constituted a great burden if
land, we may now turn to consider in some detail the status of the
it were running at a loss. 62 But Apollonarion herself admitted
persons recorded as having held public land in the Oxyrhynchite
that she had cultivated the land without complaint for some time
nome. A petition from the earliest years of Roman rule in Egypt,
and we should not, perhaps, take for granted that her father ha<l
in which a man, described both as a katoicic cavalryman and as a
originally undertaken the farming unwillingly. Apollonarion
demosios georgos, complained that his crops sown on basilike ge
acknowledged that it was only the imposition of special taxes
had been trampled down by sheep, 66 may serve to pose two
by ~emilius Saturninus which had brought her to the point of
interrelated questions which will form the basis of the following
havmg to sell her personal valuables and of asking to be relieved
discussion. Under what circumstances was the tenn demosios
of the cultivation. 63
georgos applied to persons who held public land, and how usual
A wealthy landowner would be able to support higher rates of
was it for a single individual to hold both private and public land
taxation to some extent by economies of scale and by the installa-
simultaneously?
tion of more efficient irrigation machinery. Moreover, even if
Apollonarion kept accounts sufficiently sophisticated to reveal (a) Demosioi georgoi
the relative profitability of different sections of her estates 64
she, like other wealthy metropolitan landowners would be It has been generally held that the bulk of public land in the
inured to the acceptance of loss-making activitie;, since this Roman period was farmed by small-scale cultivators termed
pri~ciple. un?erpinned the entire liturgical system. To give up demosioi georgoi, just as in the Ptolemaic period basilikoi georgoi
one s obligations was troublesome and presumably involved loss farmed the basilike ge. 67 Indeed, scholars have wondered why the
of face, and Apollonarion was no doubt typical in taking action name changed at all; if the name basilike ge persisted, why did its
only when it became evident that her tax obligations were farmers not continue to be called basilikoi georgoi?68 This expres-
threatening her entire livelihood. sion had apparently fallen completely out of use by the mid-first
The authorities were well aware that it was to their benefit for century AD. Tomsin's explanation, that the demosioi georgoi were
originally cultivators newly appointed to work the ge demosia,
public land to be placed in the hands of people with private
land formerly out of cultivation, and that the name gradually
resources; the principle may perhaps even be explicitly enun-
spread to the farmers of land in the other categories, will not
ciated in a note appended to the bottom of one Arsinoite lease
easily fit with the example cited above, where as early as 21 BC a
application for poor-quality public land. 65 The final part of the cultivator of basilike ge was termed demosios georgos. It seems clear
chapter will examine the consequences of this policy in the extent that the one name was largely superseded by the other very soon
to which possession of public land became intermingled with that after the Roman conquest. 69 An explanation for this change
of private land. might be that, although 'basilike ge' remained an acceptable way
6
of referring to that part of the Roman ager publicus in Egypt
'. P. Oxy. VI ~99; P. Oxy. L VII 3906 attests her as a former holder of basilike ge
at ~mkepha, wh1ch perhaps was the village named in the lacuna in 899 line 6. which had been created from the Ptolemaic royal land, the farm-
6
See also P. Oxy. VI 916 for these extra taxes.
64 66 P. Wash. univ. II 77 (incorporating P. Vindob. Worp 2).
_As Rathbone argues may have been done by the central administration of the
App1anus estate: Economic Rationalism, eh. 8, esp. 374 ff. It is in fact very unclear c.., Rostovtzeff, Rom. Kol. 152ff. has, so far as I know, provoked little dissent.
~ow v.:e~lthy Apollonanon was. The area of public land is huge for a compulsory
68 Hence the slip in P. Col. VIII 209 5-{j note, referring to /Ja.(11A1Ko,
y~wpy&, in P.
1mp<:>s1t10n, but perhaps h~r father had ur:idertaken it voluntarily in the hope of Vindob. Worp 2.
makmg a profit. Her predictable protestations of poverty in the petition actually 6<JA. Tomsin, 'f]a.o,A,K"/et s.,,µoo{a. y,'i dans l'Egypte romaine', Mel. Fohalle,
suggest someone accustomed to moderate wealth. But her kyrios (guardian) had a 271-80. The only uses of basilikos georgos from the Roman period seem to be: BGU
humble name, Cornelius son of Pekysis. IV II88, 15"14 BC; P. Land. 1218 (vol. III p. 130) AD 39; P. Lond. 177 (vol. II p. 167),
65 AO 4<>11. P Bad. II 36 (reign of Trajan) and SB XVIII 13161 (136"9) are very
P. T_ebt.II 374 lines 22 f., but note the different reading, and interpretation, of
the text m W. Chr. 349; cf. P. Tebt. II 325. doubtful.

92 93
 The Tenure of Public Land The Tenure of Public Land

ers were unquestionably tenants of the Roman state, not of the termed demosioi georgoi while the Oxyrhynchite declarations
72
defunct Ptolemaic dynasty. which include public land do not contain the expression.
A more important matter is the regional anomaly in the use of But it is in the case of documents concerned with advances of
the term 'demosioi georgoi'. The expression was evidently com- seed to the farmers of public land that the discrepancy is most
monly employed in the Arsinoite nome, in a variety of contexts, evident. A considerable number of applications for or grants of
from the early years of Roman rule well into the third century. 70 seed from the Oxyrhynchite nome have now been published,
In the Oxyrhynchite nome, however, the designation is attested at several of which concern cultivators living in villages of the
most three times, all from the reign of Augustus. Possible reasons nome rather than metropolitans, but in none of these cases is
for this discrepancy are difficult to evaluate. Was there a differ- the cultivator described as a demosios georgos. This is particularly
ence of terminology which had no deeper significance? Is it a notable in the first-century examples. 73 An order to the sitologos
result of the difference in the provenance of the evidence, of Lysimachis in the Fayum, however, describes the recipients as
between the peripheral villages of the Fayum and the metropolis demosioi georgoi. 74
of the Oxyrhynchite nome? Or was there a substantive difference The difference in the evidence from the nomes cannot wholly
between the two nomes in the status of the typical cultivators of be explained by the metropolis-village distinction. Although the
the public lands? Although it would be beyond the scope of the Oxyrhynchite evidence is heavily biased towards the metropolis,
present work to offer a thoroughgoing analysis of all the available village life and institutions do not remain completely undocu-
evidence throughout Egypt, it appears from an initial survey of mented. A particularly relevant example is that of the presbuteroi,
the relevant texts that Oxyrhynchus is, in the absence of demosioi who are documented quite fully in the Oxyrhynchite nome. 75 In
georgoi, typical of all locations other than the Fayum which have
any case, it should not be assumed that all demosioi georgoi were
produced papyrological evidence of public land. A consideration villagers. One of the two persons certainly described as a demosios
of the differences between the Oxyrhynchite and the Arsinoite
georgos in the Oxyrhynchite papyri was Leon son of Herakleides,
evidence may therefore serve as a basis for provisional conclusions
'one of the public farmers of Oxyrhynchus city' (P Oslo 26). At
of more general validity.
the date of this papyrus (5"4 BC), therefore, at least some of the
We must first consider whether the absence of reference to
men who lived in Oxyrhynchus and farmed public land could be
demosioi georgoi in Oxyrhynchite documents could be due to the
termed demosioi georgoi; later, there is ample evidence of metro-
fact that the kinds of document which attest the expresssion in
politans holding public land, including some who seem to have
the Arsinoite nome have not survived from Oxyrhynchus. It is
engaged in person in the small-scale cultivation of the land, but
true that the Oxyrhynchite evidence does not include long census
these do not carry the designation demosios georgos.76 Thus it
lists or lists of landholders of the kind which provide many
seems clear that, whatever the cause, a terminological change
examples of demosioi georgoi in Arsinoite documents, but even
those lists which have survived seem not to have used the term took place in the Oxyrhynchite name.
explicitly. 7 l Declarations of uninundated land survive from both "" SB V 7528; P. Oxy. XII 1459, XLII 3047, P. Lond. inv. 2174 P. Col. inv. 478.
nomes; the declarants in an example from Euhemeria were 73 See Table 5 for the evidence.
74" P. Lond. 256 (II p. 96); cf. P. Lond. 315 (II p. 90).
70 Numerous examples may be found by consulting the indices to e.g. P. Land. 75 P. Oxy. III 522, VIII 1112, XVII 2141, XLV 3246, LV 3783, P. Oxy. !leis. 20

II, P. Mich. II, IX, P. Tebt. II, P. Berl. Leihg. I. col. iii 4£., P Heid. III 242, SB VIII 10207, P. Col. inv. 248 (=BASP 29 (1992), 25-
7 ' e.g. P. Lond. 257--<J
(II pp. 21 ff.), a census return from Fayum villages, where 30), A. Tomsin ('Etude sur Jes rrp£of3{rrlpo,'part 2) argues that these officials were
it designated the employment of 88 men; P. Tebt. II 576 recto, a list of lands ..-wv811p.oolwvy•wpywv', but that from
in the early Roman period called '-rrpEo{:Ui-r,po,
cultivated by demosioi georgoi; cf. P. Oslo III 112 (provenance unknown). The AD 6o onwards this name was replaced by '-rrp•ofl,h,cpo,-njs K6Jp.11s'as they started to
editors of an Oxyrhynchite land list published only in description (P. Oxy. XII interfere in the private land also; but see now P. Stmss. IV 568 (138-47).
1532) supply the designation '(basilikot) georgoi', but is this justified in absence of 76 Note esp. the seed loans P. Hamb. I 19, P. Oxy. VII 1024, XLIX 3474, possibly
other evidence? P. Rob. inv. 49.

94 95
 The Tenure of Public Land The Tenure of Public Land

An explanation could be offered which links this peculiarity with soon fell into desuetude. Here the more relevant distinction was
other apparent differences of land tenure and social structure that drawn between villagers and metropolitans. 79
between the Fayum and the Nile valley names. In the Ptolemaic
(b) The Interaction between Landowning and Farming Public Land
period, the status of basilikos georgos carried certain privileges; it
has recently been argued that this status, far from being one almost Public and private land throughout the Roman period were
equivalent to bondage, was actually sought after even by persons physically closely interwoven. A plot of basilike ge was as likely
who held kleruchic or sacred land in order to gain access to these to be adjoined by private landholdings as by other parcels of
public land. 8o This was no doubt the result of the process of
privileges. 77 The privileges were presumably discontinued early in
piecemeal confiscation and reassignment which had taken place,
the Roman period, when the cultivation of public land as such 81
for one reason or another, since early in the Ptolemaic period.
does not seem to have conveyed any particular status. However, in
The possession of land in both categories seems in the Oxy-
certain contexts, the designation 'farmer of public land' still served
rhynchite evidence to have been similarly intertwined. However,
a useful purpose. It could be used to indicate the occupation of a
an important distinction in this evidence must be made. The fact
farmer who gained his living almost exclusively from the cultiva-
that persons were private landowners as well as farmers of public
tion of public land; and, in areas where a significant proportion of
land does not necessarily imply that they were wealthy, or that they
villagers did this, it could be used as a collective term for these
were not primarily engaged in cultivating the land themselves; and
persons, as opposed to those who were primarily owners of private it is clear that many metropolitans as well as villagers gained a living
land. 78 Hence, in regions where the proportion of public land was from small-scale farming of land in the surrounding villages,
high, and where on the whole land ownership and the holding of whether privately-owned, public, taken on lease, or a combination
public land did not greatly overlap, the name persisted, even of these. In examining the status of the holders of public land, we
though it no longer conveyed a special status. However, in the must therefore not only look at whether they were also private
Oxyrhynchite nome (and probably in many other parts of Egypt landowners, but also try to assess their general economic position.
as well), where the proportion of public land was lower, and where, Public land was said to be 'registered to the name'
no doubt partly as a result of this, public and private land were 1els;J1r'ov6µa.Tos; etc.) of its holder. Table 5 sum-
(&.va.ypa.<poµ.€V7]
more commonly intermingled in the possession of the same marizes what is known of the holders' status. It will be seen that
people, the designation demosios georgos served little purpose, and metropolitans predominate, although there is a fair scattering of
villagers; this balance must reflect the metropolitan bias of the
77 P. Tebt. IV p. 39 (II03 introd., by J. G. Keenan and J. C. Shelton), and more

generally, J. L. Rowlandson, 'Freedom and Subordination in Ancient Agriculture:

surviving evidence, rather than the actual proportion of metro-
The Case of the basilikoi georgoi of Ptolemaic Egypt', in P. A. Cartledge and F. D. politans and villagers in possession of public land in the nome.
Harvey (eds.), CRUX: Essays Presented to G. E. M. de Ste. Croix on his 75th There is also a surprisingly large number of women; some of
birthday, (London, r985), 327-47.
78
_ P. Lond. 257 (II pp. 21 ff.) for its use as an occupational description. P. Berl. these had inherited the georgia and are documented in the process
Leihg._ I_I and~ class the inhabitants of Theadelphia for taxation purposes into of trying to give it up, but most cannot be distinguished in their
demosioi georgoi and klerouchoi (another effectively obsolete status); cf. P. Tebt. II treatment of the land from the male landholders, and it must not
288, 471; an Oxyrhynchite text has simply georgoi and klerouchoi (P. Oxy. XLIX
2473). SB IV 7361 distinguishes the geouchoi from the demosioi georgoi of Kerke- 79 e.g. P. Oxy. XIV 1659 (crown tax), P. Oxy. XII 1444, XLIV 3169 (grain taxes);
soucha. Horos of Bacchias, a relatively prosperous demosios georgos, seems to have
owned house property but no land (P. Mich. III 176 etc.); neither probably did the cf.Soin P. Oxy. XII 1531, the distinction of 'landowners' and 'villagers'.
brothers Harthotes and Marsisouchos (references in P. Col. VIII 209). Note also e.g. P. Hamb. I 19; basilike neighbouring only on the west; private landowners
th_atthe demosioi georgoi of Arsinoite villages formed corporate bodies, particularly on the other three sides; cf. P. Pher. passim, listing properties around Pheretnouis
with re~erence to the allocation of public land assigned to the village: e.g. P. Stross. in the Kynopolite nome near the Oxyrhynchite border.
81 Thus already in the 2nd c. BC adjoining holdings often fell into different land
VI 568 1s a lease addressed to fifteen presbuteroi and the rest of the demosioi georgoi
of Theadelphia. Categories; see Crawford, Kerkeosiris, 72.

96 97
 The Tenure of Public Land The Tenure of Public Land
be assumed that all the women held public land only with he sub-leased at a profit. 85 The second complaint has already been
reluctance. 82 discussed (Ch. II§ 5), but the other points are equally illuminating
Some kinds of document cannot be expected to reveal whether or of the pressures to which public land was subject. Not only do we
not the holder of public land was also a private landowner; this is see an individual attempting to increase his private property by
particularly true of the seed loans and the leases. In view of this, it is illicitly laying claim to ge basilike, but also using the public land
surprising how many of the holders of public land listed in Table 5 which he had managed to have registered to his name as a source of
are known to have been private landowners. Only one document profit rather than of employment, making those who actually
provides many details of persons holding both categories of land farmed the land pay more in rent for the privilege.
who were evidently small-scale farmers; among the holders in this In other instances, and particularly in the third century, we can
list, the proportion of public to private land varied considerably. 83 see how wealthier landowners became interposed between the
More documentation can be provided about the interests of authorities and the actual cultivators of the land. Their role was
relatively wealthy persons in public land, and this is valuable in apparently essentially that of offering a guarantee to the autho-
indicating how these interests could be acquired. Several of the rities that the rent would be paid. 86 This seems to be the sig-
persons in whose names public land was registered did not nificance of the term 1rpou.-rayµlvov which occurs in two recently
undertake the farming themselves. In the case of the leases, it published texts. One, a request for seed corn, seems to mean that
cannot necessarily be inferred that the lessors were wealthy land- M. Lollius Leonides and Athenodoros son of Athenodoros had
owners who lived on the income from rents alone; it will be been assigned either as cultivators or over the cultivators. The
shown in Chapter VII that various special reasons might prompt inference that this may refer to the compulsory imposition of
landholders to lease out all or part of their property for a while, georgia is strengthened by the fact that one of the two persons
and that the class of landlords and tenants to some extent over- previously assigned to the land was probably identical with the
lapped. Nor did the subtenants of public land always perform the
Apollonarion alias Aristandra whose petition provides our classic
cultivation without further assistance; one lease specified the
evidence that georgia was not supposed to be compulsorily
payment of a sponde ('tip') for the paidaria, either servants or
young boys who perhaps helped with the harvest. 84 assigned to women. 87 It is interesting to observe that the names
However, a petition of AD 120 illustrates the ways in which 8s P. Oxy. XXIV 2410. Since the petition is not well expressed, and is in places
public land could be used by ambitious individuals to increase ambiguous, it may be helpful to provide a translation of the crucial lines (9-17):
their own wealth at the expense of the villagers who had pre- 'And he is attempting to seize two arouras of our royal land and make them his
private property; and, offering a higher bid for pastures from the Nikanorian
viously cultivated the land. The villagers made a series of com- estate which were formerly in our possession, he is leasing them to strangers,
plaints against a certain Horion, of which three were directly wishing our beasts to perish. Not only does he take land on lease from that estate,
concerned with access to public land: firstly, that he attempted but also contracts for other, royal, lands, renting them out at a profit.' To take av-ra
in line 17 to refer to [K]r>Jv'l(line 14) is so strained that it is better to read av-ra<s>,
to pass off as his private property two arouras of basilike that the referring to yos (see line 15n.). Parassoglou (Imperial Estates 65) inferred from the
villagers regarded as 'theirs'; secondly, that he had outbid them use of i-rEpas(line r6) that the Nikanorian estate formed part of the ge basilike, but
for land from the Nikanorian estate which he now subleased to this is unnecessary: {la11,>.,Kas (written above the line) has been added as an
afterthought, and stands in apposition to hl:pas.
strangers; and thirdly, that he contracted for other basilike ge which 86
Perhaps foreshadowing the development of the 'colonate', in a manner
parallel to the responsibility of the Appianus estate for the personal taxes of
82 Some women leased out the land (e.g. P. Oxy. IV 810), but so also did some groups who were probably residents of estate accommodation: Rathbone, Eco-
men (e.g. P. Oxy. IV 730). nomic Rationalism, r2off., 404ff.
83 P. Oxy. VII 1044; see Table 7 and Ch. IV § 4. 87 P. Oxy. LVII 3906 (AD 229). The other occurrence of 1rpo-r,-ray,,(hov) is P. Col.
84 inv. 248 where its application to the two daughters of Dorion is no objection to
P. Oxy. IV 730; cf. a lease of private land, P. Oxy. XXII 235t. The phrase is
paralleled more often in Hermopolite leases: e.g. P. Sampion 28 bis, P. Amh. II 88, interpreting it to mean 'assigned to'; as we saw in the case of Apollonarion,
P. Wurz. 14, PSI VII 788. The sponde as such is common in Oxyrhynchite leases: women retained responsibility for inherited georgia unless they took steps to give
see Appendix 2, passim. it up.

98 99
 The Tenure of Public Land The Tenure of Public Land
in which the land was registered correspond neither to those of agricultural activities on credit, would have no reserves on which
the guarantors nor to those of the applicants for seed, who were to draw. In such a situation, to borrow on the security of one's
presumably the real farmers. land carried a very real risk of losing control of it to the creditor.
A disjunction between the registration of the land and its actual In AD 244, four villagers of Sko leased a total of 20¾ arouras of
cultivation is in fact so frequent as to be almost regular in public land registered in their names to Aurelius Spartiates alias
declarations of uninundated land and the later seed corn docu- Chairemon, ex-gymnasiarch and councillor of Oxyrhynchus;
ments: for instance, Aurelius Biaios, who cultivated land in the they had borrowed 300 drachmas from him, possibly to pay their
name of L. Aurelius Apollonios and his son, requested a loan of taxes. 9 ' If the villagers managed to repay the loan within the year,
seed directly from the official superintendent of seed (P. Oxy. VII their land would not be permanently lost to them; but if there
1031). This was certainly in part the result of the tendency for happened to be a succession of poor years, the creditor could well
records (of private land, as well as public) to be out of date; but force them to transfer the land permanently to his name in return
there also seems to be evidence for the deliberate use of fictitious for cancelling the debt.
names in order to evade regulations.ss We find a case of land The Oxyrhynchite evidence suggests that, from as early as the
registered to one name, formerly belonging to another person, second century, there was a tendency for public land to be taken
and declared as uninundated by a third. 89 from the control of people who used it as a means of subsistence,
Even if names were genuine, they may constitute evidence that and to pass into the possession of those wealthy enough to live
wealthier landowners were acquiring control of land formerly, or from the income of those and other properties. This was only
currently, farmed by small-scale cultivators. The declaration of partly the result of the state's imposition of undesirable land on
uninundated land submitted by Julius Horion, a veteran, listed unwilling landowners; there was good public land in sufficient
seventeen plots of land, mostly private, but including two parcels quantity for aggressive landowners to resent this area of expan-
of ge basilike, all registered to various named individuals. 90 sion being denied to them, and to attempt to gain access to it by
Whether these persons were former holders, whose lands he legitimate or illegitimate means. Some of the small-scale farmers
had acquired, or were in some sense his tenants, Horion was were reduced to the status of private tenants or estate workers of
clearly responsible for the tax payments on the land and thus the wealthier landowners. Peasant proprietors continue to be
presumably drew an income from it when it was productive. found, of course, throughout the period, and in the succeeding
In a bad year, a wealthy landholder would be able to pay the centuries, and some of the old demosia ge remained in their
rent and taxes out of his or her reserves, whereas small-scale possession. But even this had changed radically; it was now
cultivators who were almost wholly dependent on land for a effectively the hereditary private property of the holders, and
livelihood and who used up the year's surplus in the course of any earlier flexibility in the allocation of public land was quite
the following year or who customarily financed the each years lost. The son whose inherited portion was insufficient to meet his
needs now could only turn to private tenancy or wage labour if he
88
P. Oxy. XII r460 6ff. highlights the extent to which the written records of wished to supplement his landholding.
landholding failed to correspond with reality, a salutary reminder of the dangers
involved in interpreting written evidence: 'Since the collection of the [corn dues]
was being based upon old lists of names, [of which most] were fictitious ... '. See 9' P. Ryl. IV 683: K<11fox11µ.EVT<tS opaxµ.ds [-r]p<<1Koalas,l, av0Kvp71v(? '11WKVp€w)
also Sarapion alias Apollonianus' plans to register for ousiac land in another name 1TVpoii07I/L0'1I •..
(PSI XII r260, discussed above in Ch. II § 5), and the probable accusation that a
rival bidder for a leasehold had used a false name: P. Oxy. XIV 1630 lines 9f.
119P. Lond. inv. 2174. It may of course have been farmed by someone quite
different.
90
P. Oxy. XII 1459; cf. Calpumia Heraklia's declaration, in which most land
was registered 'to those from the House of the deified Vespasian and Titus' (P.
Oxy. XLII 3047.5 etc.)

IOO IOI
 The Landowners and their Properties
these and other texts.' The conclusions of these studies provide an
CHAPTER IV opportune background against which to concentrate on subjects
which can be illuminated by the Oxyrhynchite evidence. Even
though we lack precise information on landholding sizes, we can
The Landowners and their Properties trace through many individual cases the connection of high social
status and landownership; comparison with the Hermopolite
evidence suggests that we probably know the identity of most, if
not all, of the wealthiest Oxyrhynchite landowners, and are rela-
1. INTRODUCTION
tively well-informed about the activities of metropolitan land-
owners. Only villagers are seriously under-documented,
This chapter discusses, first, the identity of Oxyrhynchite land- although comparative material still makes it possible to fit what
owners and their place in the social structure, and second, the little evidence we have into a general context.
physical location and spread of their landholdings. It naturally On the composition of landholdings, the Oxyrhynchite evi-
focuses primarily on holdings of private land; but, as we saw in dence can complement the land registers from other parts of
the previous chapter, public land sometimes formed part of what Egypt. It suggests that fragmentation of landholding was suffi-
were essentially private landholdings, and therefore is also ciently common at all levels of society that it must be allowed for
included in the discussion where appropriate. in any assessment of the significance of landholding size, whether
Copious though it is, the evidence of the Oxyrhynchite papyri from land registers or from individual documents. But more
is not well suited to drawing general conclusions about the particularly, it allows us to examine the very varied patterns of
spectrum of landholding in the nome. As a basis for general- composition which are encompassed within the phenomenon of
ization, one would ideally require complete data on landholding fragmented holdings; from clusters of small parcels in a single
size, composition, and ownership within a defined area; in addi- neighbourhood to widely spaced holdings, either of similar or of
tion, comparable data from a later period would be necessary in very different sizes.
order to trace chronological change. Even from other parts of
Egypt, the papyri have so far supplied complete data only in rare
cases, and then usually only for a single village. But the Oxy- 2. LANDOWNERSHIP AND SOCIAL HIERARCHY
rhynchite evidence is of quite a different order, consisting, not of The conduct of Roman provincial government during the Prin-
groups of administrative records of the kind that have, for
cipate was impressively economical of manpower, but this was
instance, supplied our full data on the landholding pattern of
possible only through reliance on provincial elites to carry out
late second-century BC Kerkeosiris (which were preserved
government at a local level. In return for their loyalty, Rome
through reuse as mummy wrappings), but of disparate indivi-
supported and buttressed the local power of these elites by
dual documents (both private and official) discarded by the
ensuring the conditions for increased wealth (predominantly
inhabitants of the metropolis.
based on landownership) and offering enhanced status within
Any estimation of overall landholding patterns in the Oxy-
an empire-wide hierarchy of rank.
rhynchite nome can only be based on a combination of guesswork
Through much of the eastern empire, Greek cities (poleis)
and comparison with data from elsewhere in Egypt. It is fortu-
formed both the institutional basis of local government and
nate, therefore, that the recent re-edition of the fourth-century
Hermopolite land registers which provide potentially the best ' A. K. Bowman, 'Landholding in the Hermopolite Nome in the Fourth
basis for comparison with the neighbouring Oxyrhynchite nome Century AD', JRS 75 (1985), 137-63; R. S. Bagnall 'Landholding in Late Roman
has prompted two major studies of landholding distribution using Egypt: The Distribution of Wealth', JRS 8z (1992), 128-64; see further§ 3 below.

102 103
 The Landowners and their Properties The Landowners and their Properties
more generally the focus for elite activity and influence. Egypt, important local landowning families; and finally, with the univer-
however, until AD 200 possessed only four poleis: cosmopolitan sal grant of citizenship by the Constitutio Antoniniana of AD 212, to
Alexandria, the main seat of the small Roman provincial bureau- a status possessed by even the most humble villager. In the follow-
cracy, and perceived as 'ad Aegyptum' rather than part of Egypt ing discussion of landowning by the various status groups, there-
proper; Naukratis and Ptolemais, neither now of more than local fore, it is convenient to adopt a roughly chronological approach.
importance; and Hadrian's new, self-consciously Hellenic, foun- Shortly after Octavian's victory in Egypt we find Roman
dation of Antinoopolis. The bulk of Egypt was administered
citizens in various parts of the chora, whether men who had
directly, on the regional basis of the nomes. Yet the personnel
served in the various Roman armies in Egypt in the first century
of this direct administration was supplied by basically the same
BC, or agents and freedmen of Octavian's friends and relations
social class as the city-based elites of the other eastern provinces:
the upper classes of Alexandria and of the nome metropoleis. More- who had been allowed to acquire Egyptian estates. 3 Already by 5/4.
over, the metropoleis already possessed the social structure and BC, the neighbours to a plot of basilike ge at Antipera Pela
institutions of Greek cities long before Septimius Severus granted included 'Vibius the centurion', while in AD 26 tax arrears were
them political status as poleis. Thus in Egypt no less than else,vhere, recorded on several plots of eonemene and other land in the Lower
Roman rule was founded on, and maintained through, the solid toparchy in the name of C. Julius Socrates. 4 But even these cases,
prosperity of an urban Hellenized upper class of landowners. particularly the second, may represent provincials who had
It has recently been demonstrated how Imperial policy towards acquired Roman citizenship as a reward for services rendered.
Egypt from Augustus onwards was deliberately directed towards Immigration by Roman citizens from outside Egypt into the
fostering such a class, by introducing rigidly hereditary grades of chora ,vas clearly extremely limited even in the earliest years of
privileged status ,, 1 ithin the legal category of Aiguptioi (provin- Roman rule, and thereafter apparently ceased entirely. Through-
cials other than the citizens of Alexandria and the other poleis), out our period, the soldiers and veterans who are found owning
which distinguished the more Hellenized groups-the gymnasia! land in the Oxyrhynchite nome were, like their civilian counter-
class and the metropolitans paying a reduced rate of poll tax- parts, natives of the province, sometimes from local families. 5 L.
from the mass of peasants. 2 The introduction of private land- Pompei us Niger, a legionary veteran who suffered a road accident
ownership on a large scale was clearly primarily intended to while returning by donkey from the country, probably on a visit
6
benefit these elite groups, even though possession of such land to a landed property, was certainly of Oxyrhynchite descent.
was not formally confined to them.
The Oxyrhynchite papyri, because of their derivation from the
3 H. Braunert, Die Binnenwanderung. Studien zur Sozialgeschichte Agyptens in
der Ptolemiier- und Kaiser-zeit (Donn, 1964), 224f., E. G. Turner, 'Oxyrhynchus
rubbish dumps of the metropolis, document most thoroughly the and Rome' HSCP 79 (1975), 1-24, at 12f.; J. R. Rea, 'Lease of a Red Cow Called
landowning activities of this privileged metropolitan class. But Thayris' JEA 68 (r982), 277-82. 4
P. Oslo II 26, P. Oxy. Hels. 9.
5 e.g. P. Oxy. XXII 2349 (a soldier of Alexandrian origin); XII 1508; PSI VII
they also provide insights into the changing significance of other
819; P. Oxy. XIV 1646 (Alexandrian veteran); XXII 2346.22; XII 1424; XII 1470.
elite status groups, notably Alexandrians and Roman citizens The connections of M. Vibius Horigenes, the vendor in P. Coll. Youtie I 65, seem
(including army veterans), among the landowners of the nome. to be with Alexandria rather than Oxyrhynchus, where he appointed a local man
The significance of these statuses underwent considerable change to represent him.
6 P. Fouad 28, revised by E. Van't Dack in S. Janeras (ed.), i\lliscellania
in the course of the Principate, particularly the Roman citizen- Papirologica R. Roca-Puig (Barcelona, 1987), 334 f. An increasingly full archive
ship, which developed from a rarity, indicating, if not actually of documents relating to Niger and his family is becoming recognized: see J.
non-Egyptian origin, then patronage by Roman generals and \Vhitehorne, 'Soldiers and Veterans in the Local Economy of First Century
Oxyrhynchus', in M. Capasso et al. (eds.), lvfiscellanea papirologica in occasione
politicians; to a privilege progressively more common among di bicentenario dell'edizione della Charta Borgiana (Florence, 1990), ii. 543-57, at
555-7, and a forthcoming article by Alston and Rathbone. R. Alston, Soldier and
2
A. K. Bowman and D. \\I. Rathbone, 'Cities and Administration in Roman society in Roman Egypt: A Social History (London, 1995) now provides the most
Egypt', JRS 82 ( 1992) 107-27, esp. 120 ff. complete analysis of the social roles of veterans in Roman Egypt.

104 I05
 The Landowners and their Properties The Landowners and their Properties

All Roman citizens (and Alexandrians) were privileged by ship, since Alexandrians would keep their legal documents in
exemption from poll tax; and we should expect veterans, further Alexandria, not in Oxyrhynchus, but in so far as the inhabitants
assisted by their savings and a capital grant on discharge, to of Alexandria gained their livelihood from agricultural land
occupy an advantaged position in the economy of the name. A rather than from trade and manufacture, this is more likely to
recent study bears out this expectation to some degree, demon- have been predominantly situated in the Delta, particularly
12
strating an impressive diversity of economic interests, from land- within the designated Alexandrian chora.
owning to shipping, but suggesting a relatively modest scale of The handful of families who clearly held substantial estates in
prosperity. 7 Nor do veterans appear to have formed a homoge- the Oxyrhynchite nome (although the actual size of these estates
neous group, dominating the agricultual economy of a locality, as is largely a matter of guesswork) probably had ancestral origins in
that region, although in our evidence they are designated as
they seem to have done at Karanis, to judge from the evidence of
holders of high office in Alexandria and in the Roman provincial
the Tax Rolls. 8 The economic advantages which veterans enjoyed
administration. Our earliest well-documented example is the
were not necessarily passed on to their children; by 144, even
family of Julii Theones, whose Oxyrhynchite estates are illumi-
citizenship was denied to offspring of auxiliaries born before nated by a group of papers from the mid-second century, when
their date of discharge. 9 Julius Theon (V) was archidikastes at Alexandria (in 161).' 3
In the early Principate, Roman citizens in the chora, particu- Although the family also possessed Arsinoite and Hermopolite
larly civilians, would necessarily also be citizens of Alexandria, properties, 14 the Oxyrhynchite estates probably formed the core
since (according to Pliny the Younger) it was normal policy to of their holdings ('Theon' was a distinctively Oxyrhynchite
grant Roman citizenship in Egypt only to persons who already name, and there was a family house, with bath, in Oxy-
possessed Alexandrian citizenship. ' 0 There were, of course, large rhynchus). A Lower and Upper Ousia, initially both managed
numbers of ordinary Alexandrian citizens who were not also by a single prostates, were later put under separate management,
Roman citizens; but, although one can cite numerous cases the Upper Ousia being linked with property near Kerkemounis
throughout the period of Alexandrians owning land in the Oxy- (in the Upper toparchy). Bath-houses at Kerkemounis and Sko
rhynchite name, there is little to suggest that the mass of ordinary produced income for the estate. Further agricultural land lay near
Terythis, nearby Adaiou epoikion, Leon, and epoikion of Her-
Alexandrians ever acquired a significant hold on the land of the
aklas. 15 The estate produced cereals, fodder, and wine, the latter
nome in comparison with the inhabitants of the metropolis. u It
in some quantity, if the 7,165 jars produced by the pottery of the
could, of course, be argued that contracts excavated at Oxy- 6
Lower Ousia in 156'7 were all required for estate produce.' A
rhynchus under-represent the extent of Alexandrian landowner- year's produce of wine from the estate's Southern Chorion was
7 ,Vhitehome, ibid.; also I. Biezunska-Malowist, 'Les Citoyens romains a sold for 1,500 dr.
Oxrrhyn~hos aux deux premiers siecles de !'Empire', Le Mo,nde grec, 741-7. Probable ancestors of these Theones are attested from the
I. B1ezuti.ska-Malowist, 'La Propriete fonciere dans l'Egypte romaine et le earliest years of Roman rule in Egypt, when land in the Oxy-
r8le de !'element romain' in M. I. Finley (ed.), Problemes de la terre, 253--65,at 259.
Nevertheless, a lease of land by Lucius Diogenes which required the rent to be
rhynchite nome from the account of the Emperor Augustus,
paid by the measure of a veteran, Longinus, may illustrate the kind of small-scale
12
favour which veterans might be able to petform for one another; P. Oxy. XXXIII For which see P. Oxy. X 1274, XII 1462.
2676. '3 Collected as P. Theon., passim (:29texts); see Sijpesteijn's introd. (pp. 1-12) for
9 J. B. Campbell, The Emperor and the Roman Army, 31 BC-AD 235 (Oxford, a general discussion of the family and its properties, with suggested genealogy. P.
14
1984), 439-45. Oxy. L 3588 is now added to the archive. P. Theon. 7, n.
0 15 Terythis was near the Nile, in the Eastern toparchy, as was Adaiou and
' D. Delia, Alexandrian Citizenship during the Raman Principate (Atlanta,
1991), 4off., plausibly argues that Pliny's statement (Ep. 10.6) should not be taken probably Leon (see SB XIV 11428).
16 P. Oxy. L 3588; according to H. M. Cockle's (admittedly tentative) estimates,
to have literal and universal application, particularly to army recruits; but it surely
represents normal practice for civilians, at least for his own period. this would imply some 150 arouras under vines ('Pottery manufacture in Roman
11
Cf. Braunert, Binnenwanderung, 113ff. Egypt', JRS 71 (1981), 87-97, at 96).

106 107
 The Landowners and their Properties The Landowners and their Properties
sacred to Isis of Taposiris, was conceded by the prefect C. parcels of land in a fragment of a third-century survey of land-
Tyrannius (7-4 BC) to C. Julius Theon, ex-archiereus and hypom- holdings, the location of which is unfortunately uncertain. :n
nematographos, and later to his son C. Julius by the prefect C. The same survey also refers to land in the name of another
Julius Aquila (P. Oxy. XII 1434). A contract of AD I l I dividing equestrian landowner, Aurelius Achilles. The Oxyrhynchite
more than fifty-nine slaves, property of the deceased Ti. Julius papyri contain a number of references to landowners of this
Theon, ex-hypomnematographos and gymnasiarch, between his name, and it is not certain which refer to the same individual.
two sons Theon (ex-strategos and archidikastes) and Sarapion, An equestrian Aurelius Achilles paid a deposit into the granary of
and his grandson Theon, fills in our knowledge of the family in Tanais in 248-9; this could be the same man if the land survey
the generations preceding the estate archive, and corroborates the relates to a current owner, as also could be the Achilles who leased
family's connections with the Hermopolite and Arsinoite nomes, out land near Tholthis via a pragmateutes. 22 The Aurelius
in addition to suggesting links with further locations in the Achilles to whom some of the corn dole applications are
Oxyrhynchite: Kerkethyris {Western toparchy) and the Lower addressed later in the century, as well as the man who appears
toparchy (P. Oxy. XLIV 3197). The gymnasiarch Julius Theon along with Calpurnius Horion in a text of 264, are almost
who held grain deposits at Phoboou and Seryphis, and Julius certainly identical with the depositor and lessor. 23 But it is
Sarapion, hypomnematographos, who had a grain deposit at unclear whether the same man also possessed landholdings at
Senepta, were presumably identical with two of the contracting Pela, at Peenno, and in the Thmoisepho toparchy. 24
parties of the division of slaves. 17 A Julius Theon recorded in AD Similar problems of identification are posed with another
267 as a former owner of land near Paimis, immediately to the notable landowner, Aurelius Ammonion, vir egregius, whose
north of Oxyrhynchus itself, no doubt also belonged to the affairs can be glimpsed in surviving correspondence between
family, either in the second or early third century. 18 Thus, even his pragmateutai. He probably served as procurator usiacus, and
though we cannot trace the size and development of this family's shortly afterwards his own estates (including the epoikion 'for-
Oxyrhynchite estates with any precision, we gain a clear impres- merly of the priests', of unknown location) were confiscated. 25
sion of extensive landed interests (involving five of the six Oxy- We are on somewhat surer ground with the notable family of
rhynchite toparchies, as well as two other nomes) underpinning Alexandrian office-holders of whom the Calpurnius Horion men-
the prominence of its members in the city life of Alexandria. 19
By the end of the second century, an Imperial procurator is also •• SB XVI 14067 lines 3, 6, 12, 20, 22, 25, possibly 28. The editor's expansion
found in possession of Oxyrhynchite estates. Information on KA(~pov) cannot be correct, since in several of the entries another kleros-name
precedes the phrase 'in the name of the same Kl( ) Severns'. Place names
Claudius Severus alias Diodorus, ex-hypomnematographos and mentioned in the text include Thosbis (Upper toparchy) and Leukiou (Western).
procurator Augusti, gradually accumulates. In AD 190, his epitro- ,. P. Oxy. XII 1444, SB XIV 12025. The phrase 'in the name of' in the land
pos (manager), himself a citizen of Antinoopolis, reported that survey does not necessarily refer to a former owner, but literally to the name in
which the property was registered, which in the third century often was out of
thieves had broken into the yard of his ktema near Sennis, date, if not actually fictitious.
stealing two calves (P. Koln III 143). His property was later •
3
Discussion and references, P. Oxy. XL pp. 31 f.
confiscated: a long account of grain, also largely concerned with '4 Pela: P. Gen. II 116 lines 14 f.(where the editorial brackets {} are not required;

Sennis, includes two deposits by georgoi from his former prop- he was neighbour both to the north-east and east); Thmoisepho toparchy: P. Oxy.
20 XII 1534; Peenno: P. Oxy. X 1283, which more plausibly refers to Achilles alias
erty. His name occurs again in connection with numerous lsidoros, a holder of metropolitan office in 199 (P. Oxy. VI 908, cf. VII 1046).
• 5 The 'core' of the archive consists of P. Oxy. XII 1514, 1544, XX 2285, 2286,
'
7
P. Oxy. XXXVIII
2865--7 (from the 120s). ' 8 P. Oxy. XII 1475 line 18. XX.XVI 2775; for other possible additions, see R. S. Bagnall, 'The Dossier of
9
' For the meaning and significance of the various civic offices of Alexandria, Aurelius Ammonion', CE 66 (1991), 289-93. Note that it is possible, though not
see Bowman and Rathbone, JRS 82 (1992), 114-9; Delia, Alexandrian Citizenship compelling, to identify this Ammonion with the Achilles associated with Calpur-
during the Roman Principate, eh. 4; on the hypomnematographos, J. E. G. White- nius Horion (his full name was Aur. Achilles alias Ammonios, vir egregius: P. Oxy.
horne, 'The Hypomnematographus in the Roman Period', Aegyptus, 67 (1987), XXXI 2568, cf_ P. Harr. II 201). Bagnall suggests that Ammonion alias Achilles ex-
101--25. exegetes of Alexandria (SB XIV 12158=VIII 9854) could be the Ammonion of the
0
• P. Oxy. XLIV 3169 (dated 174-212), lines 48, 58, corrected in P. Oxy. LV p. xix. archive in his youth.

108 ro9
 The Landowners and their Properties The Landowners and their Properties
tioned above was surely a descendant. 26 At the start of the third for whom his father bought sometime after 212 a vineyard near
century, Aurelius Horion, ex-strategos and archidikastes of Alex- Souis adjoining the family property on three sides, apparently
andria, obtained Imperial permission to provide a benefaction represents a younger generation, perhaps a grandson. 32
funding annual ephebic contests at Oxyrhynchus, and to relieve The same Italian excavation which produced the private docu-
the burden of liturgies in the villages where he and his sons ments of Calpurnius Firmus the elder also unearthed papers of
owned estates, a classic instance of euergetism. 27 He died before another well-known family, that of Sarapion alias Apollonianus. 33
247, if he was the Aurelius Horion whose heirs owned a vineyard This family did not hold Roman citizenship until the Constitutio
and arable land near Pela." 8 From a coincidence of nomenclature Antoniniana, nor do we hear of Alexandrian office, although one
it now appears likely that one of his sons was none other tha~ member, Spartiates alias Chairemon, married the daughter of an
Calpurnius Aurelius Theon, Fellow of the Alexandrian Museum Alexandrian councillor (P Coll. You.tie II 67). But several mem-
and father of the wealthy female landowner Calpumia Heraklia bers held municipal office in Oxyrhynchus, and the Sarapion alias
alias Eudamia. Her estates, in the Eastern and Lower toparchies, Apollonianus (II) most prominent in the archive had a career
and surely occupying more than 2000 arouras, are discussed in which developed from the metropolitan gymnasiarchy to office as
more detail below (§ 5 (a) and (b) ); her father's landed interests strategos in the Arsinoite and later the Hermopolite nome. 34
are undocumented, but were sufficiently extensive to require the The papyri offer glimpses of a family rising in wealth and
services of a logopraktor, an accounts manager. 29 influence over the second and third centuries. A declaration of
Horion himself was associated in both landholding and civic abrochos submitted by Sarapion alias Apollonianus (II) in 194"5
endowments with another Alexandrian luminary, Calpurnius includes several parcels of land apparently still registered in the
Firmus. 30 Possibly both men shared the same steward, Philoro- names of his grandfather and great-uncle, Pausanias and Sara-
maios, and it has been suggested that Horion's unusual name pion, in addition to that of a cousin, Didyme. 35 The massive sum
(sometimes Calpurnius Aurelius Horion) derives from adoption of 12,000 drachmas borrowed in 156 by Pausanias' son Spartas is
by these Calpurnii. 3 ' The Calpurnii dealt in the marketing of probably less a reflection of financial distress than of enterprise
funded by credit, since later he was able himself to lend 1,800
wine bought from other estate owners, as well as presumably
drachmas at interest to a woman on the security of her arable land
marketing produce from their own vineyards (PSI XII 1252).
near Chusis. 36
L. Calpurnius Firmus, the minor son of L. Calpurnius Gaius,
Several early third-century texts attest landed interests of a
'
6
He also was an ex-hypomnematographos and eques: P. Oxy. XL 2925; see XL Sarapion alias Apollonianus, who can be plausibly, though not
pp. 31 f. and R. S. Bagnall, CE 66 (1991), 292. definitively, identified with Spartas' son (Sarapion alias Apollo-
7
• P. Oxy. IV 705; cf. K. J. Rigsby, 'Sacred Ephebic Games at Oxyrhynchus', CE nianus II). A parcel of u¼ arouras in the kleros of Apollonios at
5:\~1977), 147-55. . . .
P. Gen. II r 16 lme 26. Honon 1s of course a relatively common name, but the Sko was leased in 219 to a local villager for lentil cultivation (P
b~nefactor must have been by far the best-known Horion at this period, and the
high proportion of other prominent citizens named in this text makes it more 32
P. Oxy. XXXIV 2723; he might be the prytanis of Oxyrhynchus addressed in
likely that the Horion mentioned was well known. SB XVI 12494. See also P. Oxy. LI 3606 line 4.
9 33
• P. Oxy. L 3564; the introduction and notes substantiate the connection with See M. L. Moioli, 'La famiglia di Sarapion alias Apollonianus', Acme, 40
Horion. (1987), 123-36, for a full discussion of the archive, tracing ancestors back to the
0
: _PSI XII 1255, P. Oxy. XXXVIII 2848 (this text, dated 225, refers to an early second century. The Italian texts come from the Korn Ali Gamman (p. 135).
ex1stmg endowment made by Horion and sons and Calpurnius Firmus). 3-4 G. Bastianini, 'La carriera di Sarapion alias Apollonianus', Aegyptus, 49
31
P. Oxy. L 3564 line I note. Philoromaios was Horion's steward in AD 209 (P. (1969) 14g-82.
Oxy. XII 1560); the 'axiologotatos Calpurnius' to whom he wrote a letter about 35 PSI Congr. XVII 25; there is no problem about the identification of Pausa-

w~ne (SB XII 10918; cf. P. Oxy. XIV 1764) is normally assumed to be Calpurnius nias and Sarapion with the persons in the early second century (pace Moioli p.125
Firmus, although we should note also the axiologotatos Calpurnius Petronianus n. 1); registrations were frequently out of date.
archidikastes c.225, landowner at Pela and Paomis (P. Gen. II 116, PSI VII 733, P. 3
PSI XII 1253, P. Oxy. XVII 2134. The family made other loans in the second
Oxy. XXXIV 2705, 2706). century: Moioli 133f.

IIO II I
 The Landowners and their Properties The Landowners and their Properties

Oxy. XVIII 2189). There was a half-share of another 76 arouras of New texts have brought to light further connections between
arable land near Sko, equipped with a waterwheel, of which part other prominent Oxyrhynchite landowners in the mid-third
was leased out in 226 to grow wheat and green fodder. 37 Less century AD. Septimius Epimachos, gymnasiarch of Oxyrhynchus
predictably, land was rented from three villagers of neighbouring and later eutheniarch of Alexandria, a landowner at Pela, emerges
Episemou epoikion. 38 Correspondence between Severus (a man- as the father of Aur. Sarapion alias Dionysotheon, who, among
ager or friend) and Apollonianus reveals an opportunistic (and other transactions, leased out land at Thosbis, contributed to the
perhaps illicit) deal over ousiac land in the Hermopolite nome. 39 annona in the Upper toparchy on behalf of his son Aur. Septi-
In the mid-third century, Spartiates alias Chairemon, who was mius, and acted for the veteran M. Vibius Horigenes in a sale of
the son of Sarapion alias Apollonianus (II), continued the family land. 44 The name Septimius may indeed reflect a family relation-
tradition of leasing land (again at Sko) from villagers, surely not ship with the purchaser in that sale, Aur. Septimius Serenos,
from mere philanthropy; he was apparently relieving them of a father of Septimus Eudaimon and Aurelia Apia who owned a
debt, and the transaction was presumably intended to enhance vineyard with a pottery near Sennis (called 'Mother's'), a con-
both his influence and wealth (P. Ryl. IV 683). He paid city dues siderable establishment, to judge by the number of pots pro-
for Talao, Toka, and Senepta on behalf of his sister Eudaimonis; duced.45 Serenos and his son are not known to have had any
and on his own account supplied 300 jars of wine for the provi- Alexandrian connections, but both held municipal office; Eudai-
sioning of troops and deposited 100 artabas of wheat through the mon in 248 had resigned his property to escape serving as
granary of Seryphis. 40 The extremely lavish dowry which he had eutheniarch, secure in the knowledge that he would in due
provided for his daughter Apollonarion was recovered by his 46
course inherit greater wealth from his parents.
wife, Dioskouriaina alias Sabina, after their son-in-law's It is already clear from the families discussed above that
decease, since he was away at the time, serving as strategos of women, as landowners in their own right, were able to enhance
the HermopoliteY Dioskouriaina alias Sabina is known as a the wealth of their marital families, hoping to ensure continued
landholder in her own right. She and her son Sarapion alias prosperity and status for their descendants. The two daughters of
Apollonianus (III) received advanced payment for the wine M. Aurelius Saras, of an Alexandrian office-holding family,
crop of their vineyard near Chusis in 265, possibly a sign that inherited a fortune worth zoo,ooo HS from their mother. 47
her husband was dead and the family in some financial diffi- Women had their own titles of rank, particularly matrona sto-
culty. 42 The Dioskouriaina, matrona stolata, who in 29v'3 deliv- lata, which, it has recently been suggested, was used of female
ered a petition of complaint about an unsatisfactory tenant of a landowners of equestrian wealth in general, not merely the
vineyard near Ibion Chuseos and grain land, seems to be the same
woman in her old age. 43 44 References and discussion in U. Wartenberg, 'The Family of Aurelius
Sarapion alias Dionysotheon', Proc. 19 lnt. Congr. Pap. 15-22, and 'PSI VII 795
37
P. Oxy. XVII 2137; the co-owner, Aurelia Ptolema alias Magna, is not known Revised', ZPE 94 (1992), 128-34.
as a relative. +s P. Oxy. L 3596-7, with H. Cockle, 'Pottery manufacture', JRS 71 (1981), 87-
38 97, esp. 92, 96.
SB I 5806; the reading of the area as 700 ar. is uncertain, and seems
46 P. Oxy. XXXVIII 2854; at that stage Eudaimon may not have owned much
improbably large. No photograph is available (the text was not published except
in SB, where the original is said to be in Kloster Beuron); but I wonder if one land himself· he leased the former estate of the Alexandrian, Claudius Syrian.
could read ~1Jµo<1lwv for hr-raKoa{wv. 47 P. Oxy.' VIII n14 (AD 237); nevertheless, the younger daughter, Aurelia
39 PSI XII 1260, discussed in detail in Ch. II § 5; cf. PSI Congr. XI 11. Apollonia alias Dieus, much later in life claimed to possess only one yoke of
0
+ P. Oxy. XVII 2140, XLVII 3290, XVII 2126. oxen; P. Oxy. XL VII I 2849 (296). I am tempted, admittedly without strong
+' P. Coll. Youtie II 67, AD 26o'1. There was a young grandson, Aur. Epimachos. support, to connect with this family the obscure taxation account P. Oxy. XVII
+~ PSI XII 1249, 1250; see Moioli, p.133. 2129, which concerns several hundred arouras, spread through every toparchy, in
43
P. Oxy. XXXIV 2712; her father's name differs slightly from P. Coll. Youtie II the names of Saras and his daughters (and his father). Saras in that text was not a
67, but in both cases the woman seems to be literate. (The female autho, of P. Oxy. villager, as Braunert, Binnenwanderung, 193 suggests; 'Mermertha' in line 2
XLVI 3291, a letter on the ,evene of 3290, might also be Dioskouriaina). denotes the location of the land, not Saras' idia (I owe this point to J. R. Rea).

II2 IIJ
 The Landowners and their Properties The Landowners and their Properties

relatives of high-ranking procurators. 48 Aurelia Herakleidiaina By AD 225, her property had been confiscated, but continued for
matrona stolata and daughter of an Alexandrian councillor, wa~ some time to be managed as a unit. In that year, 900 artabas of
a beneficiary in a division of a very large Oxyrhynchite and wheat were owed to her account, measured by the gnomon of the
ousia, while from seven years later we have two applications to
Hennopolite estate, receiving land at Ibion Chusis, land in the
lease land at Psobthis and Talao in the Lower toparchy addressed
Upper toparchy, several parcels at Tholthis Artapatou, and
to the pragmateutes of her former estate. 56
further parcels at Paimis and Antipera Pela, where she later
This survey of the best-known Oxyrhynchite landowners,
leased out land for flax cultivation. 49 Aurelia Diogenis alias
incomplete though our evidence is, does tend to bear out the
Tourbiaina, clarissima, matrona stolata, possessed vineyards in
connection one would expect between large-scale landowning
the neighbourhood of Senepta and Sennis supervised by phron-
and social prominence, not merely at a metropolitan level but
tistai and at least one pronoetes.50
in Alexandrian or provincial offices. The comparative data from
Earlier in the third century there had been the shadowy Julia
the Hermopolite nome discussed in the next section suggests that
Isidora, clarissima, Sl a contemporary of the better known Claudia
no more than a few dozen individuals in each generation will have
Isidora alias Apia, whose titles suggest marginally less elevated
status. 52 A recently published property register may refer to held estates of 500 arouras or more. It is likely that we have a
Claudia Isidora as a female gymnasiarch, as well as listing some representative sample of these, particularly in the best-documen-
relatively small parcels of land. 53 Her total estates must however ted period, the third century, among the evidence discussed
have been extensive, although as usual there is no 'means of above.
establishing their actual area. She was one of the few individual There were, on the other hand, many more members of the
payers of Crown tax in a list organized largely by village, and on gymnasia! and bouleutic class than this select group of land-
another occasion made a sizeable payment for apomoira. An estate owners in the nome whose horizons stretched to Alexandria or
in the Small Oasis produced an annual rent of I talent 3,000 to high office in the provincial administration, as can be seen
drachmas; her estates at Peenno in the Middle toparchy and at from a glance at the relevant prosopographical lists. 57 Documents
Tholthis in the Thmoisepho toparchy were under management by in which gymnasiarchs and councillors or their offspring appear
phrontistai. Payments on her behalf to the sitologoi of Pthochis also as lessors (or lessees) of land, buyers, or sellers, tend to bear out
suggest a landholding there. 54 A purchase at auction, at a bargain the view of Rostovtzeff that, while comfortably well-off, the
price, seems to have added further property (a house and perhaps average curial was far from being a large estate owner of the
a fruit garden) at Tholthis in the Lower toparchy and more at kind discussed in previous paragraphs. 58 Of course our evidence
Tychinphagon. A much more expensive house purchase in Oxy- is incomplete; it is instructive to note how many curials cited in
rhynchus added to the other houses she owned in the metropolis. 55 the two lists mentioned above have left no trace of their prop-
48
erty-holdings. Although one can give examples which show the
Rathbone, Economic Rationalism, 48.
49 P. Oxy. XIV 1637, P. Coll. Youtie II 68. An order to supply fruit to a child 56 P. Oxy. XXXI 2566, SB XIV rr403 (=J. D. Thomas, JPP 18 (1974), 239-44;
called Herakleidiaina may refer to the same person: P. Oxy. LVIII 3923.
50
PSI I 83, V 472, XIII 1338; see R. Remondon, CE 41 (1966), r65. on p. 239 Thomas alludes to several further papyri concerning Claudia Isidora
5
' P. Harr. II 224, with discussion.
which he is preparing for publication).
57 P. J. Sijpesteijn, Nouvelle liste des gymnasiarques des metropoles de l'Egypte
s• Axiologotate: P. Oxy. XII 1578 col. iii (see P. Oxy. XIV 1630 line 3 n.); kmtiste;
P. Oxy. ined. (W. H. Willis, 'Documents among the Robinson Papyri', BASP 25 romaine (Stud. Amstel. XXVII) (Zutphen, 1986); A. K. Bowman, The Town
(1988), 99-127, at 120; the Isidora lamprotate (clarissima) of P. Oxy. XLIV 3169 line Councils of Roman Egypt (Am. Stud. Pap.11) (Toronto, 1971), App. I, pp.
184 could refer to Julia Isidora, not to Claudia). 131ff.; I. Fikhman, 'Oxirinchskie kuriali', Archiv, 22/3 (1974), 47-87, at 64ff.
58 SEHRF' ii. 745 n. 55. For leases, see Appendix 2; sales, e.g. P. Oxy. XII 1475,
:: SB XVI 12235; but cf. L. Casarico, 'Donne ginnesiarco', ZPE 48 (1982), r l?-23·
P. Oxy. XIV 1659; VII 1046; P. Oxy. XIV 1630; XLI 2997; XII 1578; P. Oxy. XLVII 3365 (=P. Coll. Youtie I 65), LI 3638. Fikhman, Archiv, 22/3 (1974) 52ff.
XII 1530. provides a thorough discussion (in Russian) of curials' property; see also M.
ss P. Rob. inv. 4, in Willis, BASP 25 (1988), 99-127, at I 18ff.; P. Oxy. XIV 1634, Drew-Bear, 'Les Conseillers municipaux des metropoles au Ille siecle apres J.-
P. Yale 6g, P. Oslo III 111 lines 125-30. C.', CE 59 (1984), 315-32.

114 115
 The Landowners and their Properties The Landowners and their Properties
prosperity of individual curials, 59 the persistent difficulties in and twenty-three metropolitans contributing 326 artabas 8 choi-
finding liturgists, and the decision by some curials to cede their nikes. Can this provide a realistic indication of the relative landed
property rather than perform a liturgy, indicates that the wealth wealth of metropolitan and village landowners in the district
of the less prosperous members of that order was not always where the granary was located?
adequate to cover their financial obligations to their home city. 6o In the introduction to the account, the editor notes that 'The
Even more numerous in our evidence are the masses of ordin- economic importance of the metropolitans in this text far exceeds
ary inhabitants of the metropolis, who neither possessed gymna- their numbers', but expresses doubt that this reflects their true
sia! status nor held municipal office. In fact, in the surviving position, since the list, which records only payments made by
papyri, metropolitans heavily predominate even over villagers. banking transaction, should be expected to under-represent small
However, the surviving documents are surely misleading in this farmers. This argument certainly has force against our taking the
respect, since they were discovered on the rubbish dumps of the account to give an accurate representation either of the relative
metropolis, and thus presumably represent documents discarded numbers of all the metropolitan and village landowners in the
by those closely connected with Oxyrhynchus itself. The personal locality, or of the relative size of the total contributions made by
papers of villagers would be kept, and eventually abandoned, in villagers as a whole and metropolitans as a whole, and so by
their own locality; on the whole, our texts mention villagers only inference of the proportion of land in the locality in the hands
through their dealings with people from the metropolis. of villagers and metropolitans.
The probable overall balance of landholding between metro- However, the fact that the payments were made by banking
politans and villagers can only be estimated on the basis of transaction does not in itself invalidate comparison of the two
comparative evidence, but there is one Oxyrhynchite text groups in terms of the size of individual tax payments. Indeed,
which, with qualifications, may indicate the relative wealth of since it is reasonable to assume that the villagers who paid
individual metropolitan and village landholders in a locality. through the granary tended to be the more prosperous members
This is an account of grain paid into a village granary at an of their community, the difference in the amounts paid by the two
unspecified date in the late second or early third century. 61 groups should have been minimized rather than exaggerated.
Some of the entries took the form of deposits (themata), but There are other possible problems; in the absence of the pre-
the majority were tax payments, mostly for the villages of amble, it is not certain that all the recorded figures represent
Senepta and Sennis. The papyrus contains over a hundred complete payments for comparable periods. 62 It is conceivable
separate entries for individual tax payments, although some of that villagers preferred to pay taxes in instalments, while metro-
these are not complete. The usable entries, recording both the politans tended to pay them in full on a single occasion. Grain
size of the payment and whether it was made for village or taxes were, however, normally collected in full from all taxpayers
metropolitan dues, show sixty villagers contributing 144½artabas as soon as possible after the harvest, and so there seems little
ground in fact for taking the payments of individual villagers to
59
Of the two most obviously prosperous curials discussed by Fikhman (Archiv, be any less complete than those of the metropolitans.
2v'3 (1974) 54), it is interesting that one had married a matrona stolata (P. Oxy. VI
9ozt the other had held the post of basilikogrammateus (P. Oxy. X 1274). Thus P Oxy. 3 I 69 surely does reflect a genuine disparity
P. Oxy. X 1252, XII 1405 with XLIII 3105 (Rescript of Severus); XII 1415, between the average tax payments in wheat made by the villagers
1418, XXXVIII 2854; XLIV 3175; more generally Rostovtzeff, SEHRE' ii 721 f. n. and by the metropolitans, which implies a corresponding dispar-
45.
6
' P. Oxy. XLIV 3169. If the Claudius Severus of P. Ktiln III 143 is correctly
ity in the size of their landholdings. The mean village contribution
identified with the former owner Severus in P. Oxy. 3169 48 and 58 (see n. 20
above), the possible dates for the latter document are narrowed down to 19o-z12. 6
' Note that some individuals seem to have made more than one payment for
On the rearrangement of the fragments and textual emendations, see P. Oxy. land at a single village: e.g. lines 165f., 214£., but not 44f. (see P. Oxy. XLVII p.
XLVII p. xviii. x:viii).

II6 rr7
 The Landowners and their Properties The Landowners and their Properties
works out as 2.42 artabas per person, the mean metropolitan recorded in the volumes of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri available to
payment over five times that figure (14.17 artabas). On the other them. 66 But since, as will be shown in the next section, a person's
hand, some villagers paid more than some metropolitans; 63 the total landholding often consisted of more than one parcel, it is
main difference lies in the much higher proportion of villagers essential for a successful analysis of landholding areas to distin-
(almost half) who contributed under one artaba each, and in the guish evidence for plot size from that for total landholding size.
fact that several individual metropolitans paid over forty artabas, Hansen and Schi0ler explicitly drew this distinction only in their
whereas the largest single village payments were 12-13 artabas. 64 It discussion of the Hermopolite land register P. Flor. I 71, and did
is unclear whether further allowance should be made for land held not make clear precisely how they interpreted the Oxyrhynchite
by the same persons in villages not mentioned in the account, evidence. From their conclusions, they seem to have assumed that
allowing for an even greater disparity of wealth than is explicit most figures referred to total landholding sizes, whereas in fact
in the surviving record. 65 The text does seem to suggest that in many cases the areas of land mentioned are very unlikely to
within the locality represented by the account, although the have comprised the entire holdings of their owners. Thus
two groups to some extent overlapped in landholding size, most Hansen and Schi0ler's statistics can be taken as valid only for
individual metropolitan landowners possessed more land than the range of individual parcel sizes, and do not support conclu-
did most villagers, and the holdings of the wealthiest metropoli- sions about the areas of complete landholdings. 67
tans vastly exceeded those of any villagers. Must we therefore abandon all attempt to assess the range of
This does not, of course, lead to any conclusions about the total landholding sizes in the nome? It must, I think, be recognized
areas of land in the locality in the possession of metropolitans and that the papyri from Oxyrhynchus published so far provide no
villagers; the sheer numerical preponderance of villagers, includ- valid basis for estimating the range of total landholding sizes,
ing those who paid their taxes direct, must have outweighed the either within one village, or in the nome as a whole; we can only
effect of the much larger average size of individual metropolitan hope that future publications will one day produce some suitable
holdings. In order to gain any sense of the overall balance, we material. But meanwhile, comparative evidence can help to
must resort to the comparative material. supply a general context with which to give some meaning to
the plentiful but disparate evidence about landholding found in
3. THE SPECTRUM OF LANDHOLDING SIZE: COMPARATIVE the Oxyrhynchite papyri.
EVIDENCE Even a precise knowledge of landholding sizes is at best only
an approximate index of the relative prosperity of landholders.
From some locations in Roman Egypt, there have survived land Attempts to establish the 'minimum area of land required to
registers sufficiently detailed and complete to permit conclusions support a family' presuppose economically isolated and self-
about the general range of landholding sizes within a given area. sufficient households deriving their income from a single
No similar material exists for the Oxyrhynchite nome. However, source. Where families gained their livelihood from a variety of
in their attempted statistical analysis of the data on landholding sources, including parcels of land held under different tenures, it
sizes in the papyri, Hansen and Schi0ler included a discussion of is crucial to consider not merely the area of land, but its rate of
Oxyrhynchite landholdings, based on all landholding areas taxation (which might be over five times as high on public as on
63
e.g., line 160 (metropolitan dues) and 154ff. (village dues). 66 H. Hansen and T. Schi0ler, 'Distribution of Land Based on Greek-Egyptian
64
Largest metropolitan payments: Sarapias alias Thaisous (77, n5); Androma- Papyri', Janus, 5z ( 1965), 181-9z.
chos son of Aperos and partners (88f.); N.N. (180); largest village payments: 61 There are also problems with the statistical methodology; the autho~ n~ver
Zoilos son of Zoilos (44----0);N.N. (153----0). explain why figures for landholding sizes might be expected to fit a Gauss d1stnb_u-
65
The range of villages mentioned is much smaller than that of the granary tion, which may not be the most appropriate test to a~ply in this cas~. The studies
account of Sinary written on the reverse (P. Oxy. XLIV 3170). discussed below use the more appropriate Gini coefficient of mequahty.
II8 II9
 The Landowners and their Properties The Landowners and their Properties

private land) and whether it was held by private leasehold, from 50

which, particularly in the mid-second century, tenants seem to § c:-45
-
::: 0
Cl
have derived a meagre return (see Ch. VII§ 5 (e) ). Large areas of rJ)
~
<I>
40
public land might bring little benefit to their possessors, as we are ~~
::: <I> 35
ON
reminded by Apollonarion's petition to be relieved of more than -0 ·-
C rJ> 30
ea.c
150 arouras, which she claimed were ruining her (P. Oxy. VI 899). -o
<I> 25
-0 ea
The income derived from land further depended on the quality of <I> C
Cl·- 20
the soil, the crops grown, and the intensity of farming methods. ea <ll
-Cl
CC
(I) __ 15
We also need to consider the size of the average family (and t? :2
whether this formed a single and distinct economic unit), and &:_g 10
5
the extent to which sources of income other than farming were
available. 0
0-9 20-29 40-49 80-99
Nevertheless, useful points of reference can be established from 10-19 30-39 50-79 100-199
comparative material. We know that an Arsinoite farmer in the Size category: arouras
Ptolemaic period thought five arouras adequate to save himself
and his beasts from starvation (P. Tebt. I 56). May we not infer
that five or six arouras of private land in the Oxyrhynchite nome . I. Hermopolite
F 1g. Landholdings: Distribution of Landhold-
settled on a single woman would be a substantial contribution to ings by Size
her support? 68 We naturally need to allow more land to provide
for an entire family, and even more if the land were public, held Hermopolite landowners. The lists cover residents of the West
on private leasehold, or simply poor quality. The figures offered Citadel quarter of the city. Of course, these fourth-century
by Baer (see Table 6a) applying to Egyptian agricultural sub- registers reflect the tenurial and social conditions obtaini~g after
sistence over the last two centuries can serve as an approximate the major reforms of Diocletian, but this at least carries the
guide to the significance of landholding sizes in Roman Egypt, if advantage that the holdings of demosia ge, the old public land,
some allowance is made for recent improvements in productivity. are included, since they were now effectively private.
The fourth-century Hermopolite land registers, two of which The statistical analyses of these texts by Bowman and Bagnall
(P. Landlisten F and G) record the holdings of several hundred have laid particular emphasis on the degree of inequa~it_Yin t~e
metropolitan landowners, probably offer a good parallel to the distribution of landholdings, as measured by the Gm1 coeffi-
contemporary landholding structure of the neighbouring Oxy- cient.70 It is certainly striking that a few very large holdings
rhynchite nome. 69 Both texts include owners from nearby Anti- account for much of the area listed: in F over half the land held
noopolis as well as from Hermopolis itself; but since we can be by Hermopolite metropolitans was in the hands of only eight
71
less confident that the Antinoite holdings are reasonably owners, a mere 3.36 per cent (see Fig. I and Table 6c). Con-
complete, it is better for our purposes to concentrate on the versely, the holdings of rr6 Hermopolites, almost half the total,
account for only 3.45 per cent of the land.
68 In P. Oxy. III 504, a freedwornan sells 6i ar. with the consent of her adoptive These lists thus provide a valuable corrective to the idea that
mother, presumably her ex-mistress, who had probably given her the land on small-scale landowning had largely been eroded by the fourth
manumission; cf. a notification of cession of 5 ar. to a freedwoman by her patron's
daughter (P. Oxy. I 174; I am indebted to J. R. Rea for this reading of the text) and
afC/t of 5 ai-. from a mother to her- daughter-, P. Oxy. II 2.73. ' Bowman, JRS 75 (1985), 137-63; Bagnall, JRS_ 82. (1992.), _12&-64.
-;o
M. Lewuillon-Blume,
1•
.
'Enquete sur Jes reg1stres fonc1ers (PLandl.). la
Fikhman, in his comparison of land leases from Oxyrhynchus and Hermo-
polis, perceives a marked divergence between the two nomes only from the 5th c. repartition de Ja propriete et Jes fami!les ~e pro~rietaires', Proc. 18 Int. Congr.
onwards; see Ch. VII n. 2.01. Pap. 2.79-86, discusses the largest holdings m detail.
I2l
120
 The Landowners and their Properties The Landowners and their Properties

century. If the data they provide is arranged to fit Baer's cate- hinting at the possible distribution of villagers' landholdings,
gories (see Table 6b), about 30 per cent of the Hermopolite which in Karanis produce significantly lower indices of inequal-
landowners would possess holdings of under five arouras, accord- ity than the metropolitan data discussed. 74 There is, however, still
ing to Baer, 'too small to support a family', while a further third quite a range of landholding sizes, extending to over 15.0 arouras,
held between five and fifteen arouras, requiring little labour, if and thus overlapping substantially with the metropolitan hold-
any, outside the family. Just over one quarter of the metropolitans ings attested, both at Karanis (where the figures may represent
would fall into that comfortably-off group who could live on incomplete holdings) and at Hermopolis. Within this range, the
income from tenants or hired labour. sizes approximate more closely to a 'normal' distribution, with
If so many of the metropolitans were such small-scale land- over 7o per cent between five and fifty arouras, and only 3.6 per
owners, what was the condition of villagers in the nome? Assum- cent below five arouras. Even if we discount these figures by as
ing that the West Citadel quarter was not untypical of the other much as half when extrapolating from Karanis to the Oxyrhynch-
three quarters of Hermopolis, the proportion of the total agricul- ite nome still under one third of villagers would possess less than
tural land in the nome held by city residents (Hermopolites and ten arou;as, in contrast to almost a half the Hermopolite metro-
Antinoites combined) has been variously estimated at 25-33 per politans in P. Landlisten. This may well be realistic, if we consider
cent; certainly villagers must have owned considerably more than that for many inhabitants of the metropolis, income from land
half the total land of the nome. 72 The Hermopolite lists offer no ma; have merely supplemented a livelihood primarily based on
information on how this was distributed. However, Bagnall has trade or manufacture, whereas most villagers would be comple-
attempted to construct a hypothetical model of landholding tely dependent on agriculture or related activities (such as
distribution for an idealized nome by combining with the Her- shepherding) for a living. 75
mopolite data figures extrapolated from a fourth-century Karanis These comparisons provide some basis for postulating in
text. There are, of course, numerous potential problems with general terms the likely spread of landownership in the O~y-
this; apart from more detailed points concerning the assump- rhynchite nome. We need to remember that our comparative
tions used in the interpretation of the texts, it assumes a basic material is all fourth-century, when the number of moderately
similarity of social structure between the Nile valley nomes and a prosperous landowners had probably declined somewhat since
village on the fringe of the Arsinoite nome. 73 Bagnall produces a the second and third centuries; then one would expect a con-
hypothetical average village holding of 24.3 arouras, discounting siderably higher proportion of landholders in the 200-499 aroura
the Karanis average by 30 per cent to allow for the proportion of category than the 2.52 per cent in P. Landlisten F. The evidence of
unproductive land in that village; but the resulting assumption of the leases supports the idea of a decline in the group of moderate
7,400 rural (i.e. village) landowners seems low (for a total rural rentiers (see Ch. VII § 8). The early third century, when metro-
population of some 100,000, in which women and children as well politan prosperity was probably at its peak, is the best period to
as adult males could own land), and we should perhaps discount take for consideration. At that time, there can have been at most a
the Karanis figure even further for the generally poorer quality of few dozen large landowners, with 500 arouras or more, of whom a
land there than in the central Nile valley, handful will have held in excess of 1,000 arouras; from this group
Where Bagnall's Karanis data do seem most useful for compar- came the landowners prominent in Alexandrian society or in
ison, not least because they accord with the Oxyrhynchite corn provincial offices, as well as the wealthiest metropolitan council-
payments discussed at the end of the previous section, is in lors and office-holders. We do not know the size of the town
P The basis of Bagnall's estimation (JRS 82 (1992), 137) that villagers held
74 Bagnall, p. 135.
around 180,000 ar. from a total of 270,000 ar. (66.7 per cent), is preferable to
75 I owe this point to Richard Alston, who in a forthcoming book will argue in
Bowman's (whose estimate of 7o-'75 per cent does not allow for non-agricultural
land). 73 As Bagnall recognizes: 138 n. 38. detail for its validity.

122 123
 The Landowners and their Properties The Landowners and their Properties

council of Oxyrhynchus, but one might guess that it had 100 examples. How are we to consider Ian? that :'~s physically
members, almost all of whom may be assumed to have been adjacent, but held under different tenurial cond1t1ons? Should
substantial landowners in the nome. There will also have been property divided only by a watercourse or road, or by a recog-
a layer of metropolitans wealthy enough to live on an income nized physical boundary (e.g. the boundary of a kleros~ be treated
from rents, but not to hold metropolitan office; the few wealthiest as two adjacent parcels or as one? It is not wholly sa~tsf~ctory to
villagers will have had holdings of comparable size. The number be guided by the descriptions used in th_e pap~n, s1~ce t~e
of villagers able to live off their own holdings, but with little sources themselves are often ambiguous or mcons1stent m _their
surplus, will have vastly exceeded the number of metropolitans reference to the physical divisions of land. Only land _registers
similarly making a bare living from agriculture; this category may drawn up for the purpose of recording property boundaries could
indeed have been the largest in numerical terms, although be relied upon to offer a clear and consistent criterion for
because of the nature of our evidence, it has left little trace in distinguishing physically separate parcels, but only ~ few fra~;
the Oxyrhynchite papyri. Below this will have come also signifi- ments of such documents survive from the Oxyrhynchite nome.
cant numbers who needed to supplement a small income from Instead, we possess numerous separate documents, composed ~or
private landholdings with other sources of livelihood, the metro- a variety of administrative, legal and privat~ purpo~es'. and which
politans having access to urban occupations, the villagers to vary considerably in the precision of their descnptions of the
private or public tenancies. Finally, we should consider the physical location of land. . .
villagers owning no land at all. In the early Principate most of It is therefore worth surveying briefly how precise the vanous
these will have either farmed public land or undertaken a series of kinds of document are in their reference to landholdings. Pri-
private tenancies, but by the third century the more or less vate letters and accounts rarely contain more than a. bare
permanent workforce of larger estates must also have been a reference to the existence of a plot of land, or to the village
significant factor. near which it lay; occasionally, an exact area was used as a means
of identification.77 Most legal and administrative do~uments
4. THE EXTENT OF LANDHOLDING FRAG:\1:ENTATION located land by the village and kleros (or topos or per:choma).
Even in the declarations of abrochos, addressed to officials, and
If the documents from Oxyrhynchus offer little direct evidence intended to secure a tax reduction on a specific area of land,
on the spectrum of landholding size, they are somewhat more reference to exact boundaries was not thought necessary; the
78
helpful when it comes to considering the character and composi- plot's size, approximate location and rate of taxation suffice~.
tion of holdings. It was evidently quite normal for landholders to The descriptions found in leases suggest th~t the con~ractmg
possess more than one distinct parcel of land, either physically parties relied primarily on personal acquaintance with_ the
separate, or also held under different forms of tenure. The rest of locality (see Ch. VII § 3). Where the title to the ownershi_p of
this chapter will examine in more detail the character of these land was in question, as in sales and property decl_arat1ons,
multiple landholdings: first just how common such multiple greater precision might be supplied by listing the ne~ghbours
holdings were, and then the relative size and location of the on all sides; but this might be omitted if the relevant mforma-
parcels of which the multiple holdings were composed. tion was contained within an accompanying document.
79
A few
First we need to specify more precisely what is meant here by
'multiple landholdings'. As a starting point, the expression may ~ Especially P. Oxy. XII 1537. h
be taken to refer to the landed possessions of a single person (or a 77 g 'the large kleros' (P. Oxy. XII 1482); 'the vineyards' (P. Oxy. VI 967); t e
ktem:(t~) (P. Oxy. XII 1585, XLII 3066); 'the seve~ arouras' (P. ~xy. VII !061);
single group of joint holders) which lacked a common boundary, ,t h e twenty arouras ' (P.. Qxy · XLI 2982) · 7
See the refs.
. m n. 86 below.· I
consisting of two or more units not contiguous with each other. 79 e.g. neighbours are listed in detail in P. Gen. II 116, but not m P. Coll. Youtie

However, complications soon emerge when we look at concrete 65.

124 125
 The Landowners and the£r Propert£es The Landowners and their Properties
papyri of various kinds mention koitai or guai, sections into wealthy villager of Senokomis, was apportioned between seven
which land was divided. So children borne him by two wives. It appears that, from one
Thus our discussion of multiple landholdings must be based consolidated plot, 3½ arouras were allocated to the joint posses-
primarily on cases where the individual parcels lay in different sion of the two offspring by one wife; the rest probably went
kl_erof or near different villages. The extent of fragmentation jointly to the other five children. 82 The only other division offer-
w1thm a kleros may be somewhat under-represented by this ing information about agricultural land in fact divided a leasehold
procedure: Some texts, to be discussed in more detail shortly, for the duration of the lease (P Oxy. XXXI 2583). Here again the
attest a quite remarkable degree of fragmentation at this level, but land seems to have been in a single parcel. The results of a division
these may not be wholly representative of the holdings of metro- of property are also preserved in a property declaration of AD 97 (P.
politan landowners, even if they offer a glimpse of one aspect of Oxy. IV 713). Leonides son of Diodoros from Oxyrhynchus
th: hol~ings of villagers. We shall probably not be seriously declared ownership of d arouras at Nesla and 2½arouras at
m~sl_ed 1f we regard our evidence as indicating the overall Peenno, which formed a third of the property bequeathed by his
mm1mum level of fragmentation. mother; the other 8 arouras had been bequeathed to his brother
No Oxyrhynchite papyri yet published can be taken with and sister, who were married to each other. Their father's property
certainty to represent the entire landed interests of a land- had also been divided among the three children, but its composi-
holder. Even testaments, which presumably listed all the private tion is not recorded. In this case, therefore, all but one of the
property of the testator at the time when the document was persons mentioned were certainly in possession of two or more
drawn up, would normally omit any public land or private parcels of land.
tenancies which were held; moreover, most testaments from Another document which records most if not all the private
Oxyrhynchus are either incomplete or do not include agricul- landed resources of an individual is the oath by which Diogenes
tural land. Even so, these and certain other types of document son of Diogenes swore to become dike overseer for the Middle
give a more complete picture of the minimum level of property toparchy (P Oxy. XLIX 3508). He owned fifteen arouras at
fragmentation than most other sources. Senekeleu, in the kleros of Sosos and Agathon, presumably in a
Bearing these uncertainties in mind, it is striking how com- consolidated plot, valued at one talent; he had acquired from an
monly testaments and divisions of property resulting from overdue contract a further eight arouras in a different kleros
inheritance refer to more than one parcel of land. All seven valued at 2,500 drachmas, and he currently had 2½talents secured
testaments which include details of agricultural land mention a on the property of two minors. It appears that Diogenes' original
property, which he had probably inherited, formed one parcel; he
~i~i~um of two plots, and two list six or more. 81 One property
d1v1s10n concerned several stretches of land in the Oxyrhynchite had acquired a further plot, and could hope possibly to make yet
another acquisition. With property worth nearly four talents in
and Hermopolite nomes (P Oxy. XIV 1637). The division
all, Diogenes must have been among the wealthier inhabitants of
resulted in three males jointly owning half the estate, and two
first-century Oxyrhynchus.
females the other half; each half comprised several different plots.
One might expect the general property returns submitted on
In another case, the property of Psenamounis, a much less
the order of the Prefect to record complete property holdings, but
, ,BoBoth coul~ ~~ identified by numbers: P. J. Sijpesteijn and K. A. Worp,
the response was extremely patchy, and owners did not report
Numbe.red Ko1tai m the Oxyrhynchite Nome', Aegyptus, 58 (19 7 8), 157--9; guai: again property previously declared. 83 Apart from the declaration
P. Matnt. 2 !me 19.
8.'P. Oxy. X?C<VII 2474, PSI III 240, XII 1263, P. Wise. I 13, SB XVI 12331, P. 8
' P. Oxy. XIV 1638. The listing of neighbours 'of the whole' implies that
Koln II ~o (six ~r~ble _plots, an orchard, vacant lots, and several houses), P. Oxy. Psenamounis' land was consolidated.
V,1 9.0 7 (- L .. M1ghard1 Zmgale, I testamenti romani nei papiri e nel/e tavolette 83
On the procedure and practice of property declarations, see P. Oxy. LII 3690-
d Egitto (Turm, 1991), no. 24: at least six plots). 1 introd. with refs.

r26 127
 The Landowners and their Properties The Landowners and their Properties
of inherited property already discussed, five general returns complete first column, only one of eight landholders, the wife
include agricultural land, four of which (including one supple- of the preceding male landholder, held a single parcel; the others
mentary to property previously declared) list at least two par- possessed between two and seven plots. It is clear from L. C.
cels. 84 The latest in date, made on behalf of an Antinoite woman Youtie's discussion of the less complete col. ii (and of the even
lists vineyards and gardens, building land, uncultivated land, a' more fragmentary col. iii) that this pattern is maintained through-
waterwheel and water sources at Sko, with further property near out the document. Only the heirs of the son of Tsenpaulemis
the adjacent village of Monimou owned by her in part share. The cannot be shown to have held a split holding, and Tausiris daugh-
extant text is incomplete, and yet more plots may originally have ter of Ptolema may have owned fifteen or more parcels. The
been listed. However, the property was to some extent consoli- fragmentation is equally evident on both private and public land
dated; most of the land at Sko shared common boundaries and
(only one parcel of which appears to be a forced imposition, the
was adjoined on two sides by other land owned by the decl~rant
pleonasmou basilikes). This document thus gives a vivid impression
and her partner. A second plot of garden land at Sko, in a
oflandholdings divided into numerous small parcels, mostly within
different kleros, was also bounded on all sides by their property. 85
a single village, and several even within the same kleros, such as the
Since declarations of abrochos would not necessarily be
four plots in the kleros of Polemon held by the heirs of Petsiris son
expected to list complete property holdings, it is particularly
of Herakleos.
striking that half the Oxyrhynchite declarations list multiple
However, this taxing-list appears anomalous in comparison
parcels of land. 86 This can be explained partly by the tendency
with most other evidence from the nome. It and another almost
of multiple holdings to be clustered (see the next section); a poor
flood might leave many lands in a single village or adjacent contemporary declaration of abrochos, which also deals largely
villages inadequately irrigated. The declaration made by Calpur- with Palosis, together attest a far greater degree of fragmentation
nia Heraklia in AD 245 (P. Oxy. XLII 3047) lists holdings at five into very small parcels than we find generally in the Oxyrhynch-
different villages in the Eastern toparchy. Calpurnia owned land ite papyri. 88 Could the landholding pattern at Palosis be atypical,
on an unusually large scale, but the effects of a poor flood on with holdings significantly more fragmented than elsewhere in
smaller holdings would be analogous. Another contemporary the nome? Although Palosis is a relatively well-documented
declaration includes several parcels at Pakerke (Eastern topar- village, there is little further information about landholdings
chy) as well as land at Satyrou epoikion (P. Oxy. XLII 3046). there. However, one record of a land sale at least illustrates how
such a degree of fragmentation could gradually develop within
We must now consider a text which attests a remarkable degree
of landholding fragmentation, even ,vithin kleroi: a third-century the initially more consolidated kleroi granted early in the Ptole-
taxing-list relating to land at Palosis and nearby villages. 87 The maic period: a priest sold to his brother 1ij arouras from six
information it provides is set out in Table 7. In the fairly arouras in the kleros of Andronikos owned in common between
the vendor and others. 89 One might also invoke in explanation the
84
P. Oxy. II 248, 250, XLV 3242, P. Harr. I 74; in PSI VIII 942 a father declared low social status of the persons listed: all were probably villagers,
on behalf of his minor son a share of one parcel, inherited from his mother. PSI whereas the majority of landowners attested in the Oxyrhynchite
~III 1322 (a regular declaration?) seems to relate to a consolidated parcel appor-
ttoned by a father to his daughter; PSI XV 1532 declared an inheritance from a nome were metropolitans. 90 Villagers could certainly be expected
deceased brother of half a single plot owned in common with the declarant.
85 38
Thus illustrating that declarants could have further possessions not included 1044 and XII 1459 together account for 33 per cent of plots of
P. Oxy. VII
in \heir declarations; the text is P. Oxy. XLV 3242. under aroura, but only 10 per cent of all known plots.
1
8
P. Oxy. XII _1459,XLII 3046, 3047, PSI Congr. XVII 25, P. Col. inv. 478. 8? P. Oxy. I 46. Other refs. to Palosis are collected by Pruneti, I centri abitati,
(BGU XI_II2234(11), P. Oxy. VIII 1113 (i) and (ii), XII 1549, and P. Lond. inv. 2174 134f.
refer to smgle plots; BGU XIII 2234(i), P. Harr. II 198, P. Oxy. VI 970, and SB 90 The holders' status is not explicitly given in the extant text, but col. i line 26

XII 11033 are incomplete.) notes land booked for tax purposes to a metropolitan, implying that the nominal
87
P. Oxy. VII 1044 with L. C. Youtie, ZPE 21 (1976), 1-u. holder was of different status.

128 129
 The Landowners and their Properties The Landowners and their Properties
to possess on average less land than metropolitans, although it is 5. THE COMPOSITION OF LANDHOLDINGS
not evident that their land should also be more fragmented.
We have already seen, in the previous section, that fragmentation
But against both these explanations it might be objected that of landholdings was a common, although not universal, phenom-
there are other documents which attest comparable levels of enon for properties of all sizes; but also that it seems to have
fragmentation (although with parcels on average somewhat lar- taken a variety of forms. Some landowners held a cluster of tiny
ger) of properties owned by metropolitans elsewhere in the nome, plots within a single locality; but there is good reason to trust the
particularly some sales, and the 'testament of Taarpaesis'. 91 Do prima facie evidence of our sources for the existence of other
texts such as these and the taxing-list represent the real level of larger consolidated areas. These, too, often formed only part of
property fragmentation throughout the nome among all levels of an individual's property holding. Fragmented landholdings thus
society, a level which is obscured by other categories of docu- deserve further investigation, to explore, firstly how far we can
ment? Certainly the leases, potentially an abundant and impor- see a consistent relationship between the total size of a property
tant source of evidence on holding size, apparently refer to and the sizes of the individual parcels of which it was composed,
typically larger and much less fragmented holdings. 92 Their and secondly whether any pattern can be discerned in the way the
relatively imprecise descriptions of the land could indeed some- component parts of properties were scattered; did large estates
times conceal the actual level of fragmentation, although some differ significantly from smaller properties in the extent of their
leases do explicitly refer to more than one parcel even within a geographical spread? Unfortunately, since most of the surviving
single kleros. 93 But land let out on lease might really have been evidence concerns only a single plot, whether part or the whole of
typically more consolidated than that farmed by owners, parti- a complete property, the usable sample of evidence for investigat-
cularly village proprietors. When rents reached their peak in the ing parcel sizes is small: about thirty cases, including the eight
mid-second century, the tenants' profit margin must have been so from P. Oxy. VII ro44 col. i (see Table 7). Rather fuller information
narrow that they needed to farm a reasonable area at maximum is available on locations, particularly from groups of documents
efficiency in order to make a worthwhile return. relating to a single landowner.
We might tentatively conclude that there is no reason to regard
the extreme fragmentation evident in the Palosis taxing-list as (a) The Relationship of Plot Size to Total Landholding Size
anomalous for village peasant proprietors (and for some holders Large properties were not simply an agglomeration of a very large
of public land), or even for some metropolitan landowners; but number of small plots; although the number of components does
that it does not represent the only pattern of landholding. The tend to increase with the total size of the property, so does the
landholdings of wealthier metropolitans, particularly the class of average size of the components. In other words, the average size
rentiers, would include larger consolidated areas. But even these of the individual units of fragmented properties was as significant
often, if not usually, possessed divided holdings; so that where a factor in the total size of the landholding as was the number of
our extant sources attribute a single parcel to an individual, the plots. On the other hand, plot sizes often did not approximate
possibility must always be borne in mind that this may represent closely to this average; greater total size was accounted for by the
only part of their total landed property. presence of one or more relatively large plots in addition to some
very small ones. This pattern can be observed even among the
villagers' small holdings recorded in Table 7; in particular, the
91
P. Coll. Youtie I 65 (various Lower toparchy villages), P. Gen. II 116 (Pela), P. property of Tnephersois comprised one plot of ten arouras and a
Kiiln II 100 (various Eastern toparchy villages); see also Calpurnia Heraklia's further six plots less than four arouras in total area. At the other
declaration of abrochos (P. Oxy. XLII 3047), n. 95 below.
9
' See Ch. VII § 3(a), and Appendix 2 passim.
extreme, an estate apparently sold as a unit comprised nineteen
93
e.g. PSI IX 1072, P. Harr. II 224, and esp. P. Ryl. IV 683. separate plots, some further divided into koitai, five of which
130 131
 The Landowners and their Properties The Landowners and their Properties

were less than one aroura in size, another eleven less than eight (i) vineyard former1y
arouras. But one much larger parcel of forty-eight arouras prob- of Dionysios Aur. Achil es

ably accounts for over half the area of the whole estate, about canal
ninety-four arouras. 94 Calpurnia Heraklia's declaration of abro- plot 1 43/a ar. formerly of
? plot 2(a) \ vineyard and Aur. Achille s
chos covered some stretches of several hundred arouras, described 2¼ar. arable reedbed
as 'not divided into sections' and therefore probably consoli- with mechane,
form erly of etc.
dated, as well as numerous much smaller areas. 95 The estate of
Herodes son
Claudia Isidora alias Apia, whose total property holdings must formerly of
of Apion plot 2 (b)
ex -gymnasiarch Julius
have amounted to hundreds if not thousands of arouras, included 517/32ar. Triadelphos
a paltry 2½arouras leased to a villager after her property had been arable and others

confiscated (SB XIV 11403).

Some holdings, on the other hand, display less polarization gues
between their largest and smallest components. A property of
about twenty-five arouras sold in AD 247, consisting of houses (ii)
(iii)

was composed of ten parcels between I*

at Oxyrhynchus and several plots of arable and vine-land at Pela,
ar. and 6½ar. in area, one
of which itself consisted of a share in 12Har. divided between four
gues gues

plot 2 (d) Julius

of Julius plot 2 (c) Seuthes
different sphragides (P. Gen. II rr6; see Fig. 2). Several other Triadelphos 3 ar. daughter ? 211aar. Triadelphos
moderately-sized holdings (c.10-50 ar.) were composed of two and others of P ...

or three plots of more nearly equal size, without any parcels of

less than one aroura. 96 Most of the multiple holdings in the leases [ formerly?] of Sarapion son of formerly of Julius Triadelphos and
Alexander, ex-kosmetes Sarapion son of Alexander
fall into this pattern (see Appendix 2 for examples). Thus, although
the degree of polarization between the largest and smallest plot in A schematic reconstruction of some of the parcels sold by Aurelia Germania in
general tended to increase with the overall size of the holding, this AD 247 with neighbouring properties (P. Gen. 11116, lines 10-25). The
topographical relationship of plots 2(c) and 2(d) to one another and to_the other plots
pattern was by no means universal, and landholdings of all sizes cannot be inferred from the te:,ct,unless the same gues is referred to in all three cases.
could be of extremely variable composition.
The extreme fragmentation found in some documents was Fig. 2. The kleros of Eubios near Pela
probably the result of a series of property transfers and divi-
sions, in which consideration of the equitable distribution of purchase as it arose had apparently taken pre~edence over the
property among heirs or the need to seize an opportunity for desire to produce holdings of a particular physical form. Where
katoicic land (originally granted to the original Ptolemaic kler-
94
P. Coll. Youtie I 65; not all the figures are preserved. cf. P. Oxy. XIV 1637:
total area over 104 ar., plots range from zf ar. to 31 ar.
uchs in parcels of thirty arouras upwards, largely, if not c~~~le-
95 P. Oxy. XLII 3047: total area over 1,700 ar., including 218¾ ar. at Thmoina- tely consolidated) had managed to escape this process of d1v1s1on,
komis, 487+ ar. at Thmoinepsobthis, both of 'undivided' ex-vineland; as the it r~mained composed of larger parcels; and land which had
editor comments, the term 'agouotometou' presumably means that the land had
never been segmented by the usual dikes, canals etc. The individual ueas at
always been part of a large estate (much of Calpurnia Heraklia's
Schoibis and Osoronnophris were apparently much smaller; but the smallest land in the Eastern toparchy was from an Imperial estate, some
recorded was ½ ar. of productive hypologos at Thmoinakomis. even originating from an early Ptolemaic dorea) coul~ include
96
e.g. P. Oxy. II 265 (27i ar. given with a dowry consisted of three parcels: 10
ar., xoi ar. and 7 ar.); PSI Congr. XI 9 (r4i ar. as security for a loan formed of 3 ar.,
very large consolidated areas alongside other small umts prob-
4 ar. and 71ar.); also P. Oxy. XLII 3046. ably acquired in a piecemeal manner.
132 1 33
 The Landowners and their Properties The Landowners and their Properties
(b) The Relat£ve Locat£on of the Component Parts of Fragmented to these two toparchies. Thus, while it is true that the declaration
Landholdings
of abrochos gives a partial picture of the extent of her estates, 97 the
If we consider in more detail the composition of the holding at geographical spread of her complete holding in the nome was
Pela just mentioned (P. Gen. II I r6), we observe that although in nevertheless more limited than one might have guessed.
a sense this land was highly fragmented, into thirteen separate Several other wealthy landowning families, whose properties
portions, much of it was in fact close together: all the land in the have been discussed in detail earlier (above, § 2) offer useful case-
four sphragides, and probably at least two other parcels, were in studies of the spread of estates. Both the Tiberii Julii Theones
the kleros of Eubios, some actually adjoining (see Fig. 2). No and Claudia Isidora alias Apia are known to have held property in
more than four, and possibly only two kleroi were involved other nomes as well as in more than one part of Oxyrhynchite
altogether, as well as one plot not within a kleros. It is interesting nome. Claudia Isidora's property was spread over at least four
to find so many small, 'clustered' plots comprising a property toparchies, in addition to a large establishment in the Small
sold by one (probably quite wealthy) metropolitan to another, Oasis, and an Arsinoite estate which produced olives and
and with several noted important landowners as neighbours. honey. 98 Both the property and opportunistic enterprises of the
The similar 'clustered' landholdings referred to earlier in this various generations of the family of Sarapion alias Apollonianus
chapter belonged to villagers. How common was it for fragmen- seem predominantly centred on two parts of the Upper toparchy,
ted properties to be grouped within a confined area in this way, around Sko and Chusis; but the payments for Talao, Toka, and
and to what extent did the dispersal of the parcels increase with Senepta (for Eudaimonis, a sister) and deposit at Seryphis may
the total size of the estate? reflect further landholdings scattered in three different topar-
From the start one must be aware of a possible element of bias chies. 99
in the evidence. A single document might list only parcels One third-century taxation account may refer to a single estate
situated at one village or in one toparchy, and ignore property with parts in every toparchy of the nome; it certainly records land
held by the same owner elsewhere since it fell outside the 'in the name of' Saras and his family in most regions (P. Oxy.
competence of interest of the official who drew it up. Thus XVII 2129). Sometimes brief allusions in official receipts are
holdings would appear more closely grouped than they were in sufficient to indicate that an estate must have spread over several
reality. However, the example of Calpurnia Heraklia demon- toparchies; in these cases, however, it is difficult to gain any idea
strates that this bias may be less pervasive than anticipated. how large the component properties were. 100 More details are
Her declaration of abrochos (P. Oxy. XLII 3047), which was provided in a division of property in the Oxyrhynchite and
addressed to the komogrammateus of Phoboou district in the Hermopolite nomes, listing land at Chusis (Upper toparchy)
Eastern topatchy, listed large areas of land wholly confined to and Ibion Chuseos on the border between the nomes, vineyards
five villages in that toparchy. Had this been our only source of at Tholthis Artapatou (Middle), and numerous plots leased to
evidence about her estates, one would naturally have concluded tenants at Paimis and Antipera Pela (Western toparchy) (P. Oxy.
that her property under the competence of this official was only a XIV 1637). In another case, a woman possessed three ampelika
portion of her complete estates, and that these were probably ktemata, near the villages of Senepta, Senekeleu and Sinary, each
much more widely scattered throughout the nome. However, in a different toparchy (PSI X r I 19). It seems that originally she
from her response to an order by the £ur£dicus for the declaration
97 In particular, the ktesis near Souis in the Lower toparchy held by far the
of all private stocks of wheat held in Oxyrhynchus or anywhere largest wheat stock mentioned in P. Oxy. XLII 3048. Was this ktesis in fact the
else in the nome (P. Oxy. XLII 3048), we also know that Calpur- largest single unit of her estate, or was it the section which concentrated most on
nia's stores of grain were kept only in villages of the Eastern and grain cultivation as opposed to viticulture?
98 99 See above, n. 40.
Refs. in nn. 53-<i, and P. Oxy. VI 919.
Lower toparchies, which suggests that her estates were confined '
00
P. Oxy. XX n71, XLI 2968, PSI XII 1262.
134
1 35
 The Landowners and their Properties The Landowners and their Properties
had owned only the first of these, having inherited the other two When metropolitans' landholdings are found predominantly
through her husband's will. How the ktemata were managed is clustered in one or two nearby villages, this may indicate their
not recorded, but they were clearly self-contained units, each descent from inhabitants of one of the villages. For instance,
with its own epoikion; each had attached herds of sheep and Taarpaesis alias Isidora from the metropolis bequeathed in her
cattle in the joint possession of the landowner and others, which will houses with courts at Oxyrhynchus and Phoboou, where she
were presumably managed by hired shepherds. also possessed vacant lots and a garden; her arable land lay
The methods of management of scattered properties are rele- around Phoboou, the nearby Posompous Aristomachou and
vant to understanding why they were viable. If an owner dealt Ophis, all villages in the Eastern toparchy (.P. Kciln II rno).
entirely through managers, there was less advantage in confining Two more examples are interesting. Both concern metropoli-
the whole estate within a restricted area, particularly if each tan families, clearly relatively prosperous, but far from being
component part were large enough to form a single managerial large-scale landowners. The property of Sarapion and Exakon,
unit. Smaller parcels could be leased out, so that it mattered little sons of Herodes, which included an olive grove, oil-press, and
whether these lay only a few miles from another portion of the sheep and goats, seems to have been centred on Psobthis in the
estate or on the other side of the nome. Such clustering of the Middle toparchy. Senepta, where Sarapion held public land
sections of large estates as can be observed may be as much due to subleased to a villager, and had further dealings with other
the chances of acquisition as to a conscious decision to limit the villagers, was probably close by. But Sarapion was also prepared
spread of the estate. While wealthy landowners would seize an to accept, as security for a loan, land at Pela in the Western
opportunity to acquire neighbouring properties when the chance toparchy; profitable transactions were not confined to the district
arose, the opportunity to invest in widely scattered properties of the inherited property. 104 Aline daughter of Komon and her
could be equally acceptable, as illustrated by a first-century bid husband Mnesitheos seem to have obtained their livelihood over
to purchase seven parcels of hypologos in as many different villages a period of thirty-five years from a variety of holdings, both
or epoikia spread over at least three toparchies. 101 Two centuries physically distant and held under different forms of tenure.
later, Serenos alias Sarapion had financial interests in several Mnesitheos and a partner took land on lease at Tholthis in the
different locations, although it is interesting that his acquisitions Thmoisepho toparchy; he enjoyed tax-exemption as a tenant of
were centred on Paimis, conveniently close to the metropolis. 102 an Imperial ousia of Claudius; Aline made payments in kind
People more involved in the day-to-day cultivation of the land, (which must be for land tax) for Kerkeura (Middle toparchy),
both villagers and many metropolitans, could be expected to have as well having grain paid to the sitologoi of Senokomis (Western)
their parcels of land less widely scattered than did most larger on her behalf by a georgos from Syron (Lower). 105
absentee owners or entrepreneurs. The tax list of villagers' land- Instances such as these suggest that an ambivalent answer must
holdings at Palosis and neighbouring villages (Table 7), of course, be returned to the question how the geographical spread of
fits this pattern. A much longer list of tax payments indicates that properties related to their overall size. Obviously we should
between a quarter and a third of those paying village dues did so expect an estate of several thousand arouras to be located over a
on behalf of at least two villages, although since this includes only broader area than a property of ten arouras; it is more surprising
persons making payment through a bank, it is probably not how many modest properties included parcels not only scattered
representative of the whole spectrum of village landholders. ' 0 3 within a village or adjacent villages, but even located in relatively
01
' P. Kiiln III 141; contrast P. Oxy. XXXIV 2723, P. Turner 24. 104
References conveniently collected in B. E. Nielsen, BASP 29 (1992), 157.
10
05
'See Ch. VI § 4, with nn. 51-3, and Ch. VII § 7, with note 191. ' The 'archive of Komon' comprises P. Oxy. I 48, XXXVIII 2834-46; see E.
103
P. Oxy. XLIV 3169. Several of the villages in this list, particularly Senepta, G. Turner, 'Archive of Komon', Proc. XII Int. Congr. Pap. 485----9,J. E. G.
Sennis (both Middle toparchy), and Senao (Western toparchy), may have been Whitehome, 'Two Notes on the Archive of Komon', ZPE 45 (1982), 254-----6. The
close together. texts cited here are P. Oxy. XXXVIII 2836-41.

[37
 The Landowners and their Properties
distant villages. It was not only 'large estates' which were spread
over different toparchies. The huge scale of giro-transfers of grain CHAPTER V
between granaries in widely different parts of the nome was partly
(though not entirely) the result of landowners' need to pay land
taxes in quite separate locations. 106 However, again we must allow The Inheritance of Land
for the bias of our evidence towards the more 'commercially-
minded' landowners, whose transactions have left written docu-
mentation. The majority of small landholdings, particularly
belonging to villagers who are so under-represented in the Oxy- 1. INTRODUCTION
rhynchite papyri, may well have been fragmented throughout the
territory of one village, but not spread in different parts of the In Roman Egypt, as in the rest of the ancient Mediterranean
nome. world, property was transferred from one generation to the
next primarily through succession by close kin. The law of
'
06
The evidence of the long account from the granary at Sinary (.P. Oxy. XLIV intestate inheritance prescribed general rules of succession on
3170) is supported by the numerous individual granary receipts found at Oxy- death; but most people, both men and women, were legally
rhynchus. entitled to draw up a written will modifying or overriding the
intestate inheritance rules. The transmission of inherited prop-
erty need not take place only at the death of the previous owner.
Parents could choose to divide their property among their chil-
dren during their own lifetime. Again, a written document was
required for such a division to have legal validity. Unlike Roman
and Greek law, Egyptian law traditionally did not employ a
distinct type of document for making individual inheritance
provisions; instead marriage contracts often included provisions
for the ultimate disposal of the couple's property to their heirs.
By the Roman period, the interaction between Egyptian and
Greek custom had resulted in similar provisions being incorpo-
rated in marriage contracts written in Greek. The practice of
providing daughters with a dowry also, of course, transmitted
parents' wealth to the younger generation before their own death.
This chapter must therefore encompass not only succession on
death, but also how this relates to the various other means,
especially on the occasion of marriage, by which property was
conveyed to future generations.
Inheritance in Roman Egypt is a difficult subject, not least
because of the coexistence and interaction of the three different
legal systems. Moreover, greater uniformity was achieved only at
the expense of changes in law and practice which further con-
tribute to the complexity of our evidence. It is also questionable
how far apparently major changes like the general grant of
1 39
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land
Roman citizenship throughout the empire, the Constitutio Anto- but not substantially revised. 6 Partible inheritance took an
niniana, in fact hastened the supersession of older legal practices extreme form which by which females had largely the same
by Roman law.' Most of the evidence used here predates the rights of succession as male heirs in the same degree. The rights
Constitutio, and concerns people who possessed neither Roman of inheritance from females were also the same as those from
citizenship nor that of any of the few cities of Egypt; the males; and so, since even married women could own property
Aiguptioi, who, whether from the metropolis or from one of in their own right, it was common for children to inherit property
the villages of the nome, employed a conflation of Greek and from each parent separately. 7 Children represented their deceased
Egyptian law.2 parents, at least after the reign of Hadrian. 8 In default of descen-
Roman wills from Oxyrhynchus predating the Constitutio are dants, inheritance proceeded to ascendants, or laterally. 9 Accord-
rare, reflecting the small proportion of Roman citizens in the ing to Egyptian tradition, the eldest son received a double
town. A freedman, Ti. Claudius Alexander, made a fellow freed- portion; but although we find the eldest son favoured in a
woman his heir in the first grade, and in the second grade her son, Roman will written in Greek made in the late third century by
and made small cash bequests to fellow freedmen. 3 Another a councillor of Oxyrhynchus (P. Oxy. VI 907), there is doubt
Roman testator, C. Julius Diogenes, left as joint heirs in equal whether the eldest son's double portion in intestate inheritance
shares three sons and a woman who was probably his wife. 4 was universally recognized. 10
Neither example lists the property involved. The Constitutio This last point illustrates the importance of distinguishing
had an immediate impact on the form of provincial wills; but, between intestate and testate inheritance when assessing the
when Severus Alexander permitted wills to be written in Greek, impact of inheritance dispositions on the distribution of landed
there was a rapid reversion to Greek form and content as well as property. There is a not unnnatural tendency to look first to
language. 5 In the absence of qualification, the following discus- testaments themselves for evidence of inheritance practice, but
sion should be assumed to refer to the law as applied to the mass do testaments present a complete picture? In Classical Athens,
11
of Greco-Egyptian inhabitants of the nome. only men without sons were legally entitled to make a will, and,
The basic principles of intestate inheritance in Egypt are although it is immediately apparent that no such restriction in
kn0wn with reasonable certainty, and the general outline pro- law operated in Ptolemaic or Roman Egypt, we should not
duced by Kreller has been complemented and altered in detail, 6 H. Kreller, Erbrechtliche Untersuchungen au/ Grund der g,iico-iigyptischen

Papyrusurkunden (Leipzig and Berlin, 1919).

' General bibliography, Montevecchi, La papirologia (Turin, 1973), 207f. On the 7 Best illustrated by P. Oxy. IV 713.
relationship between the different legal systems, E. Seidl, Rechtsgeschichte Agyptens 8
R. Katzoff, 'BGU 19 and the Law of Representation in Succession', Proc. 12
als riimische Pro'Vinz (Sankt Augustin, 1973), 15 ff., and refs. on p. 30. On the Int. Congr. Pap. 239-42.
Constitutio Antoniniana and its legal consequences, J. Modrzejewski, 'Bibliogra- 9 Kreller, Erb. Unt. 166ff; e.g. PSI XV 1532 (laterally); P. Oxy. XIX 2231 (AD
phie de papyrologiejuridique, 1972-1982', part IV, Archiv, 34 (1988), 79-136, at 92-5. 241, to mother) acknowledges the effect of the Constitutio Antoniniana in its
" R. Taubenschlag, The Law of Greco-Roman Egypt in the Light of the Papyri, reference to Roman inheritance.
432 sc-640 AD (2nd edn. Warsaw, 1955), 2ff. J. Meleze-Modrzejewski, 'La "Joi des '
0
E. Seidl, 'La preminente posizione del figlio maggiore nei diritto dei papiri',
Egyptiens": le droit grec dans l'Egypte romaine', Proc. 18 Int. Congr. Pap. ii. 383- Rendiconti dell'Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere, Classi di Lettere e
99, repr. in Droit imperial et traditions locales dans l'Egypte romaine (Aldenhot, Sciem:e Morali e Ston"che, 99 (1965), 185-92, illustrates the Egyptian origin of the
1990), suggests that in Roman Egypt legal practices described as VOfW' ry, xwpa,or double portion and makes clear the problems of interpreting the evidence. Cases
v61Lo,-rwv AiytnM"!wv,actually show more sign of Greek than of Egyptian origin. like P. Oxy. XVII 2133, 'heirs in equal share according to the laws', cause difficulty
3 P. Oxy. XXXVIII 2857. L. Migliardi Zingale, I testamenti romani nei papiri e unless we assume that the double portion applied only when the son was the eldest
nelle tavolette d'Egitto, (Turin, 1991) reprints all Roman wills from Egypt includ- child; there the eldest child was female. In SB VI 9317(i), it is quite clear that the
ing the latest improvements to the texts. eldest child, Petenephotes, received a double portion by intestate inheritance.
4 P. Oxy. LII 3692; the introduction gives full bibliography on Roman wills in " A. R. W. Harrison, The Law of Athens i: The Family and Property (Oxford,
the papyri; see also Modrzejewski, 'Bibliographie juridique', IV, 124. 1968), I 51; testamentary rights can, of course, be seen to have expanded even
5
Taubenschlag, Law", 193f. P. Oxy. XXII 2348 (AD 224), a record in Greek of during the period illuminated by the orators. Athenian women could under no
the opening of a Roman will, reflects the situation between the constitutions of circumstances make a will, or conduct other major property transactions: D. M.
Caracalla and Severus Alexander, P. Oxy. VI 907 (AD 276) the later practice. Schaps, Economic Rights of Women in Ancient Greece (Edinburgh, 1979), 67ff.
 The Inher£tance of Land The Inheritance of Land
merely assume that in practice the testaments reflect 'normal' ship of real property of some sort was widely dispersed in Egypt;
patterns of devolution. It is important to consider in some detail ownership of a share in a mud-brick house in an Oxyrhynchite
the circumstances under which cases of testacy and intestacy are village was scarcely a passport to the highest echelons even of
found, and so the extent to which testaments modified the pattern metropolitan society. i 6 The proportion of extant wills which do
of intestate inheritance.
not mention any agricultural land (see Table 8) suggests that the
social spread of testacy extended well beyond the class of land-
2. TESTACY AND INTESTACY
owners who are the main concern of this chapter.
The categories of persons legally excluded from making a will in But there are other grounds for doubting the prevalence of
Roman Egypt can have eliminated only quite a small proportion testacy, even among the propertied classes. Did people go to
of potential testators: minors, female Alexandrians, children of the trouble of making a will only if they were in some way
unwritten marriages in the lifetime of their father, and persons of dissatisfied with the application of the rules of intestate succes-
12
unsound mind. Furthermore, a testator was under no obligation
sion in their case: if, for instance, they intended to disinherit a
to follow the rules of intestate inheritance in so far as they applied;
an extract from the Prefectural records states explicitly that a son, to provide for their spouse, or for the minority of their
father could disinherit any of his children he wished. 13 Women offspring, or to leave a legacy? A glance at the complexity of
other than Alexandrians had the same rights of testacy as men. provisions in the surviving documents (Table 8) may well arouse
However, it is sometimes suggested that Roman wills, indeed, suspicion: heirs are rarely adult sons, females form a surprisingly
Roman private law in general, reflect practices restricted to a high proportion of testators.
small wealthy elite; only they could afford to go to law, and it Such doubts may do injustice to the care with which the
would hardly be worth the expense of drawing up a will unless inhabitants of Egypt took thought for the prudent disposition
one had real property to leave. The evidence offers some support of what little property they possessed. Indeed, the smaller the
to this view: most Roman testators owned at least a house property, the more need to ensure its most effective distribution.
although this could well result from the bias of survivin;
While there were obvious benefits in a written testamentary
evidence towards the very wealthy. 14
document for persons without intestate heirs, whose property
How restricted was the social milieu represented by the Greco-
Egyptian wills? Again, virtually every case includes real property, would otherwise fall to the fisc, some benefit might also accrue
even if this were only a small part of a house; movables, personal to the testator with several offspring. The rules of intestate
possessions, and even cash or slaves do not seem to have been succession prescribed the proportion of the inheritance which
thought the proper primary object of a testament. 15 But owner- each heir was to receive, and the allocation of the portions might
12
be made by lot (see P. Oxy. LII 3690); but no general convention
Taubenschlag, Law\ 185, 201 f., Kreller, Erb. Unt. 304ff. could dictate the composition of each portion in individual cases.
3
' P. Oxy. XXXVI 2757; cf. Modrzejewski, 'Bibliographie juridique' IV, Archiv,
34 (1988), 124. P. Oxy. XLIII 3u7 records an attempt to challenge (on other Even if the parental property consisted of a single unit, its
grounds) the validity of a will in which the disposition did not accord with division could be problematical; if it consisted of various parcels
intestate succession.
•• See most recently E. Champlin, Final judgements: Duty and Emotion in
of different areas and uses, the question was immediately raised
Roman Wills, 200 BC-AD 250, (Berkeley, 1991), eh. 3 (esp. p. 53), whose arguments whether each heir should receive a portion of each plot, or
for restricted testacy are rightly challenged by J. A. Crook's review, JRS 82 (1992), whether, in the interests of agricultural efficiency, the plots
232-4.
15
Note however the list of personal items left by a father to his children: two were subdivided as little as possible consistent with an equitable
coffers, a bronze box, a plate or dish, a tin flask, another item, a tunic, a half share
16
in three looms, and a pig (which had been sold) (P. Oxy. X r26g). But it is not clear O. Montevecchi, 'Ricerche di sociologia nei documenti dell'Egitto greco-
whether these had passed by intestate or testate succession, nor is it certain that romano III: I contratti di compra-vendita: (b) Compra-vendite di edifici', Aegyp-
they constituted the whole inheritance. tus, 21 (194r), 93-151, at p. 104.

143
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land
distribution. A provident parent may well prefer not to leave This procedure was not adequate for complex bequests: to
such thorny questions to be settled by the heirs themselves. leave a legacy, provide for a wife, friend, or freedman, or other-
On the other hand, there existed ways other than the drawing wise to leave the property to persons who would not be the
up of a testament in Greek (diatheke) to solve the problem of intestate heirs, a full testament was required. However, the
property distribution. It was not necessary to divide up the 'parental disposition' and the associated katoche held by children
property at all; joint heirs could, and in fact often did, retain on parental property, were evidently widely used as an alternative
common and undivided ownership of the property, whether land, to the will, and were by no means confined to the less Hellenized
houses, or other items, for many years. Brothers are known to sections of the population. 22
have taken on the joint cultivation of public land, so there was It would be helpful if it were possible to arrive at a balanced
evidently no need to divide out the shares of a single private plot assessment of the relative frequency of intestacy, the use of
for individual cultivation. Alternatively, the whole plot could be diathekai, and of parental dispositions in marriage documents;
leased out, and the rent divided. otherwise it is easy to underestimate the extent of intestacy, since
Furthermore, there existed the option of using the traditional it leaves no direct documentation. Casual references in petitions
Egyptian method of inheritance disposition. The testament and legal cases are of no value in producing a balanced view. More
proper was unknown in traditional Egyptian law; inheritance useful are the declarations of property made to the property-
dispositions were normally contained in marriage documents. 17 record keepers from the mid-first century AD onwards, many of
From the Ptolemaic period, Egyptians began to adopt the Greek which record the origin of the property.z 3 Even these have been
form of testament for making a will in the strict sense: conversely, found seriously deficient in presenting an unbiased sample of all
Egyptian practice influenced Greek documents, and dispositions property transfers, and an analysis of the nature of this bias is
to take effect after death are found in marriage contracts or in therefore a necessary prerequisite of their use to document the
separate documents which historians categorize as donationes balance between testacy and intestacy.
mortis causa rather than testaments proper. 18 These primarily Those returns described by papyrologists as 'regular' returns
served to confirm the rules of intestate succession to the parti- can be clearly demonstrated almost always to have been made in
cular case. 19 They could on occasion, however, be used to appor- connection with a sale of property, either by the vendor immedi-
tion specific items of property among offspring, who thus ately before the transaction, or by the buyer soon afterwards. 24
received a lien (katoche) on them, since the conversion of an Thus, even if there was a theoretical requirement that all prop-
unwritten to a written marriage often took place after the birth erty should be declared within a certain time after acquisition,
20
of children. The parents might also, if they lived long enough, this was commonly not followed in practice when acquisition was
confirm the theoretical disposition in their own marriage contract by inheritance rather than by purchase. It was presumably to
with a specific apportionment of property in the marriage redress these deficiencies that the 'general' declarations were
contract of a daughter.zr ordered by the Prefect; but even these could be ignored. 25 More-
7
over, the general returns from the Arsinoite nome, one of the
' P. W. Pestman, Marriage and Matrimonial Property in Ancient Egypt: A
Contribution to Understanding the Legal Position of the Woman (Pap. Lugd.-Bat. main sources of evidence, are brief, and do not distinguish
9) (Leiden, 1961), 117 ff.; E. Seidl, Ptolemiiische Rechtsgeschichte, A.gyptologische
Forschungen, 22 (Gliickstadt, 2nd edn. 1962), 179, 184; Rechtsgeschichte Agyptens " See esp. P. Oxy. XLIX 3491.
als romische Provinz, 226; 'Von Erbrecht der alten A.gypter', Zeitschrift der • 3 The most thorough discussion is Harmon, 'Eygptian Property Returns'.
Deutschen Morgenliindischen Gesellschaft, 107 (1957), 27o-81. Declarations are listed in S. Avogadro, 'Le a:rroypaq,a., di proprieta nell'Egitto
8
' Kreller, Erb. Unt. 203ff., Taubenschlag, Law', 204ff., 209f., Seidl, Ptole- greco-romano', Aegyptus, 15 (1935), 131--206, supplemented by Monte_yecchi, La
miiische Rechtsgeschichte', 183f. papirologia, 184ff., and H. J. Wolff, Das Recht der griechischen Papyri Agyptens, ii
9
' A. M. Harmon, 'Egyptian Property Returns', YCIS 4 (1934), 135-230, at p. (Munich, 1978), 222ff., esp. the list of parotheseis, p. 238.
148. "" e.g. CPR I 28 =: M. Chr. 312 (Fayum). 2-4 Harmon, 'Egyptian Property Returns', 214.
" e.g. P. Oxy. IV 713. •s Ibid. 184ff. and 229. Cf. P. Oxy. LII 3690-1, introd. 129f.

144 145
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land
26
between acquisition by testate and intestate inheritance. For the Do the property declarations show any correlation between
present purpose, therefore, only regular returns from the Arsi- childlessness and testacy? The evidence is somewhat ambiva-
noite nome are of use, while both regular and general returns lent. In the Oxyrhynchite evidence, all but one of the cases of
from the Nile valley may be considered. intestate succession and of succession according to documents
How far have these factors affected the representation of testate other than diathekai involved inheritance by a son or daughter;
and intestate inheritance? There is no independent evidence to two testators out of six lacked offspring. 28 Thus, although a
use as a check, but it seems that any bias would tend towards the majority even of testators possessed children, we might be
underrepresentation of intestacy; those who did not make the tempted to infer that the childless were more inclined to make
effort to acquire written validation of their ownership of prop- a will than to allow their property to fall under the rules of
erty may have been less inclined to make a written disposition of intestate succession. In one case, the property was testated from
it. In any case, there is no reason to expect systematic bias wife to husband, who certainly could not have inherited by
towards testacy. intestate succession; in the other, succession by a brother to the
From Table 9 it will be apparent that the most striking feature childless testator's property probably accorded with the succes-
of this evidence is the discrepancy between the Arsinoite evi- sion that would have taken place had there been no will.
dence and that from Oxyrhynchus and elsewhere. The last Two of the five Arsinoite declarations of intestate succession
category includes evidence from the Hermopolite, Herakleopo- concerned childless persons; in one of these, the inheritance was
lite, and Memphite nomes, all situated like Oxyrhynchus in the from minors, who were legally debarred from making a will. 29 Of
lower Nile valley. This is not the place to consider whether this the declarations from Hermopolis and other locations, only two
may be attributed to the difference in the nature of the evidence, out of six concern intestate inheritance from childless persons,
or to genuinely different practices; but it seems justified to two out of four relate to succession by will to persons without any
conclude that, except in the Arsinoite, intestate inheritance was descendants, and a further case of testamentary succession and
not overwhelmingly preponderant. Oxyrhynchus itself has been the only succession by other contract concern property passing
noted as the most fruitful source of extant wills. 27 Testacy may directly from a grandparent to a grandchild. 30 Here, therefore, a
indeed have been more common there than elsewhere, but the much higher proportion of transfers involving a document than
other evidence from the same region of Egypt falls not far short. of intestate successions were made by those without living
Further consideration of the property declarations yields no children.
clear distinction of status between the persons involved in testate, The significantly different proportions of declarations from
intestate, and other means of inheritance. Except in the Arsinoite Oxyrhynchus and from elsewhere in the Nile valley which
nome, most declarants were metropolitans, while agricultural record succession to childless persons should cast doubts on the
validity of drawing general conclusions from such a small num-
land actually appears less frequently in the testate than in the
ber of cases. Although such examples as we possess give some
intestate inheritance declarations (see Table 9). The total amount
grounds for making a connection between childlessness and
of evidence is of course too small for much weight to be placed on
testacy, only more evidence could tell us whether this is really
these observations, but at least they give no grounds for suppos-
justified.
ing that there were marked sociological differences, within the
A factor which should not be left out of account merely because
general category of property owners, and within each region,
little evidence survives for it is the circumstance of death of those
between persons who left a will and persons who died intestate.
6
.a P. Oxy. Ill 636=St. Pal. IV p. u4, P. Oxy. II 249.
' Harmon, 'Egyptian Property Returns', 206ff. ~ BGU III 919; the other is P. Bon. 24c.
' 7 0. Montevecchi, 'Ricerche di sociologia nei documenti dell'Egitto greco- 30
M. Chr. 209, M. Chr. 200.7 f. (intestate); PSI XIII 1325, P. Oxy. IV 715, P. Oslo
romano I: I testamenti', Aegyptus, 15 (1935), 67-121, at p. 84. II 24 (to grandchild) (testate); P. Amh. II 71 (to grandchild) (marriage contract).
147
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land
who died intestate. A young adult who succumbed to sudden dates are not sufficiently trustworthy to form the basis of calcula-
death may have intended to make a will, but not yet carried out tions of population increase and decrease; they provide no help at
that intention. Only rarely is there record of the age at death of all in assessing the extent of shifts of population from one part of
testators, 31 and in a few examples we know the interval between Egypt to another. 33
drawing up the will and the death of the testator. When the Much work has recently been devoted to trying to establish the
interval was short, it seems likely that the testators were aware demographic structure of ancient populations, although little of
of their imminent death, and made provisions accordingly. 32 This the potential evidence is trustworthy enough to be preferred to
would be particularly desirable for a young father; even if the estimates based on model life tables derived from modern popu-
mother survived to look after his children, their inheritance was lations. 34 A case can, however, be made that the Roman Egyptian
threatened by many hazards. It was prudent to record definitively census declarations have an independent value, although even
the details of the property to which they should succeed, and to these are not free of problems. In particular, their use for demo-
appoint a reliable guardian. graphic analysis can take no account of the undoubted fluctua-
The lower the average expectation of life in a society, the more tions of population during the centuries covered by the
real becomes the risk of leaving one's children orphaned, and the documents. Nevertheless, the recent demographic study based
greater the pressure on all young parents to provide for this on a thorough reassessment of the census evidence offers the
eventuality. In fact, the significance of any inheritance practice best basis for our understanding not only of life expectancy but
is greatly influenced by the demographic conditions in which it also of family size and structure. 35
operates. Before moving to look in more detail at inheritance It seems that Roman Egypt was a society with high mortality
dispositions, it is therefore desirable to consider the implications balanced by high fertility: life expectancy at birth (e0 ) is esti-
of demography for property devolution. mated at around 25 years for men and two or three years lower
for women. We are not in a position to distinguish rural from
3. DEMOGRAPHY AND INHERITANCE
urban populations, or different social groups, although different
33 K. Butzer, Early Hydraulic Civilizatwn in Egypt, eh. 7, represents the most
Only with knowledge of fluctuations in population size in the
thorough attempt to hypothesize the total and regional population of Egypt
Oxyrhynchite nome, average expectation of life, and the distribu- between predynastic times and AD 1000. He assumes a peak of 5 million in the
tion of patterns of family composition, would it be possible to 1st c. AD (pp. 91 f.), with a population fluctuating less in the Nile valley than the
demonstrate the effects of the prevalent rules of intestate inheri- Fayum and Delta (fig. 13, p. 85). D. W. Rathbone, 'Villages, Land and Population
in Graeco-Roman Egypt', PCPhS NS 36 (1990), 103-.µ, after a thorough reassess-
tance on the overall distribution of property-and even this ment of the available evidence, confirms this estimate for the Roman period.
34
would take no account of testamentary dispositions. Such demo- T. G. Parkin, Demography and Roman Society (Baltimore, 1992), discusses all
graphic information as we possess, however, is far from precise or significant earlier work, with references; see also the works cited in the following
notes.
complete. Estimates of the total population of Egypt at various 35 R. S. Bagnall and B. W. Frier, The Demography of Roman Egypt (Cambridge,

1994), see also Bagnall, Egypt in Late Antiquity, 182-4, 199-204. Frier defends the
3' Montevecchi, Aegyptus, 15 (1935), 83, cites known ages at death of testators, use of the census declarations in his review of R. Duncan-Jones, Structure and
to which add P. Koln II 100 (59 yrs.), P. Wise. I 13 (35 yrs.). Note also P. Menon I Scale in the Roman Economy (Cambridge, 1990) eh. 4, ('Statistics and Roman
26 an extract from the minutes of an exegetes: Aurelia Didyme petitioned fo, a society', JRA 5 (1992), 286--90). Bagnall and Frier assume a stable, almost
su'ardian to be appointed for her young nephew, whose parents had died, pre- stationary, population, with a growth rate of 0.2 per cent (op. cit. 81, 89), but
sumably suddenly, 'from some horrible disease', without providing for the child. although this possibly represents the long-term trend, cycles of prosperity and
P See e.g. P. Merton II 75, Pharmouthi to Epeiph of a single year; P. Harr. I 74, disease (particulady the 'Antonine plague': see Rathbone, 'Villages, Land and
1st to 2nd year of Trajan; cf. P. Ups. Frid 1, from Dionysias, dated Epeiph 30, Population', 114-u9), must have caused significant short-term fluctuations
which seems to envisage almost immediate death, in providing for payment of within the period covered by the census declarations. R. Sallares, The Ecology of
(probably) the current year's agricultural taxes. Contrast P. Oxy. I 106, a revoca- the Ancient Greek World (London, 1991), 44, draws attention to the normality of
tion of a will made thirty years previously. fluctuating populations.

149
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land
circumstances of life, even within the population of the nome, were probably no greater than that the father, while alive, would
almost certainly did have an impact on mortality rates. Even squander his property, a circumstance against which the heirs had
when mortality is high, however, its risks are not consistent no legal protection unless they held a katoche on it.
throughout life. A valuable attribute of the model life tables is On the other hand, since children inherited from their mother
their suggestion of the pattern of mortality risk at different ages; as well as from their father, her premature death might well
mortality is typically high in the first five years, with a very sharp leave them in possession of property even before their father's
decrease over the next decade, then rising steadily but slowly decease. 40 While this would pose no problems about guardian-
throughout adult life. A peer group might have halved by the ship, it must certainly have increased the spread of property in
age of 15, but it would be almost 50 by the time it had halved the possession of children. Indeed, children could own property
again. even during the lifetime of both parents, and, with an adult to
The mortality pattern in adult life is of particular relevance to represent them, could buy and sell property. The possession of
inheritance. High infant mortality somewhat increases the prob- substantial amounts of land by minors must have had conse-
ability that the parents will die without heirs, or with only very quences for the way it was managed; it is a pity that there is no
young children (if the firstborn die in infancy, the survivors will means of quantifying, even in general terms, the proportion of
be younger); but the survival of the parents is most crucial. At land affected at any time.
e0 = 25, a man aged 25 will have a more than even chance of However, it was evidently in the case of orphans that the
survival beyond the age of 45; if he had already been able to problems were most acute, and these are amply documented by
start a family, he stood a reasonable chance of seeing at least the petitions by which they sought official help in the protection
one child approach adulthood. One child who attained the age of their inheritances. Guardians were usually close relatives, if
of majority could be expected to represent the interests of any any were available; while these might best appreciate the family
younger offspring after their parents' death. 36 Moreover, a father interest, and, indeed, might well farm neighbouring land them-
could be tolerably confident that most children who survived selves, their interest in the land could become too direct. Wicked
infancy would reach adulthood, although a whole family might uncles could use their position of trust to defraud orphaned
of course be swept away by specific calamities such as plague. nephews and nieces. 41 On the other hand, an unrelated person
Demographic pressure on inheritance was undoubtedly eased might be unwilling or unable to devote effort and financial
somewhat by the unrestricted right of females to inherit and to expense in an effective guardianship. 42 Children were easy prey
own property. A father may have preferred to leave a son to for neighbours who encroached on their lands, and even unscru-
succeed to his lands, but he did not lack heirs if he possessed pulous officials were capable of exploiting their ignorance of the
only daughters. 37 Furthermore, the chance of survival of either of proper taxes. 43
the two parents was much greater than that of the father alone; It is noticeable how many petitioners were female, perhaps not
and a mother, acting with a kyrios when necessary, was competent
40
to administer property on behalf of her children. 38 This, of 41
e.g. P. Oxy. VIII I u4, IX 1208, PSI VIII 942, SB I 1010, VI 9298, etc.
P. Oxy. XVII 2133, XXXIV 2713; cf. W. S. Bagnall, 'The Archive of Laches;
course, was no guarantee of sound management, 39 but the risks Prosperous Farmers of the Fayum in the Second Century' (Diss. Duke University,
1974), 55. On guardianship in general, see Taubenschlag, Law• r57ff.
36 For instance, in P. Oxy. XIV 1638, two brothers Aret and Saras represented .µ P. Oxy. III 487, a petition to the epistrategos, asking to be relieved of the
three younger brothers in a contract of division, promising to obtain their consent expense of being a guardian to two minors unrelated to the petitioner.
43
when they came of age. See e.g. P. Flor. III 319, P. Oxy. XII 1470, XXXVIII 2852, XLVI 3302, PSIX
37 From the table of family distributions in J. Goody, Production and Reproduc- II02, P. Oxy. XIX 2235 (the last a petition against unjustified tax demands). We
tion (Cambridge, 1976), 134, between a fifth and a quarter of Egyptian marriages may also note briefly a further consequence of the high level of mortality; legal
mar be expected to have produced daughters but no sons. disputes about property ownership freqently dragged on after one or more of the
3 Taubenschlag, Law', 149 ff. See e.g. P. Kii/n III 149 and P. Oxy. IV 740 line 44. original adversaries had died. This no doubt added to the complexity of disputes;
39 See P. Oxy. VI 898. see e.g. P. Oxy. I 68, III 486, XXXVIII 2852, and esp. XLIII 3117.
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land
so much because they were more easily defrauded than boys, but ments, which normally provided the wife with strong safe-
because, having reached adulthood, they were less able to resort guards, exercised some influence on the Greek documents;
to self-help in the assertion of their rights. 44 Even apparently indeed, some marriage documents written in Greek are almost
straightforward cases of intestate inheritance could produce fric- purely Egyptian in form. However, the documents from Oxy-
tion within families, with a sister appealing to the Prefect against rhynchus which form the basis of the following discussion of the
her own sister and half-brother. 45 dowry and marital property are essentially 'Greek' rather than
So prominent throughout all the evidence is female ownership 'Egyptian' in form and content as well as in language. 47
of land and other property, both by inheritance and by other
The apparent difference in the nature of the dowry between the
means, that we need specifically to consider female inheritance,
Greek documents from Egypt and the Classical Athenian sources
and its relationship with the receipt of dowries, before more
general conclusions can drawn about the impact of property has given rise to discussion among historians of Greek law about
devolution on landholding. the relationship between dowry and inheritance by females in
different Greek contexts. An Athenian dowry was termed
'proix', in contrast to the more general Greek word for dowry,
4. PROPERTY DEVOLUTION TO FEMALES
pherne, the standard term found in the papyri. Wolff suggested
(a) Dowries in Roman Egypt that the two words reflect a fundamental difference of form and
Egyptian marriage documents were traditionally concerned function, connecting the proix with the polis, a city-state whose
almost exclusively with property disposition: not only with the citizen body comprised a limited number of family lineages,
form and size of dowry to be brought to the marital household, oikoi.4 8 On this view, the oikos as a social and religious institution
but also with general provisions for inheritance by the marital gave rise to a nexus of practices designed to preserve the distinct-
couple from their parents, and to their own property by offspring ness of each oikos; these included restriction of the right to make a
of the marriage. The documents thus served the double function will, the use of adoption to provide male heirs (with the provision
of marriage contract and testament. The Greek marriage docu- that the adopted son could not inherit from his natural father),
ments, although lacking the latter element, are also largely con- the restriction of the right of daughters to inherit except through
cerned with property: the content of the dowry, and the
the epiclerate (indeed, a generally strict limitation on the legal
conditions governing its disposal on the dissolution of the mar-
riage by death or divorce. Thus both Greek and Egyptian docu- capacity of women), the engyesis-ekdosis form of marriage, and the
ments express a very different aspect of marriage from what is
to send 1,000 roses and 4,000 narcissi for a wedding, presumably at Oxyrhynchus,
known of the ceremony itself, which was an occasion for joyous as well as the numerous wedding invitations among the papyri. The formal
celebration and feasting. 46 Egyptian marital property arrange- marriage document was commonly drawn up years after the initial marriage,
converting it from an 'unwritten' to a 'written' marriage: H. J. Wolff, Written
44 Note, however, P. Oxy. XVIII z187 (AD 304): Thaesis removed crops from and Unwritten Marriages in Hellenistic and Roman Law, Amer. Philo!. Assn.
land to which she had a claim through her deceased daughter, and which her Philo!. Mongrs. 9 (Haverford, Pa., 1939), esp. 58. Further bibliography on
daughter's tutor (her own brother-in-law) was reluctant to cede to her. marriage is listed in Montevecchi, La Papirologia zo6f. and Modrzejewski,
ts P. Lond. inv. zz6, published by P. J. Sijpesteijn and K. A. Worp in M,
'Bibliographie de papyrologie juridique, 197z-8z', part IV, II 5-18.
7
Capasso et al. (eds.), Miscellanea papirologica in occasione di bicentenario dell'edi- ~ Egyptian influence on Greek documents: G. Hiige, Ehegiiterrechtliche Ver-
zione della Charta Borgiana (Pap. Flor. XIX) (Florence, 1990), 51z-17. hiiltnisse in den gn'echischenPapyn· .Agyptens bis Diokletian (Koln, 1968), esp. 104 ff.,
46
Pestman, Marriage and Matrimomial Prope.,-ty in Ancient Egypt, distin- 181ff., z9off. The only Egyptian-type marriage document from Oxyrhynchus
guishes three basic patterns of Egyptian marriage document, all exclusively known to me is P. IFAO I 13 (z3 BC). For a general survey of marriage contracts
concerned with property or maintenance. Neither a document nor a ceremony from Oxyrhynchus, see E. Kutzner, Untersuchungen zur Stel/ung der Frau im
seems to have been a formal precondition for marriage. In practice there is ample riimischen Oxyrhynchos (Frankfurt, 1989), eh. z.
evidence of marriages in Egypt being celebrated with ceremony and feasting: S. -48 RE XXIII.1 s.v. proix, esp. 162ff.; J. Modrzejewski, 'Zurn hellenistischen
Allam, 'Quelques aspects du mariage dans l'Egypte ancienne' ,JEA 67 (1981), 116--- Ehegilterrecht im griechischen und romischen Agypten', ZSS 87 (1970), 50-84, an
35, giving various further refs. Note P. Oxy. XLVI 3313, a znd-c. letter arranging extended review of Hiige, Ehegiiterrechtliche Verhaltnisse.

1 53
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land

proix which was given by her father 'epi' the bride herself to her marriage. Also, what distinguished the pherne from the other
future husband, the head of her new oikos. property given at the time of the marriage, in content, deriva-
Practice in Hellenistic Egypt, where most Greeks were not tion, and ownership? The evidence on these subjects from Oxy-
citizens of a polis, was quite different. If an important effect of rhynchus will be treated in conjunction with the more general
the Attic proix was to permit the devolution of property from the conclusions of Hage. 51
maternal grandfather to his grandsons in default of direct inheri- It was normal for the ekdotes (giver-away) of the bride, usually
tance through females, this was rendered unnecessary in Egypt a parent, to provide the pherne.52 Testators might make explicit
by the fact that daughters could, and usually did, inherit even in provision for their daughters' dowries to be paid out of their
the presence of sons. Females, even during married life, could estates. 53 But where the bride herself was a party to the con-
hold all forms of real property in their own right, and with a tract, and sometimes even when she had a ekdotes, the docu-
guardian could be a party to legal transactions, including making ments read as though it was the bride herself who brought the
a will. The Egyptian pherne therefore functioned primarily as a pherne: ~o'lKOOT]os<pepE, ('the bride brings to
T(p civopi[EiS'<pt:.]pv~v
54
her husband for pherne'), for instance. It is not clear how precise
contribution from the bride's side of the family to the upkeep of
herself and the marital home. Hage, building on Wolff's distinc- the terminology was, and whether it is justified to infer in these
tion, also postulated a sharp division of content between the cases that the dowry was actually paid out of the bride's own
Egyptian pherne and the Attic proix. The pherne might comprise property. It may be noted that the contract quoted above grants
coin, clothing, jewellery or furniture, all explicitly valued in coin to the father of the bride execution against the husband and on all
or in weight of gold. It never included agricultural land (or other his property, implying that the father did in fact have a close
real property), or slaves. 49 financial interest in the dowry. It is perhaps better to admit that,
This is not the place to question whether the distinction although we can be sure that the pherne was often paid out of the
between the proix and the pherne has in fact been drawn too property of one or other parent, we cannot be similarly sure that
sharply; 50 but the content of Greco-Egyptian dowries does merit it ever came out of the bride's own pocket. Nevertheless, some
attention here, because, although Hage's conclusions about the girls, particularly orphans, certainly would have possessed
content of the pherne seem to be valid, land could find a place in sufficient property to cover their own dowries.
marriage contracts as an addition to the pherne, 'en prosphora', or The documents almost without exception speak of the pherne
in the form of a pseudo-testamentary disposition. Moreover, as being brought to the husband. However, it was once generally
since females might either inherit or receive a dowry, it is held that the absolute ownership ('Eigentum') lay with the wife,
important to consider the implications of the difference in mainly because the edict of Tiberius Julius Alexander explicitly
content between dowries and inheritances. states that the dowry did not form part of the husband's estate. 55
The precise nature of the dowry in Roman Egypt may best be Wolff, however, demonstrated that the concept of absolute own-
established by considering what rights over the dowry were ership is alien to Greek law, so that the question of the ownership
possessed by the various interested parties-normally the bride- 5
' Ehegiiterrechtliche Verhiiltnisse, 145ff., 223 ff., 257 ff.
groom, the bride, the bride's parents, and the children of the s,i P. Oxy. III 496, 497, X 1273, probably II 372, XLIX 3491; Hage, Ehegiiter-
rechtliche Verhaltnisse, 139f. P. Oxy. VI 905 is ambiguous: see below.
53
49 Hage, Ehegiiterrechtliche Verhiiltnisse, esp. 47 ff. P. Oxy. I 75, IV 837, VI 907.
54
50
See the criticisms of Hage's arguments advanced by M. Talamanca, 'Gli P. Oxy. II z66, 267,281; the sentence quoted is from P. Oxy. VI 905, in which
apporti patrimoniali della moglie nell'Egitto greco e romano', Index, 2 (1971), 240- the bride was given away by her father. P. Oxy. XLIX 3500, a marriage contract
82. Note particularly that both proix and pheme were valued; for the contents of between two embalmers, is very unusual in mentioning no dowry at all.
55
the proix see Wolff, RE XXIII.1 136ff. See also A. Biscardi, 'Proix e Pherne alla 'For the dowries belong to someone else, and not to the men who have
luce di un nuovo papiro fiorentino', in J. Modrzejewski and D. Liebs (eds.), received them' §3.25; Hage, Ehegiiterrechtliche Verhiiltnisse, 145ff. That the word
Symposion 1977 (Vienna, 1982), 215-zx. for 'dowries' here is 'proikas' is normally taken to reflect Roman influence.

1 55
154
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land
of the pherne during the marriage must be seen rather in terms of From contracts dealing with dowry repayments it appears that
the various rights over it possessed by both partners (and after even when there were children, the dowry might be repaid on the
the dissolution of the marriage, by the original granter of the death of the husband. Despite some obscurities, P. Oxy. II 268
dowry also). 56 clearly shows the dowry being repaid to the wife, Ammonarion,
Except for the few Ptolemaic documents which speak of joint out of her deceased husband's estate. There existed at least a
ownership of the marital property (e.g. P. Tebt. I 104), the 62
daughter who was entitled to inherit, and probably a son as well.
husband seems to have possessed the rights to use and dispose Another return of a dowry, P. Coll. Youtie II 67, would raise
of the pherne, so long as this was done in the interests of the wife fundamental questions about the nature of the pherne in Egypt, if
and of the marital household. But the wife possessed guarantees one interpretation suggested by its editor is accepted. The wife of
against the squandering of her dowry; according to the edict of Spartiates alias Chairemon contracted with the guardian of her
Ti. Julius Alexander, she had right of first payment (protopraxia) minor grandson Epimachos for the return, out of the boy's
before the claims of other creditors, even the state. 57 Some paternal inheritance, of the dowry which her daughter had
dowries were explicitly secured on a portion of the husband's received. It was clearly anticipated that the daughter would
property; or a parent of the husband might act as a surety for the remarry. In the introductory comment, the editor notes that
possibility of repayment. 58 A petition from Oxyrhynchus in the none of the goods returned are explicitly referred to as the
early Principate records a request by a wife for the return of her pherne, although some are called the parapherna, and the adjec-
dowry, which her husband had squandered, with the addition of tive 'proikimaion' is also used; and that no money was given, as
50 per cent on grounds of ill-treatment (P. Oxy. II 281).
was usual in the pherne. The editor therefore suggests that only
Most marriage contracts stated that, in case of divorce, the the parapherna was being repaid, and hence that the document
pherne must be returned by the husband within sixty days, the may provide evidence of a pherne functioning, like the Attic proix,
parapherna (consisting of personal items of the bride) at once; in to transmit inheritance through the female line, since the pherne
many cases this applied whether or not the marriage had pro-
was kept by the son of the marriage.
duced children. 59 If the person who had given the dowry was still
This interpretation cannot be accepted. It is certainly unusual
alive, it seems that it would be returned to that person, if not, to
that the goods listed down to line 27 were not explicitly described
the bride herself. 60 Provision was also made for the death without
as the pherne, but at this point a new section of the document
issue of each partner. If the bride died first, the dowry was to be
clearly begins, distinguishing the parapherna from what had gone
returned within the same period either to its granter or to other of
before; moreover, the parapherna received no valuation, as the
her relatives. If the husband predeceased his wife, the dowry
preceding items had done. We must remember that this docu-
passed to her, and she might have control over her husband's
ment is relatively late (AD 260); indeed, it postdates the last
whole estate until she had obtained it. 61
reference to parapherna known to Hage by thirty years. 63 By
5
6
Wolff, RE XXIII.1 148. this stage, the terminology was being increasingly affected by
57 See n. 55; cf. P. Oxy. VIII no2, a judgement of the hypomnematogrophos the Roman use of proix as the translation of 'dos' and the normal
ordering one quarter of a man's property to be handed over to the city, excepting
the dowry previously bestowed on his daughter.
word for a dowry. According to Hage, the word pherne is not
58
Secured dowries: P. Oxy. III 496, 6o3, VI 907, VII 1034; apparently also PSI found after the fourth century in the papyri. 64
V 450 recto 19ff. This was perhaps also the function of the property listed in P.
Oxy. XLIX 3491 lines 15ff. Surety: P. Oxy. II 266, VI 905. 62
The daughter in fact renounced her right to inherit through P. Oxy. 268.
59
P. Oxy. III 496, 497, 603, VI 905, X 1273; P. Oxy. XLIX 3491 specifies return Antiphanes son of Heraklas is generally agreed to have been a son, although other
only if the marriage was childless, and I I 265 seems to reserve a portion if any child aspects of the family tree have been restored in different ways: Mitteis, M. Chr.
chose to stay with the father. 6o P. Oxy. III 496, 497, X 1273, XLIX 3491. 292 introduction, Kreller, Erb. Unt. 132. Note also P. Oxy. X 1274.
61
P. Oxy. II 265, III 496,497; probably also in the very fragmentary P. IFAO III ~ Hage, Eheguterrechtliche Verhaltnisse, 223 cites CPR I 21 (AD 230).
5. Ibid. 210.

157
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land
Moreover, most of the dowries from the late second century of the marriage, although unequivocal evidence of this is hard to
onwards listed in Table ro appear to have consisted of gold come by. 67
jewellery and clothes but no coin, so P. Coll. Youtie II 67 was Thus, although it would be too strong to say that the pherne did
by no means unique in this respect (and there was in fact a large not at all serve to transmit property to descendants through the
sum of money given, to be used 'to furnish other dowry goods'). female line, the conclusion of Wolff and Hage, that this was not
It was also not unusual for the gold items not to be given a the prime role of the pherne in Egypt, can largely be accepted.
monetary value; gold, particularly in the late third century, was Apart from the general use of the dowry to make the girl more
far more stable in value than coin, whereas clothes needed to be attractive to potential husbands, the primary function of the
valued, since they were likely to deteriorate. 65 We may conclude, pherne in Egypt concerned the upkeep of the bride (and presum-
therefore, that P. Coll. Youtie II 67 provides no reason for ably her adornment) and of the marital household. For this
thinking that any part of the dowry was inherited by the son of reason, when the bride withdrew from that household, the
the marriage. Whether this conformed to general practice, of dowry normally went with her. Here may also be noted a provi-
course, is another matter; in particular procedure might be sion in P. Oxy. II 265 (line 19), which the editors took to grant to
different if the widow were not going to marry again. any child who wished to stay with the father a share of the dowry
What would happen to the pherne of a widow who did not in case of divorce; even if this is the correct interpretation of the
remarry (or who survived her last husband), and who died clause, of which only seven words are extant, it can as well be
leaving surviving issue? That it formed part of her estate, and taken to refer to the upkeep of the off spring during childhood as
was inherited by her descendants, is a natural inference, and is to the provision of a share in the maternal inheritance. If the
supported by the fact that the marriage documents provide only mother wished to leave some of her property to the children of
for the case of death without issue. her first marriage she could leave a will to this effect, an option
This presupposes, however, that the goods which comprised which was quite unavailable to a woman under Classical Athenian
the pherne were either of general use, rather than solely of use to a law.
wife, or that they could readily be exchanged for goods of general Allusion has already been made to the typical contents of a
use. P. Coll. Youtie II 67 evidently envisaged the possibility of pherne; the detailed contents of Oxyrhynchite dowries, pherne,
purchasing 'dowry goods' for coin, and there was presumably a parapherna, and prosphora, are listed in Table 10. The para-
sufficiently active market in gold, jewellery and fine clothing pherna, an addition to the dowry which appears in the Roman
which enabled the cash value of these objects in dowries to be period, contained items of personal use to the bride, not dissim-
estimated. There was, of course, no problem with the coin itself, ilar to some of the items which could be included in the pherne.
although with the exception of the strange P. Amh. II 95, in which The parapherna, however, was not necessarily given a monetary
land was purchased from the bride's father with her dowry, I value. 68 The parapherna thus does not have any further bearing
know of no specific evidence of purchases made with the coin
67 PSI III 240 (re-edited in PSI CoTT. I) shows a female testator bequeathing
from dowries. 66 It seems likely that the ornaments and clothing
her gynaikeion komum (feminine ornament) to a girl, presumably unmarried,
might in turn be used as part of the dowry of any daughter born apparently not her daughter. In P. Oxy. XLIX 3491, the girl's father gave the
pherne, and her mother the parapherna, but we need not assume that the latter
65 J. Whitehome, 'The Valuation of Gold Dowry Objects in Papyri of the consisted of items which she herself had received. Strictly speaking, parts of the
Roman Period', Archiv, 32 ( 1986) 49-53. mother's dowry ought not to have been given away during the existence of the
66 marriage, but as long as no members of the family objected, this is unlikely to have
We know from P. Oxy. II 281 only that the dowry was squandered in some
way. In P. Kronion 52, the jewellery from the dowry had been converted into cash proved an obstacle in practice.
for the 'personal use' of the husband; see Whitehome, 'Valuation', 53 who also 68 But note here Talamanca's criticisms of Hiige in 'Gli apporti patrimoniali',

cites the obscure P. Oxy. III 528. Items from dowries could of course be pawned: Index, 2 (1971), 246f.: Talamanca sees the main distinguishing feature of the
references in T. Reekmans, 'Treasure Trove and parapherna', Le Monde grec, 748- Ptrrapherna in its being at the disposal of the wife, whereas the pherne, in the
59, at p. 759. short term at least, was in the possession of the husband.

1 59
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land

on the relationship between land and marital property; for rinciple harder to establish, and there exist se:"'eral _ambigu_ous
discussion of the origin, content and significance of this part of ~ases, including p Oxy. II 265, which _Hopkms cites agamst
. f H.. , 73
the dowry, the reader is referred to Hage, or to Gerner's mono- Modrzejewski's rea ffirmation o age s view.
74
graph.69 In fact, no definite conclusion can be based on_P Oxy. II 265.
Hopkins has expressed surprise at the low median size of the A very short portion of each line survives, suffi~ient to show that
dowries recorded through the Tebtunis record-office in AD 42---6 h contract contained features not wholly explicable by analogy
(80 drachmas; the range lay between 18 and 1,600 drachmas);7° ~i:h other more complete contracts, but not to establish clearly
those from Oxyrhynchus are typically larger, even allowing for what these clauses specified. We cannot with confidence even s~y
inflation, doubtless because all but one (P Oxy. VI 905) concern how many letters are lost at the end of each line, but the loss 1s
metropolitans rather than villagers. But the relative value of likely to have been very substantial. Therefore what appears ~s a
dowries varies greatly in different societies, and would under- rather abrupt transition from items which could be expected m_a
standably tend to be comparatively low where the dowry did pherne in line 3 to the description of at least three plots of l~nd m
not constitute a daughter's only stake in her parental property. lines 4-5, in fact leaves ample room for the two categones of
Moreover, the value of dowries must be assessed in relation to the property to be differentiated.
extent to which the goods were put to active economic use, rather The closest parallel is perhaps CPR I 24 (=M. Chr. 2_88),fr?m
than being set aside, or (as in the case of the jewellery) kept for Arsinoe. Here, after listing items of gold and the cash (1~clu~m~
display. Somewhat surprisingly, petitions from the Arsinoite the value of some garments) which the bridegroom received ept
village of Euhemeria attest women of humble means visiting the bride from her mother, the contract proceeds, 'and Aphrodite
the bath house adorned in jewellery, as well as the celebrated has similarly given in dowry as an additional gift not to be take~
(alleged) theft of a box of dowry goods hidden in a house wall avatpatperov) to her same <laughter ...
back (Jv tpEpvfi1(0,TO.TTpoatpopav
for forty years. 71 (lines 8f.) three arouras of katoicic land and ~ half share of a
house and court in the metropolis (this was different from the
(b) Methods of Donating Land on a Daughter's Marriage:
other property left to the daughter by her father). The mother
prosphora and 'Parental Apportionment'
retained the right to habitation and usufruct of the house and
If the parents of the bride wished to provide the couple with a court and of half the arouras during her lifetime. Thus although
secure livelihood, various means were open to them. The daugh- in a sense the house and land bestowed by the mother were
ter could be given some land, or other income-producing prop- intended as part of her dowry, a clear distinction of owners~ip
erty, before the marriage. 72 Such property could also be settled on is made between these and the 'normal' dowry items. The bride
the couple through the marriage contract itself, either as an was to deposit a declaration of the change of ownership ~f the
addition to the dowry proper, or as a 'parental apportionment'. house (with the mother's continued right to ~sufruct) m the
Hage argued that land (and slaves) found a place in dowries bibliotheke (lines 33-4). The bridegroom was obliged to perform
only en prosphora, as an addition to the pherne and parapherna. the agricultural work on the property his wife had inherited from
The fact that even this was relatively rare makes the general her father and on half the three arouras bestowed kata pro-
sphoran, p~ying the taxes on them; but the title lay defi~itively
½ Hage, Ehegiiterrechtliche Verhiiltnisse, 211 ff., E. Gerner, Beitriige zum Recht
der Parapherna (Munich, 1954). with his wife. The provisions for the return of the dowry m case
70
M. K. Hopkins, 'Brother-Sister Marriage in Roman Egypt', Comparative of divorce mention only the gold and the drachmas.
Studies in Society and History, 22 (1980), 303-54, at 342. If we return to p Oxy. II 265 in light of this parallel case, the
7 ' P. Ryl. II 124, 125 (=Sel. Pap. II 278); see Reekmans, 'Treasure Trove and
parapherna', Le Monde grec 74&-59.
7• e.g. P. Oxy. II 273; the very late P. Michael. 33 is a transfer after marriage. See 73 'Brother-sister marriage', 339. On prosphora in general, see Hiige, Ehegiiter-
also the purchases on behalf of unmarried daughters, Ch. VI § 5. rechtliche Verhiiltnisse, 250 ff. 74
See BL II 94 on the text.

160 161
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land
three plots of land (or more) in lines 4-5 were most probably Dispositions of property could be contained in the marriage
those of which the husband Dionysios, with his wife, was to contracts of either the parents or the children. 76 However, those
receive the usufruct (Kapm,;<t>-rm). Who acquired ownership of in the parents' marriage contract seem to have done little more
these it is not possible to say. Further land and house property than confirm the normal rights of intestate succession for any
was probably bestowed by the mother, who would keep the
legitimate children of the marriage. Even though there might
usufruct and revenues during her lifetime; its ultimate destina-
exist legitimate children of the marriage at the time the docu-
tion seems to have been the progeny of the marriage, but it is not
ment was drawn up, if the marriage had previously been unwrit-
clear who would own the property in the meantime. Further land
ten, a detailed allocation of property could scarcely take place,
was mentioned in line r5, from the kleros of Moschion near Talao·
since both the number of children and the amount of property
if this can be connected with the tenor of the previous line, th;
clause may have obliged Dionysios either to let his wife share in would probably alter in future years.
the revenues from his property, or to guarantee her rights to her In the case of the marriage contracts of the children, the
own property. Finally, in the acknowledgement by Dionysios of apportionment could actually be put into effect. Both stages in
his receipt of the dowry, allusion is made to further land, pre- the process are neatly illustrated by a declaration made to the
sumably the same as that listed in lines 4-5, although the extant bibliophylakes in AD 97 (P. Oxy. IV 713). Leonides, an Oxyrhynch-
items, a vineyard(?), with contents and water-sources and one ite, declared that his parents, in their marriage contract of the
aroura from the kleros of Lybios, are different from those extant 12th year of Claudius, 'settled upon their joint issue the whole of
in the earlier part. From line 41, it appears that this had been their property, so that after their death it might be the secure and
given by Zoilos, the father of the bride, who retained some rights inalienable possession of their children'. On the father's death,
over these in his lifetime. Evidently this marriage document was his property was duly divided among the three children. Later,
being used to set out major provisions about the family's prop- Leonides' brother and sister married each other, and in their
erty; there is no evidence, however, that the land and house marriage contract each was apportioned four arouras at N esla,
property formed part of the dowry proper, the pherne. one third of their mother's property; Leonides consequently
A much more common way of disposing of property through declared his katoche (lien) on the remaining third: d arouras at
marriage contracts was to make a 'parental apportionment' Nesla, and 2½at Peenno. Presumably this procedure could be
entirely distinct from the dowry. Evidence of this procedure followed only when the children's (or child's) marriage took
has survived through scattered allusions and through declara- place after the parents were reasonably certain that they would
tions of property (see above, § 2), as well as through marriage produce no more children, since otherwise children born after
documents themselves. Although the practice seems to have been this would be disinherited.
Egyptian in origin, it was employed in the Roman period even A disposition of this sort did not need to be connected with a
among the gymnasial families in the metropoleis, and was suffi- testamentary clause in the parents' marriage contract; in another
ciently widespread for Mettius Rufus, in his famous edict of AD declaration of property apportioned through a daughter's cheir-
89 tightening up property registration, to order specifically that ograph (handwritten) marriage agreement by her father, his own
such rights of ktesis (possession) on the death of the parents must marriage was not mentioned at all. Again it was a specific plot of
be declared along with the property. 75 land, in Ieme in the kleros of Chares, which was the subject of the
apportionment (PSI XIII 1322). Another declaration appears to
75
P. Oxy. II 2~7 col. viii 34ff. (=Sel. Pap. II 219): 'Wives also, if by some native attest a disposition made both through a cheirograph agreement
law they have a hen on the property, shall add an annotation to the statements of
their husbands, and similarly children to those of their parents, to whom enjoy- and through the marriage contract of the heir (P. Oxy. II 250).
ment of the property has been secured by public instruments, and ownership after The edict of Mettius Rufus envisaged that parents would retain
th_e1rdeath has been settled on their children, so that those who make agreements
with them may not be defrauded through ignorance.' 76
E. Rabel, Elterliche Teilung (Basel, 1907), Kreller, Erb. Unt. 224ff.
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land
the usufruct of the apportioned properties during their lifetime, This is, so far as I know, unique. It seems to have been more
and it is natural to interpret the existing declarations in this way, usual in the first and second centuries for property of which the
although Kreller expresses doubt whether in P. Oxy. IV 713 the couple were immediately to gain the use to be counted as pro-
partition was to have immediate effect or was to take place on the sphora rather than made the subject of a 'parental apportion-
death of the mother. 77 The 'Petition of Dionysia' (P. Oxy. II 237), ment'. Had P. Oxy. II 265 been preserved more completely, it
in which the edict is preserved, is both too fragmentary and deals may have clarified this issue, since it seems to have contained
with too complex a dispute to offer clear evidence on the respec- both kinds of disposition. But the transfer of usufruct as well as
tive rights of the daughter and her father over the property. It title to land or other real property in marriage contracts seems
seems that by her marriage contract Dionysia had been given the rarely to have been effected at all, presumably because few
katoche on some property, subsequently giving her consent, along parents could afford to lose part of their own income. We should
with her mother and husband, to the mortgaging of this property remember, too, that some children had before the time of their
for eight talents (col. vi 22ff.). But her rights to the present marriage already inherited from one or both parents, who had
income of that property seem to have depended on her assump- died (as in CPR I 24).
tion of some responsibility for the debt, and her father would The documents reflect a compromise between social norms,
legal requirements, and the personal preference of individuals
apparently have the right to resume the income once the obliga-
and families. A pherne in gold or cash seems to have been a
tion was cleared (col. iv). It must be remembered, too, that only
near universal custom;8° but beyond this, it depended on the
Dionysia's point of view is preserved in our text.
circumstances and wishes of the individuals concerned whether
If P. Oxy. II 265 does indeed preserve a disposition by the to include any provisions for the livelihood or income of the
mother of the bride on the children of the marriage, 78 this would
married couple through the bestowal of property on them. The
be yet another instance where the disposer retained the usufruct
appearance of parapherna and prosphora early in the Roman
during her lifetime.
period perhaps reflects social pressure for dowries to become
It may be asked why there was need for the notion of aprosphora more elaborate and substantial, but there were sound reasons,
when it was possible to include land in marriage contracts by means
perhaps legal as well as practical, that the pherne never seems to
of a 'parental apportionment'. But since the latter was primarily a
have included land or house property. It is notable that, where such
substitute for a testamentary disposition, it was intended to take
property is given by the bride's parents through a marriage con-
practical effect only after the death of the granter; until then, the
tract, it is always the bride herself who obtains ownership of it; the
heir would normally have title to, but not use of, the property. The
husband may have the duty to cultivate land for the benefit of the
prosphora on the other hand, seems to have been at least in part marital household, but it is unquestionably the property of his wife.
intended for immediate use, as is articulated in P. Ryl. II 154: 'for
It is worth emphasizing that a woman in Egypt could own
the common marital household' (line 23).
property of all kinds (and take part in legal contracts, acting
By the end of the second century, the prosphora had apparently with a kyrios if necessary) at all stages of her life, whether
disappeared, 79 and even before then, immediate usufruct was married or not, a situation alien to English law before the very
granted to a married couple in a 'parental apportionment' (P. recent past. 81 Thus, quite apart from the question of the trans-
Oxy. XLIX 3491, AD 157"8). Here, as in much of the other mission of property being possible directly through the female
evidence discussed, the milieu of the persons involved was by line, it was also possible for the wife, or for one of her parents, to
no means a purely Egyptian one; the mother of the bridegroom
was an Alexandrian. The size of the dowry also suggests 8o P. Oxy. XLIX 3500, a marriage contract between two embalmers, is very
considerable wealth in at least the bride's family. unusual in mentioning no dowry at all.
8
' In England, married women finally obtained full equality with married men

77
in their capacity to own and dispose of property only through Acts passed in 1935
Kreller, Erb. Unt. 229. 78
Ibid. and 1949; J. H. Baker, An Introduction to English Legal History (London, 1971),
79
Hage, Ehegiiterrechtliche Verhiiltnisse, 254. 258ff.
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land
make an economic contribution to the household in her own dowry assumes great importance, particularly because the typical
right, and not only via her husband. 82 Under such circum- content of a dowry was so different from the sort of property
stances, there were no advantages, from the point of view of the found in the testaments. In some areas of early modern Europe,
woman and her family, in the inclusion of income-giving prop- for instance, receipt of a dowry and inheritance were, for any
erty within the pheme proper; and a disadvantage in that, since individual woman, mutually exclusive, and some evidence has
the husband acquired the right to use the pheme during the been taken to show that this was the case in Egypt. 83 Of course,
marriage, there was greater danger of its misuse. In addition, the the existence of parental dispositions in marriage contracts shows
ambiguity of the rights of ownership over the pheme would seem to that some women both received dowries and inherited, but it
conflict with the legal framework of ownership which the Roman cannot in principle be ruled out that all these were their
administration imposed on real property in Egypt, a problem parents' only issue, and so exceptional cases.
which not even the notion of katoche could adequately solve. As usual, the evidence is strongly biased towards cases of
It would be misconceived to seek a monocausal explanation of testacy, and Kreller is surely correct in refusing to take these as
the function of the dowry in Roman Egypt. Each of several evidence of the law in general rather than the wishes of individual
functions may be seen as to some extent applicable: as a method testators. 84 In fact, it seems more likely that a daughter was not
of transmitting property through the maternal line, as a contri- excluded by receipt of a dowry from intestate succession,
bution to the upkeep of the wife, and possibly the children too, although there is no evidence that makes this certain.
during the marriage; as a status symbol, conspicuously displaying In one case, we have an explicit statement that a daughter (as
the wealth of the couple through the wife's ornaments; as an yet unmarried) was entitled to an equal share, according to
insurance policy against future hard times; or as a means of intestate inheritance, along with her three younger brothers.
ensuring the husband's good behaviour. How far any of these But she never received it, and so we cannot be sure that it was
was seen by the individuals involved as the function of the dowry not only in default of this that she was able to assert her claims to
is yet another matter; we know nothing of the reasoning behind a dowry (P Oxy. XVII 2133).
the composition of particular dowries. But it would appear Again, in another case where a daughter certainly received
justified to see property devolution as one of the least considera- (from her mother) an inheritance equal to that of her brothers,
tions; direct inheritance, articulated if desired in the marriage other relevant aspects of the situation are not preserved (P Oxy.
document itself, could serve this function more efficiently, while IV 713). The property was apportioned to the children in the
leaving it in no doubt that both ownership and effective control marriage contract between the girl, Thais, and one of her broth-
over the property lay with the wife. ers; in the extant property declaration made by the other brother
there is, of course, no explicit mention of Thais' dowry, although
( c) The Effect of Dowries on Inheritance by Females it is probably justified to assume that she had received one, and
Because women were able to inherit even in the presence of males that it was not purely nominal. 85 Since Thais is known to have
of the same relationship, the connection between inheritance and inherited some property from her father (lines 2off.), receipt of a
dowry cannot have entailed her complete exclusion from inheri-
82
Husband and wife were able to make valid legal contracts with one another
over property: e.g. P Mich. III 191-2, P Oxy. XII r473, XLIX 3487, loans. Sales 83 See Goody in J. Goody, J. Thirsk, and E. P. Thompson (eds.), Family and
(from the archive of the gmpheion of Tebtunis): P Mich. II 262, 272. Even if these Inhen"tance; Rural Society in Western Europe, r200-1800 (Cambridge, 1976), esp. p.
were normally directly concerned with marital arrangements (see T. Gagos, L. x8, commenting on J. Yver, Ega/ite entre heritiers et exclusion des en/ants dotes; cf.
Koenen, and B. E. McNellan, 'A First Century Archive from Oxyrhynchus: or Mitteis, M. Chr. 57 introduction; and generally, the works cited by Kreller, Erb.
Oxyrhynchite Loan Contracts and Egyptian Marriage', in J. H. Johnson (ed.), Life Unt. 143 n. 9.
14 Kreller, ibid. 143ff.
in a Multi-Cultural Society: Egypt from Cambyses to Constantine and Beyond,
85
(Chicago, 199:i), 184-204) the fact that these arrangements could be articulated P Oxy. XVII 2133 shows that failure to receive a dowry was a cause for
through ordinary contracts of loan or sale as well as through specialised marital complaint. Hopkins, 'Brother-Sister Marriage', 322 notes that even marriages
contracts surely provided greater flexibility. between brother and sister involved a dowry.

166
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land
tance from either parent; the possibility remains that her share of Another surviving will certainly provided both for inheritance
the paternal inheritance was smaller than that of her brothers. All by a daughter who had already received a dowry, and for the
three children received equal areas of land from their mother, but future payment by her brothers of a dowry for a younger daugh-
Thais may not have received anything from her mother in her ter who also inherited under the will (P. Oxy. VI 907). Despite its
dowry. It must be remembered that, since children inherited late date (AD 276), and close adherence to Latin formulae, the
separately from each parent, they did not necessarily receive the provisions seem rather to follow earlier Greco-Egyptian practice,
same share on each occasion. for instance in the extra share given to the eldest son; and so this
Practice as revealed in testamentary documents clearly varied, may legitimately be taken to illustrate the procedure followed by
although some of the apparent differences may result from wealthier, but still local, families in allocating dowries and inher-
differences in the relative value of dowry and inheritance; after itances. Unfortunately, the general problems involved in estimat-
all, it is not unreasonable to suppose, with Kreller, that a daugh- ing the relative value of different properties are in this case
ter's inheritance would be reduced by the amount she received in compounded by lacunae in the descriptions of the property. All
dowry, so that, if she had already received in dowry the whole
we can say, therefore, is that the three sons alone received shares
amount of her share of the inheritance, she would in practice be
in a house in the metropolis; they also jointly received landed
disinherited. 86 This can perhaps be seen in operation in P. Oxy. I
property at two villages, while the eldest son was given extra
75 (AD r29), a property declaration of one-third of a three-storied
cornland at another village. He also received two slaves, whereas
house with cellar and court in Oxyrhynchus, and one-third of a
share of a walled psilos topos left by will by a father to his son; the the other four children had only one each. The daughters, too,
daughter would have had the right to a dowry of r,ooo drachmas received cornland and vineland, and even the testator's wife
and the occupancy of (part of?) the house under the same will, acquired ownership of some cornland on which her dowry had
had she not predeceased her parents. One may doubt that the been secured. 89 So, although it seems probable that the daughters
house property left to the son was worth substantially more than here received a less valuable share of the paternal inheritance than
r,ooo drachmas, in which case the daughter would not have did the sons, and plausible to connect this with their past or
suffered financially by receiving a dowry in lieu of inheritance. future receipt of dowries, it is not possible to tell whether the
Indeed, unless the son owned property from other sources, it was amount given in dowry compensated for the shortfall in the
perhaps fortunate for him that his sister died without issue in her inheritance.
parents' lifetime; the provision of dowries has been seen as a It is interesting to compare with this the better-preserved
frequent source of peasant indebtedness. 87 Despite its various testament of Taarpaesis alias Isidora, who left to her son and
obscurities, a will of AD 96 may suggest a similar reason for the two daughters, and to a grandson by one of the daughters, several
apparent disinheritance of a married daughter, especially since the items of house property in Oxyrhynchus and at Phoboou, as well
testator was in debt (to her own husband). 88 as small quantities of agricultural land near Phoboou, Ophis, and
8 Posompois Aristomachou (P. Koln II 100). Taarpaesis had herself
~ Note that in P. Ups. Frid I (Dionysias, AD 48) a man apportions half his real
property to his son Apollonios (presumably following the custom that an eldest inherited both land and other property from each of her parents,
son receives a double share), and one quarter to each of two daughters. Apollonios but it is striking that her only son was bequeathed by far the
must also provide dowries for the two women; but only he receives his father's
agricultural produce (with the attendant obligations), and he shares with his
largest share of the inheritance, including virtually all the arable
mother the furnishings of the parental home. Here the allocation of different land, a little over eleven arouras. The grandson received the
elements in the inheritance clearly stems from more complex considerations remammg aroura, while the two daughters had their rights
than simply deducting the value of the dowries from the daughters' inheritance
portions. 87 J. Goody, Production and Reproduction, 10. confirmed to what was agreed in their marriage contracts, and
88
P. Oxy. I 104; the testator's son was obliged to pay her daughter 40 dr. within
thirty days of the death of the testator's husband; also the 'son' seems in fact to 8g Possiblv in lieu of the return of the dowry itself; cf. St. Pal. XX 29
have been adopted-but might he be her grandson by a deceased daughter? (Herakleopo.litc, AD 226).

168 169
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land
received jointly half a house in Oxyrhynchus and in Phoboou. In (third century), in which a daughter who had been allotted by
addition, one daughter, Berenice, gained some rights to the will a smaller share than her brother challenged the will (on
usufruct of the aroura bequeathed to her son. technical grounds) and succeeded, before the deputy-prefect, in
Thus it appears that, quite apart from the matter of the relative asserting her right to the full half-share. Although this was
value of the portions of the heirs, Taarpaesis deliberately avoided reversed on appeal, her descendants over a decade later still
giving agricultural property to the women. This seems surprising hoped to obtain their half-share.
in view of the prevalence of female land ownership in the papyrus We may now summarize the consequences for the overall
evidence; and in contrast, one might cite other testators who went distribution of property of the various forms of devolution of
out of their way to give land to their female descendants. But the property through females. On the whole, the total value of what
fragmentary PSI III 240 seems to offer an even more striking the fem ales received does not seem to have been less than the
case of discrimination in the content of inheritances, between portions of their male counterparts, although, of course, any heir
corn- and garden-land given to a male, and to the female a could be disinherited by will. Since there were no legal restric-
gynaikeion kosmon, consisting of items of jewellery. This appar- tions on the capacity of females to own land or any other prop-
ent avoidance of testating land to females also accords with the erty, they could, and frequently did, receive land in their
other evidence that women were not always considered capable of inheritances; and on the whole, unmarried girls and females
handling landed property on their own. There may indeed be who were not co-heirs with males did not differ at all from males
something of a distinction to be drawn here between the wealth- in the composition of the inheritances they received. However,
iest families and those less well-off; not only need the former be there is evidence that some testators discriminated against
less concerned to avoid undue fragmentation of their property, females in bequeathing agricultural land, compensating them
but also their women could enjoy the income of land while with other property which was perhaps considered more appro-
employing others to cultivate and even, perhaps, to manage it. priate. Furthermore, the value of a woman's dowry seems nor-
A further question is whether the value of the total share mally to have reduced the value of the inheritance she received
(dowry and inheritance) received by a daughter would be less from the giver of the dowry. Since dowries did not (except very
than that of a younger son. Most of the evidence of intestate marginally) consist of land, this also limited the tendency towards
inheritance shows all children inheriting equal shares, although full equality in the inheritance of land. On the other hand, in so
Kreller has discussed some cases where women appear to be far as women retained control over their dowries, this gave them
disadvantaged, including P. Oxy. III 503.90 But the background particular access to wealth in the form of gold, jewellery, and
to this division of property is surely too little known for it to be coin.
certain that Sepsarion's share was made smaller because she was
female; the distribution could as well be the result of a brother- 5. PARTIBLE INHERITANCE AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF
sister marriage between the parents of Epimachos III and Peto- LANDHOLDINGS
siris, or of a decision by a common ancestor to testate the
property equally among all surviving issue, except for the eld- It is not unreasonable to see the prevailing inheritance system as
est's double share, so that Epimachos III and Petosiris received a one cause of the tendency for holdings of private land to be
share each instead of jointly representing their father. fragmented into discrete parcels. The only child of a marriage
That the rules of intestate inheritance specified equal division was likely to inherit at least two separate plots, one from each
of the property is very strongly suggested by P. Oxy. XLIII 3u7 parent, while in a larger family, each plot might be divided among
the heirs, each child receiving a portion of two plots at least.
90
Erb. Unt. 147ff. Equal inheritance by both sexes: P. Oxy. VII 1032, XVII Was the fragmentation of property in this way perceived as
2133, IV 713, X 1269. undesirable? There undoubtedly existed ways of reducing the
170 171
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land
extent of fragmentation which, as will be shown below, were which together tended to maintain property fragmentation at an
employed to some degree, but not as thoroughly as onlookers acceptable level.
imbued with preconceptions about the advantages of 'economies On the death of the previous owner property was not necessa-
of scale' might be led to expect. Partible inheritance was, after all, rily divided among the heirs at all; it could remain indefinitely in
usual throughout the Greek world. 91 Reasons for the relative joint ownership. However, in not all cases of joint ownership was
indifference to fragmentation may also be found both in the the administration of the property, as opposed to the legal title,
nature of agriculture in Egypt and in the prevailing system of genuinely shared; if a plot of land was 'common' but not
land tenure. 'undivided', individual partners could, for instance, lease out
We can certainly cite cases where a written property disposition their shares for cultivation without regard to the rest of the
resulted in less fragmentation than the equal distribution of all property. 93 Joint owners of undivided land, on the other hand,
property would have done. Of the three children who inherited would have to make a lease contract jointly with the tenant,
their mother's twelve arouras in two plots of 9½ and 2½arouras dividing the rent according to the proportions owned. 94 Many
respectively (P. Oxy. IV 713), only the declarant in the extant owners of common and undivided parcels of land, particularly if
document, Leonides, received a split holding. His brother and they were brothers, must have undertaken the agricultural work
sister each took four of the 9½ arouras at Nesla; since they were themselves in common, just as they might undertake a joint
also married to each other, their whole eight arouras could tenancy of private or public land. The retention of land in joint
presumably be treated as a unit, if this was agriculturally desir- ownership was perhaps thought particularly appropriate while
able. some of the owners were still under age, although clearly it was
The same example illustrates how the custom of brother-sister not confined to those cases. 95
marriage undoubtedly on occasion had the effect of reducing the Although joint ownership was probably most prevalent among
extent of property fragmentation. That is not to say, of course, small-scale landowners, especially those most influenced by
that the desire to prevent property fragmentation was the cause of Egyptian culture, 96 it can be found at all levels of society.
the Egyptians' freedom from the 'incest taboo', much less that Aurelius Sarapion alias Apollonianus, sometime strategos of the
this was always the overt reason why siblings chose to marry each Themistes and Polemon divisions of the Arsinoite name and of
other. Some married even when there was no obvious advantage
the Hermopolite nome, leased out land which he owned in
from the point of view of property conservation, while others
common with Aurelia Ptolema alias Magna (P. Oxy. XVII 2137).
married outside the family despite the possibility of property
Dionysia daughter of Sarapias alias Thamounion, an Antinoite,
conservation. 92 Nevertheless, it may be justified to see the phe-
nomenon as one strand in a nexus of complementary practices 93 E. Weiss, 'Communio pro diviso und pro indiviso in den Papyri', Archiv, 4

(l908), 33o-65. Roman law did not recognize the joint but divided ownership of
9 ' See R. Lane Fox, 'Aspects of Inheritance in the Greek World', in P. A. agricultural property (Ulpian, Dig. 8. 4. 6. 1 .), since agricultural land is not a
Cartledge and F. D. Harvey (eds.), CRUX: Essays Presented to G. E. M. de Ste. unified whole as a building, for instance, is. Nevertheless, this form of ownership
Croix on his 75th Birthday, (London, 1985), 208-z32, esp. sections II and IV. It is was common in Egypt; see the examples quoted by Weiss (339£.), and several
useful to compare the discussion of the merits of strip farming in medieval Oxyrhynchite leases: P. Strass. IV 244, P. Oxy. I 103, XIV 1691, XXXI 2584, XLV
England by D. N. McC!oskey, 'The Persistence of English Common Fields', in 3255; in the two latter cases at least, it is certain that the tenants were responsible
W. N. Parker and E. L. Jones (eds.), European Peasants and their Markets: Essays for the agricultural work; it was not only the revenues of the land which were
being leased. 94 Examples in Appendix 2, passim.
in Agrorian Economic History (Princeton, 1975), 73-119.
92 95 As in e.g. P. Flor. III 319, P. Oxy. XXII 2351, XLIX 3508 lines 32 ff.
See B. D. Shaw, 'Explaining Incest: Brother-Sister Ma.riage in Graeco-
96 See the evidence of joint ownership in the sale contracts listed by 0.
Roman Egypt', Man 27 NS ( 1992) 267--<)9;Hopkins, 'Brother-Sister Marriage',
322 f. Bagnall and F,ier, however, regard the incidence of brother-sister marriage Montevecchi ('Ricerche di sociologia nei documenti dell'Egitto greco-romano
as remarkably high in the census declarations (almost 17 per cent; only 40 per cent III-I contratti di compra-vendita (c) Compra-vendite di terreni', Aegyptus, 23
of families would have a suitable composition; The Demography of Roman Egypt, (1943), 11-Sg; almost half the examples are derived from Ptolemaic Pathyris, and
I27 ff.). few concern katoicic land (ibid. 49).

173
 The Inheritance of Land The Inheritance of Land

who declared several items of jointly-owned property at Sko and inheritances of approximately equal value, girls as well as boys,
Monimou last registered over a century earlier in the name of no 'strategy of heirship' could raise to an adequate level the total
her ancestors, also seems to have been relatively prosperous (P. value of the share received by each of many brothers and sisters.
Oxy. XLV 3242). A partial division of property was made We may imagine that the Egyptian father was not wholly immune
between persons known to have been wealthy and of high social to the classic dilemma of the small proprietor; too few offspring
status in Oxyrhynchite terms. 97 In at least the last two cases, the might leave him totally without heirs, while too many would
landed property in joint ownership was considerably fragmented, result in the impoverishment of the next generation of his family.
and it is interesting that the division of property, which in any However, it is important to remember that during much of the
case did no more than to split the estate in half among two groups Principate, there existed a reservoir of land which was not
of joint owners, seems to have avoided creating any further necessarily transferred from one generation to the next accord-
fragmentation. ing to the rules of inheritance. Even if a son in practice could take
Sale could also be used as a means of reuniting property which over his father's public land, there remained greater flexibility in
had either become physically fragmented or which was held in the allocation of this land from families with too few heirs to
common among several owners. Further discussion of this those with too many. Private monartabos might be jealously
conserved, but public land could be obtained to support those
belongs to the next chapter (§ 5).
willing to work hard for less return. Perhaps this, rather than
Despite the existence of these means of reducing property
inheritance practice itself or the natural resources of the country,
fragmentation, however, it is evident from the papyri that split
was the reason why to outside observers the Egyptians seemed
holdings were tolerated as a consistent feature of property own-
unusually casual about the numbers of offspring that they reared
ership. At a village level, they were perhaps not seriously dis-
(Diodorus 1. 80, Strabo 17. 2. 5).
advantageous from the economic point of view. There was in any
case a clear physical demarcation between the clustered buildings
within the village, which formed the base for agricultural opera-
tions, and the fields which surrounded it in greater or less
proximity; while if, as is likely, labour was superabundant, the
extra time spent in visiting several plots rather than one could not
have been put to greater economic gain. Balanced against this was
the reduction of the risk of total crop failure from lack of water,
crop disease or invasion by grazing beasts. Leasing moreover
offered a solution for dealing with plots too distant to cultivate,
without the need for a permanent change of ownership.
A potentially more serious problem than the physical disconti-
nuity of property holdings was the number of persons among
whom an inheritance had somehow to be shared. Land might be
conserved for the male offspring (although only to a limited
extent was this effected in practice), and the unity of parcels
maintained; but so long as all heirs could expect to receive
91 P. Oxy. XIV 1637; cf. the contemporary division of a large Hermopolite
property between three brothers and a sister, P. Flor. I 50, discussed by M. A.
H. El Abbadi, 'P. Flor. 50: Reconsidered', Proc. 14 Jnt. Congr. Pap. 91-6.

174 175
 The Sale and Mortgage of Land
and the Macedonian invasion; even if in some cases the land was
CHAPTER VI ultimately in the ownership of a temple, which exacted a sales tax
of ten per cent, in practice it was freely alienable. 3 Similarly, in
Archaic and Classical Greece, landowners were not in general
The Sale and Mortgage of Land legally prohibited from selling their holdings, even if they did
so with reluctance. 4 Hesiod seems to have thought it possible to
buy and sell land in seventh-century Boiotia: 'so that you may
buy a plot from others, and not another yours' (Works and Days
1. INTRODUCTION 341 ).
Nor were sales of agricultural property unknown to Ptolemaic
Like the last, this chapter looks at ways in which private land was Egypt. Although the overt sale of kleruchic land for a purchase
transferred from one owner to another. It is primarily concerned price remains unattested in the pre-Roman period, and in Lower
to locate the numerous surviving sale contracts within an eco- Egypt sales do seem largely confined to non-arable land, numer-
nomic and social context; and in particular to relate these trans- ous sales of arable land survive from the Thebaid in the Ptole-
actions between private landowners to the largely synchronic maic period, written in both Greek and Egyptian. 5 Thus the
picture of landholding distribution which emerged from Chap- impact of the Roman administration was essentially to extend
ter IV. Is there any clear evidence, for instance, that private sales the scope of sale transactions to a much larger quantity of private
contributed to the concentration of property ownership and an land, and particularly to the katoicic land.
increasing differentiation of landed wealth? Can we tell whether
Documentation survives for somewhat over fifty private sales
sale was used to reduce fragmentation of individual landhold-
of land from Oxyrhynchus. In some respects, however, the
ings? Loans on the security of agricultural property are less
Egyptian evidence is poorer than that from Roman Italy; the
numerous than sales, but they too can be examined for evidence
of their social and economic impact. formal legal documentation of sale provides no direct informa-
tion about the considerations which motivated intending vendors
The extensive right to alienate land by sale, in return for a
and purchasers, like that preserved in the letters of Pliny or the
price, to virtually anyone with whom the vendor chose to deal,
advice of Columella. 6 Private letters from Egypt never seem to
was potentially one of the most far-reaching consequences of
Rome's introduction of widespread private ownership of land discuss the sale or purchase of land, and one must be very circum-
in Egypt. Sales of agricultural land were, however, far from spect about inferring motivation from the content of legal docu-
unknown before the arrival of the Romans. The IV Dynasty ments. Technical aspects of the sale documents, to be discussed in
Inscription of Meten already attests the development of limited the next section, also raise problems of comparability; the surviv-
rights of private acquisition, although at this time sale proper ing texts do not all contain the same kind of information.
seems to have been possible only for objects of less value than We do not of course know what proportion of all Oxyrhynchite
agricultural land.' A papyrus of the XVIII Dynasty (1575-1308 land sales has been preserved in our evidence, and thus how
Be), in which three arouras were sold for a cow worth half a
3 Listed in K. Baer, 'The Low Price of Land in Ancient Egypt', JARCE
deben, is probably the first example where a price for arable I
2
land is recorded. Other examples span the period between this (1962), 25f. .
4
See M. I. Finley, 'The Alienability of Land in Ancient Greece', m The Use
and Abuse of History (London, 1975). . .
' B. Menu and I. Harari, 'La Notion de propriete privee des biens fonciers clans s See the list in 0. Montevecchi, 'Ricerche di sociologia III(c): Compra-vend1te
l'ancien Empire egyptien', CRIPEL 2 (1974) 127-154, repr. in B. Menu, Recherches di terreni', Aegyptus, 23 ( 1943) u-89, at 39 f.
sur l'histoire Juridique, economique, et sociale de l'ancienne Egypte (Versailles, 1982). 6
e.g. Pliny, Ep. 1. 24, 3. 19, 7. n; Columella, De re "':tica I. 2-4; cf. "£?.
Ke?oe,
• P. Berl. 9784 in A. H. Gardiner, 'Four Papyri of the 18th Dynasty from 'Allocation of Risk and Investment on the Estates of Plmy the Younger , Chiron,
Kahun', Zeitschriftfiiriigyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 43 (1906), 28ff. 18 ( 1988) I 5-42.

177
 The Sale and Mortgage of Land The Sale and Mortgage of Land
frequently land changed hands by sale. The fourth-century economic analysis must take into consideration 'friction' in the
Hermopolite land registers have been taken to indicate an market arising from factors such as the variability between
'active market in land' (among metropolitans) at that period, parcels of land, imperfect knowledge on the part of buyers and
when surviving sale contracts are rare. 7 If the 35 per cent sellers, and the fact that land has traditionally been more than
change, within a decade, in the holdings of owners recorded in just an 'economic asset'. 11 Again, recent reassessments of the
both registers, genuinely does reflect the extent of private sale entire basis of conventional economic analysis of markets allow
transactions, it certainly represents a surprising level of activity. due weight to be given to the social context of buying and selling
The only other Egyptian evidence for comparison is three cen- without any implication that this is applicable only to primitive,
turies earlier, and relates to a single village, although a relatively unsophisticated forms of economic organization. 1:2
large and sophisticated one. The virtually complete register of If we are to understand fully the impact of these sales, we must
transactions through the grapheion of Tebtunis for year 6 of be alert, not only to the scale of the transactions, but to whatever
Claudius (45/6) lists probably nine sales of agricultural land, can be gleaned from the documents about their character.
involving under fifty arouras in all; activity increased somewhat
in the first four months of the following year. 8 This must
2. THE NATURE OF THE SOURCES
represent a much lower frequency of transactions than is implied
in the Hermopolite case, but even this suggests that over five per To buy or sell agricultural land was unquestionably a major
cent of the village land would change hands by sale within a undertaking for an inhabitant of Egypt, and the rights of both
decade, while further transactions may in addition have been parties (and of the state) had to be securely guaranteed by a set of
made through the record office of the metropolis. These parallels documentation against future claims. 13 In addition to the sale
suggest that sale was certainly a far from rare occurrence, even agreement itself, there might be need for a public affirmation
among villagers. 9 (ekmartyresis) if the contract had been a private one, as well as
But is it only the volume of transactions which determines the declarations of the change of ownership to various officials. 14 The
nature of the 'land market'? The discussion of sales of land in payment of sales and other taxes on the transfer of land also
generated written documentation. 15 The surviving evidence
antiquity raises fundamental questions about the character of the
thus consists of various different types of text, containing differ-
economy, methodological as well as empirical. Finley's character-
ent degrees of detail about the transaction.
ization of the ancient purchase of land as essentially 'windfall'
In particular, the sale of katoicic land involved significantly
purchase has not found widespread acceptance. 10 But it does not
different procedures from that of other private property, for
take an economic 'primitivist' to suggest that the buying and
reasons connected with its origin. 16 Although from the start of
selling of agricultural land constitutes a highly 'imperfect'
market, even in a sophisticated economy. Even a neo-classical " J. M. Currie, The Economic Theory of Agricultural Land Tenure (Cambridge,
1981), 118-29.
7
Bagnall, Egypt in Late Antiquity, 72, concurs with Bowman, 'Landholding in '" e.g. R. E. Lane, The Market Experience (Cambridge, 1991); J. Davis,
the Hermopolite Nome', JRS 75 (1985), 155. Exchange (Buckingham, 1992).
8 3
P. Mich. II 1:23,V 238; there were six sale transactions in the last four months ' Several cases of disputed ownership involved the allegation or denial that
of 4i/2 (P. Mich. II 121 verso), fewer than in the corresponding period of 45'6. property had been sold or ceded: P. Oxy. XII 1470, III 486, I 67 (=M. Chr. 56). In
9 the last case, an explicit appeal was made to the need to produce written proof of
However, one Oxyrhynchite villager, when submitting a petition, did not
consider purchase even worth mentioning as one of the possible ways in which he ownership and cession.
might have acquired a plot of land, listing only inheritance from his parents, •• For these procedures, see the introductions to P. Oxy. LII 3960, and to P.
georgia or misthosis (PSI VII 807). Mich. inv. 988 (M. Damen and N. Priest, 'Registration of a Deed of Sale', BASP
'
0
M. I. Finley, The Ancient Economy (London, 2nd edn. 1985) n8ff.; rejected 19 ~1982), 129-41). •s e.g. P. Oxy. XVII 2129, SB XVI 12642.
by M. Frederiksen reviewing the first edition; 'Theory, Evidence and the Ancient ' See also Ch. II § 4(c), and the discussion and further refs. in K. Maresch,
Economy', JRS 65 (1975) 168; cf. E. Rawson, 'The Ciceronian Aristocracy and its 'Zession von Katokenland; eine Neuedition von P. Erlangen 59', ZPE 76 (1989),
Properties', in M. I. Finley (ed.), Studies in Roman Property, 85-102. ns--20.

1 79
 The Sale and Mortgage of Land The Sale and Mortgage of Land
the Roman period, alienation of katoicic land for a purchase price form an extremely high proportion of the overall evidence for
was permitted, this was effected not through a contract of sale sales of agricultural land in the Oxyrhynchite nome, as in other
(prasis), but by a contract of 'cession' (parachoresis). The price areas of Egypt. In fact, these constitute all the surviving Oxy-
was termed not 'time', but 'parachoretikon'. This did not affect rhynchite evidence until after the mid-second century AD. 18 By
the economic nature of the transaction, but it did preserve a legal the third century, the frequent appearance of prasis contracts
distinction between katoicic and other land for well over two relating to agricultural land must surely in part reflect an
centuries. increase in the quantity of non-katoicic private land. But it also
The formal distinction between parachoresis and prasis can be represents a terminological change in sale contracts generally, in
seen in a pair of contracts, preserved on a single sheet of papyrus, which a combined formula of sale and cession became the norm
made between the same parties (two brothers) within three for all property, urban as well as agricultural: 'I acknowledge that
months in the summer of 139 (P. Oxy. LII 3690-1). The first is I have sold and ceded to you ... '. 19 Thus in the mid-third
a parachoresis of two plots of katoicic land, the second a public century, a single contract of sale and cession could encompass
attestation of a private prasis of a share in an epaulis (farmstead) several distinct types of land and associated property: monartabos,
and vacant lots. From the difference in date of the two contracts, idiotike, katoikike, vineland, irrigation equipment, wine-making
and the history of the properties (the epaulis and vacant lots had installations, an epoikion and other buildings, as well as a house
apparently been inherited by the vendor only after the contract of and court within the village (P. Coll. Youtie I 65).
cession was made), it appears that in this case two separate These changes in the form of the documents have affected the
transactions were involved, albeit between the same parties. overall chronological distribution of the Oxyrhynchite evidence
However, it is worth bearing in mind that at this date anyone for sale. The group of notifications of cession ensures that the
wishing to sell katoicic land and other property together would first century AD is particularly well represented. In contrast, the
have needed to use two different types of contract. second century, so prolific of leases and of other types of docu-
The separate property register which was kept for katoicic ment, is surprisingly thinly represented, while sales once more
land, the graphe katalochismon (see Ch. II § 4(c) ), also generated become abundant in the third century. 2 ° From other parts of
distinct types of documentation, especially the notifications of Egypt, the chronological distribution is significantly different. 21
cession addressed to the katalochismos officials, or from these to But these fortuitous fluctuations in the documentation cannot be
the agoranomoi. A substantial group of these texts has survived, used in support of arguments about the economy (see § 4).
all dating from the last two decades of the first century AD. 17
Prices are never recorded in these texts, doubtless because the
procedure originated in the Ptolemaic period, when the payment
of a price was not permitted. There is no reason to doubt that the '
8
The very fragmentary SB XII 11229 (reign of Marcus and Verus) seems to
vast majority, if not all, of these transactions had involved the use pmsis terminology (see line 12). A 1st-c. pmsis between two cavalry soldiers, P.
payment of a price, and were indeed sales rather than, for Hamb. III 217, seems to concern not agricultural land, but buildings and asso-
ciated non-agricultural land (cf. 'engaia' used in P. Oxy. LII 3691 of vacant lots).
instance, gifts. But the nature of this evidence means that we The property was apparently located at Philadelphia in the Fayum.
9
are less well informed about first century prices for land than ' See e.g. P. Oxy. IV 719 (AD 193), concerning two houses at Ision Tryphonis.

about the identity of the contracting parties and the description Perhaps this formula also reflects the two-part nature of sale in Egyptian law,
which traditionally involved two distinct documents, the 'writing for silver'
of the land itself. (price-document), and the 'writing of abandonment' (cession or conveyance).
Documents concerning parachoresis of katoicic land (including "" The numbers are: 1st c. AD: nine (plus the fourteen notifications listed in n.
17); 2nd c. AD: nine; 3rd c. Ao: nineteen. SB III 6612 remains the only 4th c. sale of
actual cession contracts, as well as the notifications of cession) land from Oxyrhynchus.
•• See Montevecchi's list in Aegyptus, 23 (1943) 12 ff., with additions in La
1
' P. Oxy. I 45-"7, 165, 174, 176; II 341-2, 344, 34~; III 641; XII 1462; L 3556. Papirologia 21of., and P. Hamb. III 217 introd.
180 181
 The Sale and Mortgage of Land The Sale and Mortgage of Land
3. THE CONTENTS OF THE SALE DOCUMENTS Aurelia Apollonia alias Harpokratiaina, citizen of Alexandria
and of Ptolemais, and L. Calpurnius Gaius and his son, of the
This uneven and often recalcitrant documentation of land sales
well-known municipal and Alexandrian office-holding family of
does, however, yield some social and economic information,
the Calpurnii Firmi (see Ch. IV § 2). Most cases of indigenous
particularly if we regard it as offering illustrative examples
Alexandrians buying and selling land in the nome date from the
which can be used to suggest possibilities, rather than as a secure
first century, although one should not lay too much stress on this,
basis for generalization. Information concerning the status of the
since the first century has produced the most abundant evidence
parties, the nature of the property, and the price will be discussed
of sales. 25 There is no sign that Alexandrians were more likely to
in turn; a distinct pattern in the periodicity of sales in relation to
acquire land than to dispose of it.
the agricultural year also emerges.
The majority of buyers and sellers whose habitation is
Vendors and purchasers of agricultural land in the Oxy-
recorded came from Oxyrhynchus itself, reflecting the derivation
rhynchite nome included (both male and female) villagers,
of the documents. The metropolitans often sold to others of the
metropolitans, Roman citizens and Alexandrians, in fact, almost
same status, no doubt because these were the persons with whom
a cross-section of those groups who are known to have possessed
they had most contact. 26 We possess no explicit information
land there. Some held religious offices. 22 Ex-slaves and their
about how intending purchasers found out about land for sale;
descendants are also represented, in one case acquiring land
but presumably it was essentially a matter of information passed
from an ex-mistress, and in two others, disposing of parcels which
by personal acquaintance. 27 The 'limiting case' of this is, of
had previously been given (or sold) by their ex-mistresses. 23
course, sale to relatives or neighbours, discussed further below
Only veterans are missing; veterans did settle in the Oxyrhynchite
(§ 5). The importance of personal networks of information would
name (although not in such great numbers as in the Arsinoite), and
help to keep land within the same social circle; thus the son of a
it is no doubt coincidental that we do not possess a private
freedman sold to the wife of another freedman (P. Matrit. 2). An
purchase or sale by a veteran. One fourth-century petition refers absentee landowner might sell to a colleague, conducting the
to a veteran buying land for his daughter near the village of Sento transaction in a place far distant from the actual location of the
(P. Oxy. XII 1470). land. 28 If an absentee could not find any of his acquaintances
Females constitute a remarkably high proportion of parties to wishing to purchase, he might appoint a local representative to
the sales: 40 per cent of the vendors and half the purchasers. If, as find a purchaser for him. Aur. Sarapion alias Dionysotheon, a
has recently been suggested, no more than about 25 per cent of former gymnasiarch and councillor of Oxyrhynchus, sold land
agricultural land overall was in the ownership of women (and belonging to the soldier M. Vibius Horigenes, who was not in
perhaps considerably less among the wealthier, metropolitan, Egypt, to a fellow municipal office-holder (P. Coll. Youtie I 65).
classes), then women are actually over-represented in these trans- On the other hand, there was clearly no barrier, whether social
actions.24 Possible reasons why this might be so are discussed in§ or imposed by the Roman administration, to metropolitans (or
5 below. even Alexandrians) buying from or selling to villagers; to this
Alexandrians appear relatively rarely in the sales, and those
who do often betray an Oxyrhynchite ancestry. This is true of 2.s P. Ryl. II 159 (AD 3x/2: vendor); P. Oxy. XII 1462(i) (AD 83"4: purchaser, on
behalf of his daughter); PSI VIII 897(ii) (AD 93: purchaser).
both parties to the contract recorded in P. Oxy. XXIV 2723: 26
Both parties metropolitan: P. Oxy. XII 1475, XXXVII 2473, LI 3638, LII
3690 (brothers), P. Wise. I 9, P. Gen. II 116. One party at least metropolitan: P. Coll.
.. P. Oxy. I 46, 47. Youtie I 65, P. Giss. 100, P. Oxy. IX 1208, XIV 1636, XLIX 3498, PSI V 450, VIII
• 3 P. Oxy. I 174; P. Oxy. III 504, P. Matrit. 2; also P. Oxy. I 165. . &J7(i), SB III 6612.
14 Bagnall, Egypt in Late Antiquity, 92f., 130; only 8.5 per cent of the_Jand m the
a-, Cf. Finley, Ancient Economy, n8, and the evidence for land purchases in
4th-c. Hermopolite registers (P. Landlisten) was owned by women, which Bagnall P!iny's Letters • discussed by Kehoe, 'Risk and investment', esp. I(j--21.
28
attributes to Roman influence on attitudes to the concentrnt10n of wealth. P. Hamb. III 217 (see introd.); P. Oslo III 114.
x82
 The Sale and Mortgage of Land The Sale and Mortgage of Land
extent, certainly, even katoicic land was in the Roman period a It was probably more common for a sale to add a relatively
freely transferable commodity." 9 Nor can we detect any consistent small amount to a person's existing holding. Two-thirds of the
tendency for the Oxyrhynchites to accumulate land at the expense sales conveyed less than ten arouras, and half less than five
of the villagers, although the available evidence is admittedly so arouras. The Calpurnius Firmus family's purchase of Id
slight that we cannot rule out that such an accumulation gradu- arouras of vineland, although not a negligible area, can have
ally took place. In all three cases which record both the location formed only a small proportion of their total property (P. Oxy.
of the land and the origin of a village purchaser, the land bought XXXIV 2723). Little connection can be traced between the
was situated in the purchaser's own village. 30 In two sales, wealth or social status of the parties and the area of land con-
villagers parted with land from a different village, and once cerned in the transaction; one fourth century villager purchased
from their native village.31 We have no surviving examples of sixty-one arouras, while an Alexandrian might buy a mere three
one Oxyrhynchite villager selling land to another; such sales arouras. 35 The modestly entrepreneurial Serenos alias Sarapion
would normally have been concluded through the village gra- thought it worthwhile to purchase two-thirds of an aroura, which
pheia, reducing the likelihood of documentation being preserved he later sold again (P. Oxy. XIV 1636), in two portions to two
in the metropolis. One cession, concluded through the grapheion of different buyers.
Sinary, is known only through the notification made to the The value of land clearly depends not least on its quality and
officials of the katalochismos; attached to it was another notifica- agricultural use. Most of the plots, particularly those of katoicic
tion of cession made through the grapheion of Nois and other land, were described as 'productive cornland of rectangular
villages in the Alexandrian chora.32 shape', presumably indicating a certain level of quality and
The area of land sold in a single transaction varied tremen- convenience. 36 In one sale, cornland was said to be 'overgrown
dously, from t aroura to 93H arouras. 33 Several of the properties with rushes' (P. Oxy. XIV 1636). Since relatively few sale docu-
included more than one parcel; the largest area attested actually ments record a price, and even fewer have preserved both price
consisted of no fewer than twenty-two plots, as well as agricul- and area of land, they constitute a limited basis for comparing
tural buildings and a house. This estate seems to have been prices per aroura or the calculation of average prices over differ-
bought as a whole by Ulpius Valerianus from Claudius Valeria- ent periods. The available information is set out in Table I r; but
nus, remained intact under the next three owners, to whom it we should remember that the prices must have been affected by
may have passed by inheritance, and was again sold entire by M. the personal circumstances and motivation of the contracting
Vibius Horigenes. This is the clearest Oxyrhynchite example of a parties as well as by the quality of the land. 37 The discrepancy
whole estate being alienated through a private sale contract. In in the price per aroura in the two cessions published as PSI VIII
two further cases, the properties included houses as well as 897, both dating from AD 93 and concerning rectangular katoicic
various parcels of agricultural land. 34 comland, highlights our inability to recover the individual deter-
minants of land prices in Roman Egypt. However, the second-
• 9 Unfortunately, the documents do not record the origin of the parties until the century evidence does seem to suggest a 'norm' of around 600 dr./
late rst c. AD; the earliest case is P. Harr. I 138 u-18 (AD 92: see J. Whitehome,
Anagennesis, 1 (1981), 137-<J), a sale by a villager to the minor daughter of a
ar.
metropolitan; in PSI VIII 897(ii) (AD 93) a villager sold to an Alexandrian. Later
35
sales by or to villagers are P. Matrit. 2 and those cited in the next two notes. SB III 6612; PSI VIII 897(ii).
36
J• P. Oxy. XIV 1636, IX 1208, SB III 6612. Y7/>ai-ra<p6pov a1roplµ.ov it
opfJo-ywvfov, standard in the notifications to the
J' P. Harr. I 138, PSI VIII 897(ii), SB VI 8971. agoranomoi; also in e.g. P. Ry/. II 159, PSI IV 320.
37
P P. Oxy. XII 1462; cf. the surviving records of the gropheion at Tebtunis, P. See Johnson's reservations about comparing prices (Roman Egypt, 146f.).
Mich. vols. II and V. P. Harr. I 138 contains a series of abstracts of contracts made Drexhage, Preise, Mieten/Pachten, Kosten und Uihne im riimischen Agypten, l27-
in various Middle toparchy villages. 33 P. Oxy. X 1z70; P. Coll. Youtie I 65. 38, provides a full comparison of prices for different parts of Egypt down to the
34 P. Gen. II 116, P. Oxy. XII 1475. reign of Diocletian.

185
 The Sale and Mortgage of Land The Sale and Mortgage of Land
Vineland appears in a few sales, all from the later part of the pauni, accounting for all but three of the sales dated within the
period. 38 It is perhaps surprising that prices for vineland do not main growing period. In most cases, therefore, there was time
seem significantly higher than for arable, since we should expect after the sale was concluded for the new owners to make provi-
its capital value to be enhanced by the vines, as well as by the sion for the cultivation of the year's crop.
machines for irrigation. However, by the third century even the It was only very exceptionally that the process of sale dragged
arable land mentioned in the sale contracts was frequently pro- on for a considerable time. On one occasion, a total of three years
vided with irrigation machinery. Thus the general rise in values elapsed from the first appointment by the vendor of a represen-
through the third century can be at least partly attributed to this tative until the notification of the sale to the bibliophylakes, but
factor; serious inflation of prices generally in Egypt seems to have the vendor was absent from Egypt throughout this time, which
begun as late as the 27os.39 probably delayed matters, and it is possible, as the editor sug-
Several of the earlier sales explicitly apportioned the current gests, that the documents were mislaid at or on the way to
year's rent to either the buyer or the seller. 40 In practice, whatever Alexandria, prolonging the business still further (P. Coll. Youtie
the theory, the principle 'sale breaks hire' was not necessarily I 65).
followed. There were no serious disadvantages to buying land
with a sitting tenant; lease agreements were of short duration, and
on their expiry, there was no presumption that the land should be 4. THE SALES AS EVIDENCE OF INVESTMENT OR

leased again to the same tenant, so that the owner could rely on SPECULATION IN LAND

obtaining vacant possession within a year or two. On the other Some writers on Roman Egypt have expressed the view that the
hand, the new owner might be quite content to relet to the same depreciation of the currency and general political and economic
tenant. 41 instability in the third century encouraged a tendency to invest in
We can see a relationship between the agricultural year and the land, since it was the only stable asset which was readily available.
dates of sales. Most land seems to have been in a productive The same period has also been seen as one of increased mobility
condition when it was sold, and even if there was no sitting in land, again the result of currency depreciation. Maclennan
tenant, the question of the current crop potentially arose. The goes so far as to say that 'trading in land reached hectic propor-
Oxyrhynchite evidence (Table rz) gives some justification for tions'. 42 To what extent do these views seem to be justified?
thinking that there was a deliberate attempt to avoid drawing
As we have already seen, there is no reliable means of assessing
up sale contracts between the sowing and harvest of the main
the volume of land sales in Roman Egypt at any period, and
crop of the year (roughly late Choiak to Pauni), unless explicit
certainly not whether the volume increased at any particular
provision was made for the apportionment of the year's rent. Of
time. The surviving sales on the whole transferred quite modest
the latter, three fell in Mecheir, one in Phamenoth, and one in
areas of land, between persons of various statuses and degrees of
38
P. Coll. Youtie I 65 (neglected vineland), P. Oxy. XXXIV 2723, XLIX 3498, wealth, many of them female. Due regard seems to have been
LI 3638, P. Gen. II u6, SB XVI 12333, 12553 (an 'old vineyard'). paid to the immediate agricultural use of the land. So far, there
39 D. W. Rathbone, 'Monetisation, not Price-Inflation, in Third-Century AD seems little prima facie case for thinking that the sales reflect a
Egypt' (forthcoming).
40
PSI IV 320, VIII 8g7(i) and (ii), P. Oxy. I 165, LII 36901 III 633 as fully highly commercialized property market, in which land was
published in BASP 29 (1992), 143 ff. H. C. You tie (Scriptiunculae I, 242-5) points simply a commodity, to be traded for immediate financial gain.
out that the year's rent was allocated to whichever party took responsibility for the
year's taices; to his references, add M. Chr. 220.
One third-century taxation account (P. Oxy. XVII 2129) does
4 ' Cf. the leasehold undertaken by Kronion son of Teos of Tebtunis, first
attested in AD 110, and still in effect, despite interruptions due to poor floods, .µ Oxyrhynchus: An Economic and Social Study, 18; cf. Johnson, Roman Egypt,
in 150"1,when the property was under a different owner: D. Foraboschi, P. Kronion 146, and I. Fikhman, 'Quelques donnees sur la genese de la grande propriete
p. xxvi. fonciere a Oxyrhynchos', Le Monde grec, 784-<.)o,at p.787.

186
 The Sale and Mortgage of Land The Sale and Mortgage of Land
apparently show large quantities of land recently acquired by countryside that the bulk of private wealth was effectively
private purchase, since amounts of sales tax (enkyklion) and cushioned against the impact of currency instability in the late
katalochismon are entered against most of the parcels of land third century. One undoubtedly significant form of wealth was
listed. The whole document is extremely obscure, but it seems surplus agricultural produce; landowners-customarily held grain
to concern a single private estate of around 1,000-1,500 arouras 'accounts' at village granaries, from which payments and trans-
spread throughout every toparchy of the nome. We do not know
fers could be made in the manner of a currency, thus obviating
who the current owner was; the 'names' of Saras and his family
the use of coin. 45 Wheat stocks could be used to make loans at a
probably refer to former owners. Land had recently been bought
high rate of return, or released onto the market in times of
in almost every toparchy (entries for enkyklion and katalochismon
shortage. 46 Since the wealthy classes of Oxyrhynchus were
are absent only under the division of Apollonios in the Upper
already predominantly landowners, they stood to gain more
toparchy, and the Eastern toparchy), although the amounts paid
than they lost from the depreciating currency.
leave it uncertain what proportion of the land had recently been
In addition, anyone wishing to invest in land had other, mostly
acquired, since they possibly represent instalments rather than
more lucrative, options available than purchasing a small parcel
the full amounts due. Nor is the date of the document certain· it
may come from the opening decade of the third century, ' or privately. The land sold off by the government offered the
considerably later. Thus, although this text does seem to offer opportunity to purchase unproductive or neglected land at a
one illustration of the growth of a large estate through private nominal price, a very promising form of investment (see Ch. II
§ 4(c) ). In such cases, as well as on existing landholdings, invest-
purchase during the third century, it is scarcely justified to see
this as a direct response to currency depreciation, the first serious ment in items such as irrigation machines would lead to long-
phase of which it almost certainly predates, possibly by over half term improvements in productivity. Similarly, one might under-
a century. take to lease substantial areas of public and ousiac land, using
The view that the instability of the third century led to an influence if necessary to displace the existing tenants. 47 Thus if
increased tendency to invest in land presupposes that an appreci- there were any increased tendency to invest in land in the third
able proportion of people's wealth had formerly been held in century, this would be reflected, not only the surviving contracts
money, now subject to depreciation. The economy of Roman for private sale, but in several other kinds of document.
Egypt was undoubtedly thoroughly accustomed to use of Economic instability might be thought a priori as likely to
money, both as a means of payment and as a unit of account. 43 inhibit trading in land as to encourage it, as landowners
The liturgical system required that all land should have a mone- attempted to hold on to their secure assets. Moreover, the indi-
tary value (see e.g. P. Oxy. XLIX 3508). Individuals can be seen vidual sale documents offer no support to the view that the
taking the opportunity to put spare cash to productive use, either volume of land sold increased in the third century. Although
loaning it at interest (see § 6) or speculating in commodities the largest area known to have been the subject of a private
subject to volatile price changes. 44 But there is no reason to sale contract happens to date from the middle of that century (P.
think that many individuals had ever kept a major part of their Coll. Youtie I 65) we also possess examples of sizeable areas
wealth in the form of money. Land had always been so much 'the being alienated in earlier periods, and these at all times formed
preferred form of investment' in the rich and fertile Egyptian 45
e.g. P. Oxy. XXXI 2588--91 with introd., XXXVIII 2863--72, and numerous
43 other texts. E. Husselman has suggested that the granaries excavated at Karanis
C. Howgego, 'The Supply and Use of Money in the Roman World zoo BC to
contained separate bins for the deposits of each account holder: 'The Granaries of
AD 300', JRS 8z (1992), 1-31.
44 SB XVI 12607 Karan is', TAPA 83 (1952), 56-73, at 72 f.
(provenance unknown): 'little Theodora', informed that 46
• Hence the governmental orders to register and sell private grain stocks in
wheat was selling at the low price of rz dr./art., told her phrontistai to purchase
tt";,es of short supply: P. Oxy. XLVII 3339 (AD 191), XLII 3048 (246).
two talents' worth, i.e. 1000 art.; see also n. 55 below.
e.g. P. Oxy. XXIV z4IO, PSI XII 126o.
188
 The Sale and Mortgage of Land The Sale and Mortgage of Land

exceptions to the overall pattern. 48 The only two Oxyrhynchite extant documents relating to the vendor. Sometime before AD
sales which give detailed information on the previous history of 24 9, Aurelius Serenos alias Sarapion purchased two-thirds of an
the property, both from third century and apparently repres- aroura of cornland at Seryphis, a half of which he later sold to
enting opposite extremes in the social milieu of the parties three other persons. In the extant contract (P. Oxy. XIV 1636), the
involved, suggest rather that land was likely to pass several final one-third of an aroura was ceded for four hundred drachmas
times by inheritance without being sold. The one known case to Aurelius Panesneus, the owner of the neighbouring land to the
of an estate of almost 100 arouras being sold as a unit (in AD 238) west. Hombert and Preaux had little doubt in seeing this as a
records that it had last been sold sixteen years previously, being speculative venture, surmising that Sarapion used the money
apparently transferred three times by inheritance in the interven- obtained from the sale of his land to help purchase in the same
ing period. Likewise, a small plot purchased in 265 was trans- year half a house in Oxyrhynchus, the other half of which he
mitted by inheritance through three generations before being already owned. 51 Sarapion is also known to have purchased
sold again twenty-five years later by the original purchaser's another house, and to have bought a female slave whom he later
great-grandson. 49 sold back to her original owner with the infant which she had
Throughout all the sale documents, the immediate derivation borne. His appreciation of the benefits to be derived from a
of the vendor's title in sale documents is much more commonly depreciating currency and a period of political insecurity is
stated to be through inheritance than purchase. 50 It is true that shown in a transaction by which in AD 279 he accepted a deposit
both the latter cases are from the later third century, and both are of 148 talents 1,280 drachmas, to be returned at the depositor's
undoubtedly worth considering further, but neither can be wm.s2
regarded as necessarily typical or indicative of conditions in the But we have to consider whether Sarapion was at all typical of
period. In the first example, land (mostly arable) and other his contemporaries. He seems initially to have been a person of
property at Paimis, immediately adjacent to Oxyrhynchus, was very moderate wealth; he and his brother had probably inherited
sold back to its former owner, Aurelia Thaisous alias Lolliane (P. the five arouras which they jointly leased out in 266 (P. Oxy. XIV
Oxy. XII 1475). There was a type of mortgage which involved 1689), and possibly more property of which no record has sur-
making a sale contract which was later cancelled (see the begin- vived. He later owned a vineyard which was leased out, himself
ning of the next section); but here we are not dealing with a undertook a lease of land belonging to the heirs of a veteran, and
cancellation of the former sale, but a new sale, accompanied by purchased confiscated government land (the latter as a 'stable
the full process of documentation and registration. Quite what investment'?). 53 His efforts to increase his wealth, however,
should prompt the transfer of this property back to the original probably met with only limited success; Maclennan's view that
owner is beyond recovery, but we cannot assume either that it he became a 'Landgraf' is based on identifications which range
was, or was not, a 'market' transaction. from the unlikely to the incredible. 54
The other case has some claim to be interpreted as an example No other surviving cases from any period provide obvious
of 'property speculation', on the basis not only of information parallels to Serenos alias Sarapion. There may, of course, have
contained within the document itself, but also of the several other been other people who made frequent purchases and sales for
48 immediate financial gain, laying the basis for great individual
P. Oxy. II 346 (AD 100), cession of 50 ar.; P. Oxy. IX 718, a petition referring to
a sale of 53 ar. which took place c. 140-50. prosperity. In default of more evidence, we simply do not
49
P. Coll. Youtie I 65; P. Oxy. IX 1208. Contrast M. Chr. zoo (Herakleopolite
s• M. Hombert and C. Preaux, 'Un petit proprietaire egyptien du milieu du
nome), which traces the history of a plot back from AD 224 to the middle of the
previous century, during which time it passed three times by cession and three Ille siecle de notre ere: Aurelius Serenus Sarapion', L'Antiquite Classique, 17
times by inheritance. 5
(1948), 331-'7, on P. Oxy. X 1276. ' P. Oxy. XIV 1699, IX 1209, XIV 1713.
50 53
Inheritance: P. Oxy. LII 36<)0,P. Wise. I 9, PSI V 450, P. Oxy. LI 3638, XLIX P. Oxy. XIV 1631, 1646, 1633.
54
3498, XIV 1704, SB IV 7343. Purchase: P. Oxy. XIV 1636, XII 1475. Oxyrhynchus 39; see Fikhman's criticisms, Le Monde grec, 787.

190
 The Sale and Mortgage of Land The Sale and Mortgage of Land
know. But there is really nothing to suggest that the volume of We are very much in ignorance about the motives which led
land transactions was ever large enough, and the prices volatile landowners to sell portions of their property. Although there is
enough, for speculative acquisitions of land to provide more than evidence of the sale of certain assets associated with land to meet
an occasional bounty. It is interesting to observe that when outstanding taxes, there seems to be no record of the sale of land
Aurelius Horion wished to support the overburdened liturgists itself for the same reason, perhaps because the price which could
of Oxyrhynchite villages, he invested his benefaction not in land, be obtained for land in comparison with other forms of property
but in the purchase of fodder, in which there would appear from which a landowner was likely to possess was low in relation to the
other evidence to have been a lively and volatile market. 55 regular income which it yielded. Thus the guardians of the
children of Apollonios preferred to meet long-standing tax
5. OTHER REASONS FOR BUYING AND SELLING LAND arrears by the sale of fourteen acacia trees on the embankment
of a newly planted vineyard for 1,200 drachmas (P. Oxy. VI 909,
In the absence of any direct information on the motivation of AD 225). To raise the same amount of cash at this period would
vendors and purchasers, and indeed normally of any other infor- probably have required the sale of more than one aroura of land,
mation about the parties involved apart from that contained
representing a permanent loss of revenue to the children's
within the sale contract itself, what can be said about the context
of these transactions? Not much with any certainty, but some property.
patterns do emerge from the evidence. One occasion on which families might have been faced with
The first point to consider is whether the documents all do the necessity of finding a large amount of cash which they did not
seem to represent 'genuine' sales, rather than concealed examples have readily available was when a daughter was given her dowry,
of one en pistei, a form of mortgage, in which the parties simulta- and it might be expected that this could prompt the sale of land.
neously drew up a contract for the sale of property and a loan of However, the relationship between land transactions and the
money made from the 'purchaser' to the 'vendor'. The sale was provision of dowries for daughters seems less straightforward
cancelled when the money was repaid. 56 Montevecchi has col- than this. We must remember that, if a property was sold to
lected the evidence among the sale contracts (especially from someone unconnected with the vendor, the sale contract would
Ptolemaic Pathyris and early Roman Tebtunis) for this kind of be very unlikely to record the fact that the proceeds of the sale
transaction. 57 One legal dispute about ownership of property in were to be used for the daughter's dowry. The connection with a
the Oxyrhynchite nome seems to have been concerned with the dowry of one Hermopolite sale of land is known only because the
question whether it had been subject to a genuine sale or a sale contract was effected between father and daughter, and
mortgage in the form of one en pistei. 58 But the only surviving because it explicitly stated that the amount owed by the father
sale of land back to its original owner does not seem to be an one for the daughter's dowry was credited to the daughter as part of
en pistei, even though the price was perhaps rather low. 59 the purchase-price for the land which she was buying from her
father (P. Amh. II 95). Thus the fact that it was not thought
ss P. Oxy. IV 705 lines 77f.; cf. P. Oxy. III 507, a case of speculation in fodder? appropriate to give land directly as the main component of a
On the marketing of fodder, see Ch. I § 2.
56 Taubenschlag, Law• 271 ff., Pringsheim, Greek Law of Sale, u7ff. dowry (see Ch. V § 4) was neatly circumvented by a sale without
57 'Contributi per una storia sociale ed economica della famiglia nell'Egitto the need for the cash in fact to be raised. A somewhat similar, but
greco-romano', Aegyptus, 17 (1937), 338-48, at 344; 'Ricerche di sociologia III not identical, situation is found in a case from Oxyrhynchus in
(c)'d Aegyptus, 23 (1943), 24f., La papirologia, 210, 227.
5 P. Oxy. III 472, 486. One problem in discovering onai en pistei is that the which a father provided his under-age daughter with 1,000
contract of sale in itself does not have unusual features; the hallmark of the drachmas as an 'unreturnable favour', for her to buy a share of
procedure is the juxtaposition of two contracts, of sale and loan. See e.g. P. Ryl.
II 160c. a vineyard from her half-brother, his son (P. Oxy. LI 3638); here
59 P. Oxy. XII 1475; see § 4. For price comparisons, see Table 11. there is no suggestion that the money formed all or part of her
192 193
 The Sale and Mortgage of Land The Sale and Mortgage of Land

dowry, but it is difficult not to see the transaction as somehow among her five sons. The sale probably took place shortly after
connected with her future marriage. the death of his mother and the division of the property, and the
More generally, the Oxyrhynchite evidence, far from suggest- small area may well have been thought inconvenient, particularly
ing that families could be forced to sell land in order to provide a if it were distant from the property which Thonis would inherit
dowry, reveals a surprisingly large number of instances of land from his father (P. Oxy. IX 1208).
being purchased on behalf of unmarried daughters by their There are also several instances of sales which involved close
parents.6o In most of these cases, the land appears not to have relatives or joint owners of common property; these categories
been bought from relatives. The contrast with the single case of often overlapped, and both imply a shared inheritance. The
purchase on behalf of a minor son (P. Oxy. XXXIV 2723) suggests prevalence of this phenomenon among the texts from Ptolemaic
that the explanation of these purchases for daughters was not so Pathyris has long been known; 63 but, as new texts are published,
much that in a predominantly youthful population property it is increasingly clear that the practice continued among the
transactions involving minors were accepted and encouraged, 61 Hellenized metropolitan class of the Roman period. 64 The sig-
but that it was thought particularly appropriate for girls to obtain nificance of these individual instances is further strengthened by
the possession of land before they married. Similar results might, more general statements of lawyers and of the Prefect C. Avidius
of course, be produced either by a gift from a parent's existing Heliodorus which confirm that the law generally granted prior
holding (e.g. P. Oxy. II 273) or by the inclusion of a gift of land in rights of purchase to joint owners of property or close relatives,
the marriage contract (see Ch. V § 4(b) ). Since wives were and failing them, to the neighbours. 65 The point here is, not so
typically several years younger than their husbands, they were much that sale would be used in the immediate aftermath of an
presumably less likely already to have received the whole of their inheritance disposition to adjust its effects, but that when at any
inheritance. 62 The purchases of land on behalf of daughters may stage an owner of jointly held property decided for some reason
therefore be seen as complementary to both dowry and inheri- to sell, the other partners in the property had first claim on
tance in providing them with property in a form which could
purchasing it.
more directly contribute to the income of the new household than
A surviving cession of two plots of land near Taamire in the
did the dowry proper, and at a time not conditional on the death
Thmoisepho toparchy by Sarapion son of Adrastos to his full
of the girl's parents, but instead, when it would be most useful to
brother Theon shows that in fact a considerable time might
the younger generation.
elapse between the occasion of inheritance and the decision to
In other respects also, the sale of land may be connected with
transfer it to another of the heirs (P. Oxy. LII 3690). The property
the prevailing pattern of property devolution. Sale could provide
belonged to Sarapion as a result of the division of his father's
a means in addition to those discussed earlier (Ch. V § 5) for
inheritance between himself, five full brothers and two sisters;
adjusting property holdings to limit the fragmentation resulting
one plot originated from Sarapion's aunt Zois, the other from his
from partible inheritance. One minor, Aurelius Thonis, in AD 291
paternal grandfather. Almost thirty years separated the division
sold four-fifths of an aroura at Pakerke in the Eastern toparchy,
of the paternal property from Sarapion's sale of the parcels to his
his share of his mother's inheritance which had been divided
brother , so this transaction was scarcely a direct consequence of
60
P. Harr. I 138 lines rr-18; P. Osle III rr4; P. Oxy. III 633; IX 1208; XII 1462,
63
1470; P. Turner 24 (a bid to buy confiscated property); cf, J. Rowlandson, 'Sales of Montevecchi, Aegyptus, 23 (1943), esp. 64ff.
Land in their Social Context', Proc. 16 lnt. Congr. Pap., 371-8 at p. 376. ~ P. Oxy. I 46 (brothers); 47 (joint owners); XII 1462 (brothers?); LI 3638
6 (brother to sister); LII 3690 (brothers); P. Matrit. 2 (joint owners?); SB XVI
' In fact, if we consider the relatively large proportion of property in the
possession of minors, it is remarkable how rarely they seem to be involved in 12277 (sisters?); see further Rowlandson, 'Sales of land', 373f.
65 Refs. in ibid. 374f.; also H.-A. Rupprecht, 'Zurn Vorkaufsrecht der
property transactions.
6 Gemeinschafter nach den Papyri', in E. Bresciani et al.(eds.), Scritti in onore di
' In the census documents, the mean age gap was 7.5 years: Bagnall and Frier,
The Demography of Roman Egypt, l 18. Orsolina Monteuecchi (Bologna, 1981), 335-42.

1 94 195
 The Sale and Mortgage of Land The Sale and Mortgage of Land

the inheritance disposition. However, less than three months under a single administration, both arguments which could
after the cession, Sarapion made a further sale to Theon of a reasonably have appealed to the Calpurnius Firmus family; and
share of a farmstead and vacant building land inherited from the disadvantages of lack of variety for the owner and the risk of
another brother who must have died in the interval between the local crop failure.
two agreements (.P. Oxy. LII 3691); in this case, therefore, the The last consideration must have applied with particular force
shorter interval makes a direct connection with the occasion of in a country as dependent as Egypt on access to a water supply for
inheritance more plausible. It may be that in both cases Theon the fertility of the soil. Estates, as we have seen (Ch. IV), do not
was taking the opportunity, arising from his knowledge that his seem to have become completely consolidated even when they
brother wished to sell some land, to acquire further property had grown to very large proportions, and small-scale landowners
close to that which he himself had inherited, even though the were content to keep several tiny plots so long as these lay within
list of neighbouring properties makes clear that it did not adjoin a convenient distance of the village which formed the base of
it directly. There may have been the additional attraction for both their agricultural operations. It did not do to have all your land
parties of keeping the land 'in the family'. situated at the end of one irrigation ditch. The actual extent to
This example does not come directly within the scope of the which the surviving sales served to increase the convenience of
legal rulings, since the purchaser, Theon, was neither a joint landholding distributions may well be concealed by the fact that
owner of the property he bought from his brother nor even an the sale documents record only the occasions on which land was
immediate neighbour. But it does seem to reflect the same set of purchased by the owner of immediately adjacent property, but
priorities, of preferring to sell to someone connected in some way not when the purchaser was another landowner in the same
to vender and to the land itself, rather than simply to whoever vicinity.
offered the highest price. The cases discussed in this section are only a minority of all
documented sales from Oxyrhynchus, but they confirm that sales
The edict of Avidius Heliodorus (P. Oxy. XLI 2954) confirmed
do not necessarily constitute evidence of a highly commercialized
the right of neighbours to purchase jointly-owned property in
land market. For both large and small landowners, land offered a
default of the joint owners wishing to do so. But do the sales
secure and long-term source of income rather than a short-term
themselves suggest that neighbours tended to purchase property
asset which was readily exchanged for anything which would
even if it was not in joint ownership and if they were not related
yield a better return. The purchases on behalf of unmarried
to the previous owner? Purchase of directly neighbouring prop-
daughters provide one identifiable example of how transactions
erty, as opposed to that in joint ownership, is not in fact fre-
could stem from consideration of an individual's or family's
quently documented. In one of the two Oxyrhynchite examples
future needs within the wider pattern of property distribution
of private sale to a neighbour, the area of land was small (one-
and inheritance. The sales can still be regarded as in some sense
third of an aroura), and the advantages of consolidation with a
market transactions; but the market was a highly 'imperfect' one,
larger plot might seem clear (P. Oxy. XIV 1636). In the other case,
which buyers and sellers entered for reasons extraneous to the
the land consisted of a vineyard of relatively large size, though
price. Moreover, further 'friction' was introduced by the prefer-
neglected, and the purchasers, the Calpurnii Firmi, were wealthy
ence for selling to relatives, joint owners, or neighbours, which
absentees who owned the surrounding land on three sides. 66 One was enshrined in the law as well as documented by individual
recalls Pliny's reasoning (Ep. 3.19) when faced with a similar examples.
opportunity to buy a neighbouring property: the convenience This failure to conform to the criteria set by neo-classical
of being able to visit them both at once, and of joining them economic theory does not mean that sales did not serve an
66
P Oxy. XXXIV 2723; cf. P. Turner 24, a bid to buy r6 ar. of confiscated land
important function, in lubricating the effects of property devolu-
surrounded on all sides by property of the intending purchaser and her daughter. tion on patterns of ownership, for instance by reducing the
197
 The Sale and Mortgage of Land The Sale and Mortgage of Land
numbers of joint owners or reuniting fragmented holdings. Most by the large areas which, particularly in the early part of the
importantly it allowed the acquisition of land at the outset of period, might be used to secure a loan (see Table r4).
adult life (if purchasers or their families could afford it) without The contracts themselves provide no indication of the purpose
having to wait for the parents' death. Far from serving as a major for which the mortgages were undertaken. The papyri relating to
vehicle for social change, as the notion of large-scale investment Soterichos of Theadelphia attest the regular use of unsecured
or speculation in land would imply, the sales seem primarily to credit by a tenant farmer to finance the year's agricultural activ-
have assisted in maintaining the predominant pattern of small- ities until the harvest, but it is unlikely that landowners would
scale, highly fragmented landownership, by giving it greater need to mortgage their property for this purpose. 68 We do not
flexibility. know whether any of the mortgages were undertaken to finance
improvements in the capital value of the property itself. However,
it is probably more likely that they were mainly used to finance
6. MORTGAGES OF AGRICULTURAL LAND
some extraordinary expenditure, such as the paying off of tax
One of the major opportunities for the investment of spare money arrears or the undertaking of liturgies, as well as family occasions
capital in the Classical world consisted in lending it out. Even like marriages and funerals. The use of a secured loan to pay off
loans which carried no monetary interest could be expected to taxes is referred to in an intriguing document concerning a
secure a return through the social or political obligations under remarriage, in which it was agreed that, in the event of a second
which the debtor was placed. Most loans known from the Egyp- divorce, the husband would obtain usufruct of his wife's property
tian papyri, however, seem implicitly or explicitly to have carried until he had both recovered his loan to her of 2½talents at
interest; 67 whatever social ties might incidentally be formed or interest, and paid off her other creditors (P. Oxy. XII 1473).
This case, in which the wife's debt to her husband explicitly
strengthened by these contracts, creditors could also look forward
covered obligations entirely separate from her dowry, is quite
to the economic returns to be derived from the loans they made.
different from the type of Oxyrhynchite loan contract between
Secured loans carried the additional chance that the creditor
husband and wife which has recently been identified as an alter-
might obtain permanent ownership of the property used as
native form of dowry provision. 69 As in Classical Athens, a
security if the loan could not be repaid, an outcome which might
husband's land could also be mortgaged to secure his wife's
indeed be greatly to the creditor's advantage, since it seems that
dowry, but this is distinct from the mortgages discussed in
the security was not infrequently considerably more valuable
what follows, which were used to secure loans of cash betvveen
than the sum loaned. unrelated persons. 70
The mortgages of land under consideration here, therefore, The incidence of further difficulty, including total default on
comprise only a small proportion of the loans of all kinds the loan, seems to have been rather high, perhaps indicating that
recorded in the papyri. As one would expect, the sums involved the loans were often originally undertaken by persons in some
fall at the larger end of the spectrum, considerably larger than financial distress. Three of the eighteen cases summarized in
most unsecured loans, and on the whole also exceeding the size of Table 14 are additions to a previous loan on the same or on other
loans secured on real property other than agricultural land. It
68
may be noted, however, that this distinction was maintained not P. Soterichos pp. 19 ff; see R. S. Bagnall, 'Theadelphian Archives: A Review
Article', BASP 17 (1980), 97-104.
so much by the intrinsically high value of agricultural land, but 69 T. Gagos, L. Koenen, and B. E. McNellan, 'A First Century Archive from
Oxyrhynchus: or Oxyrhynchite Loan Contracts and Egyptian marriage', in J. H.
67
Montevecchi, La papirologia, 225-g, gives bibliography on loans of all kinds Johnson (ed.), Life in a Multi-Cultural Society, (Chicago, 1992), 184-204.
in the papyri. On the question of interest, see also works cited in P. Oxy. XLVII 70
See Ch. V n. 58; cf. M. I. Finley, Studies in Land and Credit in Ancient A them
3351 introduction. SO<r-200 BC: The Floros Inscriptions (New Brunswick, 1952), 44ff.

198 199
 The Sale and Mortgage of Land The Sale and Mortgage of Land

property,7 1 and further cases relate to default. In AD 194 an generally, unsecured as well as secured, women actually appear
Alexandrian, C. Julius Ptolemaios, made a loan of two talents more often as creditors than as debtors. 76
to Apollonianus alias Dionysios of Oxyrhynchus for approxi- In view of the likely benefits of lending money on the security
of landed property, it is important to consider the social status of
mately one year; by 201, he had still neither recovered the debt
creditors and debtors. Of course, there is relatively little evidence
nor obtained possession of the security (PSI XIII 1328).
available, but even this is sufficient to show a marked divergence
Creditors were ultimately, however, more likely to benefit than
in the typical status of the two parties (Table 13).
to suffer from the financial problems of their debtors. Cases can
This contrasts with the evidence of sales discussed earlier in
readily be cited of the ownership of property deriving from an
the chapter, where no obvious pattern emerges, but fits with the
overdue loan. 72 Sometimes more complex disputes arose when a findings of J. G. Keenan from loans and other documents of the
loan could not be repaid. A petition from three brothers com- Byzantine period, from which he concluded that the townspeople
plaining that their father's creditor had obtained in produce were normally in the economically dominant position in their
through his possession of the security far more than the value relations with villagers. 77 It is interesting to note, therefore,
of the original loan echoes closely a more explicit Hermopolite that this pattern generally holds true even in the case of those
case of a few years earlier. 73 The latter example makes it clear that villagers who owned private landed property, and who presum-
the problem had arisen primarily because the security far ably formed the economic elite of their communities. Thus the
exceeded the original loan in value, so that the sale of only a mortgages served, in a way that sales do not seem to have done, to
portion of the land would enable the debts to be paid off in increase the wealth of those with greater resources at the expense
full. This was indeed the solution imposed by the iuridicus; the of those economically weaker than themselves.
creditor, however, was reluctant to give up his possession of the
whole of the (extremely lucrative) security. It is possible that in 76 Kutzner, Unters. zur Stellung der Frau, 124, finds twenty-three loans from
other cases when we hear of the sale of land in connection with a Oxyrhynchus by women as opposed to eighteen to women; he unfortunately does
not attempt to assess what proportion of all loans these constitute. Hobson's data
mortgage, the procedure was similarly designed to save the from Soknopaiou Nesos, by contrast, shows women much less frequently than
debtor from forfeiting property of far greater value than the men (a proportion of less than r :4) acting as either lender or borrower, although
actual amount of his debt. 74 female borrowers were much more likely to provide real estate as security than
were their male counterparts (D. H. Hobson, 'Women as Property Owners in
It is interesting to compare the proportion of women involved Roman Egypt', TAPA IIJ (1983), 3u-z1, at316--7). The apparent discrepancies in
in loans on landed security with the rate of their participation in this evidence suggests that the question of women's role as debtors and creditors
would repay further investigation.
sale contracts. Almost half the known debtors in the mortgage 77 'Village and Polis in Byzantine Egypt', Proc. r6 Int. Congr. Pap. 479-485, esp.
contracts were female, a proportion similar to that of women 484.
purchasers and sellers of land. However, men heavily predomi-
nated among the creditors in the mortgages. 75 The rarity of
female creditors in these contracts is perhaps surprising if we
consider, not only that women's dowries might include money
(although they may not have been in a position to loan this out in
the course of their marriages), but also that in Oxyrhynchite loans
7
P. Oxy. II 270, III 506, SB VI 9190.
'
7
e.g. P. Oxy. XLIX 3508, St. Pal. IV p. n4 (=P. Oxy. III 636), PSI VI 687,
'
73
XIII 1322. SB IV 7339, P. Ryl. II 119.
74 P. Oxy. XXII 2349, III 588.
75 The texts which form the basis of this statement are listed in Table 14.
201
200
 Private Tenancy
In order to use the leases for social and economic history, we
CHAPTER VII need both to penetrate beneath their legal surface to uncover
aspects of the relationships from which they arise, and to look
for other evidence which allows them to be placed in a wider
Private Tenancy agricultural context. The first process is aided by the unusual
detail contained in the leases; despite a basically formulaic char-
acter common to all legal documents, their provisions show much
greater individual variation than we find in sales, for example.
1. INTRODUCTION Thus a careful analysis of the clauses dealing with the provision
of equipment, the rent, and the duration of tenancies, can supple-
Agricultural tenancy may variously be viewed as an economic, ment the more direct information about the social and economic
social, or legal relationship; but the perspective offered by the standing of landlord and tenant. This is the concern of subse-
papyri is primarily legal. Contracts of land lease, called in Greek quent sections of this chapter, after a preliminary survey of the
misthoseis, are the most numerous single type of document used
traditions of agricultural tenancy in Egypt among other forms of
in this study. So far, 139 have been published from Oxyrhynchus
land management.
dating between 30 BC and the end of the fourth century AD, with
new examples constantly coming to light; this evidence can be
supplemented by the related material in rent receipts and by 2. LAND MANAGEMENT: TENANCY AND ITS ALTERNATIVES
references to leasing in letters and estate accounts. For this
reason alone, the leases are likely to exert a marked influence on Tenancy, because of the preservation of the written leases, is by
our picture of landholding in the nome.' Sheer numbers of far the best-documented method of land management in Egypt.
survival are, however, a poor guide to the original importance But the first step towards understanding its real significance is to
of a type of document, especially since many leases were valid for consider what the possible alternatives were; and, irrespective of
one year only. If the leases are to be taken as throwing significant how adequate the documentation they have left, how important
light on agricultural conditions in Roman Egypt, this needs to be they must have originally been within overall agricultural pro-
justified in detail. The main aim of this chapter is to argue that, duction. Three basic alternatives need consideration: direct cul-
while leases in Egypt often had a relatively circumscribed role of tivation by the owner of the property, the use of slaves or other
providing management or capital over very short terms for land- dependents, and wage labour. Secondly, we need to consider
lords who for some reason could not supply these needs them- whether we should assume the prevalence of forms of tenancy
selves, the role of these contracts in Oxyrhynchus can be seen to significantly different from those encapsulated in the surviving
expand, during the two centuries from the mid-first to the mid- misthosis contracts; this involves looking briefly at the develop-
third century AD, to represent the normal means by which the ment and interaction of Egyptian and Greek traditions of leasing
metropolitan landowners managed their land, by leasing it on a land.
more long-term basis to local villagers."
(a) Direct Cultivation (autourgia)
' The standard studies of Egyptian misthoseis of land are S. Waszynski, Die
Bodenpacht: Ag,argeschichtliche Studien I: Die Privatpacht (Leipzig and Berlin, Inevitably, the cultivation of their own land by small-scale
1905), J. Herrmann, Studien zur Bodenpacht im Recht der groeco-aegyptirchenPapyri proprietors and their families is enormously under-represented
(Miinchener Beitrage, 41), (Munich, 1958), and D. Hennig, Untersuchungen zur in our written evidence, since it both generated little documenta-
Bodenpacht im ptolemiiisch-romischen Agypten (Munich, 1967).
• I have presented the same argument, in summary form, in 'Crop rotation and tion by its very nature, and was presumably most prevalent
rent payment in Oxyrhynchite land leases: social and economic interpretations', among villagers, whose economic activities are not the main
Proc. wth Int. Congr. Pap. 495""'9• focus of the Oxyrhynchite papyri. It should probably be
202 203
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
assumed to have been the standard agricultural practice among (b) Slavery and Dependent Labour
villagers, particularly those who possessed only small areas of Although domestic slavery was not uncommon in the moderately
land. However, given the fragmented nature of landholding, prosperous households of Roman Egypt, and freedmen in some
even some of these may have leased out parts of their own land, contexts played a role in management, there is little reason to
while supplementing their income by taking on tenancies of believe that chattel slaves made a significant contribution to the
public or private land. The documentation from the Fayum agricultural labour force. The paidaria referred to in the context
villages makes clear how pervasive leasing was even among of large estates were clearly dependents of humble status, but do
villagers, at least as a temporary expedient; land leases consti- not seem to have been legally enslaved. 5 On the other hand, they
tuted one quarter of all the contracts registered through the evidently fulfilled part of the need for agricultural labour, not
record office of Tebtunis in AD 45/6. 3 only on estates, but apparently also on parcels of land leased to
Some inhabitants of the metropolis will also have farmed their tenants, who were sometimes required to contribute a sponde
own land. The entire Western toparchy lay within about a 7 km ('tip') for the paidaria. 6 The word suggests the sense of juveniles
radius of Oxyrhynchus, and more distant parts of the nome, (perhaps not only those abandoned in infancy, as Rathbone
particularly in the Upper and Middle toparchies, were accessible suggests), working on an informal basis until they reached matur-
along the Tomis river. The two surviving six-year leases both ity, within the system of ties of social obligation which largely
include a clause forbidding the landowner to relet or autourgein escapes our direct scrutiny.
within the term of the lease: in one case, the metropolitan land- Thus it appears that, even though chattel slavery had a very
lord actually lived closer to the land (at Paimis, immediately limited role in agriculture, 'dependent labour' in a broader sense
north of Oxyrhynchus), than did the tenant, who came from may have been much more significant, although the exact forms
Lenon near Pela some way south. Here direct cultivation by of dependence that this took remain shadowy, and, in so far as
the owner was certainly a realistic possibility. In the other case, they are documented, tend to merge into the next category to be
it seems a less likely option: the landowner was female, the parcel considered, that of wage labour.
of land rather large (38 arouras), and situated at Pakerke in part of
the Eastern toparchy most distant from the metropolis. 4 One could (c) Wage Labour
perhaps envisage her son Apion lodging locally while farming the Like tenancy, agricultural wage labour took a variety of forms,
land; but the clause should be seen as a standard provision of from long-term employees (ranging in status from bailiffs to
longer-term leases rather than as having special application to the humble servants} to independent workers or craftsmen being
individual case. However, the custom of including such a clause paid for performing a single service. In both cases, but particu-
must indicate that even metropolitan landlords might decide to larly the former, payment in kind was often supplemented by or
abandon tenancy in favour of direct cultivation. substituted for cash wages. Nor is the distinction between wage
Direct cultivation need not, of course, be strictly confined to work and tenancy as sharp as might be anticipated. Leases of
the landowner's use of his own labour or that of family members, work, in which the tenant received a wage (misthos), could be
although 'autourgein' does normally seem to have this sense. We 5 Rathbone's conclusions from the detailed evidence of the Heroninus archive
now need to consider the possible ways in which a landowner (Economic Rationalism, 89""91) corroborate the hints from the more disparate
could tap the labour-power of others while retaining direct Oxyrhynchite evidence, especially PSI 1263 recto, published by R. W. Daniel
and R. Pintaudi, Aegyptus, 64 (1984), 614: accounts from a 1st/:md-c. AD estate
control of the management of the land. recording payments of 'salary' (opsonion) to paidaria_and korosia ('boys and girls').
See also I. Biezunska-Malowist, L'Esclavage dans l'Egypte greco-romaine: 2° partie:
3
P. Mich. II 123; see L. R. Toepel, 'Studies in the Administrative and Pmode romaine (Wroclaw etc., 1977), 74-85.
Economic History of Tebtunis in the First Century AD', (Diss. Duke Univ., 6 P. Oxy. XXII 2351, IV 730. In P. Oxy. I 101, P. Berl. Leihg. I 20, P. Merton I 17,
4
1973), 136. Le Monde grec, 6o1-8; P. 0,:y. I 101. SB VIII 9918, the sponde was not specifically destined for the paidan·a.

204 205
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
used for the employment of irrigators (hydroparochot) as well as Certainly some sizeable estates gave tenancy a significant place
vinedressers (discussed in detail below, § 4); while tenants in alongside direct cultivation; the clearest case is the 'archive of the
ordinary land leases sometimes received a wage for performing descendants of Laches' from Tebtunis, from which survive not
specific extra tasks. We must also bear in mind that, in cultivating only many individual leases, but also a list of rents in kind, as well
arable land as well as vineyards, the main cultivators, whether as wage accounts. 10
owners or tenants, might need to buy in services, such as water The evidence for agricultural wage labour and direct manage-
provision, harvesters, or donkey transport. Arrangements of this ment of estates in the Oxyrhynchite nome in the Roman period is
sort were not usually made in writing, and are therefore under- quite plentiful in the number of texts preserved; but almost all
represented in our evidence except when recorded in estate are short or fragmentary, and lack sufficient context to offer any
accounts, but they were surely more widespread than only on indication of the size of property involved. Various groups of
the estates of the wealthy. letters, containing orders by or to pronoetai or phrontistai for
In all its various forms, wage work must be seen as potentially wage payments or other disbursements, illustrate a form of
the most significant alternative to tenancy, and it is therefore management not unlike, if perhaps less sophisticated than, that
important to consider with some care exactly how the two seem documented by the Heroninus archive. 11 Similar letters, and
to have interrelated, on both large-scale and smaller-scale land- fragmentary estate accounts, very occasionally refer to mistho-
holdings. It is easiest to begin with the case of wealthy land- tai, and more commonly to georgoi. We can be confident that
owners, both because they are relatively well documented and the misthotai would be lessees in the possession of written leases
because their strategies of land management have been the sub- of the kind that survive; but, although 'georgos' could have the
ject of recent discussion. The Heroninus archive implies a very same meaning (particularly in written rent receipts), it was a
marginal role for leases, especially of arable land, in comparison more general term for 'farmer' as well as 'tenant'; and we should
with direct employment of labour, on the Theadelphian estate of not presuppose that, within the context of an estate account, it
Appian us. 7 However, even if the archive has preserved a balanced must refer to a tenant rather than a direct employee. The reserves
picture of the importance of leases on the whole property of this of corn on Calpurnia Heraklia's estate were destined for georgoi as
particular landowner, the case is not necessarily typical; and well as the pragmateutai, phrontistai, paidaria and katameneioi,
Kehoe has suggested a much more central place for tenancy who were certainly estate employees (.P. Oxy. XLII 3048).
within the management of large Egyptian estates generally. 8 The plentiful survival of estate accounts or letters cannot, of
Indeed, one of the main themes of his book is to demonstrate course, be taken to indicate the relative importance of this form
the importance of tenancy for landowners of varying degrees of of management, except in the general sense that it does not
wealth, in spreading economic risk and the costs of investment. appear to have been particularly rare, even in the early Princi-
But, given the nature of the evidence, it is extremely difficult to pate, for estates to rely primarily on the direct employment of
substantiate such a generalization. The few cases when leases or paid labourers of various degrees of permanence. The occasional
other references to tenancy can be associated with demonstrably unequivocal references to tenants working in the same context
large estates, could all be regarded as exceptional: for instance, demonstrates that some estates combined paid labour with
the only significant part of Claudia Isidora's estate known to
0
have been leased out was in the remote Small Oasis, 9 and we have ' See esp. the numerous texts published in P. Mil. Vogl. vo!s. VI and VII; the
list of rents is VI 275; see Kehoe's discussion, ibid. 74-96. The 4th-c. Hennopolite
no idea what proportion of her total property this comprised. landowner Aurelia Charite may have relied almost exclusively on leasing to
manage her estate of c.500 arouras (see P. Charite, introduction and texts, passim).
: Rathbone, Economic Rationalism, esp. 183-8. " P. Theon.; P. Oxy. XLIX 3513-21 (orders from Nemesianus; see S. Stephens,
D. P. ~ehoe, Management and I=stment on Estates in Roman Egypt during the ZPE 31 (1978), 145-60); P. Oslo III 146, P. Harr. II 23er4 (relating to the pronoetes
Early Empire (Bonn, 1992), esp. 120. 9 Cf. Kehoe, ibid. 124, 138f. Philantinoos).

206 207
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
tenancy, but cannot show how common this pattern of manage- to one tenant for two years, to two tenants for one year each, to
ment was. another for three years, and finally took it over to farm himself.
It is very much more difficult to find any basis for judging how Other literary sources do not clarify whether short terms were
commonly, and in what contexts, landowners who did not keep normal for private lease arrangements. 15
written accounts employed waged workers. At a guess, the silence More is known about Egyptian leasing practice, particularly
of our sources on annual or other long-term paid agricultural from the sixth century onwards, although a document of the 21st
work outside the context of estates may be trustworthy. 12 It is dynasty (c. ro69-945 BC) already attests the existence of written
more likely that even small-scale landowners might hire labour to tenancy arrangements. 16 Seven of the earliest demotic leases
meet short-term requirements, particularly for harvest work; were published by Hughes, with a thorough discussion of these
oxen and donkeys and their drivers were another recurrent and the other Egyptian leases. ' 7 His translations of, and conclu-
need. But we must also allow for such temporary requirements sions about, these late Pharaonic leases offer some interesting
being met by quid pro quo arrangements between farmers, which points of comparison with the later leases in Greek found in
need not have involved the use of money, or even the monetary Egypt. Firstly, all Hughes's leases were of a single year's dura-
valuation of the services exchanged. tion; the same is true of most Ptolemaic leases, both in Greek and
in demotic. It will be argued below that there is a general
(d) Varieties of Tenancy: Greek and Egyptian Traditions correlation between the short duration of leases and a high social
status of the tenant in comparison with that of the landlord.
Procedures for leasing land not unnaturally had a long-standing
Hughes, too, suggests that the lessees were not men who would
place in both Greek and Egyptian legal practice. Leases between carry out the agricultural work themselves, although those lessees
private individuals in the Greek world outside Egypt are poorly who were priests were of a lower order than the lessors (all of
documented; the surviving inscriptions mostly concern public or whom were priests). 18 The titles applied to some lessees, 'bee-
sacred properties leased on long terms of ten, twenty, or even keeper' or 'herdsman', may be honorific rather than true occupa-
forty years. 13 A recent study concludes that tenancy held a tional designations. One lease explicitly refers to the employment
relatively large place in Classical Athens; but since much of the of labour: 'You are to take for yourselves the two-thirds in the
material refers either to the specific case of orphan estates or to name of the oxen, the seed-grain and men.' Although this lease is
very wealthy people, it is difficult to be sure that this picture can somewhat unusual in apparently having been made directly on
be extrapolated to cover the bulk of the Athenian populace. 14 But behalf of a temple, similar provisions can be found in later
certainly short-term leases between private persons were not demotic leases where both parties were private individuals, and
unfamiliar to Classical Greece; Lysias, Oration 7, records that we need not suppose that the employment of other labour was
the defendant purchased a piece of land, immediately leasing it confined to cases which involved the temple directly. 19 The
12 15
Bagnall, Egypt in Late Antiquity, 121f., offers arguments why permanent Land leased after punitive confiscation, like that of the Plataeans leased for
hired labour may not have been viable. ten-year terms (Thuc. 3 68. 3), cannot be considered as a private arrangement.
3
' See D. Behrend, Attische Pachturkunden: Ein Beitrag zur Beschreibung der Theophrastus, De catU. plant. 2. II. 3 implies that leases made by the Thasians
p.la8wa,r nach den griechischen lnscriften (Munich, 1970). were typically of more than one year's duration, but his statement is too vague to
'+ R. Osborne, 'Social and Economic Implications of the Leasing of Land and provide a secure basis for argument.
16
Property in Classical and Hellenistic Greece', Chiron, r8 (1988) 279-323, at 30.µf. W. Spiegel berg, 'Eine zuriickgezogene Pachtkiindigung', A.gypt. Zeitschr. 53
The case of 3rd-c. Karthaia on Keos, which he cites (319ff.) as indicating that (1917), 107-II.
perhaps as many as a third of the citizens were involved in leasing land, would 17
G. R. Hughes, Saite Demotic Land Leases (Chicago, 1952). ' 8 ibid. 3.
provide a welcome parallel with the early Ptolemaic Egyptian evidence of leasing; ' 9 Ibid. no. II; cf. no. V, and e.g. K. Sethe and J. Partsch, Demotische Urkunden
it is a pity the interpretation of the relevant inscription (JG xii s 544, 1075, 1076) is zum agyptischen Biirgschaftsrechte vorziiglich der Ptolemiierzeit (Leipzig, 1920), no.
not beyond doubt. See also G. Casanova, 'I contratti d'affitto fra privati nelle 9 (Gebelen, 124 BC), with reference to parallels in 41n. (Heid. 724=U. Kaplony-
epigrafi greci', in E. Bresciani et al., Scn·u; in onore di Orsolina Montevecchi Heckel, Die Demotischen Gebelen-Urkunden der Heidelberger Papyrus-Sammlung
(Bologna, 1981) BH1- (Heidelberg, 1964) no. 8).

208 209
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
prominence of the provision of oxen in the arrangements undertook the expenses of providing oxen and labourers, again
published by Hughes offers another indication that the essence with close parallels in the contemporary Greek leases. 22
of the relationship between lessor and lessee here was less that of Thus, in Roman Egypt, despite certain differences of legal
landowner and labourer than between the suppliers of different form between the leases in Greek and in demotic, there is no
forms of capital necessary for cultivation, both immovable and reason to suppose that they represent quite separate traditions
moveable. serving clearly differentiated social and economic needs. Indeed,
Leases continued to be written in demotic throughout the there is no greater difference of social and economic purpose
Ptolemaic and early Roman periods, although published texts between the demotic and Greek leases than is often found
are not as numerous as those in Greek. 20 Agricultural tenancy between one Greek lease and another. In any case, almost noth-
features prominently in the so-called 'Demotic legal code of ing in demotic appears to have survived from Roman
Hermopolis West', although not in the extant part of the Greek Oxyrhynchus. 23 This may be partly a consequence of the metro-
translation found at Oxyrhynchus. 21 But the very fact that this politan bias of the papyri from Oxyrhynchus; in the early Roman
Egyptian legal manual was translated into Greek (probably in the period some leases between villagers, especially priests, could well
Ptolemaic period) and was evidently still in circulation in the have been written in Egyptian, as they were in Tebtunis or
Roman period, suggests that the two legal traditions exercised a Soknopaiou N esos.
significant influence on one another. Mutual influences between Were there also forms of tenancy which involved no written
the Egyptian and Greek written contracts can certainly be contract, in Greek or Egyptian? Both the Egyptian and Greek
detected. One point of similarity is that, whereas leases in the legal systems in Roman Egypt recognized, in certain circum-
Greek world outside Egypt seem typically to have set cash rents, stances, the validity of unwritten contracts; the clearest case
and pre-Ptolemaic Egyptian leases normally involved a share- being that of unwritten marriages, an Egyptian practice reflected
cropping arrangement, a fixed rent in kind was standard in also in the Greek documents. But legal recognition also seems to
both Greek and demotic leases of arable land in the Ptolemaic have extended to other forms of unwritten contract. 24 Although
and Roman periods. we have no direct evidence of unwritten tenancy agreements,
The results of mutual influence can also be seen in the Coptic their existence seems to be implied by a case from the reign of
leases. Many terms, including 'misthosis', were borrowed directly, Hadrian, in which proceedings against an unsatisfactory tenant
and some Coptic leases are extremely close in both form and described his contract as according to a written misthosis (P. Oxy.
content to the late Roman leases in Greek. In this period, when IV 707). Unwritten contracts, were, of course, apparently the
sharecropping leases again became more common, the clause norm for the tenure of public land (see Ch. III). We might
found in earlier demotic leases reappears, by which the tenant expect unwritten contracts to have been most prevalent amongst
the least literate and prosperous sections of the population,
20
Hughes, Saite Demotic Land Leases 3off. gives numerous refs. to Ptolemaic producing yet another element of bias in our source material
demotic land leases; see also his 'Notes on Demotic Egyptian Leases of Property',
JNES 32 (1973) 152-6o; E. Seidl, Bodennutzung und Bodenpacht nach den demo- towards the wealthy and articulate. Even if recognized in law, it
tischen Texten der Ptolemiierzeit (Vienna, 1973) 38ff.; and C. J. Martin, 'A Demotic seems unlikely that unwritten tenancies could provide equally
Land Lease from Philadelphia: P. BM 1056o', JEA 72 (1986) 159-73. Examples of
early Roman demotic land leases may be found in G. Botti, 'Papiri demotici 12
e.g. W. E. Crum, Varia Coptica (Aberdeen, 1939), no. 30; id., Catalogue of the
dell'epoca imperiale da Tebtynis', in Studi Calderini-Paribeni II (Milan, 1957) Coptic Manuscripts in the collection of the John Rylands Library (Manchester and
76--86, and G. Mattha, Demotic Ostraca from the Collections at Oxford, Paris, London, 1909), nos. 151H); and similar Greek leases, St. Pal. XX 218, SB IV 7369.
Berlin Vienna and Cairo (Cairo, 1945), nos. 273---6. 13
See lntrod. n. 4.
., G. Mattha and G. Hughes, The Demotic Legal Code of Hermopolis West 14
Taubenschlag, Law 2 , 301 ff.; e.g. PSI V 452, an unwritten partition of slaves?;
(Cairo, 1975). The Greek translation is P. Oxy. XLVI 3285, dating from the cf. P. Oxy. XXXI 2583 line 18: neither party to a division of property was to make
second half of the znd c. AD. See also Seidl, Bodennutzung und Bodenpacht, 7ff. any future claim about any matter, written or unwritten.
210 2II
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
effective guarantees, for either party, as a written contract in a working on the kleruchs' holdings, who were, sometimes at least,
legal system which commonly invoked the support of written hired wage-workers rather than tenants. 28 The tenants in the
evidence; the advocate in the suit just mentioned clearly thought leases seem more 'upwardly mobile' than these georgoi: one was
it helped his case that a written lease contract could be produced. a Hellenizing Egyptian, Ptolemaios son of Apollonios also known
A tenant without the protection of a written contract would be as Petesouchos son of Haryotes, whose father had risen in the
even less capable of obtaining redress against a powerful and military hierarchy, being received into the katoikia; the other was
influential landlord. Thus we must allow for forms of unwritten probably the komogmmmateus Menches. 29
tenancy in which the tenant's position in relation to the landlord A few leases have been preserved from Oxyrhynchus in the first
may have been significantly inferior to that characteristic of the two-thirds of the first century BC. 30 Again the tenants seem to
written leases. have been Greeks or Hellenizing Egyptians, and in three cases all
As a coda to this brief survey of the traditions of land leasing in parties came from the same street in Oxyrhynchus. On the other
Egypt, and a prelude to the more detailed analysis of the leases hand, in the most complete example (P. Oxy. XIV 1628), the
from Roman Oxyrhynchus, the Oxyrhynchite leases from the tenant was supplied with barley and lentil seed (but not wheat
Ptolemaic period deserve notice. The earliest Oxyrhynchite seed) including a small quantity for other expenses, and was paid
leases are from a group of documents relating to the business 1,500 copper drachmas for cutting rushes. Similar provisions may
activities of kleruchs from Tholthis and Takona in the late third have been contained in another lease, which breaks off at the
century BC. 25 These kleruchs leased out their land for one year at a point where details of what the tenant received were about to
time, to tenants who always included at least one Greek, some- be given (P. Oxy. XIV 1629). The economic position of the
times in partnership with one or two Egyptians. The Greeks were tenants here, therefore, may have been more tenuous than in
mostly designated 'tes epigones'; that is, they were civilians, not the Ptolemaic leases considered so far, since they needed such
military men; and the rent in many cases was paid in advance. provisions by the landlord.
Bingen has suggested that the Greek civilian lessees were acting If so, these late Ptolemaic leases show the first signs of a change
as middlemen, interposed between the kleruchs and the cultiva- in the relationship between landlord and tenant which became
tors since they were free of military duties and had capital much more marked in the Roman period. As will emerge from
available, which the kleruchs themselves lacked. the detailed discussion in the rest of the chapter, for about two
He has also detected a similar relationship in some Arsinoite hundred years from the mid-first century AD, landlords in the
documents of the Ptolemaic period, in which again the tenants Oxyrhynchite leases were predominantly of significantly superior
were mostly Greeks or Hellenizing Egyptians. 26 This suggestion social standing to their tenants, and were possessed of greater
is convincing particularly in view of the consistently large areas in economic resources.
individual contracts, rarely less than ten, and up to one hundred
arouras; lessees would no doubt divide these large areas among
3. THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF LANDLORD AND TENANT
several cultivators. 27 Crawford has examined at some length how
the kleruchs' land at Kerkeosiris was worked, taking into con- The essence of a land lease is the handing over by a landholder of
sideration both the leases which survive and the frequent refer- part of his or her property for the use of another person, normally
ence in the survey documents to georgoi with Egyptian names in return for rent. But the cultivation of crops is a complex
25 28
Refs. given above, Ch. II n. 45. Kerkeosiris, 77 f.
26
J. Bingen, 'Land Leases from Tholthis', Illinois Cl. Stud. 3 (1978), 74-8o; id., "9 P. Tebt. I 105-7; on Ptolemaios' father, see Kerkeosiris 64f. See also the terms
'Presence grecque et milieu rural ptolemaique' in M. I. Finley (ed.), Problemes de of leases from Kerkeosiris summarized in P. Tebt. III 815.
30
la terre en Grece ancienne (Paris, 1973) 215-22. • P. Oxy. XIV 1628, 1629, PSI X 1097, P. Koln III 145 (details of these are
• 7 For details, see Hennig, Unters. zur Bodenpacht, 173 ff., 185. included in Appendix 2).

212 213
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
process requiring access to more items than just the soil itself. and the seed and expenses we provide). 34 This echoes the phra-
The fivefold division cited by Foxhall from Mexican sharecrop- seology of the even more explicit demotic sharecropping leases;
ping tenancies-land, seed, water, labour, and traction-is 'You are to give a third of all the grain ... into my hand in the
remarkably apt to the requirements of Egyptian agriculture; 31 name of the land, and you are to take for yourselves the third in
we may also add farming tools and equipment, and any cash the name of the oxen, the seed-grain and men' .35 The sharecrop-
expenses required until the crop can be disposed of. In addition ping leases are our major source of information on the items of
to the land, some or all of the further items might also be capital expenditure which a tenant normally provided for himself,
supplied by the landlord, who had an interest in ensuring that but even these are somewhat vague, and need to be supplemented
the land was properly cultivated and the rent paid promptly and by a general consideration of Egyptian agricultural practice.
in full. One would expect a lease agreement to refer explicitly to
all items supplied by the landlord for the tenant's use. This (a) The Land and its Appurtenances
expectation finds support in the great variety and detail of the The most obvious item supplied by the lessor in a land lease was,
provisions in the Greek leases from Egypt. of course, the land itself. However, quite apart from the other
It was not so essential, on the other hand, for the leases to list items which the landlord might incidentally supply, which will
all the material and work which the tenant would contribute to come under consideration in the second part of this section, the
the agricultural process. Some leases enjoined the tenant in nature of the land which formed the object of the contracts is not
general terms to fulfil the agricultural work in the proper man- such a straightforward matter as it may seem. To the Latin legal
ner, but the precise means by which he did this were his own sources, the object of a land lease contract was not merely a
affair; 32 the main concern was to ensure that the tenant was able stretch of arable land, but a whole farm complex, the fundus,
to pay the rent and did not do permanent damage to the land- and with this was normally provided the instrumentum, which
lord's property. Only to a limited extent did the arrangement included both farm implements and the animal and human
between landlord and tenant approximate to an agricultural labour power needed to cultivate the land. 36 A consideration of
partnership, in which the contributions made by each partner the descriptions of the land found in the Oxyrhynchite leases will
carried equal weight. Items supplied by the tenant, as opposed illustrate how different were the Egyptian leases from the Italian
to obligations which he was to fulfil, appear in the leases only ones in this respect.
when there was the possibility of ambiguity if they were not In all but a few cases, land leased out privately was capable of
mentioned. producing a crop in the current year. That is, any initial clearing
The sharecropping leases are an exception to this. They are of the ground or breaking up of the soil had been completed, it
much closer in nature to a partnership in a joint agricultural was fed with an adequate water supply, and in the case of
enterprise; 33 for instance, the tenant was described not as paying vineyards and fruit plantations, it was planted with mature vines
rent, but as handing over a proportion of the crop 'av-r, rp6pou' (in and trees. Otherwise no rent was due, although a tenant might be
lieu of rent); and he kept the rest av8' ~S' 7Tow6µ.£0ay£wpy{as- Ka, wv induced to bring more land into cultivation in consideration of a
Ka, &.va,\wµ.chwv(in return for the work we do
1rap~xoµ.£V<J1T£pµ.a.-rwv favourable rent on other, productive, land. In return for breaking
31
up six arouras of chersos, using oxen provided without charge by
L. Foxhall, 'The Dependent Tenant: Land Leasing and Labour in Italy and
Greece', JRS 8o (1990), 97-114, esp. 105-7.
the landlord, one tenant rented a plot of barley land for the
32
See D. Hennig, 'Die Arbeitsverpflichtungen der Pachter in Landpachtver- unusually low rent of two artabas of wheat per aroura, along
triigen aus dem Faijum', ZPE 9 (1972), 111-31. The major exceptions to the
general vagueness about agricultural details are the leases of work in vineyards, 34
e.g. P. Oxy. XLV 3256 etc.
where it was precisely the work itself, not the land, which properly constituted the 35
Hughes, Saite Demotic Land Leases no. II.
object of the lease: see further § 4 below. 36
A. Steinwentcr, Fundus cum imtrumento: eine agmr- und Rechtsgeschichtliche
33 S.Waszynski, Die Bodenpacht, 148ff., esp. 156.
Studie (1942).
214 215
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
with other land for growing arakos and chortos (SB XII 10942, 4 were almost always the landlord's financial responsibility (see
BC). The tenant of a vineyard undertook to plant over the open Appendix 2 for details).
space in the vineyard without rent for the first four years, and to The concern of the parties to the leases was not legal or official
reconstruct the walls and to build a brick wheel for a payment of precision, but physical identification, and this could adequately
two thousand drachmas. Rent was payable only for the final two be served by the statement 'the arouras belonging to x near
years of the six-year lease (P. Oxy. IV 707, AD 136). village y', sometimes even without a kleros-name. The parties
A typical description of arable land in an Oxyrhynchite lease is: could afford to be even briefer if they were renewing an earlier
'the twenty-four arouras belonging to him near the same (village) lease, although most renewals contain the same information as do
Tanais from the kleros of Nikaios ... ' {rds VTTapxouaa<;mhaa initial agreements. 39 Frequently landlords did not lease out by
one contract the whole amount of land they owned at a particular
[TT]1:pl-r~v mh~v Tava11v !K rov N,Kafo[v] KA~pov apo[u]pas 1:iK0<11
village, indicated by the use of the expression aTTorwv tmapx6VTwv
rfoc1apas . .. '; P. Oxy. XXXVIII 2874, AD 108). Both the features
('from the (lands) belonging'); usually, but not always, the sub-
of and omissions from this description suggest that its primary
sequent description would be sufficiently detailed to show which
purpose was to identify land in practice for a tenant who knew the
part of the landlord's property was to be leased. Tenants must
cultivated area of the village well, and who probably lived locally.
have relied to a large extent on personal knowledge or verbal
For instance, in contrast to the standard practice in the Arsi- description in knowing which land they should cultivate. If a
noite nome, it was very unusual to state the administrative lessor did not own the land, but held it by private lease from
category of the land; 37 the expression ras tmapxosu aas a1ha11 another person, this was indicated by a phrase such as 'from what
('belonging to him') was sufficient to indicate that the landlord we hold on lease' (a.<p'wv[xoµ,1:v€.Vµ,ta0wa€L; P. Oxy. XLV 3260, AD
actually owned the land he leased out. 38 Public land in the 323), but the landowner's name was not necessarily recorded. 40
Oxyrhynchite name was leased out by its possessors in a manner This imprecision in stating the title to and exact location of the
closely similar to private land; ra.s &.va:ypa<poµ,lvas
('registered') was land to be leased contrasts strongly with practice in sales of land,
simply substituted for ra.s v1Tapxouaas.The tenure of public land which (in the Roman period) established title and boundaries in
in these cases was evidently sufficiently long-term to guarantee detail. Only one lease published so far lists the neighbouring
the tenant undisturbed rights of cultivation during the period of properties, and even here the purpose may simply have been to
the lease, and it was of no concern to the tenant that land taxes on prevent confusion about which portions of the landowners'
public land were considerably higher than on private land; taxes property within the kleros of Dion at Senepta formed the subject
of the lease, since their property extended to both south and
37 Katoicic land is never explicitly identified in the extant leases from Oxy-
north of the 10½ arouras leased to Apollonios son of Haros (P.
rhynchus, although kleroi are commonly mentioned. The standard phrase in
Arsinoite leases is 'kleros katoikikos'; and other categories are also referred to. Oxy. III 499, AD 121).
Only P. Oxy. XIV 1686 mentions a private land category, idiotike ge, unless this is Similarly, other descriptions of the location of land within part
here used non-technically. Oxyrhynchite leases more regularly named a category of a kleros were used if the property consisted of two parcels
of ~ublic land, but even this was not invariable: e.g. PSI VII 739.
3 :fx,w was used instead of tnrd.px£win some early leases: P. Oxy. II z77 (r9 BC), within one kleros; one lease concerned two plots, in the north
cf. XIV r6z8 (73 BC), but not 16z9 (44 BC), and also in L 358g (znd c. AD). By the and south of a single kleros, each J.vµ,lf[-Kol-rr1('in a single plot'; SB
late third century, irrra.pxovcould also be applied to basilike ge: SB XII 11081 (AD VIII 9918, AD 180). Each plot seems to have formed part of a
z61). Some land, especially in the third century and later, was in the possession of
public bodies, or had other unusual features which were noted in the leases: l1.1ro
larger unit of land which had previously been leased as a whole,
Twv!rfrOCJ'T€AA6v-rwvTV 8€Ka.npw.,.{q., P. Oxy. XII 15oz verso, PSI III 187; land
39
belonging to the city of Oxyrhynchus, PSI IX 1070, XIII 1330; land bought at Lease renewals are listed in n. 146 below. P. Oxy. I 101 gives no details of the
auction from the fisc, and leased out by a private landlord, P. Coll. Youtit II 70; land leased; PSI IX 1072 omits the area.
land under the administration of the idios logos, BGU IV I091; also land from non- "'°Of the three sub-leases of private land, P. Oxy. IV 729, XL V 326o, and XLI
private ousiai, PSI IX 1036, SB xiv 11403. 2974, only the last records the name of the landowner.

216 217
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
so detail was necessary to avoid confusion. The detailed descrip- performed. Agreements about crops which had already been
tions of P Merton I 17 may also have been intended to distinguish sown normally took the form of a sale of a standing crop, to
the land from other property of the same landowner, or may have be cut by the purchaser, although the two kinds of contract
been employed because the tenants were unfamiliar with the merge into one another. 45 However, the leases almost always
epoikion Oasitou. Plots were sometimes also identified by the contained a provision about the crops which the tenant could
name of a topos.41 sow, even if this merely stated that the tenant might grow what
More essential to state precisely was the area of the land, since he pleased. Leases of vineyards and fruit gardens are, of course,
rents were often calculated as a rate per aroura, and even all-in very different from those of arable land in this respect; here the
rents would be arrived at with implicit reference to the number of plants necessarily formed part of the object of the lease.
arouras. For this reason the phrase 'by survey' (lK y1:wµ,1:rp{as)or Leases very rarely suggest that agricultural buildings or other
was sometimes
'without survey' (µ,7101:µ,,ii.,y1:wµ,1:rp{a, YEVOfJ,EV17s) equipment except irrigation machinery were associated with
placed in conjunction with the rent clause, rather than with the arable land. Even when buildings were mentioned in an arable
area, where one would expect it. 42 lease, nothing suggests that these were located in conjunction
The size of the plots leased was naturally very variable, but with the land, rather than in the nearby village. 46 One lease
within limits which suggest that the practical needs of agriculture implies that some non-agricultural land, psiloi topoi, lay adjacent
were a real consideration. The minute areas attested in certain to the arable land. Psiloi topoi are normally found within a village,
documents, including some sale contracts, 43 are absent from the but perhaps the arable land in this case was close to the periphery
leases, and very rarely is the area less than one aroura (as in PSI of the village. 47
VII 739 and P Oxy. VI 975). The largest area is considerably In this respect, too, vineyard leases offer a marked contrast to
smaller than some of those recorded in leases from elsewhere in the leases of arable land, even mentioning, as well as the equip-
Egypt. 44 In the vast majority of cases, if not in all, the tenants ment for wine-making which might be situated in the epoikion,
could have cultivated the land without additional labour from buildings there which could provide nightly accommodation for
outside their families, although it must not be assumed that they the tenants. Because of this and the other differences, it is
necessarily did this; private tenancies might be undertaken by convenient to consider the vineyard leases in detail separately
persons who already had access to considerable amounts of land (§ 4 below). Also exceptional is a lease of an olive grove situated
from other sources, and were not only the recourse of impo- actually within the southern part of the village of Psobthis
verished peasants whose own holdings were inadequate for (Middle toparchy); the same landlords later leased out an olive
subsistence. press in the same part of the village. 48
Leases of arable land were almost invariably drawn up when The produce of arable land would be taken after harvesting to
the state of the current year's flood was already known, but the threshing floor of the village, where the rent was often handed
before any agricultural work for that year's crops had yet been over to the landlord; the plots leased did not contain threshing
4
' P. Oxy. XIV 1687, P. Ryl. IV 683, P. Oxy. XII r5ozv, P. Mich. Shelton 610, PSI -4S Herrmann's generalization, that Oxyrhynchite leases were drawn up in the
III 187, IV 316, P. Lond. inv. 2131 (Hellenika 38 (1987) 43-5). Land was also located first four months of the year (Studien, 96) 1 remains largely substantiated, although
by named edaphe: SB X 10216, P. Oxy. XXXI 2585, PSI V 469, IX 1078. there are a few exceptions; see below, note 139. Arable crop sales: P. Oxy. IV 728
4
• e.g. in conjunction with the rent clause: P. Merton I 17, P. Oxy. III 499, P. (chortos), XLV 3254 (flax). See F. Pringsheim, The Greek Law of Sale, (Weimar,
Berl. Leihg. I 20, P. Oxy. XIV 1686; with the area: Le monde grec 601-8, SB VIII 1950) esp. 303 ff., Herrmann, Studien, 167, 228.
46
9918, P. Oxy. 1687, LVII 3911, P. Fouad 43, P. Mich. Shelton 610, SB IV 7443, P. P. Oxy. XX 2284, SB XIV u281.
47
Oxy. XIV 16g1, PSI IX 1072. P. Oxy. III 501, the 'psiloi topoi' were added, apparently as an afterthought,
43 e.g. P. Oxy. VII 1044, XII 1459, X 1270, XIV 1636. above the line; cf. the description of adjacent properties in P. Oxy. XII 1475.
44
The largest certain area in a private contract from Oxyrhynchus is 38 ar. in P. ..a P. Oxy. III 639 (full edition by Nielsen, BASP 29 (1992), 152....{i3}; PSI IX
Oxy. I 101. The area in P. Harr. II 224 is between 3oj and 39½ ar. 1030.

218 219
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
floors of their own. An exception to this confirms the general by the generally sharp physical demarcation between the village
practice, for the rental of two arable arouras which were leased itself and the agricultural land surrounding it, but is not wholly
alongside a vineyard was to be paid 'on the threshing-floor of the accounted for in this way. Had there been a need for the tenant to
farm (chorion)'; the vineyard formed part of a complete agricul- be supplied with accommodation or storage space, it would have
tural unit, to which could be taken for processing even the been possible for the landlord to supply these through the same
produce of arable land owned by the same person (P. Oxy. contract as that which concerned the arable land, even though the
XLVII 3354, AD 257). Most people who owned arable land alone buildings lay in the village, physically separate from the land.
did not have a central 'farm', of this kind, but conducted their Indeed, this seems to have been done in a few isolated cases.
agricultural work from the village. Since buildings and other Throughout the period under discussion, it may be presumed
appurtenances had to be above inundation level, it was more that the tenant was normally able to supply these needs for
~onveni~nt and less wasteful of good arable land to group them himself; in the case of tenants who were inhabitants of the village
m the villages on higher land. near which the land lay, there is every reason to suppose that they
The on!! ~pl:'urt_enance which appears in the leases with any were already in possession of both accommodation and storage
frequency 1s 1rngat10n machinery, and even this is much rarer on space in the village, while metropolitan tenants would have no
arable land than in vineyards and fruit plantations. Normally, difficulty leasing separately a room or two in the village should
arable fields would have been inundated, and the only clause in this be necessary. In this respect, the Egyptian tenant was in a
many leases concerning water was the standard one allowing a much more independent position in relation to the landlord than
~e~t reduction in case of abrochia. A tenant might be required to was the Italian lessee of a fundus cum instrumento, who was
ungate abrochos without a machine (as in P. Oxy. IV 810), but in dependent on a single landlord not only for access to the means
of agricultural production, but even for his home.
~t~er cases, a machine was supplied by the landlord explicitly to
1rngate the abrochos.49 Irrigation machinery was much more
(b) Provision of the Equipment and Expenses of Cultivation
frequently mentioned from the third century onwards.so It is
difficult to believe that many landlords went to the expense of Cattle were probably the most expensive agricultural require-
?uilding a complex piece of machinery, and keeping it in repair, if ment apart from the land itself. However, cattle, whether for
it was only used as a stand-by in years of low flood when the irrigation or for ploughing, are explicitly mentioned in very few
same machinery could presumably also permit the cuitivation of arable leases; 52 in these cases, they were normally supplied by the
more than one crop a year. Perhaps the rent paid for the machine landlord. But consideration of the nature of a lease contract
in P. Oxy. Hels. 41 (AD 223"4), an unusual feature was in effect an suggests that this is likely to be deceptive; any cattle supplied
indirect rent on the cultivation of a second crop: All the running by the tenant would not find a mention in the contract unless the
expenses of the machine, too, were imposed upon the tenant and circumstances were unusual in other respects, as, for instance, in
yet the rent is very high for land on which the tenant could ~row sharecropping leases.
what he wished. 51 The only Oxyrhynchite lease which provided for the tenant to
It can thus be seen that the Egyptian tenant of arable land leased supply cattle is also unusual both in its form and in the reversal
one or more fields rather than a farm, a stretch of cultivable soil, of the normal economic situation of landlord and tenant. 53
but no base from which the work was done. This was encouraged
s• Of the arable leases from Oxyrhynchus, only SB XII 10942, P. Oxy. Hels. 41
49 and P. Oxy. XLI 2973 mention cattle. For elsewhere, see S. von Bolla-Kotek,
SB XIV u281, PSI IX 1078. Untersuchungen zur Tienniete und Viehpacht im Alterlum (2nd edn., Munich,
50
On arable land, the only 2nd-c. case is SB XIV u281; later eitamp!es are P. 1 96()), 9ff.
Oxy. XVII 2137, P. Harr .. I So, PSI IX 1072, possibly SB VIII 9900, P. Oxy. Hels. 53
P. Oxy. LXI 2973 (AD 103): a synchoresis, in which the low wheat rent was
4 1, PSI IX 1078, P. Rob. mv. 20. P. Oxy. I 102 refers to a machine in the description Payable in advance, but Horion the tenant was (uncharacteristically) responsible
of the land.
51 for the taxes, and had also paid 48 dr. for the price of brushwood removed from the
The rent was over 6½art.far. wheat plus a small quantity of vegetable seed. land.
220 221
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
Moreover, a debt owed to the tenant by the deceased father of the Oxyrhynchite included repayment of a seed loan within the
the landowner was still outstanding. The inclusion of a clause rent (P. Frankf. 2), a practice prevalent later in the Arsinoite. In
making the tenant responsible for the provision of oxen and two of the Oxyrhynchite leases from the very end of the Ptole-
seed may well be connected with these other unusual features rnaic era the tenant seems to have received seed without interest
of the contract. Under normal conditions, and unless a clause from the landlord. 58
was inserted to the contrary, the tenant was probably left to A clear pattern emerges from the Arsinoite leases of the early
obtain beasts himself if he chose to use them. In the absence of Roman period, where evidence for seed provision is available in
explicit evidence, however, it is difficult to estimate just how most cases. 59 On private land, a seed repayment was included in
extensive the use made by tenants in cultivating arable land will the rent; that is, the landlord had originally provided a seed loan.
have been. 54 On public land, however, the subtenant took responsibility for
If a tenant did not own cattle himself, or obtain them from his seed. Probably in these cases the subtenant obtained his seed
landlord, he could hire them from a third party. A few leases of from the public authorities, not from his own reserves; but
cattle survive, two explicitly for ploughing. 55 In one case, the use directly and not through his landlord. It seems, therefore, that
of the plough was also included in the lease. The area of land to in the Arsinoite, at least in the first two centuries AD, it was not
be ploughed in each of these cases is unknown, and so the rent for customary for tenants to supply seed from their own stocks.
the beasts cannot be compared to the likely yield of the crops; but Information from the third century onwards is much sparser
the rent was not negligible; three cattle for one ploughing cost and less tractable.6o
nine artabas of wheat and some chlora, the equivalent of a high In the Oxyrhynchite leases of the Roman period, it does not
rent on one aroura of wheat land. For two bulls and a plough, the seem to have been normal practice to insert a clause about the
rent was twenty-seven artabas of wheat. A landlord who provided provision of seed. The differences in formula between areas of
cattle for the tenant without payment was thus causing him a Egypt were clearly to some extent a matter merely of convention,
considerable saving, particularly if the landlord also took respon- but here more may be involved; it is curious that leases, which in
sibility for feeding the animals. 56 We may presume, however, that some respects are so detailed, should generally omit the impor-
feed was normally the responsibility of the tenant. tant matter of seed provision unless there were a customary
An item of prime importance to cultivation was seed. Seed practice, unwritten, which could be followed unless a clause
provision is mentioned in the leases much more frequently than was included to the contrary.
are cattle, but the information is nevertheless patchy, the Oxy- If so, the practice is likely to have been for the tenant to
rhynchite and other Nile valley leases being much less explicit in provide seed. As was remarked above, items supplied by the
this respect than those from the Arsinoite nome. It was relatively landlord were surely always listed explicitly; the tenant was
common in Ptolemaic leases from both areas for seed to be then left to his own devices, particularly when the choice of
mentioned; the Arsinoite, and most Oxyrhynchite, leases crop was at the discretion of the tenant. The sharecropping
obliged the tenant to supply it. 57 The lessee often also paid leases, which state obligations normally omitted in other leases,
transport costs in these cases. But one lease from Tholthis in usually allocate provision of seed to the lessee; 61 in the only
58
~ See further eh. I § 2, esp. n. 65. P. Oxy. XIV 1628, 1629; the relevant phrase is restored in the latter.
59
ss Ploughing is mentioned in P. Michael. 22, SB 10573+ P. Wise. II 41. For other Hennig, Unters. zur Bodenpacht, 201-16 (rst c. AD); 223-52 (2nd c.) lists the
refs., see Rea, 'Lease of a Red Cow', 277; cf. also P. Land. II 366 descr. (p. xxxv), documents; most contain a provision about seed, except where a non-cereal crop
and P. Mich. II 123 recto vii 17. was to be sown, or where the text is fragmentary.
56 6o Only two of the 3rd-c. Arsinoite leases listed by Hennig mention seed: P.
As in P. Gen. I 34; most of the examples cited by von Bolla-Kotek (see n. 52)
imply that the landlord both supplied and fed the beasts; P. Berl. Leihg. I 23 Tebt. II 377 and SB VII 9562. In these, and in one later Arsinoite lease (BGU II
provided that the landlord should supply the animals, but the tenant feed them. 586), seed was provided by the landlord.
57 6
See those listed in Hennig, Unters. zur Bodenpacht, 173ff. ' P. Oxy. I 103, XL V 3255, 3256.

222 223
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
exception, seed and expenses were shared equally between land- alias Apia is also illuminating (P. Oxy. XIV 1630). A certain
lord and tenant (SB X 10216, 3rd-4th c.). Heron had subleased some land in the Small Oasis belonging to
In several cases where the landlord did supply a seed loan, the this estate from two lessees, and had already provided the local
tenants were in a particularly tenuous economic position. A seed farmers with seed and other expenses, when other persons whom
loan free of interest was made to tenants who owed ninety-two he employed in the management offered a higher bid. Heron had
artabas of wheat in rent arrears, almost a full year's rent for the supplied them with 3 talents 400 drachmas, which he tried to
land; the owner also remitted part of this debt (P. Oxy. XXII recover; when this was ignored, Heron offered an even higher
2351, AD 112). The fragmentary P. Oxy. III 640 (AD r2clr) attests a bid, of r½ talents annually. Thus it seems that here it was not the
loan of eighteen artabas of wheat, of which five artabas were to be estate itself which gave the cultivators seed and the other
repaid in the current year, and thirteen in the following year. expenses, but that there was an elaborate chain of contractors
Probably this loan was intended to cover both seed and living and subcontractors who provided the necessary finance. This
expenses for the tenants until the crop was harvested. One procedure is more reminiscent of the management of Imperial
surviving acknowledgrnent of rent and seed owed, however, estates, although this estate still seems to have been in private
does not seem to be connected with arrears, since the date, hands at the date of the document. It is also worth noting that the
Phaophi, was well before the crop was harvested and the rent expenses considerably exceeded the annual rent on the land.
due (P. Oxy. III 575, AD uo). Other advances of seed also show no Very few leases give any details at all about what the 'expenses'
evidence of particular financial difficulties on the part of the of agriculture were, apart from oxen and seed. Of course, if an
lessees. One carried a 33 per cent return, another apparently a irrigation machine was in use on the land, this might involve, as
concealed 40 per cent return, nominally providing seven artabas well as the oxen, the payment of mechanarioi, carpenters, and
of seed for five arouras. 62 guards; other equipment was also supplied (P. Oxy. Hels. 41).
The provision of seed is an important indicator of the relative The running expenses of the machines, as opposed to any extra-
financial strength of landlord and tenant. If a tenant possessed a ordinary repairs, seem normally to have devolved on the tenant. 65
sufficient reserve of grain to supply his own seed, he could avoid One sharecropping lease lists some of the ordinary agricultural
the high rates of return which were commonly charged on seed expenses which must always have been incurred. The cost of
loans; 50 per cent was not unusual. 63 Tenants of similar economic transport and threshing(?) was borne by the tenant, but that of
status to their landlords, perhaps being landowners themselves, harvesting was shared by both. 66 It is remarkable that the costs of
could be expected to provide their own seed. Tenants on large harvesting are not mentioned more frequently in the leases, since
estates, however, would normally be supplied with seed by the extra labour may well have been required. Grain must also have
management; repayments of seed by tenants were included in the been winnowed before the rent was paid. 67 In the case of flax, the
accounts of two estates of around the beginning of the third
tenant was responsible for all the tasks up to and including
century. 64 A document from the fourth-century archive of Pap-
retting.
nouthis and Dorotheos contains an order to Papnouthis, the
Rent in kind was normally due to be paid on the threshing
pronoetes of Sarapammon, to supply a georgos with seed (P. Oxy.
floor of the village in whose area the leased land lay, or in an
XLVIII 3388).
A document relating to part of the estate of Claudia Isidora 65 P. Oxy. Hels. 41, PSI IX 1072, but not apparently P. Oxy. XVII z137, where

the wheel was supplied to the tenant 'without rent'. Construction and major
6
, P. Fouad 43, P. Oxy. VI 910. repairs were usually shared in accordance with a detailed agreement between
63 the parties: see SB XIV u281, P. Harr. I 80, P. Michael. 19.
C. Michurski, 'Les Avances aux semailles et les prets de semences dans
l'Egypte greco-romaine', Eos, 48 (1956), 105-38; Johnson, Roman Egypt, 46off. 66 P. Oxy. II 277, reading a..\611-rpa
in line 7; BL I, II (cf. P. Oslo II 33).
67 Grain was commonly required to be clean, pure and winnowed before
Note, however, that seed usually seems to have been supplied without interest by
Arsinoite private landlords. C>4P. Oxy. IV 740, XIX z240. delivery: e.g. P. Oxy. XXXVIII 2874 z7f.

224 225
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
68
adjacent village; thus there was no need for transport over a One fourth-century lease obliged the tenant to pay the naubia (a
great distance. But even for a short distance, the hire of donkeys tax; PSI IX 1078). The lacunae in P. Michael. 19 leave it unclear
might be required; in the late second century, the hire of donkeys whether the lessee paid all the annual taxes, or whether some
to transport chortos to the threshing floor of Ophis cost 2 dr. a day taxes were apportioned to the landlord.
each; nine donkeys were used the first day, then twelve, four and It can be seen that tenants might find themselves committed to
six on subsequent days. Drivers cost I dr. 5 ob. or 2 dr. 4 ob., and considerable expense in the course of cultivation, before they
workmen to tie up the bundles 3 dr. 3 ob. The total expense for could receive the benefit of the crop. Some leases arranged for a
the operation over four days came to 99 dr. (P. Oxy. VII 1049). Of loan to be made by landlord to tenant, to be repaid at the same
course, any farm which kept written accounts is likely to have time as the rent, either without interest, or at the usual rate.
been untypically large; smaller cultivators probably obtained These loans must be distinguished from payments made to
most of their labour from unpaid members of the family, but tenants for extra work undertaken, like the eight artabas of
even they might have needed to hire donkeys, or to keep their wheat deducted from the rent in one agreement 'for clearing
own beasts supplied with fodder. 69 kyperis' (SB XII 10942, 4 BC), or the 2,000 drachmas advanced
There were other responsibilities to be apportioned between to the tenant of a vineyard to build a new waterwheel (P. Oxy. IV
landlord and tenant. The general obligation of the tenant to hand 707). Here the payments were in return for a permanent improve-
the land back in good condition might find more detailed expres- ment in the quality of the land, but in the loans 'ek logou prokrias'
sion; in one lease, the land had to be free of kyperis (sedge; P. Oxy. the purpose was to cover not improvements but current expenses.
II 374, AD 6). Another obliged the lessee to hand it back with This is why the loans were generally of small value; 28 dr. in AD
reeds cut, and the half that had been fallow with arakochortos 99; 100 dr.and 200 dr. during the second century; even the 4,000
clean from cutting (P. Oxy. XXXVIII 2874 lines 3rff., AD 108). tal. loaned in 356 was only half the annual rent charged on the
Guarding the water supply and work on embankments could date crop of two choria three years previously. 73 However, the
involve not only labour, but expense; for such work in a vineyard, extent to which tenants needed advances from their landlords
a lessor supplied the tenants with fifteen donkeys (P. Oxy. IV should not be exaggerated; loans appear in under five per cent
729). Elsewhere, however, the tenant took the whole responsibil- of the leases. Other tenants were in arrears with their rent, 74 but
ity for these tasks himself (PSI IV 315). this suggests not inadequate resources alone, but these com-
The landlord was almost always responsible for all public dues pounded by poor harvests. It is interesting to note also that
on the land, 70 although the tenant might actually pay the tax and much of the evidence of tenant indebtedness relates to the
then claim a refund from the landlord.7' In cases where the tenant second century, usually regarded as a period of prosperity, while
bore all or a large part of the financial burden of taxes, the rent reference to arrears or indebtedness in the more disturbed years
had almost always been paid in advance. 72 Some of these leases of the later third century are conspicuously absent from our
were abnormal in other respects, too: a combined lease of house abundant evidence of this period (see Appendix 2). This is one
and land, an antichretic lease, the synchoresis mentioned earlier.
73 SB X 10274, P. Oxy. L 3589, VIII 1125 (interest of 1 dr./mina/month), PSI IX
68
Appendix 2, passim; in some cases, delivery was 'to the public (granary)', 1078; cf. P. Oxy. XIV 1632.
sometimes explicitly at the tenant's own expense, e.g. P. Oxy. VIII 1125; see also P. 1• P. Oxy. III 501, XVIII 2188, XIX 2240, XXII 2350, 2351, XLII 3051, XLV
Oxy. XXXIII 2676, XXXVI 2795, L 3591, LV 3800, SB XII 11081, PSI I 73. 3251, SB X 10256, XIV u&gg, P. Oxy. XXXIV 2712; cf. P. Oxy. III 533, a loan of 5
6cJ For a small-scale tenant who owned a donkey, see P. Oxy. XXXI 2583. art. wheat to a georgos, and perhaps also P. Oxy. XIV 1748 line 12 (the rent here
70 See Appendix 2, piUsim, and Herrmann, Studien, 122ff. may not yet have been in arrears). cf. the comments on ~he indebtedness of t~e
7
' e.g. SB XII 10942: 'If the lessee is pressed for a contribution to the public Arsinoite tenant Soterichos who seems as a regular practtce to have financed his
treasury ... on behalf of Demetrios or of the land, let it be deducted from the farming by credit, a procedure which gave rise to serio~s proble~s only on _his
rent.' death (P. Soterichos pp. 19ff; R. S. Bagnall, 'Theadelphrnn Archives: A Review
72
P. Oxy. XXXI 2584, SB XII 1I228 (= P. Yale 68), P. Oxy. XLI 2973. Article', BASP 17 (1980), 97-104.)
226 227
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
of many respects in which the leases from the second and third mity to the fields, or to any sort of equipment other than irriga-
centuries seem to reflect social and economic change. tion machinery. Even the latter is much more frequently
If the indebted and impoverished tenants may be thought to mentioned in the vineyard leases; it will be seen below that the
form one extreme, Heron, the sub-lessee on the estate of Claudia irrigation of the vineyard was one of the major tasks for the
lsidora who provided finance and equipment on a large scale for tenants to carry out.
the cultivators, must be placed at the other extreme. Both are Vineyards were normally surrounded walls of mud-brick or an
untypical; it seems that most tenants, even though operating on a embankment on which trees might be grown. 78 That their
small-scale, were able to supply their own expenses and agricul- boundaries were so obviously defined in this way may explain
tural equipment. This was economically advantageous to the why few vineyard leases state the area of land. 79 The leases also
landlords, in shifting part of the expense and risk of cultivation refer to various other crops that could be grown in the vineyard,
onto the tenants; 75 but equally, it enabled tenants to retain a large frequently specifying small quantities of the produce of the
measure of financial independence, and thus to resist developing various fruit trees as extra payments for the landlord (see Table
a permanent social dependence on their landlords. 15). The extra payment of cheese required in one lease may reflect
the practice of grazing flocks in vineyards. 80 More than one plot
of land commonly formed the subject of a single vineyard lease
4. LEASES AND LABOUR IN VINEYARDS
agreement: several ktemata could be leased together, 81 or a sepa-
The leasing of a vineyard was a much more complicated proposi- rate date-grove or orchard leased along with the vineyard. One
tion than a lease of arable land: the vines represented an impor- document contains in effect three such contracts, the first of work
tant capital investment, which became productive only three to in the vineyard and kalameia, the second of the crop of dates and
five years after planting, and required skilled cultivation and fruit trees in an old vineyard, and the third, for no extra wage, of
constant irrigation; moreover, the vineyard itself normally part of the work in an orchard to the south of the vineyard (P.
formed only part of a more complex agricultural establishment, Oxy. XIV 1631). Arable land was also sometimes leased along
including a reed-bed (kalameia) where the vine-props were with vineland in a single contract: this could involve not merely
grown, and space for the manufacture of the wine. chersampelos (dry vineland) situated close by, but also normal
82
Thus an ampelikon ktema would contain a drying-floor arable land in the vicinity of the same village. The area of
(heliasterion), and wine-vats; it might also include an entire arable land in these cases seems to have been small, probably
range of buildings situated in an epoikion. We hear of a tower just sufficient to cater for the subsistence needs of the tenant.
(magdolion) and quarters for farm animals, a pigeonhouse to Strictly speaking, most Oxyrhynchite vineyard leases leased,
provide fertiliser for the vines, and even residential buildings. 76 not the vineyard itself, but work in the vineyard, ampelika erga.
One contract made two rooms available for the tenants, while Although unquestionably described in Greek as misthoseis, from a
another stipulated that one of the tenants must sleep in the modern perspective these contracts can be regarded as work
epoikion at night. The intention was presumably to prevent contracts rather than tenancy contracts; instead of a rent
thefts: a theft of vine offshoots is recorded, and estates employed (phoros) paid by the tenant to the landlord, as was normal in a
special guards to protect the fruit as it ripened. 77 We therefore see
78
a marked contrast between the vineyard leases and those of arable P. Oxy. IV 707, VI 909, 985.
79 Only P. Oxy. XLVII 3354 (6 arouras).
land, which very rarely refer to buildings, particularly in proxi- 8a P. Oxy. IV 729; cf. PSI X 1119, P. Oxy. XIV 1673. This apparently contrasts
with the Appianus estate at Theadelphia, where the dense reed trellises left
75 See Kehoe, Management and In:'Vestment, eh. 4. insufficient room for grazing beasts: Rathbone, Economic Rationalism, 251.
76
P. Ross. Georg. II 19; P Rob. inv. 7; P. Oxy. X 1278; P. Oxy. IV 729, XLVII 8' P. Harr. I 137.
8
3354. " P. Ross. Georg. II 19(?), P. Oxy. IV 729, XLVII 3354, probably P. Rob. inv. 7;
77
P. Oxy. XX 2274; P. Oxy. IV 729, PSI VIII 890. cf. P. Oxy. XIV 1637 line 30.

228 229
 Pr£vate Tenancy Private Tenancy
lease, a wage (m£sthos) was paid by the landlord to the tenant, Work leases often, although not invariably, listed with some
often in instalments as the work progressed. 83 Apparently origi- exactitude the tasks to be performed under the terms of the
nating in the Oxyrhynchite nome in the late second century, this contract. The three texts which preserve reasonably complete
form of contract soon superseded the vineyard lease proper there, details (summarized in Table 16) show an essentially similar
spreading also to the Hermopolite nome. 84 Despite the difference range of tasks involved in all three cases; the differences lie in
in the form of remuneration in principle, the two sorts of contract the order in which they were listed (following a sequence that was
were perhaps not always sharply differentiated; one fourth cen- partly seasonal and partly topographical), and in the degree to
tury letter requested the recipient to persuade some irrigators of a which the landlord retained control of any process. P. Oxy.
vineyard also to lease the vine-work in it, but implied that the XLVII 3354 does not mention the landlord in connection with
tenants would make a money payment to the landlord, possibly any of the tasks, perhaps because she was female, although she
even in advance: 'If you are able to persuade Aphynchis and his seems to have claimed the right to exercise general supervision
partner the irrigators of 'the Okeanos' also to become lessees of through her relatives (line 38). In P. Oxy. XIV 1631, on the other
the vinework there, in addition to their responsibilities for the hand, the landlord took responsibility for the arrangement of
irrigation, come and tell me, since you (sc. we?) need money' .85 vine-props (kalamourgia), the tenants acting under his charge,
One surviving lease seems to be a hybrid form; its object was and they also helped the landlord to oversee the asses bringing
explicitly stated to be the work, irrigation and weeding of a new chous.87 Control of pruning was retained by the landlord in P.
vineyard; the remuneration, termed 'phoros', is once clearly Oxy. XIV 1692. Some of the vineyard leases proper also included
implied to be made by the tenant to the landlord, although provisions relating to the agricultural work, but only when there
elsewhere (perhaps through scribal error) implied to be paid by was question of some involvement in the work on the part of the
the landlord to the tenant. 86 landlord; for instance, in P. Ross. Georg. II 19, the pruning,
Meaningful comparison of the level of remuneration in these arrangement of vine-props, and throwing-up of ditches in the
leases is precluded by the small number of surviving examples, last year was to be effected under the supervision of the landlord,
and by the variety of terms and conditions, which can best be while the lessor in P. Oxy. IV 729, Sarapion, probably reserved
appreciated in tabular form (Table r5). Any comparison must the right to supervise the pruning and all other work connected
further take account of the fact that the leases also differ signifi- with the lease. But these cases differ from the leases of work in
cantly in the work required of the tenants. that they show much less concern with work to be carried out
solely by the tenant.
83
J. Hengstl, Private Arbeitsverhiiltnisse freier Personen in den hellenirtischen A comparison of the vineyard tasks detailed here with those
Papyri bis Diokletian (Bonn, 1972), 52ff.; A. Jordens, 'MIJ:fJQJ:IJ: TQN EPI'QN: carried out on the Appianus estate naturally shows many simila-
Ein neuer Vertragstyp', Proc. 19 lnt. Congr. Pap. 259-70; and esp. ead., Vertrogliche
Regelungen von Arbeiten im spiiten Griechischsprochigen Agypten (P. Heid. V), rities, but there are conspicuous differences. 88 In particular, it
(Heidelberg, 1990), 222ff. (eh. 4). seems that the leases were not directly concerned with the main
84
Jordens, ibid. 227ff. P. Rob. inv. 7 (AD 212 or later) now seems to provide the work of the vintage, which occupied most of Mesore on the
latest example of a true vineyard lease. Leases of work were made for irrigation
work as well as vineyard work: P. Heid. V 344, P. Oxy. L 3582. Theadelphian estate. P. Oxy. XIV 1692 merely required the
85 P. Oxy. XII 1590; I am indebted to M. B. Trapp for advice on the translation. presence of the lessee at the vintage; the other two contracts list
86
PSI XIII 1338, especially lines 11 f. and 16; cf. C. Preaux, CE 29 (1954), 334. some tasks which appear to provide support to the main vintage
The reason for the confusion may be that the vines were not yet productive, and
the rent was paid on the intercultivated vegetables, cucumbers, and gourds (I owe work, including making matting for the treading-vat, and testing,
this point to J. R. Rea). But it is still important to be certain whether the
remuneration (1,200 dr./ar.) was paid to or by the landlord. The fragmentary P 87 Chous was some kind of earth used as fertilizer; see the discussion by D.
LauT. IV 166 should presumably be restored so that the 4,000 dr. payment for Delia, 'Carrying Dung in Ancient Egypt: A Contract to Perform Work for a
vinework was made by landlord to tenant, not, as restored in the edition, the other Vineyard', BASP 23 (1986), 61-4.
88
way round. Rathbone, Economic Rationalism, 249-54, 260-3.

230 231
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
oiling and moving the wine-jars. The extra payment to be made in the Oxyrhynchite nome for their current price there (P. Oxy.
at the time of the harvest in P. Oxy. XLVII 3354 was in con- LVI 3854).
sideration of not failing in the irrigation and defoliation. Accord- The third and fourth centuries offer plentiful evidence of
ing to the terms of P. Ross. Georg. II 19, the tenant was to be payments being made in wine, particularly to estate employees,
supplied with a machine for processing the crop, but again it is although this practice is not reflected in the terms of a surviving
not stated who should take responsibility for actually collecting lease from the property of a person whose estate is known to have
the grapes. Clearly the main work of the vintage was carried out made payments in wine. 92 The remuneration made by landlords
under some arrangement separate from either the vineyard or to tenants in the leases of work consisted primarily of cash rather
vinework leases, whether under the direct responsibility of the than wine, with only small extra payments in kind (see Table 15).
landowner, or under another form of arrangement. The Appianus But comparison with the practice on the Appianus estate of
estate is known to have contracted the vintage work to karponai, substituting payments in kind, particularly wine, for estate
who both harvested the crop and bore some of the risk of market- employees' money wages, suggests that we should not rule out
ing it. 89 the possibility of similar commutation in the payment of misthos
Wine was, of course, essentially a 'cash crop'. In the leases of to lessees of vine work. 93
work, the landlord was naturally left with the whole responsibil- So where we find references to ampelourgoi, skilled vinedres-
ity for marketing the crop; but even in the vineyard leases proper, sers, receiving payments in money or wine, 94 this does not
tenants had only part of the crop to dispose of, since these leases preclude their having held misthosis contracts, particularly those
provided either for a sharecropping arrangement or for part of of vine work. Some documents explicitly mention leases held by
the rent to be paid in kind (see Table 15). An estate could dispose ampelourgoi; for instance, a second-century letter to an overseer
of its wine in bulk to a wine-merchant, like the oinoprates from a subordinate requests him to 'send the leases of the
Hermas, who purchased the crop of one year in the later first vinedressers, so that they can begin the pruning' (P. Oxy. XIV
century AD for a total of 3,068 drachmas. 90 But smaller producers 1673). One ampelourgos received a receipt for the produce of the
would probably market their own wine, involving some risk and past year which he had delivered to his landlord in accordance
uncertainty: a mid-first-century letter from two sons to their with the terms of his lease. 95 Thus, although it would be rash to
father recounts details of the sales that had been made and offers infer that all ampelourgoi mentioned in our documents were
advice about which wine to take to the city (presumably Oxy- employed under the terms of misthosis contracts, it is reasonable
rhynchus), and which to leave for sale at Pela. The correspon- to suppose that some will have been, and to regard the lessees in
dents were clearly anxious about the price which they could get the surviving vinework contracts as essentially skilled vinedres-
(P. Oxy. XIV 1672). In a fourth century letter, the writer asked for sers, although the term ampelourgos is not actually used of them.
a loan of two talents to be used for wage payments and other Their contribution to the total process of wine production was
expenses, 'for nobody has bought wine from us'. 9 ' A third- important, but was a specific and limited one, unlike the complete
century potter, in urgent need of cash, wrote to 'Horos the responsibility which a tenant of arable land normally assumed.
Syrian camel-driver' asking him to sell twelve spathia of wine The division of responsibilities appears even more complex in
89 Ibid., 193-5. 9' PSI I 83, V 472 with XIII 1338 (estate of Aurelia Diogenis alias Tourbiaina);
90
P. Oxy. VI 985; cf. VII 1055 (order to deliver 303 keramia to a wine-merchant cf. P. Alex. 13 and P. Oxy. VIII 1141 (orders from Julius Diogenes); P. Oslo III 146,
at 1100 dr. for 101 ker.; AD 267); P. Erl. 93. Other references to sales of wine from P. Oxy. XL V 3z53 etc.
estates: P. Theon. 24; XIV 1673; P. Oxy. XLIX 3521. Cf. the detailed analysis of 93 Rathbone, op. cit. esp. u3, and 16gf. for payment in kind to outside crafts-
the marketing of wine on the Appianus estate, Rathbone, Economic Rationalism, men.
278-306, and of prices, 466-71. 94 P. Giss. 101, P. Oslo III 146, PSI VIII 890, P. Oxy. VI 985, XIV 1732, XLIX
9
' P. Oxy. XVII 2155 line 10f. Further epistolary references to sale of wine: P. 3515-6.
Oxy. I 117, XLI 2985, XLIX 3507. 95 P Oxy. XLI 2970 (1st c. AD); cf. XIV 1735, P. Er/. 101, P. Wash. univ. I 18.

232 233
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
one vineyard lease proper (P. Oxy. IV 729), which relates to a new, supplied by Sarapion were handed over for the use of the hydro-
though apparently partly productive, vineyard. Many provisions parochoi, and that 'the old ktema' adjoining the new vineyard
of this contract (particularly from line 9 onwards) are less con- which was the subject of the surviving contract, was leased to a
cerned with the tasks to be performed than with the allocation of different tenant (line 8).
financial responsibility: the lessor was to supply rent-free fifteen This contract seems to presuppose the following situation. A
asses; pigeon-dung for manure was to be provided jointly; 96 the landowner possessed an old and a new vineyard, which he leased
lessor could employ at his own expense a guard for the fruit; he to two different tenants. He also hired irrigators, arranging that
would supply raw materials for the construction of a new one or both tenants should be responsible for paying them, as
mechane, the lessees paying for the labour. Additionally, the well as for constructing a new irrigation machine. The owner
lessor gave an interest-free loan of money, offered a further supplied no capital apart from the land, and the irrigators pro-
loan if necessary, and supplied cattle. Other clauses, which vided only their labour; the capital expenses for both irrigation
appear to refer to work, may also imply outlay on materials or and cultivation of the new vineyard were provided by the tenant,
extra labour. Sarapion. He, however, made a further lease, our surviving text,
Thus, whether or not Sarapion, the lessor, had any role in the with Ammonias and Ptollas, who received a loan from him to
cultivation beyond general supervision, he certainly seems to cover most of their expenses, and who presumably carried out
have supplied most of the capital necessary. In return for this, most of the cultivation themselves, under Sarapion's supervision.
he received half the crop and a further fifty keramia of wine. But Further labour may have been involved, including a 'fruit-
Sarapion himself did not own the vineyard. Two-thirds of the guard', harvesters, and presumably additional men to look after
interest-free loan of 3,000 drachmas was to be paid to some the fifteen asses.
irrigators, hydroparochoi, 'in accordance with the lease which This was no doubt unusually complicated, partly because it
Sarapion has' (line 14); this probably does not mean, as the involved new capital investment. It would be more normal for the
editor surmised, that the hydroparochoi owned the land, since owner of the land to supply any necessary capital and to exercise a
irrigators are normally found working for other people, but that degree of supervision, such as can be seen in P. Ross. Georg. II 19,
the terms of Sarapion's lease with the landowner included a for instance. P. Oxy. IV 707 is perhaps a similar case, where the
clause requiring payment of part of the rent to the irrigators in landlord provided part of the capital; her main demand of the
return for their provision of water. The high cost of the water tenant was the organization of planting new vines and building a
supply here contrasts neatly with the provisions of another new wheel.
vineyard lease, which gave the tenant the right to use a But there must often have been a need to supplement the
mechane, apparently not only to irrigate the lessor's vineyard, tenant's contribution by hiring extra labour for specific tasks on
but to water other land as well, and even to sell the water (P. an occasional basis, such as donkey-drivers, brick-makers, car-
Ross. Georg. II 19 lines r8ff.). As in the leases of work, provision penters, and guards. Estates might also choose to employ
of water was clearly a vital factor to any vineyard lease. P. Oxy. IV unskilled labourers, ergatai, on various tasks, including digging,
729 required the irrigation to be performed every five days (line managing asses, moving jars, and binding vine-twigs into bun-
24). Further points to note about that contract are that the cattle dles.97 Ergatai were normally paid by the day, and employed on a
temporary basis as they were needed; they would have only a
9<5For comparison, the cost of manuring a vineyard using probably three hired verbal agreement with their employers, and so appear in the
asses was 11 dr. 3 ob. per day in P. Harr. I 95. The cost specified in a contract to documentation only when estate accounts list their wages.
com.'ey fertilizer to a Theadelphian vineyard in AD 131 was 8 obols per donkey per
~ tnps_ for dun~, and 8 obols per donkey per 8 trips for silt (ammos): Delia, So the character of tenancy in vineyards was in important
Carrying Dung, BASP 23 (1986), 614 (=SB XVIII 133n; cf. D. Hagedorn,
ZPE 86 (1991), 143f.). 97 P. Oxy. VI 985, P. Harr. I 95, P. Oxy. XIV 1732, P. Erl. 93.
2 34 2 35
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
respects quite different from arable tenancy. Vineyard tenants, (i) First Century AD (ii) Second Century AD
veg. seed
and especially the lessees of work in vineyards, vinedressers who 2%
basically supplied only one skilled part of the process of wine wheat
wheat
production, could find themselves working alongside both per- maphanos 38% 35%
6%,
manent and temporary paid employees, in a complex nehvork of
managerial and labour relationships.
33%

5. CROPS AND RENTS ON ARABLE LAND

(iii)Third Century AD (iv) Aggregate 1-111
c. AD
When complete, virtually all Oxyrhynchite lease contracts flax3%
others 6%
included a clause about the crops to be sown, either naming
wheat
specific crops, or permitting the tenant to choose the crop. 98 In any 32%
the latter case, the cultivation of isatis and echomenion was almost 25%

always excluded. 99 Since the variety of crops mentioned in the barley

leases is relatively wide, and since the economic value and 5%
fodder
importance of some crops was clearly much greater than that of 29%
fodder
32%
others, the discussion of rents is closely connected with that of
(v) Fourth Century Oxyrhynchite Nome (vi) Fourth Century Homopolite Nome
the crops. Indeed, it is clear that the nature of the crop was a flax
major factor in determining both the size of the rent, and whether fodder 6%

it was set in kind or in coin. Consequently, changes in the level

and type of rents must be seen partly as the result of changes in
the crops specified.

(a) The Balance between Crops

Wheat, which was both a major item of food consumption and a
~-~{ wheat
any
29%

24%
veg.seed 6% 6%
medium of tax payment on arable land, was the single crop most ar1ey6%
commonly specified for cultivation in the leases (see Fig. 3). (vii) Fifth-sixth Century fodder
Barley, the only other cereal ever mentioned, was sometimes Oxyrhynchite Nome 6%

grown in small quantities in addition to wheat, but generally

played a small role in comparison. ' 00 Other crops, such as vege- •
any
table seed and lentils, were mentioned only occasionally, while the 76%

98 The method used to illustrate the changing proportion of different crops

See Herrmann, Studien, 98ff. and Hennig, Unters. zur Bodenpacht, 3ff., specified in the leases is as follows: each lease has been broken d_own,where
4zff., on crops and rents in the Egyptian leases generally. necessary, into its annual parts. Each circle represents the proport1_onof these
99
Woad and ?safflower; D. Hagedorn, 'Zurn Anbauverbot von lua..,,, oxo- 'lease/years' devoted to each crop. The evidence for parts v1and v111staken
µiv,ov, und Kv-riKos',ZPE 17 (1975), 85710, attributes this exclusion to their being from Hennig, Unters. zurBodenpacht, 305-10.
dye crops, subject to monopoly, rather than to their tendency to exhaust the soil.
Two leases also exclude cereal crops: P. Oxy. X 1279, XXXIII z676.
00
' See PSI IX rnz9, P. Berl. Leihg. I zo, P. Oxy. XIV 1687, P. Fouad 43, P. Harr.
II 224, PSI IX 107:i, P. Kiiln III 149, P. Oxy. XLVII 3354, P. Coll. Youtie II 70, SB
Fig, 3. The Proportions of Different Crops specified m Oxy-
XIV n604. rhynchite Land Leases
237
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy

cultivation of flax, and perhaps other crops, seems to have been economy of the nome. This is unlikely to be the case. The fourth-
undertaken primarily by 'specialist' growers. Io, century Oxyrhynchite evidence is distorted by the survival of the
Nevertheless, relatively few leases provide for wheat cultiva- 'archive of Leonides', which consists largely of flax leases; the
tion alone; and in the best-documented part of the period, fodder balance of crops attested in the fourth-century Hermopolite
crops are almost as prominent as wheat. Many leases patently leases gave wheat the prominent place one would expect (Fig.
attest the practice of 'improved two-field' crop rotation, with
3 vi). Moreover, the displacement of wheat is largely the product
cereals alternating directly with a leguminous or grass crop. of the increase over the period (continuing even into the fifth and
Although some one-year leases provide for the cultivation of sixth centuries; see Fig. 3 vii) in the proportion of leases which
wheat alone, or fodder crops alone, it was much more common allowed the tenant the choice of crop. Even tenants given this
to provide in a single lease for the cultivation of both cereals and choice must often surely have chosen to grow wheat; one lease
fodder, whether by alternating one crop with the other on the which gave the tenant a free choice shows an implicit awareness
whole plot annually, or by splitting a plot so that half was sown of the tenant's likely preference for cereals: 'to sow them with
with cereals and half with fodder each year. 102 Hennig has noted wheat, barley, or whatever I choose' (P. Coll. Youtie II 70, 14f.).
how little positive evidence survives for the 'improved three- Another characteristic of the third-century leases is a tendency
field' system, with cereals grown in two years out of three;
to somewhat greater diversity in the crops prescribed for cultiva-
from Oxyrhynchus, only one case seems to fit this pattern. 103
tion (see Fig. 3). Whereas in the second century, the 'typical' lease
Why were tenants required to grow such a high proportion of
specified a direct alternation between wheat and fodder, the
fodder? In the Nile valley, where the ground was annually
specification of crops in third century leases could be quite
fertilized by silt, one may wonder whether a two-field system
had any significant advantage over a three-field system from the elaborate, as more crops were included within a pattern of
point of view of the replacement of minerals in the soil. The large 'improved two-field' crop rotation. In one case, 104 we can see a
number of animals and scarcity of permanent pasture in this change from two crops one year to four the next accommodated
region presumably created a need to grow fodder on good arable to the basic alternation of cereals and 'fallow' crops:
land; but, even though the market in fodder was clearly volatile
and subject to shortages, the landlord's return on fodder crops
was always meagre in comparison with that on cereals.
A further notable feature of the balance of crops (Fig. 3) is Past Year Present Year
the marked decline over the period in the frequency with which
chlora
wheat was mentioned. If this reflected a genuine change of
practice, it would have profoundly affected the agricultural
wheat { vegetable seed (4 ar.)

chlora { wheat
barley (2½ ar.)

Ioi Flax is always found on its own; the rhaphanos specified in P. Prine. III r47,
according to Schnebel a rare oil crop (Die Landwirtschaft 203), might be a similar
case of specialization.
10
• For references, see Appendix 2; cf. Schnebel, Die Landwirtschaft, 218 ff.,
Hennig, Unten. zur Bodenpacht, 5off. Some leases seem to specify fodder cultiva-
tion alone because of a poor inundation, rather than as part of a system of crop
rotation; notably P. Oxy. IV Bro, XII 1502 verso.
103 ' 04 PSI IX 1072, a one-year lease of land previously cultivated by the same
P. Oxy. XVIII 2188, not considered by Hennig Unters zur Bodlenpacht, but
likely in view of the different rents in year I and years 2-3. tenant.

239
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
Another lease seems to have rotated wheat, chlora and vegetable on a barley crop. Rents in kind on other crops were normally
seed within the same pattern of crop rotation:' 0 5 paid either in the crop grown or in wheat, but fodder crops were
very rarely used as a medium of rent payment. ' 07 Most fodder
crops were subject to a cash rent; however, a rent in wheat was
Years I and 3 Years z and 4
regularly charged on arakos, and occasionally on chlora. Flax was
subject to a rent in cash, or in tow, or to a sharecropping
Parcel of s½ar.: wheat { 4½ar.ar.vegetable
I
chlora
seed agreement. Occasionally, sharecropping was applied to other
z½ ar. chlora arable crops.
Parcel of 3½ar.:
I ar. vegetable seed } wheat Some leases, however, made no direct connection between
particular crops and particular elements in the rent. Apart from
those which allowed the tenant to choose his own crops, several
This greater diversity, which may in itself represent a response to leases (particularly from the second century) of land divided
a decline in rent levels from the second to the third century (see§ equally between two crops, usually wheat and chlora, set the
5 (e) ), may help to explain the increased prevalence of leases rent not in terms of so many artabas per aroura on each crop,
which allowed tenants to choose their crops; there was now but as an all-in rent in wheat (apotakton), or required a combina-
greater scope for decisions about the precise areas to be devoted tion of wheat and cash rent without explicitly connecting the rent
to the various crops. But further understanding of the rationale of in kind with the wheat crop and the cash rent with the fodder
the apparent peculiarities, and changes, in the balance between crop. 108 Is it possible that even in these cases, the same conven-
crops can be achieved only by examining in more detail the tions connecting crops and rent media were implicitly applied?
relationship between the crops specified in the leases and the There are at least no obvious deviations from the general
rents set on them. pattern. When the crops specified included wheat, at least part
of the rent was payable in wheat, while the rent on the fodder
(b) The relationship between different crops and the medium of rent crops conformed to the alternatives of either wheat or cash. In the
payment
case of the combined wheat and cash rents, indeed, the different
In the leases from Oxyrhynchus, a high degree of regularity is to elements in the rent can be seen to correspond to normal levels
be found in the media of rent payment prescribed on specific for rents on the crops grown; for instance, in P Lips. 118, the 30
arable crops: a few general principles will account for all the artabas of wheat could be seen as the rental on the four arouras to
available evidence. 106 Cereal crops had rents set in cereals: be sown with wheat, while the 120 drachmas would be a reason-
always wheat on land growing wheat, but either barley or wheat able rent on four arouras of chlora. 109
05 It is more difficult to separate out the different elements from
' P. Harr. I 8?; based on the following improved reading of lines 8-15 by J. R.
Rea; I am much indebted to him for permission to print it. the all-in wheat rents. Opportunely, one four-year lease of
cpunTOIS"{ (ETet) KCUe (ho) C17T£i-) twenty-four arouras divided equally between wheat and arako-
pa, KO.tfu>.a.µ:,}ua., /J-&o.povpa.,1T&r£ '71-"0fu, x>.wpot; a-
[1r]up4"> chortos, which set an all-in rent of 134 artabas of wheat in the first
10 po6pa., 660 ,jµ.un,, >.axa.voU?T£P/UfJ
apoupa.vµ.fu.v,[.-ors-Ii£ 'I (tT£t)
Ka.1I (tni) 1rtJp4">
o.povpa; Tp£i; '71-"UIJ,x>.wpoi; apovpa[; 'T(UUttpa;'7- year and 139 artabas in the other three years, can be directly
J,UUV,Aaxav[o]U1T£pµ.cp
O.poupavµ,la..v,EKcpoplovci[1ro-r&K1ov,ea-
.,.•hos- Ka.-r'a[p]oupav 'TWV/1-6' b, 1rtJP4">
ltva 1rup[oilltp-r6.Pa, '
07
Apart from the sharecropping leases, only in P. Laur. IV 165, and a rent
{Jl('f"W, TWV6£ ;i, x>.wpois-ltv/,.=pou o.p.-b.pa.,[3-5, -nj; lit €V receipt, P. Oxy. XIV 1719.
15 >.axa.vo/>.[a]xaVOU1r£pfWU O.p,-a.{Jwv
Tpi<-VV
. 08
' P. Oxy. II 280 (yr. 4), XXXVIII 2874, Le Monde pee, 6o1-8, P. Lips. u8, P.
. •~ See Ap~endix 2 for evidence. The pattern in other nomes is generally Oxy. XIV 1686, SB XIV n281, P. Oxy. III 501, L 3591, 3592, perhaps P. Heid. inv.
s1mtlar: Hennig, Unters. zur Bodenpacht, 29ff., 48, 11.7 n. 76. Note esp. P. Mich. G 921 (=ZPE 75 (1988), 167-JO).
II 11.1recto i/5, a cash rent on a wheat crop. '
09
P. Oxy. L 3591 and 3592 provide two further clear examples.
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy

compared with another lease of exactly the same area of land art.far., are not uncommonly found in leases from Tebtunis. 113
situated in the same kleros four years later, which also provided This is one case where it might plausibly be supposed that the
for a very similar pattern of crop rotation. 110 The latter assessed measure, 'the half-artaba measure of Diogenes son of Alexander
the twelve arouras under wheat at 8½ art.jar. of wheat, while from Pela', has seriously affected the level of rent.
twelve arouras of arakos were to pay either 2 art.jar. of wheat or
24 dr.jar. Thus the maximum amount of wheat to be paid accord- (c) The Factors which Governed the Medium of Rent Payment when
ing to the terms of this lease was 126 artabas, only a little less than the Tenant Was Allowed to Choose the Crop
in the earlier contract. This difference could well be explained by In the cases where the tenant was allowed choice of crop, we of
the greater value of arakochortos as opposed to arakos, or by a course possess no direct record of what was actually sown on the
slight change in other economic circumstances (the tenants in the land. This kind of lease was apparently relatively rare early in the
later contract were already in arrears). period (although even this rarity may be a consequence of the
But we must admit that many of the factors influencing the scantier and so less representative survival of leases in general
size of rents in individual cases are irrecoverable, involving the from the first centuries BC and AD), but becomes increasingly
precise condition of the land, the financial state of both parties, common from the mid-second century onwards. However, rea-
and not least, the size of the measure used for payment. rrz sons were given above for supposing that wheat remained the
Although the areas of crops grown must have been a prime most prevalent crop even when tenants were allowed choice--it
consideration, one advantage of the all-in rent was precisely was after all both a staple element in the diet and a major medium
that it need not be directly related to specific rates per aroura, of tax payment-and in fact it is unlikely that most tenants
and could therefore accommodate small variations, as in the departed from the general emphasis on the alternation of cereals
example just cited. and fodder crops. This still left scope for choice in regard to
A six-year lease of AD 127 records an exceptionally high all-in details such as whether to grow some barley along with the
wheat rent for land divided equally between wheat and chlora: the wheat, or whether to plant lachanospermon (which counted as a
overall average rate per aroura of 8.4 artabas would be relatively 'fallow' crop) as well as chlora.114
high even for land wholly under wheat. n 2 If the rate on the Some leases made clear that the tenant must sow according to a
fodder is estimated at 3.4 art.jar. (itself exceptionally high), this system of crop rotation; choice was allowed only in some years of
leaves 13.4 art.jar. on the wheat, a rate unparalleled in the the lease, and the use of 'xylamesai' for 'to sow' implicitly
Oxyrhynchite nome, although rents on wheat land of 11-15 indicated that the choice was in fact restricted to fodder
crops. us If the tenant had the choice of crop until the last year
of the lease, this did not mean that he was expected to abandon
3
110
P. Oxy. XXXVIII 2874, XXII 2351; see Appendix 2 for details of both. For a " See Drexhage, Preise, Mieten/Pachten, Kosten und Liihne, 16o--z; add P. Mil.
possible connection between the two cases see R. S. Bagna11 BASP 5 (1968) r42ff Vogl. III 130, with rents of II art./ar. and 13 art.far. including seed; Drexhage's
1
III )
Several standard artabas were certainly in simultaneous use in Roman
' "
figure of 5.725 for this lease seems to be an average. Many of these high rents come
Egypt; the choinix was probably also a variable measure; see D. W. Rathbone, from the 'Archive of Laches': see W. S. Bagnall, 'The Archive of Laches: Prosper-
'The Weight and Measurement of Egyptian Grains', ZPE 53 (1983), 265""75, with ous Farmers of the Fayum in the Second Century' (Diss. Duke Univ.,
references to the earlier debate between R. P. Duncan-Jones and J. C. Shelton. 1974), 118ff.; some, but not all, exacted no rent on the accompanying fodder
The_ metron tetrachoinikon, specified in most Oxyrhynchite leases which preserve crop (e.g. P. Mil. Vogl. II 65, III 130).
114
details of the measure to be used, presumably approximated to a uniform capacity; Cf. P. Oxy. XIV 1686, which permitted the tenants to grow lachanospermon
but the fact that leases commonly stated precisely whose measure was to be used instead of chortos if they wished in the years alternating with wheat.
115
(often the receiving measure of the landlord), is testimony in itself to the variation BGU IV 1017, P. Merton I 17 line u; cf. the exclusion of 'tax crops'
in size of individual containers. The Oxyrhynchite evidence is collected in (presumably cereals) in P. Oxy. XXXIII 2676, and the choice in alternate years
Appendix 2; cf. Herrmann, Studien, 103-5, Hennig, Unters. zur Bodenpacht, 13- only in SB XIV 11281 (where '1TVpcp'should perhaps be supplied in the lacuna at
21. '" Le Momie grec, 6or-8. the end of line 7).

2 43
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
crop rotation until that year, but that he could choose his crops itself is clearly a sublease; if the lessor was obliged to pay his rent
within the basic alternation of cereals with other crops. 116 The in cash to the estate, it would clearly be to his advantage to collect
composition of rent in SB XII ro780, at 8 artabas of wheat and 32 it in this form from his sub-tenant. The arrangement closely
drachmas on two arouras, is strongly reminiscent of the leases recalls the situation which seems to have prevailed somewhat
which prescribed a combined rent in wheat and cash on land later on Claudia Isidora's estate in the Small Oasis. Here, large-
equally divided between wheat and fodder crops. 117 scale lessees, also paying a cash rent on land which apparently was
Can there have been an implicit connection between the rent to be used for wheat cultivation, either undertook the manage-
122
medium and the crops grown even in those leases which explicitly ment themselves or sub-leased to others.
allowed the tenant to choose which crops to grow? The forms of
(d) Continuity in the Association of Crops and Media of Rent
rent payment vary in much the same way as those in the other
Payment
leases; rents in wheat or in cash predominate, but other crops-
vegetable seed, lentils, and barley-are also found. ns If landlords The close association of certain media of rent payment with
genuinely wished to give their tenants a free choice of crop, we specific crops raises two important points. The first point con-
should expect the rents to be set in the 'neutral' medium of cerns the marketing of agricultural produce. If, as has been
wheat. Several instances do fit this expectation, including some argued, the association of certain media of rent payment with
where institutional landlords might well have had little interest in the cultivation of certain crops was carried over to the leases
the detailed management of the land. u 9 which gave the tenant choice of crop, the instances in which the
tenant was obliged to sell his crop in order to pay the rent will
Cash rents in leases which allowed the tenant to choose the
have been largely confined to those where the crops grown were
crop are regularly as low as those on fodder crops, and indeed
conventionally subject to cash rents; chortos and chlora, vine
may be quite exceptionally low; here it seems unlikely that there
produce and sometimes flax. It is precisely these crops which
was any prospect of the tenant successfully cultivating a more
have left most evidence of sale and purchase. 123
valuable crop. uo But we also find an unusually high cash rent, 420
With wheat, which was frequently the medium of rent payment
drachmas for three arouras from the ousia of Isis of Taposiris,
on the cultivation of other crops, the situation was rather differ-
where the cultivation of wheat or other valuable crops was surely
ent. Although there clearly existed a market in wheat, there is in
a realistic option. 121 What is exceptional here is not the level of
fact strikingly little evidence of private sale transactions in this
rent as such, but the fact that it was set in cash rather than in
crop, considering its overall importance in the economy. 124 The
wheat. The reason for this may well be concerned with the nature
wealthy might speculate in corn by buying in time of glut and
of the estate from which the land came, although the contract
selling when prices had risen, while farmers of moderate prosper-
"
6
P. Oxy. I 101, II 280; in these cases it is difficult to assess which system of ity could sell their surplus, probably to local families who did not
crop rotation was envisaged; Schnebel (Die Landwirtschaft, 237£.) considers the
improved three-field system possible for P. Oxy. II 280, but the improved two-field
system is perhaps more probable, given its predominance in the Oxyrhynchite
122
evidence. P. Oxy. XIV 1630; the fact that sowing was explicitly mentioned here makes
" 7 P. Lips. 118, P. Oxy. III 501, P. Oxy. L 3591, 3592. the editors' restoration [a<T<KWV ~Sa,p,;,]vmore probable than Maclennan's ['l'ow,Kwv
8 (sic) l.Sa,pw]v(BL III).
" P. Oxy. XXXIII 2676, P. Oxy. Hels. 41, P. Oxy. XIV 1689, SB IV 7443.
"
9
P. Oxy. I 101 (yea,s 1-5), PSI IX 1070, XIII 1330, P. Coll. Youtie II 70, PSI "
12
3
*
On marketing of fodder, see Ch. I 2; of wine, § 4 above.
III 187. • For lists of wheat prices, see R. P. Duncan-Jones, 'The price of wheat in
0
" See Fig. 5; the lowest rents are in P. Oxy. X 1279 (4 dr. for the pastures), and Roman Egypt under the Principate', Chiron, 6 (1976), 241-62, at 252f. (,epr. in
P. Merton I 17 (12 dr./ar.). St"'cture and Scale in the Roman Economy (Cambridge, 1990), eh. 9), and D. W.
'"' PSI IX 1036; if the ,ent of 140 dr./ar. is converted into wheat at the .ate of 12 Rathbone, 'Monetisation, not Price-Inflation, in Third-Century AD Egypt', in
dr./art. (cf. P. Oxy. XXII 2351) the ,esult, although still high (11.7 art.far.) is not D. G. Wigg (ed.), Proceedings of the 13th Oxford Symposium on Coinage and Coin-
beyond belief as a rent on good-quality land under a wheat crop. age History (Studien zu Fundmiinzen der Antike, Mainz, 1996, forthcoming), n. 24.

2 44 2 45
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
125
farm themselves. Most farmers will surely have aimed to grow surv1vmg from this period. 128 In support of Mickwitz's view
enough wheat to cover any rent or tax in addition to their family's might now be cited the body of flax leases from the Oxyrhynch-
subsistence requirements, and, in event of crop failure, a farmer ite nome, which show a marked change from cash rents to rents in
who possessed no reserves of wheat would be unlikely to have the kind, but even here, the sample is small, and other factors
means to purchase any for cash. In contrast, loans of wheat are probably account for the apparent change. 129 It is doubtful that
common in the papyri. 126 the leases could ever provide sufficient evidence to support the
Second, the extent of this continuity in the association of crops hypothesis that the fourth-century inflation encouraged transac-
and rent media means that the leases in fact provide little basis for tions in kind.
assessing whether the period of rapid currency depreciation
produced a change from money rents to rents in kind; it would (e) Rent Levels
have to be shown, not that the overall proportion of rents in kind
The significance of the level of rents, particularly those in kind,
increased (which might be caused by a change in the balance of
depends crucially on the total yield, which must have varied
crops grown), but that rents on crops which had formerly been
considerably according to the basic agricultural quality of the
subject to cash rents began to be collected in kind. This essen-
land and the intensity of its cultivation. Estimates of 'typical'
tially restricts the usable evidence to leases which prescribed the
or 'average' yields for wheat crops in Roman Egypt have ranged
cultivation of fodder crops or flax (the latter beginning only in
from under ten- to over twentyfold, equivalent to as many
the late third century), and to vineyard leases; and even on these
artabas per aroura, since it was standard to sow at the rate of
crops, rents in the earlier period had not been set exclusively in
one artaba per aroura. 130 The most secure and useful data on
cash.
wheat yields come from the Appianus estate at Theadelphia,
So far as it goes, the Oxyrhynchite evidence to date gives no
where recorded yields vary from seven to over sixteen artabas
reason to suppose that a transition to rents in kind occurred in
per aroura, with an average of 11.5; except for the highest figure,
response to the inflation of the late third century, although the
there is no reason to suppose that these represent the results of
level of cash rents does patently reflect this period of inflation. 12 1
particularly intensive agricultural practice.' 31 Nor is the land at
The fourth-century papyri are more equivocal; Mickwitz's con-
Theadelphia, a village near the desert edge of the Fayum, likely
~lusion that cash rents were shunned (or collected in advance) is
to have been among the most productive in Egypt. Thus, for the
m fact based on the handful of documents in which a crop is
fertile inundated land of much of the Oxyrhynchite nome, under
recorded, and not on the much larger total number of leases
the relatively intensive agricultural regime implied by the leases,
we might expect normal yields of ten artabas per aroura and
more.
S!3
'" 5 XVI 12607 (provenance unknown): a speculative purchase of two talents' ,.a G. Mickwitz, Geld und Wirtschaft im romischen Reich des uierten:Jahrhunderts
worth, 1.e. 1000 art. Calpumia Heraklia's wheat stocks were probably, however, the n. (!hr. (Helsinki, 1932), 12off.; he is more cautious than some scholars imply in
produce of her own, e~tates (P. _Oxy. XLII 3048). Sales from a Hermopolite estate their references to his conclusions; M. K. Hopkins, 'Taxes and Trade in the
form Duncan-Jones hst (op. cit. previous note) nos. 14-20; sales by the family of Roman Empire (200 Bc-400 AD)', :JRS 70 (1980), 101-25, at 123; Hennig, Unters.
Sarapion o_fHermopolis nos. 22-4; and purchases by the operators of the gmpheion
11urBodenpacht, 107 n. 28.
of Tebtums nos. 4-13. ' 19 See Appendix 2 for refs. It could be argued that the dominance of rents in
u6R~ e,erences m'M ontevecch1,. La papirologia, 229. Sales of wheat in advance
kind in the 4th-c. flax leases reflect a purely personal preference by Leonides and
are perhaps closer to loans than to sales proper: R. S. Bagnall, 'Price in Sales on his partner Dioskoros for sharecropping contracts.
Delivery', GRBS 18 (1977), 85-<J6. .r30 Th. e extreme~ are represented by Bagnall and Worp, who suggest that 'only a
7
.. '" See Fig. 5; cf. H.-J. Drexhage, 'Zurn Preisentwicklung im ri:imischen nunonty of Egypt s land can have yielded' over 8 art./ar. ('Grain land in the
Agypten von ea. 26o n.Chr. bis zum Regierungsantritt Diokletians' MBAH 6 Oxyrhynchite ~ome', ZPE 37 (1980), 263), and Johnson, Economic Survey,
(1987), _30-45;R~thbone (forthcoming) who argues that prices did not begin to rise r48f., whose estimate of 20-25 art./ar. is partly based on rent levels.
appreciably until the 270s, and then rose in two leaps, c.:z74"5and 296.
' 3 ' Rathbone, Economic Rationalism, 243 f.

2 47
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
This expectation fits well with the range of rents recorded for 12
the Oxyrhynchite nome. If the sharecropping leases are any
■ ■
guide, the rent is unlikely to represent less than one-third or 10 ■

i!!
more than two-thirds of the total crop. 132 Figure 6 shows the ~
■
■ ■
Crop
8 ■ ■ Wheat
ranges of yields which this would imply from the leases which 8. •
preserve wheat rents on wheat crops; only the very highest and
I 6 ■
.• ■ ■

■
■
■
■◊ ■
• ;
o Barley
• Arakos
lowest cases exceed the extreme estimates of average yield, and 0 □
◊
o Any crop
◊

then only in part of their range, except for P. Kiiln III 149. Had
the description of the land in this papyrus been preserved, this
may have offered some explanation of the extremely low rents;
I 4

2
•
♦
♦
♦
0

♦♦
••

■
◊

■
the lessors, two minors acting through their mother, may also ♦

have been prepared to accept a smaller proportion of the produce 0

250 300
100 50 1 50 100 150 200
of the land than most landlords. A similarly low rent is also found BC AD Date BC/AD
in one rent receipt of rather earlier date (P. Oxy. III 575, AD IIO).
It will be clear from Figure 4 that the average level of rents in Fig. 4. Rents in ·wheat
wheat was subject to chronological variation; starting from quite
low levels in the first centuries BC and AD, rents reached their peak
in the second century, thereafter declining somewhat on average, depreciation, would help to obscure fluctuations in the value of
although individual cases of high rentals can be found in the third the rents received (see Figure 5).
century and even later; the decline is certainly much less marked We are not of course in a position to distinguish, in the
than in the corresponding evidence from the Arsinoite nome. 133 fluctuation of rent levels, between a change in total yield and
In contrast, wheat rents in leases which left the tenant to choose change in the proportion of the crop taken by the landlord.
the crop both become more numerous and rise in level in the Effective irrigation, refreshment of the ground through crop
third century, to well within the lower part of the range of rents rotation, and manuring by grazing animals, may have helped to
push yields up in the later first and early second-century; the
on wheat crops alone. The diversification of crops in the third
average of second century wheat rents on wheat crops, 7.7 artabas
century may indeed be the result of attempts to keep the overall
per aroura, surely implies an average yield of around twelve
level of rents as high as possible in the face of a fall in the rents on
artabas. But on top of a modest increase in yield, it is plausible
wheat crops. to infer that the proportion of the crop taken by the landlord also
It is important to note that cash rents do not seem to have rose in the second century, from around one half to nearer two-
fluctuated in the same way, although in this case the gradual rise thirds. This would allow the tenant's absolute return to remain
in levels until the mid-third century, followed by a more rapid roughly constant at around five artabas per aroura (probably at
rise, both of which can be attributed to the effects of currency least as good a return as farmers of public land could expect). In
other words, the benefits of increased productivity seem to have
• 3 • P. Oxy. II 277 (half shares); SB XII 10942 {the canal: half shares); P. Ha". I
137 (half shares); SB XIV 116o4 (size of share lost); P. Oxy. I 103 (half shares); P.
gone almost exclusively to the landlords, rather than being shared
Oxy. XLV 3256 (half shares); P. Oxy. XLV 326o (f to tenant, i to landlord); PSI more equally between them and their tenants.
IV 316 (i to tenant, i to landlord); cf. P. Oxy. III 51z, a crop sale: if the heirs of If we look more closely at the leases in which the highest rents
Aurelius Antiochos were the landlords, they received almost two-thirds of the
value of the crop).
in wheat are found, an interesting feature emerges. All except one
' 33 Drexhage, Preise, Mieten/Pachten, Kosten und Lcihne, 16z f. also provided for the cultivation of another crop which carried a
2 49
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
(a)ToAD270 30
ro
140 - :5
0
al
120
... 20
(I)
0.

Crop
'lu
100 (I)
.r::.
e!
::, ■ Arakos/ == 10
~ 80 chortarax 0
ii;
c.
o Chlora
~
~
• Chortos
gj 60 o Any crop
E
~
<{
C!:O
u
c340 • •
0

• •
AD50 100 150 200 250
Assuming that rent levels represent between one third and two-thirds of total yield, lhe yields implied

·_□-+----5+-------;-----l
0
by the Oxyrhynchile land leases fall within the range represented by the vertical lines above. The
shaded areas mark the range of average yields suggested by scholars.
2:-+-1
_________ ·__
50 100 150 200 250 300 Fig. 6. Estimate of Yields of Wheat deduced from the Rents
Date (AD)
charged
(b) AO 271-320

25000
are compared with the other leases which provide for crop
rotation, it will be seen that, after the first century AD (when
rents in general were relatively low, and no cash rents are
20000
recorded), the leases which charged the lowest rents were pre-
rn
=i cisely those in which the tenant was obliged to pay a cash rental
ern 15000 on his fodder crop. 135 The high all-in rents in P. Oxy. XXXVIII
Crop
~ 2874 and Le Monde grec, 601-8, conform to the same pattern.
,,, • Chortos j
rn
I Unless this correlation is coincidental, it seems to corroborate
~ 10000 ,~ Any crop
Morris' suggestion that the general increase in the level of rents
~ • Flax
Q in kind in the Oxyrhynchite nome from the first to the second
5000 century AD was accompanied by an increased preference for
payments in money. 136 In effect, tenants were either penalised
•
0 +-----"'+--+--+--+--;-.::;__ __ -+---+---l-- for paying their rents wholly in kind, or were given a discount for
270 275 280 285 290 295 300 305 310 315 320
payment in money on the fodder crops.
Date (AD) The leases of more than one year's duration show little attempt
on the part of landlords to ensure a constant income each year;
Fig. 5. Rents in Money
the total rent in predominantly 'fallow' years could be less than
lower rent, in a system of crop rotation persisting over more than half or even a third of that in the years when wheat was the main
one year. 134 Thus the rent averaged out over the whole area leased crop. 137 A more constant return could easily have been achieved
and the entire duration of the lease would be somewhat lower. by dividing the area of land more equally between the different
Furthermore, if these leases with particularly high wheat rents 135
Wheat rents of under 8 art.far. with a money rent on the fodder crop: PSI IV
315, P. Lips. 118, P. Oxy. III 501, VI 910, LVII 3911, P. Wise. I 7, PSI l 73. P. Oxy.
'l+ Rents on wheat of at least 8 art.far.: P. Oxy. XVIII 2188; XXII 2351; XXXVI LV ~Soo required 8 art.far. with a money rent on the fodder crop.
2776; L 3589; LV 3800; PSI VII 739; P. Harr. I 80; PSI IX 1072; cf. P. Mich. 13
'A Study in the Social and Economic History of Oxyrhynchus', 121.
Shelton 6n (AD 412). '
37
See esp. P. Oxy. XLIX 3488 introd.
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
crops. ,38 Th' 1s prov1.d es one reason for suspecting that many The expiry of a lease contract did not, of course, necessarily
lessors possessed other sources of income, almost certainly from entail the tenant's immediate departure; the lease might be
land'. so that while the return from a single lease might vary renewed, either in writing or by tacit agreement, the latter a
considerably from year to year, the product of their property as practice explicitly recognized in Roman law. 143 It would be
a whole remained roughly constant. Whether tenants would have possible for an initial lease to serve as a probationary period,
needed other resources to achieve a constant income is less clear· after which unsuitable tenants could be rejected, satisfactory
it i~ possib~e, though perhaps unlikely, that tenants normall; ones invited to remain on the land. But if this were the prac-
retamed a higher proportion of the less valuable crops. tice, its consequences would differ from those of a long-term
written lease; the element of uncertainty might make a tenant
6. THE DURATION OF TENANCIES
less inclined to put the long-term welfare of the land above short-
term benefit, while the amount of rent set from year to year
Most leases from Egypt, both in Greek and demotic, were valid would be less predictable, or more flexible.
for a single agricultural year. 139 Initiated in the months before the This element of flexibility in the rent may indeed be consid-
sowing season, the contract apparently lapsed once the crop was ered adequate motivation for one-year leases under the peculiar
harvested and the rent paid. 140 On arable land, rents in kind were agricultural conditions of Egypt, where productivity depended
normally due in Pauni, cash rents often somewhat later. Leases of critically on the quality of the inundation. Most leases, especially
vineyards and fruit gardens followed a different pattern, appro- at Oxyrhynchus, were drawn up at a time of year when the state
priate to the time the fruit was harvested. of the flood was already known, and some leases explicitly con-
Why were lease-terms so short? Five-year tenancies are often cerned abrochos. 144 But leases with longer terms circumvented the
thought disadvantageous to tenants; one might expect tenures of problem easily enough, by allowing the tenant a rent remission in
one year to be even more disrupting. 141 But the fact that variation event of abrochia in subsequent years. Although the vagaries of
from the norm was possible in the Egyptian leases suggests that the Nile flood may have provided an additional reason for pre-
the contracting parties made a deliberate choice of a particular ferring annual lease contracts, this could scarcely have proved
duration. It is therefore not out of place to ask why one year overriding had not short-term leases also made sense within the
contracts should remain dominant, with the exception only of the general context of tenancy arrangements. The reasons for this
second century AD, until the appearance of leases of indefinite must now be explored.
duration in the late fourth century. 1 4 2 In the evidence for the duration of Oxyrhynchite lease con-
tracts (Table 17), a marked chronological pattern can be
138 A8 . P. O observed. Until the end of the first century AD, annual contracts
i-40 m e.g. · xy. XXII 2351. ' 39 Herrmann, Studien, 89 ff.
. In ~ost cases, the term of the lease began immediately the contract was predominate, as was normal for Egyptian leases. But in the early
val1~ated; m the rare cases where the contract was drawn up before the end of the
previous year, the term began on t~e first day of the new year (Le Monde grec, 6oi-
second century, longer leases become vastly more numerous;
8, P. Oxy. XXXI 2584). An except10n to the usual pattern is P. Oxy. XLVII 3352, four-year leases alone are more common than annual contracts,
dated to Ph~enoth, February-March. The main provisions of the lease are not while this period has also produced the only surviving six-year
extant, but 1~ app_ears_to have referred to the current year. Had more of the
co? t.ract surv1~ed, 1t,m1~ht have explained w~y it was drawn up so late in the year.
contracts from Oxyrhynchus. 145 Longer leases continue to pre-
4
. M. I. Fmley,_ P'.1vate Farm Tenancy m Italy before Diocletian', in M. I. dominate until the mid-third century, when the trend is appar-
Finley (e?.), Studies in Roman Property (Cambridge, 1976), 103-21, at 109; L. ently sharply reversed, and one-year leases become standard
Fox:hall'. The Dependent Tenant', JRS 80 (1990), 101. But see Currie, The
Economic Theory of Agricultural Land Tenure, 95-8, for the view that tenants as 43
we,11as landlords might appreciate the flexibility offered by short terms. ' Finley, 'Private Farm Tenancy', u5.
44
' P. Oxy. IV 810, PSI IX 1078.
<4" H. Comfort, 'Late Byzantine L_and Leases lq,' oaov xp6vov {Jou>.e,', Aegyptus, 45
14 (1934) 808; cf. the lease m perpetuity, P. Oxy. LV 3803 (AD 4 11). ' Le Monde grec, 6or-8, P. Oxy. I 101; cf. P. Oxy. IV 707, a court case about a
tenant's failure to fulfil the terms of a six-year lease (c. AD 136).
252
2 53
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
again. S_o~e caution is necessary in interpreting the figures, since others made separate arrangements with the debtor, and presum-
the addition of a relatively few documents, particularly early in ably let the land to someone financially more dependable. 149
the period: might significantly affect the overall picture, but on Egyptian landowners do not seem to have been faced to the
present evidence the pattern is very clear. same extent as their counterparts in Italy with 'penuria colo-
Should the duration of the lease contracts be taken as a fair norum'.
indication of the actual length of tenancies? Evidence of the tacit A connection can be established between patterns of crop
renewal of contracts is of course difficult to come by when so cultivation and the duration of leases. We have seen from the
much of our evidence is derived from written leases, but even previous section that in the second century the 'typical' lease
casual references to the practice seem to be lacking. Tacit renewal specified crop rotation between a cereal and a fodder crop; most
surely took place to some extent, but any estimation of how of these leases were of four years' duration. In contrast, scarcely
common it was must remain a guess. any of the contemporary one-year leases show evidence of crop
The ground is firmer with written lease renewals. At least nine rotation, although it would have been perfectly feasible for a one-
surviving leases are explicit renewals; the arouras were described year lease to divide the land equally for the simultaneous cultiva-
as 'previously farmed' (TTpoyEwpyouµ,lva,) by the same tenants. i46 tion of two crops, just as many four-year leases did. 150 Many of
These all date, perhaps unsurprisingly, from the well-documen- the one-year leases from the second century in fact specified the
ted second and third centuries. There are also a few second- sole cultivation of fodder. 151
century leases where renewal is implied by the fact that the Can the reversion to annual contracts in the later third century
tenants were stated to be already in arrears. 1 47 The duration of be attributed to changes in the pattern of crops? Most third-
the r~newals follows the same pattern as that of leases generally: century leases of several years' duration may be seen as continu-
multi-year contracts predominate until the later third century. ing the 'typical' kind of second-century lease, although it was
We do not, of course, know how long the previous leases had now more common for the tenant to be given choice of crop (on
lasted; the fact that the arrears in one case were incurred in the the assumption that he would use crop rotation) than for the
immediately previous year does not mean that the initial lease rotation of wheat and fodder to be explicitly prescribed. 152 As
necessarily began only in that year (P. Oxy. III 501 ). The renewals in the previous century, annual leases for fodder cultivation seem
seem t~ c~ntribute further to the sense of greater continuity of mostly to have concerned land unsuited at least temporarily to
tenancies m the second and third centuries. the cultivation of cereals; 153 although one fodder lease supple-
The renewa! of_tenancies after arrears had been incurred may mented another contract between the same parties for wheat
?e thou~ht to mdtcate conditions similar to those which, accord- cultivation on adjacent land (P. Oxy. XVII 2137). In a few
mg to Fmley, prevailed in Roman Italy; tenants pressed to stay on further cases, provision for crop rotation was made in one-year
the land once they had incurred debts by fear of the operation of leases; this marks a departure from the second century, suggest-
148
harsh debt laws. Clearly a debtor tenant was at his landlord's ing that contracts might be shorter than before, even for the
mercy; but the landlord was also faced with the problem of how
to extract as much of the debt as possible if the tenant was 149
Collection of arrears from ex-tenants no longer leasing land from the same
genuinely unable to pay the whole amount. Some landlords landlord: P. Oxy. XXII 2350; XLV 3251 (cf. XLII 3051: debt collected from a son
of the deceased tenant). P Oxy. XXII 2351 line 59ff. seems to envisage other
kept the tenant on the land while repayment was made , but tenants being found for the land if the first tenants were unable to meet the
146 agreed repayments of their arrears.
P. Oxy. I 101, SB XIV 11428, P. Oxy. Hels. 41 P. Oxy. XXXVI 2795 P. Wise I 150
0
e.g. P. Oxy. XIV 1686, XXII 2351, XXXVIII 2874.
151
7, SB_XIV II6o4, ~SI_ IX 1072, P. Oxy. XIV r68&,'SB XIV 1zo25; poss/b!~ also P. P. Oxy. III 499, IV 730, 810, XLI 2974; SB VIII 9918 was also probably
Rob. mv. 20, P. Heid. mv. G921. annual.
'H P. Oxy. XVIII 2188, XXII 2351, III soi. 15
' See Appendix 2 for the evidence.
,48 F. I
m ey, 'P.nvate Farm Tenancy', 115ff. '
53
PSI IX 106g, P Oxy. XII 1502 verso, PSI IX 1071, SB X 10216.
2 54 255
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
cultivation of the staple combination of crops. ' 54
In these cases, at country, but also on the social function of tenancy. This can be
least, the shorter leases must be attributed to factors other than seen by looking at the social status of tenants, which follows a
the crops grown.
pattern of change closely equivalent to that of the leng~h of lease-
The proportion of one-year leases in the later third century is terms. Table 18 shows that in the second century, while an large
increased to some extent by the appearance of leases for flax majority of both village and metropolitan tenants undertook
cultivation, the first of which dates from AD 266. The flax leases leases of more than one year, the villagers in this category
have a large impact on the fourth century evidence, since they formed the largest single group (over 40 per cent of the total).
account for over half the surviving contracts from that period. '55 The same pattern continues into the early third century, but the
The crop, which demanded special processing techniques, seems later part of that century sees a marked shift towards the pre-
to have attracted specialist producers like the occasional partners dominance of metropolitan tenants with one-year leases, main-
Leonides and Dioscoros who rented several different plots for tained into the following century. The longer lease-terms, then,
flax-growing in the first third of the fourth century. These lessees do seem to be associated with tenants of lower status. This table,
demonstrably moved from plot to plot and landlord to landlord of course, can provide only a rough guide, since the correlation
over a number of years, and are not known to have leased any one between the origin of tenants and their economic standing is far
plot for more than one year. The other flax leases were also of from exact; in particular, some metropolitans as well as villagers
only a single year's duration, and were all undertaken by tenants lived by tilling the soil themselves. 157 However, a close examina-
from the metropoli's rather than from villages. The physical tion of full contents of the contracts would find an even more
imperative of crop rotation may have forced commercial flax marked correlation between short leases and tenants of high
growers to undertake short-term leases; they may also have economic standing.
benefited from the flexibility of an arrangement which allowed As we saw in Section 2, leases in the period before the Roman
them to change partners or to move to land which promised a conquest had often served to provide capital and management for
good crop or a low rent.
landlords who were unable to fulfil this role themselves. As such,
But Bax cultivation accounts for only three of the late third- it was more a temporary expedient than a permanent method of
century annual leases; it does not completely explain their land management, and a landlord would be reluctant to forego
increasing prevalence. This period has also produced the only the option of direct cultivation (autourgia) for too long in
examples of leases of land belonging to the city of Oxyrhynchus advance. 158 Moreover, tenants were not greatly inferior in wealth
or to the dekaprotia, all of one year's duration, and made with to their landlords, and may, indeed, have had more ready cash
lessees of metropolitan origin. 156 These and the flax leases have available; their social status, too, fell not far short of that of their
affected the overall pattern of contemporary leases only because landlords. These men will have had other economic interests,
of the virtual disappearance of leases of the 'typical' second whether in land or in other commercial enterprises, and will
century kind. What demands explanation is not only the gener- have looked upon the lease as a way of making a financial profit
ally short terms of the Egyptian lease contracts, but why they rather than as an immediate source of food for their family. Such
both increase somewhat in length in the second and early third men would not wish for long-term commitment; they preferred
centuries, and then revert to the pattern of annual contracts. to be able to take their money and skills to the immediate source
The duration of Egyptian lease-terms may best be understood of greatest gain.
as depending partly on the physical nature of landholding in the Leases in the earliest years of Roman rule can also be seen to fit
'H PSI IX 1072, perhaps P. Ryl. IV 683 SB XIV 116o4 5
•ss S . • . ' 7 e.g. P. Oxy. XVII 2131. .
. ee A~pe~d1x 2; ~hey actually constitute two-thirds of the 4th-c. arable '
58
Even in the 2nd c. it was thought desirable in the unusually long six-year
leases m which information about the crop is preserved.
56 leases explicitly to forbid the landlord to autuurgein during the period covered by
' P. Oxy. XII 1502 verso, PSI III 187, IX 1070, XIII t330.
the lease: P. Oxy. I 101, Le Monde grec, 601-8.

2 57
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy

this pattern; one Macedonian hipparch leased to another, sharing never have become completely dependent economically on a
both costs and produce, while another tenant undertook to break single landlord; for many, private leaseholds supplement~d a
up chersos ready for cultivation in return for the lease of some primary income from public land or a small amount of private
good land. 159 This role for tenancy never completely died out; land. Nor were they normally dependent on the landlord for their
examples can be found throughout the second, third and fourth housing. From his base in the village, the tenant could take his
centuries AD. 100 The most striking case is that of the opportunistic agricultural equipment out to cultivate whatever plots he ha~-
entrepreneur Serenos alias Sarapion in the later third century(§ 7 pened at the time to have in his possession or on lease. This
below). fragmentation tended to act as a break on the development of
But from the first century AD onwards, many tenants were of more permanent tenancies; since his income was derived from
lower economic standing, whose main contribution to agriculture several sources, he did not lose much security by undertaking
seems to have been their labour. These persons tended to be leases for no more than four years at a time. Perhaps of greater
villagers, and to live near their place of work, and one would value than security of tenure was the knowledge that he had not
expect a greater continuity of tenancy to be of more value to such committed himself for years in the future when the labour
people. available from his family, and their food consumption, might
Thus the duration of lease contracts emerges as one of the have altered considerably-or when he himself might well be
most significant indicators of the role which written tenancies dead. The four-year 'norm' for lease contracts even in the second
were fulfilling at a particular time. The annual contracts, both at and early third centuries seems less a reflection of the precarious
the start and towards the end of the period under consideration, position of tenants in Egypt, than of their continuing indepen-
reflect a role which was essentially a temporary expedient rather dence.
than a permanent method of land management, with tenants who What are the implications of the disappearance of this sort of
often seem relatively high-status entrepreneurs, filling particular lease contract in the later third century? The need for agricultural
needs of capital or management, rather than the need for labour. labour did not decline; but was presumably being met in other
By the second century, the scope of written tenancies seems to ways. We can address this question by looking more closely at the
have extended to cover longer-term arrangements with tenants social circumstances of the landlords, and then in more general
whose major contribution was to provide labour. Rent levels on terms at the nature of the relationship between landlord and
wheat crops reached their peak, but landlords sometimes needed tenant.
to supply tenants with advances of cash or seed, or to cope with
their inability to meet the rents, reinforcing the ties of obligation 7. THE LANDLORDS AND THEIR SOCIAL CIRCUMSTANCES
and dependency which must be assumed to have pervaded social
relationships in all ancient rural communities, even if the legal From the foregoing analysis of the lease contracts, some marked
contracts which supply our evidence ignore them. 161 patterns of chronological change have emerged. In order to
But even such tenants probably managed to retain a measure of understand these, we need to look at the personal and social
independence of their landlords. The fragmented character of circumstances of the landlords. In particular, how far do the
landholdings meant that even a villager's holdings were likely leases appear to represent a pervasive and 'normal' method by
to be both physically scattered and held under a variety of which landowners managed their holdings, or how far do they
tenurial conditions. Most tenants with written contracts would seem to reflect specific circumstances in which leasing provided
the only convenient option for the exploitation of the property?
'
59
P. Oxy. II 277, SB XII 10942. This will help to establish how central a place the leases had in
160
e.g. P. Oxy. IV 729, XIV 1630; the activities of the flax-growers Leonides and the overall pattern of agricultural exploitation by the landowners
Dioskoros also fit this pattern.
6
' ' A crucial point made by Foxhall, 'The Dependent Tenant', 97ff. of the nome.
2 59
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
Certainly some specific circumstances can be identified. The intervention. The area of land in three of the four ·cases was
most obvious candidates are the leases of property belonged to relatively large, and the tenants probably well-off.
institutions, the estates of deceased persons, and minors. Further
types of case which also need consideration are leases with female (b)Estates of Deceased Persons
landlords, where the landlord and tenant related to one another, This was necessarily a temporary state, so that there was no need
and with landlords apparently in some economic difficulty. to seek a more permanent solution to the problem of land
Finally, we need to consider the case of absentee landlordism;
management by employing an overseer. The main priority was
although this may, of course, turn out to be a much more
to maintain the land in good condition and to derive some income
prevalent condition than the earlier types of case.
from it until the allocation of the property could be settled. Two
(a) Institutional Landlords examples survive from among the Oxyrhynchite papyri of leases
of the landed property of deceased persons; in both the tenant
When land was owned by a public body or institution rather than
was the early fourth-century flax producer Leonides son of
a private individual, leasing could well have been the only con-
Theon. 166 Further evidence takes the form of rent receipts
venient method of deriving an income from the property. In a
made out by the heirs of Vibius Publius to Serenos alias Sara-
sense, the whole of the public land falls into this category, but as
pion, and a sale of a chlora crop by an ex-gymnasiarch, Apio~,
we have seen (Ch. III), most basilike ge was held under traditional
from the land which he leased from the heirs of Aurelius Ant1-
terms of tenure not articulated in written misthosis contracts.
ochos_ rf>1
Only particularly poor land, or land which for some reason could
not be cultivated continuously, was leased out by the strategos or These four cases share a number of features. All the tenants
the basilikogrammateus through written contracts, of which only were relatively prosperous metropolitans rather than villagers,
two or three examples survive from Oxyrhynchus. 162 Leasing was and would probably employ other men to do the agricultural
also a recognized way of deriving an income from confiscated work. But they do not seem to have been merely head-lessees,
property before it was sold again. 163 When the confiscated who would divide the lands among subtenants; the areas of land
estates were large, however, their administration and workforce in these leases are quite modest, and can hardly represent the
seem to have been preserved, so the two leases made with local entire properties held by the heirs. Thus the procedure followed
villagers by the pragmateutes of the fiscal estate formerly of by the representatives of a deceased person seems to have
Claudia Isidora alias Apia were probably a continuation of the included parcelling out the land in moderately sized units to
policy of the estate while in private hands in dealing with small, men who had enough financial backing to produce the rent
isolated parcels of land. ' 64 A much clearer example of leasing as even if afflicted by a series of poor harvests.
the only realistic option for dealing with publicly owned land is Despite the high mortality rate, land leased out while in the
provided by the late third-century leases of land belonging to the hands of heirs will not have been of major significance as a
city of Oxyrhynchus and to the dekaprotia, in which the prytanis proportion of all land. A grain account listing payments made
and dekaprotos respectively acted as lessors. 165 Neither the city through a banking account with entries from over one hundred
nor the dekaprotia possessed any permanent form of management different landowners, includes only five examples of heirs. 168 In
under which direct cultivation could have been carried out, and
166
the aim was presumably to obtain a reliable income with little P. Oxy. XL V 3257, PSI V 46<). .
16
1 P. Oxy. XIV r646; III 512, where an area of over 20 ar. is suggested if the I ~20
161 dr. paid to the heirs' agents represents a normal rate of rent on fodder (for which
63
P. Oxy. II 279, X 1279, SB XIV n280; P. Rein. II 99 (oath confirming lease). see Fig. 5). • h
' BGU IV 1091; cf. P. Oxy. XXXVIII 2854 lines 25ff. 168
P. Oxy. XLIV 316<) lines 60, 61, 92, 181, 225. ~ut contr~t the much h1~ er
1
~ SB XIV 11403 (=BGUXI 2126 revised). proportion of heirs in the fourth-century Hermopohte land registers (P. Landltsten
165
P. Oxy. XII 1502 verso, PSI III 187, IX 1070, XIII 1330. F and G, listed under initial letter 'k').
260 261
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
one of these the payments were made through georgoi, who were few other leases concern the property of minors, but they cannot
probably, although not indisputably, tenants; in the remaining be said to share any obviously distinctive features. 171
cases the payments were made direct, and the land was perhaps
not leased out. Where a property was small, and the heirs related (a) Women
to one another and close neighbours, they might well prefer to We must also consider whether there is evidence that female
entrust the cultivation to one of their number, or to perform the landowners were particularly likely to lease out their property
work in common, rather than to lease it. 1 69 through an inability to carry out the agricultural tasks them-
selves; if so, the relatively high proportion of female landowners
(c) Minors
would make this an important source of leaseholds. First it must
Minors, and particularly orphans, form another group whose be noted that the general evidence for the involvement of women
land we might expect to find leased out, since they were incap- in agriculture is ambivalent. The infrequency of female tenants
able of looking after it themselves, and their guardians were not and the concessions to women in the farming of public land are
necessarily in a position to exercise close supervision. 170 Even if suggestive of a consensus that women could not, or should not,
the guardians appointed some local person to act as an agent, it be directly concerned with agricultural work. 172 At the same time,
might be anticipated that he would administer the land by leasing however, some women clearly did farm public land for consider-
it out (e.g. P. Oxy. IV 727). A testator fortunate enough to have an able periods. They were not necessarily inhibited from going in
epitropos who could be relied upon to stay and manage the estate person to collect their rents, and there is some evidence of the
for his children after his death envisaged that rents in money and involvement of women in agricultural management. 173 On the
kind would form a large part of their income; however, we do not other hand, women seem more likely than men to suffer from
of course know whether this would mark a departure from the unsatisfactory tenants or related problems, or at any rate, to have
method of exploitation used by the testator himself during his recourse to official procedures for complaint. 174 This may signify
lifetime (P. Oxy. XXVII 2474). that they were less able on the whole to exercise adequate super-
Two of the surviving leases were made by mothers on behalf of vision over farming; or simply that they were less able to employ
fatherless children. The degree to which women were generally at self-help when things went wrong. The ambivalence of the
a disadvantage in agricultural matters will be discussed further evidence suggests that it depended largely on the circumstances
shortly; but certainly in both these cases, the conditions seem to and character of the individual woman how closely and effec-
tively she became involved in agriculture.
have been unusually disadvantageous to the lessors. In one (P.
Nor do the leases themselves on the whole justify the conclu-
Ki:iln III 149) the rent on both wheat and barley land was
sion that female landlords had been prompted to lease out the
extremely low, and could surely have left little over once the
property because other methods of exploitation were not open to
taxes had been paid. The rent was again low in the other case
(P. Oxy. XLI 2973), although allowance must be made for the 171
P. Oxy. III 501 appears to be a typical second-century lease; SB XII no81
tenant's responsibility for paying the taxes. But the unfavourable does have a tenant of unusually high status, a veteran; in P. Wise. I 7, a man acted
as lessor of his daughter's property; cf. P. Lond. inv. :z131; also P. Rob. inv. :zo.
terms of this lease were not due solely to the child's minority and 17
• No female tenants of private land are known from any Oxyrhynchite
the mother's guardianship; his father had already incurred debts evidence from the Roman period, although a woman was one of two tenants in
to the tenant, which were not affected by the terms of the lease. A one 5th-c. lease (P. Oxy. VI 913), in which the landlord was also female. Leases
from elsewhere in Egypt with female tenants are also extremely uncommon:
Herrmann, Studien, 58. On women as farmers of public land, see Ch. III § 4
,6c) As perhaps the heirs to the small properties listed in P. Oxy. VII 1044 (Table
and Table 5.
7); although we do not know whether the land listed in that text was leased out or
' 73 P. Oxy. VI 93:z, XVII :z141, XXXIII :z68o, XLVIII 3406--,.
not.
17 ' 74 P. Oxy. IV 707, XXXIV :z712; cf. XIV 1758, SB III 6:z94; cf. Bagnall, Egypt
° Cf. Kehoe, Management and Investment, 1:z9.
in Late Antiquity, 131f.
262
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
them. Females in fact appear as the sole effective landlord in less discussion. 178 But while some at least of the misthoseis prodoma-
than a quarter of leases from the first three centuries AD, a lower tikai do not seem to reflect financial difficulties on the part of the
rate of participation than in other common types of property landlord, several of the Oxyrhynchite leases with rent paid in
disposition. 175 While some female lessors lacked close male rela- advance show additional signs of economic weakness.
tives, others possessed a son, a brother, or a husband who could The clearest case is P. Oxy. XLI 2973: two years' rent was paid
have taken care of the agricultural work on their land. 176 Hus- in advance, the tenant paid the taxes, he was of metropolitan
bands sometimes acted as lessors of their wife's property. 177 In status while the landlord was a villager, and he was owed money
general, it does not seem justified to conclude that the considera- by the family of the landlord. Again, in a misthapoche of the early
tions which prompted female landowners to lease out land were third century, a woman from Oxyrhynchus received a total of
significantly different from the motives of their male counter- 1,000 drachmas, the rent for five years in advance, from her
parts.
tenant, who was an ex-gymnasiarch and councillor of the town;
(e) Leases in which the Landlord was Related to the Tenant taxes were also paid by the lessee (P. Oxy. XXXI 2584). Less
information is available in the three remaining cases, but in one
In marked contrast to the sales of land (Ch. VI § 4), the leases of these, the tenant was again responsible for the taxes. 179
with one exception (P. Stras. IV 244) were not drawn up between
Thus some Oxyrhynchite misthapochai functioned not unlike
relatives; indeed, it was normal for the parties to the contract to
antichretic leases, loans in which the debtor leased a property to
be of different origins and social status. We may therefore
the creditor to cover the repayments of interest and capital. One
exclude as a function of the surviving lease agreements the
true antichretic lease of land survives from Oxyrhynchus; here
adjustment of property distribution within families.
the taxes were shared equally by the landlords and tenant (SB
(f) Leases in which the Landlord was in Economic Difficulty XII 11228). The leases discussed here account for nearly every
known case in which tax was the responsibility of the tenant
There are a number of leases in which the 'normal' relationship
rather than the landlord (see Appendix 2).
of landlord and tenant seems in some way to be reversed. Indica-
tions of this are provided by the occurrence in a lease of one or There is a further interesting case in which the landlords were
more of the following features: rent payment in advance, the of lower social status that the tenant. In AD 244, four villagers
tenant rather than the landlord assuming financial responsibil- from Sko leased 20¾arouras of public land in their names to the
ity for taxes, or the tenant's social status being higher than that wealthy Spartiates alias Chairemon (P. Ryl. IV 683). The villagers
of the landlord. Leases where rent was paid wholly in advance also seem to have been in debt to Spartiates. With this we may
are relatively unusual at Oxyrhynchus, in contrast to the large compare a receipt issued by three villagers of Episemou epoikion
group of Arsinoite misthoseis prodomatikai in the first and
second centuries AD, the purpose of which has aroused much '
78
Herrmann, Studien, 229 ff., Hennig, Unters. zur Bodenpacht, 36 ff.; for lists
of Arsinoite misthoseis prodr:miatikai, ibid. 2or ff., 223 ff. Hennig's distinction
between leases of a single year's duration which probably have no connotation
75
of economic difficulty on the part of the landlord, and those where the rent was
' Women form 23 per cent of private lessors whose sex is known: see paid for several years in advance, is particularly relevant to the Oxyrhynchite
Appendix 2; compare female participation in sales of land (Ch. VI § 3), mort- material. Most Oxyrhynchite leases of this kind are described as misthapochai,
gages, (Ch. VI § 7), and testaments (Table 8). listed in P. Oxy. Hels. 42 introduction, adding P. Turner 25 (lease of fishing rights),
176
Inferred from the relationship of the kyrios, so that evidence is not available and P. Lond. inv. 2131 (both 2nd c).
after the early 3rd c. No close relative: P.Oxy. XIV 1687, XXXI 2584, PSI VII 772. ' 79 P. Oxy. XX 2284; the absence of the owner serving as singularis of the Prefect
Son: P. Oxy. I !01; brother: PSI IX 1029; husband: P. Lips. n8, SB X 10532. Also a does not explain why he did not take on financial responsibility for the taxes;
lease through a phrontistes: SB XII 10780. tenants in any case often actually paid the taxes, but recovered the cost from the
177
P. Oxy. XXXVI 2776, XLIX 3489, SB XIV u428; also P. Oxy. XVII 2137, landlord. P. Oxy. Hels. 42 and P. Land. inv. 2r31 give no indication of economic
addressed to a woman dia her husband. difficulty.
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
to Sarapion alias Apollonianus, Spartiates' father (SB I 58o6). fact seem to have had their property concentrated in one or
Th~se examples suggest that leases could serve as a means by more localities. Thus whether or not they often visited Oxy-
which wealthy Oxyrhynchites in the third century gained access rhynchus in person, the core of their estates could conveniently
to the lands of villagers who were unable to bear the financial be managed directly by pragmateutai and phrontistai and culti-
burdens associated with them. vated by paid workers rather than by tenants; only isolated
parcels needed to be leased out. 182 This is probably true of
(g) Absentee Landlords
Aurelia Herakleidiaina, who in AD 266 leased out land at Anti-
In an area like the Oxyrhynchite nome where landowners might pera Pela for flax cultivation (P. Coll. Youtie II 68). If we examine
possess several scattered parcels of land, the question of absentee the list of property of which she received a three-quarter share
landlordship becomes a complex issue. We must consider not according to a contract of division dating from 257-<), it appears
only the undoubted cases of absenteeism, when the owner was that the main portion of the estate (too extensive to be listed in
resi?ent in an entirely different part of Egypt, but also how far detail) lay in the Hermopolite nome and the neighbouring Upper
leasmg was the most expedient means for a landowner living in toparchy of the Oxyrhynchite nome, while the scattered parcels in
the nome to exploit scattered plots. several other villages were leased out to individual tenants. 183
In fact we find relatively few landlords from outside the nome Similarly, a vineyard, or work in a vineyard, might be leased
and these were either Antinoite or Alexandrian citizens, who ma; out even on estates under direct management owned by Alexan-
have held ancestral connections with Oxyrhynchus. 180 One Anti- drians. 184
noite bouleutes leased out ten arouras from his property at Talao At this point, it might be helpful to assess the significance of
to three brothers from that village, acting through a phrontistes the cases discussed so far. In so far as it has been possible to
who no doubt exercised overall control of his property in th~ identify 'special' motives for leasing, these seem to apply to
d.tstnct.
. 181 Th e v1·11ager from Pela, through whom an Antinoite relatively few surviving lease contracts; where we do have a
declared some property near Seryphis, may have been his tenant potentially significant category of lessors, as in the case of
(P. Oxy. VI 970). A brother and sister from Antinoopolis also women, there are few grounds for regarding their motives for
leased out their land at Syron in the Western toparchy to an leasing as really distinctive. However, when taken together, the
inhabitant of Oxyrhynchus (P. Oxy. XIV 1719). The case' of one 'special' cases cover many more of the later third-century leases
Alexandrian absentee is particularly interesting, since although than those of previous centuries; in particular, they do little to
the plot of l~nd actually lay in the Hermopolite nome, where the account for the 'core' of leases between the late first and mid-
tenant al_solived, the lease stated that the rent should be paid to third centuries which typically share three characteristics: village
the public granary of the Oxyrhynchite nome, implying that the tenants, a relatively long duration, and staple crop cultivation.
landlord possessed a grain account there. Again the landlord It is primarily this 'core' of leases, on the other hand, which
acted through a representative, who seems to have been an comes into question when we consider whether it is appropriate
to regard the landlords from Oxyrhynchus itself as absentees.
acquaintance who lived locally (PSI IV 315). Several of the
After all, the vast majority of leases were made by metropolitan
Alexandrians whom we find leasing out Oxyrhynchite land in
h
' The bulk of Calpumia Heraklia's estate was apparently managed directly: P.
•8o T~e original derivation of the citizen body of Antinoopolis, from the Oxy. XLII 3048. Diodoros alias Apollonios and Antiochos son of Sarapion, to
g~1;1as1~l class of_ ne~rby nomes as well as the Arsinoite, is reflected in the whom small parcels from her estate were registered (P. Oxy. XLII 3047 13f.), were
d1stnbut1on
s d" of Ant1001te
• . property
.. holdings: H. Braunert , Di"eB'innenwan derung..
perhaps her tenants, but for the ambiguous significance of 'registration', see Ch.
tu ten zur Sozialgeschichte Agyptens in der Ptolemiier- und Kaiser-zeit (Bonn III § 5, with note 89.
1961,), 123-{;, 229. ' 183
P. Oxy. XIV 1637.
' ' P. Oxy. XIV 1686; the description of the land as 'from the property' implies 18
• Diogenis alias Tourbiaina: PSI XIII 1338 (a lease signed by a pronoetes),
further land at Talao; and there could have been more at other villages.
with PSI I 83 V 472; cf. Dioskouriaina alias Sabina, P. Oxy. XXXIV 2712.
1

266
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy

landlords; but was leasing a strategy they adopted only for distant larlY, the villages of the Eastern toparchy which bordered the ~ile
or awkwardly located property, or was it a much more widespread would have been twice as far from Oxyrhynchus as those which
phenomenon? There is no straightforward and conclusive way of adjoined the Western toparchy. .
answering this question, but to make a plausible case that leasing Despite these problems, any strong tendency for metropolitans
by metropolitans was primarily a solution to the problem of to lease their most distant parcels of land to villagers could be
difficulty of access to their properties, two conditions would expected to emerge. In fact, however, the results (see Tabl~ _19)
need to be met; that the tenants themselves were resident in the are very ambiguous, although there are certainly some stnkmg
immediate vicinity of the land they leased, and that the land regional and chronological variations in the evidence. Even
leased to them was located mainly in parts of the nome most though the Thmoisepho toparchy was much smaller than the
distant from the metropolis. other toparchies, it seems under-represented in the leases, as
The first condition is certainly borne out by the evidence. the Lower toparchy, which covered a large area, undoubted!y
Although barely half the village tenants are known to have is. Metropolitan landlords are particularly under-repres~nted m
inhabited precisely the village near which their leasehold lay, the Lower toparchy, although metropolitan landownership there
there is almost always reason to believe that their place of is adequately documented by types of document other than
residence was close to the land. 185 In some cases there is con- leases. 188 Thus, while the evidence from these two most north-
clusive evidence that the villages adjoined each other; in others, erly toparchies in the name certainly provides no suppo~t for t~e
the villages certainly lay within the same toparchy and were idea that metropolitans were particularly prone to leasing their
probably close together. 186 In the one case where the tenant land there because of its distant location, it hints at some kind of
resided in a different toparchy from the land which he culti- regional pattern in tenancy which in the current state of our
vated, the villages may still have been close to each other, or at evidence defies explanation.
least easily accessible by canal. 187 At the southern end of the nome, the remarkable number of
But it is difficult to find support for the suggestion that parcels third-century leases from the Upper toparchy again cannot be
leased to village tenants were mainly situated in parts of the nome attributed simply to the inconvenience for direct cultivation by
most distant from the metropolis. Admittedly, the evidence is metropolitan landowners, since the lessees were as likely them-
unhelpful, since few villages can be located precisely, and the selves to be metropolitan as to be villagers. Several of the leases
toparchy to which the land belonged offers a very approximate with non-metropolitan landlords (villagers or institutional land)
yardstick of distance from the metropolis. While we may say with also had tenants from Oxyrhynchus. Nor were the metropolitan
confidence that the entire Western toparchy was easily accessible tenants confined to the part of the toparchy nearest Oxyrhynchus;
from Oxyrhynchus, and that the whole Lower toparchy was several are attested in Mermertha, in the south (it was placed in
89
remote from the metropolis, further distinctions are difficult to the 1st pagus), or at Sko or Monimou towards the east.' Thus,
make. Villages like Merrnertha and Sinkepha towards the south while in notable contrast to the Lower toparchy, the Upper
of the Upper toparchy were distant from Oxyrhynchus, but the toparchy does seem to have had precisely the kind of landowner-
northern part of the same toparchy came relatively close. Simi-
,ss Non-metropolitans are, however, also well-documented as landowners in
'
85
21 out of 42 cases (see Appendix 2); but tenants often resided in epoikia, the Lower toparchy; so that, although too few cases survive ~o provide a ~ecure
which, if they can be located, are ususally known to be close at hand. basis for generalization, it may be that this toparc?Y had a _h1~her propo_rtion of
186
Esp. Nesla-Ision Panga, PSI VII 772; Episemou-Sko, P. Oxy. XVII 2137, non-metropolitan landowners (including Alexand~tans, Antmo~tes, and v1~lage~s)
probably Posompous Aristomachou-Phoboou, P. Oxy. XIV 1688; Lenon near than elsewhere. One letter which refers to collectton of rents m Takon~ 1mphes
Pela-Paimis, Le Monde grec, 6o1-8 (about five miles apart, directly accessible that the owner was at Alexandria: P. Oxy. IV 743; we also know of a..v11lager of
along the Tomis: see Map 3). Tryphonis Ision who owned land at Sinary leased out (PSI VIII _89711).
'
81
SB X 10532, Nesla (upper)-Syron (western); the crop, too, was unusual, 1 89 P. Oxy. L
3591, BGU XIII 2340, PSI IX 1070, P. Coll. Yout1e II 70; P. Oxy.
rhaphanos; the tenant may have been a 'specialist' producer, prepared to travel. XXXVI 2776, BGU IV 1091, P. Ryl. IV 683.
269
 Private Tenancy
Private Tenancy
Serenos was seeking a source of profit from the successful _man-
ship pattern to produce written leases (especially in the third
agement of land which lacked owners who could perform this role
century), this does not seem to have any noticeable connection
with 'absentee' landlordism. themselves.
The example of Serenos alias Sarapion suggests that absentee
The Eastern toparchy leases conform most neatly to the landlordism of a kind could be a reason for metropolitans to lease
pattern of metropolitan landlords leasing to local villagers, as out land, particularly if they had other interests elsewhere in t_he
do the second-century leases from the Middle toparchy. But the name. But it was by no means the only one. Serenos ahas
fact that Oxyrhynchite landlords are also found leasing out land Sarapion lived in the second half of the third century, the time
in the Western toparchy to villagers, and in one case, leasing land when the 'core' of leases, with village tenants, relatively long
at Paimis, next to the metropolis, to a villager who lived several terms and staple crops, was much diminished in comparison
miles away near Pela, casts doubt on the relevance of the distance with the previous two centuries, to be largely replaced by leases
of the land from the metropolis as a motive for leasing it out. 190 apparently undertaken for a variety of specific reasons. Even in
However, if it is not possible to see the leases straightforwardly the period when the 'typical' lease was most prevalent, however,
as a means by which metropolitan landowners obtained cultiva- it is unsatisfactory to see absenteeism as such as a major motiva-
tors for their more distant parcels of land, we can perhaps draw a tion for private tenancy agreements; if it had been, we should
connection between leasing and the location of properties belong- expect to find a much more obvious distinction in the leases frorh
ing to metropolitans which is both more limited and more nearby and distant parts of the name.
complex. It is instructive to examine the specific case of Serenos The most convincing explanation for these 'typical' leases
Sarapion. The land he owned at Mermertha, jointly with his from the later first to the mid-third century is simply that
brother, and presumably inherited, was leased out to two men many metropolitan landowners, having become sufficiently pros-
from that village. A vineyard at Tanais in the Middle toparchy perous to have the option of living partly or wholly on the income
was also leased out, to two metropolitans and a villager all of from rents, chose to do so, encouraged in the second century no
whom were no doubt skilled vineworkers. But Serenos himself doubt by the high rents which they could obtain. ' 9 " We unfortu-
took land on lease from the heirs of the veteran Vibius Publius, nately do not know how far these persons tended to lease out only
situated at Paimis, conveniently close to Oxyrhynchus, where he part of their property, reserving the rest for direct cultivation, but
also at various times purchased land from the state, and bought a for those who took this course, it would obviously make sense to
house and vacant lots in the village. 191 lease out the parcels which were most difficult of access. Thus
This single case depicts three distinct functions of tenancy. By location could to some extent have been taken into account
the Mermertha lease, two local farmers took over the responsi- without its providing the main reason for the choice of this
bility for cultivating arable land in a location where it was not method of exploitation.
convenient for Serenos (or presumably also his brother) to In any case, leasing did not completely absolve landowners of
exercise direct supervision himself. The lease of the vineyard at the need to visit their properties. Even quite wealthy landowners
Tanais was designed to obtain skilled labour for a specialist crop; whose interests were normally managed by bailiffs made the
two of the tenants were no more local than was Serenos himself, effort to inspect their fields at critical periods of the year, such
but in order to exercise their skill, they were prepared either to as the time of irrigation, sowing or harvest. 193 Although tenants,
travel or to find temporary accommodation for the period of the at least those cultivating arable land, were normally free of
lease. In undertaking a tenancy himself, on the other hand,
•9•On the prosperity of metropolitan landowners in this period, cf. Rostovtzeff,
'
90
Le Moruh grec, 6o1-8. SEHRF' I 295 ff.
193 e.g. P. Amh. II 136 (for the date, see BL IV), P. Oxy. IX 1220, XXXVI 276o,
191
P. Oxy. XIV 168,g, 1631, 1646, 1633, 1699; cf. Kehoe, Management and
P. Merton I 18.
Investment, 72f. See also Ch. VI§ 4 with nn. 51-3, on Serenos' economic activities.
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy

constant interference or supervision from their landlords, a free- eriod the aspiring tenant seems to have been a closer acquain-
dom enhanced by the use of their own equipment, the landlord or ~ance ~f the landowner. This letter offers a fascinating insight
a representative would come into personal contact with the tenant into the relationship between one landlord and tenant, and 1s
when the lease was first made and when the rent was paid, and worth quoting in full:
might put in an appearance at other times, especially if there were Aphynchis to Apis, greetings and good health. Since m! son Ho~os,
reason to think that something was amiss. In order finally to having come down from the city, told me that you told him to remmd
understand the character of the lease contracts, and how they me about the sowing of fodder (on the land) you have, that you would
fit into the pattern of agricultural exploitation as a whole, we give it to me for the year; if, then, you have an opportunity, _come_
down
need to look further at the nature of the social relationships and lease it to me, either you or your boy, since I am occupied with ~he
involved in tenancy. animals and don't have time. Don't fail, since others are also pressmg
me but out of choice, I prefer you. Make up your mind about this and
giv~ me an answer immediately, so that I don't lose the chance. And look
8. CONCLUSION: THE SOCIAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN after your health. Farewell.
LANDLORD AND TENANT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS
Year 28 of Caesar, Phaophi ... '
The typically short duration of tenancies potentially meant that
(Back) To Apis.
landlords were faced comparatively frequently with the problem (P Oxy. XLI :2979,3 BC)
of finding fresh tenants. It would be interesting to know how they
went about this. We cannot rule out the idea that private land- The tone of this letter is polite, but far from obsequious; the
lords might post up written advertisements in prominent posi- writer makes clear that he is not taking an initiative, but replying
tions in the village where their land was situated or in the to the message conveyed to him from the landlord Apis. He
metropolis in a manner similar to that of the public advertise- manages simultaneously to flatter the landowner and to assert
ments which have been preserved. 194 It is much more probable, his own independence. It is the landlord (or his 'boy') who
however, that most private landlords found their tenants through must make the effort to come out to the village and draw up
personal contacts. This need not imply that landlord and tenant the lease; Aphynchis is busy with his animals. In all its details,
were necessarily well-known to each other; the writer of a letter the letter accords closely with the evidence from the early lease
offering to collect rent from a tenant on behalf of her sister contracts themselves: the lease was evidently an annual one, and
(unless 'sister' here merely expresses a relation of friendship) fodder cultivation was envisaged ([vAaµ:rys,lines 5-6); Aphynchis
evidently thought that the tenant would not know who she was probably intended the crop to feed his beasts. Phaophi, _the
unless the landlord sent a letter of explanation. 195 month in which the letter was written, was also a popular time
However, in the only two items which explicitly refer to in the Oxyrhynchite nome for lease contracts to be drawn up.
tenancies being undertaken, landlord and tenant were clearly The contracts of the early years of Roman rule, however,
previously acquainted with each other. The potential tenants in suggest a greater equality of status between landlord and tenant
one case were already employed by the la;idlord in another than is typical of the leases from the late first century AD onwards.
capacity. ' 96 In the other case, from the very beginning of our Does the letter therefore reflect a kind of relationship between
landlord and tenant that was soon to be eclipsed? A late first-
'1>4 For a public leasehold: BGU III 656; for an auction, P. Oxy. XX 2269.
century AD letter refers to a lease pertaining to a Herakleopol!te
' 95 P. Oxy. XXXIII 2680; it is incidentally worth remarking how this letter, and
others, show the extent to which landlords and tenants communicated by letter, villager, which the writer asked his correspo_ndent to send to him
despite the fact that many tenants were incapable of signing their names on lease rolled up and sealed, via the donkey-drivers or some other
contracts, and thus presumably illiterate.
'
96
P. Oxy. XII I 590, 4th c. AD.
reliable means (P. Oxy. XLVII 3357). This lease had to pass
273
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
through the hands of two agents who stood between the tenant and A recent study has viewed tenancy primarily as a strategy for
his landlord. On the other hand, Phanias (if indeed he was the sharing economic risk, to the advantage both partners in the
landlord) seems to have been, at least in the opinion of the corre- relationship: the tenant could spread his risk by undertaking
spondents, a person of some importance, and the example may not several different enterprises simultaneously, while the landlord
be typical of contemporary landlords and tenants as a whole. obtained a predictable income, and could shift much of the cost of
A second-century letter again shows a landlord dealing with his production onto the tenant. 198 These considerations must have
tenant on a more personal basis, although the financial problems played a part, particularly in the cases where tenants were men
to which the letter alludes are symptomatic of the change in the with some independent capital. But the economic motive of risk
typical economic relationship between landlord and tenant which avoidance does not altogether explain the prevalence throughout
had taken place since early in the previous century (SB XIV much of the Principate of village tenants, whose residence was
u899). The writer had been asked by his brother to visit the convenient to the land, but who were not men of substance, and
'fourteen arouras', and he duly reported on their state of irriga- liable to fall into debt. A tenant who needed loans in order to
tion. But much of the letter is concerned with the rent arrears and carry out the work of cultivation, and was often in arrears with his
other debts owed by Lamachis, the tenant, for the non-payment rent or loan repayments, provided little by way of economic
of which he offered a variety of excuses. The writer seems security or predictability; what he did offer the landlord, how-
previously to have had personal contact with Lamachis (when ever, was escape from the necessity of a 'georgikon bion', a life of
he agreed to wait for the payment of thirty artabas of wheat until agricultural work, to adopt the leisured lifestyle proper to the
Diogenes, perhaps another tenant, recovered from eye-disease), urban, Hellenized, upper class.
and he envisaged going again on some future occasion to collect Socially, metropolitan landlords could not lose from the
the price of acacia timber. These personal meetings evidently relationship with their tenants: if the tenants managed to keep
facilitated a mutual understanding between landlord and tenant; out of debt, the landowners obtained a secure, and in the second
excuses offered in writing or via agents would have been less century remarkably high, income from rents, with virtually no
persuasive and easier to ignore. There was in reality little a imput on their part; while tenants who did fall into arrears were
landlord in such a position could do save accept the excuses placed under a social obligation to the landlord which could be
offered and hope to receive payment later; the social gap drawn upon to serve the landlord's interests in the locality in a
between landlord and tenant was relatively narrow, and he prob- variety of ways. If the tenant were unlucky, inability to escape
ably did not have the means available to force the tenant to pay from debt might lead to his being deprived of any independent
up, even had there been any point in doing so. To go to law was means of livelihood, and eventually to a permanent relationship
expensive, and a measure to be taken only when hope of obtain- of dependence on one landlord. But even fear of such a fate might
ing payment by other means had entirely disappeared. not deter a villager, eking a living from a few tiny parcels of
However, it does seem that landowners hoped to avoid this inherited land, from being attracted to the challenge of deriving
degree of intervention in their relationship with tenants. The a worthwhile return from the larger, and highly productive,
common practice for landlords to delegate to their tenants the parcels available for private lease.
duty of personally handing over the grain taxes on the land saved The misthosis, a single, complex, form of contract, allowed
them the need to visit their property on the occasion of the tax considerable scope for variation in the social and economic
collection. Even the rent could be collected through a deputy, or nature of the arrangements which it enshrined. But it could not
deposited into the landlord's account in the public granary. 197 encompass all relationships involved in agricultural production,
or even all circumstances of tenancy. The main limiting factor on
' 97 P. Oxy. IV 743, XXXIII z68o; see Appendix z for leases which required rent
to be deposited in the public granary. ' 98 Kehoe, Management and Investment, esp. eh. 4·
274 275
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
the use of the misthosis in the management of land lay in the fact leases are dominated by those undertaken by the specialist flax-
that, as a legal contract, it presupposed a certain degree of producers Leonides and Dioskoros; thereafter surviving leases
parity in the status of the contracting parties, both of whom from Oxyrhynchus are few in number. What this means, of
received some legal protection from it. If the gap in the status course, is not the sudden abandonment of staple crops by Oxy-
of landlord and tenant widened, such guarantees became inef- rhynchite farmers, but that the leases have ceased to reflect
fective from the tenant's point of view, and inappropriate from accurately 'normal' patterns of agriculture in the nome. Other
the landlord's. types of document do, however, continue to record agricultural
In the pre-Roman, and early Roman, period, the tenants in practices similar to those characteristic of the leases of the mid-
these contracts were not simply cultivators, but often indepen- Principate: rotation of cereal and fodder, with high rents in kind
dent entrepreneurs, supplying management or capital for land- on the cereals and cash rents on the fodder. But the clearest
lords who were, for whatever reason, unable or unwilling to make examples of these practices now come from estate accounts or
this provision themselves. These tenants, even if they lacked
rent rolls; the republication of two fourth-century accounts of
other means of access to the possession of land, were not neces-
this sort has helped to throw light on some more fragmentary
sarily less wealthy or of significantly inferior social status to their
third-century texts, which now seem better explained as parts of
landlords. By the mid-first century AD, the scope of written
rent-rolls of private (or possibly fiscal) estates, than as records of
tenancies had spread, to cover arrangements made between land-
lords resident in the metropolis and villagers living in the vicinity public taxation. 199
of the land. These were typically of longer duration, and nor- The format of these texts differs in detail one from another,
mally provided for rotation between the staple cereal and fodder but a short extract from one of the third-century examples is
crops, with very high rents demanded on the cereals. These leases sufficient to show their general character: 'Silvanos and Praous
have a much stronger claim to be seen as an integral feature of the owe for rents in kind of year 3, section of 3 ½ar. from the kleros of
agricultural economy, reflecting the increasing prosperity of lsidoros and Diokles: inundated, d ar., the rest uninundated;
metropolitan landowners. Most of these landowners by no total rent on the whole 3½ar., 17½art. wheat; on the ri ar., total
means possessed grand estates, for which the direct employment 8¾art. wheat.' 200 These rent rolls, therefore, appear to provide
of management and labour provided an efficient alternative to secure evidence of the continuity of a form of rural tenancy not
leasing; but, secure in the possession of a few dozen arouras of reflected in the surviving leases themselves after the middle of the
productive, lightly taxed, katoicic land, the income from rents third century. Why might this be? Fikhman, in a comparison of
was sufficient to provide a comfortable living. The slight decline the Byzantine land leases from Oxyrhynchus and Hermopolis,
in average rents from their mid-second-century peak (probably has argued that, since landlords were predominantly members of
resulting from the population decline due to the plague of the the municipal aristocracy, the displacement of this class by large
160s), seems to have had little impact, except perhaps to encou- estate owners, which by the sixth century had progressed much
rage some diversification of crops; the same pattern of tenancy further in the Oxyrhynchite than in the Hermopolite nome,
can be observed in the leases well into the middle of the third accounts for the much sharper decline in the number of leases
century.
From about AD 260, however, the character of the lease
contracts seems to revert to the earlier, 'specialized' type, with
shorter terms, and higher-status tenants who often seem to be ' 99 P. Col. VIII 238 (incorporating P. Prine. III 136); SB XVI 13035 (P. Bon. 39
entrepreneurs, providing a particular service. Evidence in the as re-edited by R. S. Bagnall and K. A. Worp, ZPE 52 (1983), 247-54); cf. P. Oxy.
XIX 2240 (certainly a private estate), 2242 (on the back of 2240), 2241 (a rent roll,
leases for the rotation of staple crops, and indeed for cereal dated 283"4, of an ousia which was perhaps fiscal), XIV 1743 (similar in format to
200
production generally, becomes scarce. The early fourth-century 2241). P. Oxy. XIX 2242 lines 1-5.

276 2 77
 Private Tenancy Private Tenancy
from Oxyrhynchus between the late third and the sixth century pronoetai or phrontistai in the villages, while tenants who
than in the Hermopolite leases over the same period. 201 remained with the same landlord for years might have their
It is surely right to connect the changing character of the contract tacitly renewed (even if the original lease was of fixed
Oxyrhynchite lease contracts with the changing fortunes of the duration), rather than being redrafted at frequent intervals. Thus
municipal landowning class; a polarization of metropolitan the pool of leases from which our surviving examples come would
landed wealth would lead to the erosion of precisely that class have been smaller.
of modestly prosperous landowners who, it has been argued, had To conclude, therefore, the surviving leases, informative
been responsible for the 'typical' leases of the mid-Principate. though they are in their details about agricultural production
The essentially informal and personal ties they had with their and rural social relations, at no part of the period offer a com-
tenants, documented by the letters just discussed as well as by the plete view of agricultural tenancy in the nome, but reflect certain
complex and individual terms of the lease contracts themselves specific aspects of it. Their most consistent, if often specialised,
was a fragile form of social relationship, easily destroyed by a' role was to provide management or capital which the landowner
widening social gulf between landlord and tenant. As landlords could not, or preferred not to, provide. Only for the two centuries
grew more remote from their tenants, and the terms under which from the mid-first to the mid-third centuries AD, do they throw
light on a more 'central' aspect of agricultural conditions, as
their land was farmed became more standardized, we find the rent
metropolitan landowners became prosperous enough to live by
roll replacing the lease as the most important record of their
renting their parcels of land to local villagers. The squeezing of
relationship. The wording of one of the few early fifth-century
this class by the polarisation of landed wealth changed the
Oxyrhynchite leases, P Oxy. LV 3803, shows an instructive
particular circumstances in which tenancy operated, so that the
change from the meticulous individual provisions characteristic
surviving leases again cease to reflect the continued importance of
of the earlier leases: 'I willingly undertake to lease ... in con-
tenancy in the social relations of agricultural production.
formity with the previous rent-rolls ... in perpetuity [on condi-
tion that I] take the lease and pay the previous rent and all the
separate charges on the same basis as for the other irrigation
machines in conformity with rent rolls ... '.
This example, of course, demonstrates that written leases as
well as agricultural tenancy in general, continued to have a piace
on large estates, as they had always done. The earliest of the rent
accounts mentioned above also opens with a record of the sums
owed by a tenant for the sponde of his lease.'"0 '" It is thus too
simple to see a simple displacement of written leases by the
development of large estates. But there are reasons why written
contracts with tenants of large estates should be rarely preserved
at Oxyrhynchus itself; the responsibility for drawing up and
keeping copies of the contracts might be delegated to local
00
' I. F. Fikhman, 'Oxirinch i Ermoupol' v vizantiiskoe vremia (sopostavlenie
arendnyc~ dogovorov)', ('Oxyrhynchus and Hermopolis in the Byzantine period:
a. com~ar~son of the !ease agreements') in Drevnii Vostok. Sbornik [: k semidesya-
t1nyatilet1yu Akademtka M.A. KorostOtJtzeva (Moscow, 1975), 184-91 (in Russian;
French summary p. 313).
•o• P. Oxy. XIX ;z240 (AD ;zn).
2 79
 Conclusion
The standard rate of tax on most private arable land was one
CONCLUSION artaba of wheat per aroura. Public land yielded dues at a variety
of rates in excess of two artabas per aroura, and most commonly
between three and four artabas. Thus tenants of public land,
many of whom were villagers, faced a significantly greater tax
burden than people who owned only private land. However, the
The papyri from Oxyrhynchus document most fully the activities intermingling of landholdings of different tenurial categories in
of landowners who lived in Oxyrhynchus itself while owning land the hands of both metropolitans and villagers must have helped
in the surrounding villages of the nome. The Roman administra- to even out this burden. It was in fact official policy, presumably
tion of Egypt was self-consciously responsible for fostering such in face of the inability of some small farmers to meet the dues on
a class of modestly prosperous, although predominantly small- public land, to place it in the hands of people with substantial
scale, metropolitan landowners, primarily by the creation of private wealth, resorting to compulsory impositions if volunteers
substantial quantities of privately owned land taxed at very were not found.
moderate rates. Throughout the Roman period, there were some 'large estates',
We can see, however, that no formal barrier in access to land- that is, properties which seem to have had a central management,
holding existed between metropolitans and villagers (as there was rather than being an agglomeration of discrete parcels; although
in personal taxation), or indeed between them and citizens of even these estates normally comprised several physically separate
Rome and Alexandria, even though these were subject to sepa- units. The evidence distinctively associated with these estates,
rate systems of law. Individuals from all these groups could own agricultural accounts and letters of instruction, becomes more
private land of the various categories, and could exchange it common in the course of the Roman period, but naturally this
between one another; they could also hold on lease public, sacred does not necessarily mean that the estates themselves became
or Imperial land. The Romans and Alexandrians who are docu- either more common or larger. Although a progressive concen-
mented as landowners in the Oxyrhynchite nome are, after the tration of landed wealth over the period is normally assumed to
earliest period of Roman rule, overwhelmingly from families of have occurred, there is in fact no evidence from Oxyrhynchus, or
local origin, or at least had long-standing connections with the indeed from anywhere else in Egypt, that can used to demon-
nome; although we cannot rule out the possibility that the true strate it.
extent of absentee ownership is under-represented because of However, I believe we are justified in assuming some gradual
derivation of the evidence in Oxyrhynchus itself. concentration of property ownership, so long as we do not
There is no secure information about the proportion of public exaggerate its extent; Egypt provides plentiful evidence of
to private land during the Principate. By the mid-fourth century, small-scale landownership into the fourth century and beyond.
when even the former public land had passed into private own- There are certainly changes in the character and 'tone' of the
ership, it formed under twenty per cent of the arable land in the Oxyrhynchite documents (admittedly a rather dangerous basis
nome. It is likely that the balance between public and private land for argument) which suggest an increasing remoteness of land-
in the early Principate was somewhat more even, but still less owners from their properties. There is also sufficient evidence to
than the equal balance attested in some villages of the Arsinoite suggest some of the processes which may have either contributed
nome. A proportion of private land of about two-thirds at that to, or slowed down, a tendency towards property concentration.
period is a reasonable estimate, gradually increasing through The system of partible inheritance undoubtedly encouraged
government sales of land, particularly during the third century. the physical fragmentation of landholdings, and inhibited the
There is really no means of assessing how much Imperial or concentration of family wealth. Property was divided between
sacred land there was at any stage. both male and female offspring, with only an eldest son entitled
280 281
 Conclusion Conclusion

to a double portion; and children inherited separately from each like the provision of seed-corn, persisted into the third century,
parent. The chances of fertility and mortality must have exercised but by the end of that century, a complete assimilation of public
a considerable effect on the extent to which an individual family's land to private property had taken place, and in the fourth
wealth was concentrated or dissipated over the generations; but century it was distinguished only by a higher rate of tax.
its members could also seek some control over these processes. Although some of the old public land must have remained in
Endogamy certainly helped to counteract property fragmenta- the hands of villagers farming on a small scale (inadequately
tion; testators (even female ones) sometimes reserved agricul- documented though these are in the evidence), there is every
tural land for male heirs; land could be bought by or sold to reason to think that this major transformation of land tenure
relatives or neighbours (categories which frequently coincided). did contribute, along with other pressures such as the burden
Sales of land between private individuals, far from making a of liturgies on people of quite modest wealth, towards the polar-
major contribution to the concentration of landed wealth, seem ization of landed wealth.
rather to have helped to maintain a stable pattern of small-scale If we examine the private leases of land from Oxyrhynchus,
ownership by giving it added flexibility. there certainly seems to be some significant change in the latter
A more potent stimulus to economic and social change seems to part of the third century which is not easily explicable in terms of
have lain in government policy towards public land. The sale of the chance survival of evidence. For most of the Principate, this
public land into private ownership is attested at various times, substantial body of evidence appears to reflect the regular prac-
particularly in the reign of Augustus and in the mid-third cen- tice of moderately prosperous metropolitan landowners in living
tury. This constituted a 'good investment' for entrepreneurial on an income from renting their land to local villagers. Although
landowners; unlike the confiscated land sold at auction, public these tenants were essentially small-scale cultivators rather than
land was sold at fixed, very low, price, in view of the improve- head-lessees, and some incurred debts to their landlords, most
ments needed to render it productive. We cannot assess how apparently managed to retain some economic independence of
much public land was sold off in total, but it certainly repre- their landlords by providing their own equipment and expenses.
sented some permanent increase in the proportion of private There must have been social ties which remain largely undocu-
land. mented, but complete dependence was also inhibited by the fact
Even more significant, though, were the changes which gradu- that tenants normally lived in their own housing, and could gain
ally transformed the bulk of public land into private property. an income from several sources at once, perhaps owning a small
There is little sign that the procedure for adjusting tax rates on parcel themselves, or having more than one private landlord or a
public land, essential if small-scale tenants were to meet their combination of private and public tenancies.
obligations, was ever applied effectively under Roman rule, and However, in the late third century, village tenants become
by the Antonine period, the system seems to have become largely much rarer in the leases, being replaced by wealthier metropoli-
ossified. From the start, much Imperial land was in the hands of tans, who seem to have been primarily managers rather than
wealthy head-lessees; but increasingly, substantial metropolitan farmers themselves. The crops mentioned also cease to be the
landowners are also found taking over responsibility for ordinary normal staples of wheat and fodder in rotation. There cannot in
public land (demosia ge). Sometimes this was the result of com- reality have been a wholesale abandonment of staple crop cultiva-
pulsory imposition, but there is also evidence of landowners tion, and indeed, there is other evidence of their continued
voluntarily, even eagerly, taking it over; for by improving the importance; but what seems to have happened is that the sig-
land, and applying the system of crop rotation normal on private nificance of written leases had shrunk from reflecting a prevalent
properties, landowners could thus effectively add substantially to pattern of agriculture to a much more circumscribed role. The
their existing estates without having to pay a purchase price. polarization of wealth seems to have eroded the position of the
Some procedures geared to the needs of small-scale farmers, moderately prosperous metropolitan landlords, and therefore also
282 283
 Conclusion Conclusion

the fragile relationship which these landowners had with their women to the problems of gaining a livelihood from the land.
small-scale but relatively independent tenants. As the social gap Landowners and tenants both formed part of an immensely
between landowner and farmer widened, and the latter became complex nerntork of social relationships, variously articulated
more completely dependent on a single estate for their livelihood, through the system of land tenure, rules of inheritance, and law
the rent-roll replaced the lease as the characteristic form of of sale and lease, as well as more nebulously (as far as our
documentation of their relationship. documentation is concerned) by the conventions of social obliga-
A great many female landowners are documented throughout tion. The Oxyrhynchite papyri may have their limits as a basis for
the period; indeed, Claudia Isidora and Calpurnia Heraklia sociological generalization; but by illustrating in detail how
provide two of the most intriguing examples of large-scale individuals tried to negotiate a path through this network, and
landholding. The papyri from Oxyrhynchus thus provide a manipulate it to their own advantage, they allow unparalleled
good basis for considering attitudes to female landownership in insight into the character of landownership in one part of the
Roman Egypt, although a somewhat ambivalent picture emerges. Roman empire.
Despite the large number of female landowners, women almost
never became private tenants (or at least are not documented as
doing so), and they were legally exempt from the obligation to
cultivate public land. But they might have difficulty enforcing
this right, and in fact women are prominent among holders of
public land. Testators might discriminate against female heirs in
the allocation of agricultural land, but parents can also be found
buying land for their daughters before marriage. What we seem
to find, therefore, is a combination of different conceptions of
women's role coexisting in tension. Both Egyptian law and the
Greek law applied in Egypt granted women significant rights to
the inheritance and ovmership of landed property; but this did
not necessarily mean that they played an active, independent role
in its management and cultivation. Some women, particularly if
they were literate or held the right under Roman law to act
without a guardian, felt capable of taking on such a role; but it
is clear from the way these advantages are referred to in the
documents that they were doing something relatively unusual.
When women referred in petitions to the 'womanly weakness'
which prevented them effecfr ely carrying out the management
of their land, they were invo .ing a social convention to which
they themselves may or may r.ot have subscribed. It was greatly
to any female landowner's aovantage to manipulate this social
norm so that she retained her property while being free of the
obligations attached to it.
One of the greatest strengths of the Oxyrhynchite papyri as
historical evidence is in documenting, through a range of discrete
examples, a variety of individual responses by both men and
284
 Appendix 1: Table 1

APPENDIX 1: TABLES 1-19

Village name Toparchy Sum paid (dr.)

Kerkemounis u 36o
Istrou M 352
Pakerke E 342
TABLE r: The Relative Size of Oxyrhynchite Villages Leukiou w 324
Sinary L 324
(According to payments listed in P. Oxy. X 1285, 3rd c. AD): figures are
Psobthis E 3?6
taken from the second series (cols. iiiff.) where available; where that is
missing, the figure from the first series (cols. i-ii) is substituted, in Enteiis u 300
square brackets. Tychinphagon L 300
20C>-299dr. Petne L 288
A In descending order of size Psobthis M 242
Nemera u 236
Village name Toparchy Sum paid (dr.) Sadalou w ?236
Senekeleu L 225
1500 dr.+ Seryphis w 1940 Tholthis E 223
1000-1499 dr. Teis Th 1308 Terythis Th 208
Senokomis w 1296 Palosis E 200
Mermertha u 1068 Adaiou
Nesmimis u 1024 100-199 dr. Ision Tryphonis L 198
Pela w ror8 Mouchinaryo L 180
500-999 dr. Phoboou E 900 Sarapion Chairemonos E 168
Monimou u 872 Herakleion M [165]
Episemou u 846 Souis L 153
Chusis u 828 Takolkeiiis M 144
Sesphtha L 740 Kerkeura M 136
Athychis u 712 Kesmouchis Th 117
Dositheou L 676 Senyris u II6
Taampemou E 630+ Herakleidou w 108
Nomou ep. M [622] Petemounis w 108
Takona L 584 Senta M 108
Sinkepha u 568 Ieme M 100+
Syron? w 560? Paimis w 100+
Tampitei M 540 Kosmou L 100
Paneuei w 516 Senao w IOO
Ophis E 500 Senepta M 100
300-499 dr. Paomis Th 496 50-99 dr. Psobthis M 97
Kerkethyris w 441 Nigrou u So+
Tanais M [438) Archibiou u 72
Talao L 379 Lenon w 72
Ision Panga u 371 Mastingophorou M 72
Posompous E 72
286
287
 Appendix 1: Table I Appendix 1: Table I

Toparchy Sum paid (dr.)

Village name Toparchy Sum paid (dr.) Village name

Kosmou L roo
Sepho Th 72
Tholthis Th 72 Lenon w 72
Xenarchou u 72 Leukiou w 324
Mastingophorou M 72
Thosbis u 70+
Nesla u 64. Mermertha u 1068
Satyrou E 64 Monimou u 872
Mouchinaryo L 180
Toka M 64
Artapatou M Mouchinaxap w 45
54 242
Nemera M
Under 50 dr. Plelo M 48 Nesla u 64
Mouchinaxap w Nesmimis u 1024
45
Pou[ch]is? M 40+ Nigrou u 80+
N omou epoikion M [622]
Texei M 36
Ophis E 500
Petenouris M 28
Ision Kato L 18 Paimis w roo+
Pakerke E 342
Palosis Th 208
Paneuei w 516
Paomis Th 496
B In alphabetical order of village names w 1018
Pela
Village name Toparchy Sum paid (dr.) Petemounis w 108
Petenouris M 28
Adaiou E 200 M 297
Petne
Archibiou u 72 Phoboou E 900
Artapatou M 54 Plelo M 48
Athychis u 712 Posompous E 72
Chusis u 828 Pou[ch]is? M 40+
Dositheou L 676 Psobthis E 3?6
Enteiss u 300 Psobthis L 288
Episemou u 846 Psobthis M 97
Herakleidou w 108 Sadalou u 236
Herakleion M [165] Sarapion Chairemonos E 168
Ieme M 100+ Satyrou E 64
Ision Kato L 18 Senao w IOO

Ision Panga u 37 1 Senekeleu w ?236

M IOO
Ision Tryphonis L 198 Senepta
Istrou M 352 Senokomis w 1296
Kerkemounis u 360 M 108
Sento
Kerkethyris w 441 Senyris u u6
Kerkeura M 136 Sepho Th 72
Kesmouchis Th 117 Seryphis w 1940

288 289
 Appendix 1: Table 1 Appendix 1: Table 2

Village name TABLE 2: The Classification of Land in W. Chr. 341

Toparchy Sum paid (dr.)
Sesphtha L The purpose of this table is to demonstrate the principles of land
740 classification in this land register from Naboo in the Apollonopolite
Sinary L 324 nome. The table adheres as closely as possible to a direct translation of
Sinkepha u 568
Souis L the main part of the text (omitting the preface, and the details of
1 53
Byron? w individual holdings with which the surviving text ends), but has been
560?
Taampemou set out to make the structure apparent. Fractions of an aroura are
E 630+
Takolkeilis indicated by a + sign.
M 144
Takona L Total lands registered within the perichoma of Naboo 668+ ar.
584
Talao L Of which:
379
Tampitei M basilike at 5f2 (art.Jar.) 2+ ar.
540
Tanais M [438) at 4f2 (art.Jar.) 1+ ar.
Teis Th 1308 at 311!(art.Jar.) 55+ ar.
Terythis E 223 at 2i\ (art.Jar.) 35+ ar.
Texei M at 2n (art.Jar.) 127+ ar.
36
Tholthis L 225
Tholthis Th 72 (total) basilike 222+ ar.
Thosbis u 70+ other basilike registered in class
Toka M 64 of idioktetos at It:!(art.Jar.) 13+ ar.
Tychinphagon L 300 'idioktetos' at If!!(art.Jar.) 15+ ar.
Xenarchou u 72 (land) at H (art.jar.) 87+ ar.
r¼pot() 29+ ar.
katoikike 237+ ar.
eonemene 38+ ar.

(total) dioikesis, idiotike 422+ ar.

(total) dioikesis, basilike and idiotike

hieratic account, leased out 8 ar.

hierakonitis 13+ ar.
(land)• at 2½(art.jar.) of barley [3] ar.

(total) hieratic account 24+ ar.

(total) dioikesis and hieratic account as above 668+ ar.

Of which:
inundated 402+ ar.
can be artificially irrigated 260+ ar.
uninundated 6+ ar.
Of which there is the (list) by individuals (kat'andra): etc.
•Tue interpretation of this line is in doubt; see introductions to W. Chr. 341 and P.
Giss. 6o.
290
 Appendix 1: Table J Appendix 1: Table 4
TABLE 3: Rates of Taxation on ge basilike in the Oxyrhynchite Nome TABLE 4: Rates of Taxation per Aroura deduced from P. Oxy. XII 1445
Rate of tax (per aroura) (2nd c. AD)
Date Reference
2i\i art. (plus money) area payments per aroura
229 P Oxy. LVII 3906 line 13
21%art. (plus money) wheat barley
229 P O.,;y. LVII 3906 line 15
2¾ art. I eh. Ille. I~ Oxy. VII 1044 line 21• Running total to start of 63.94 ar. 4.82 art.• 0.50 art.•
3f4 art. 245 P Oxy. XLII 3047 line 22
Jn art. 229 P Oxy. LVII 3906 line 14
extant sectiont
3H art. (plus money) 229 P Oxy. LVII 3906 line 18 [demosioi] diapseiloi 8.67 ar. 4.53 art.• 2.45 art.•
3¼ art. 2 eh. Ilic. P Oxy. VI I 1044 line 20• demosios epeiros 0.37 ar. 2.08 art.(2.43)
3! art. 245 P Oxy. XLII 3047 line ro All idiotike 4.84 ar. 0.90 art.(r.07)
3¾ art. I8o-<J2 P Oxy. IV 718 line 15 [demosioi] nesoi
3¾ art. 2 eh. 93 P Prine. II 42 line 4 carried away by the river, 4.25 ar. 6.or art.(6.90)
Ji art. 4 eh. Ilic. P Oxy. VII ro44 lines 10, year 18
n•, 20•, 21
3¾ art. 6 eh. Ilic. P Oxy. VII 1044 line r9 tThe first extant total includes amounts for diapsei/oi; figures in the first line of
3! art. 7 eh. t Ilic. P Oxy. VII 1044 line Ir the table are the result of subtracting from this the figures for diapseiloi.
4 art. Ille. P Oxy. VII 1044 lines •These categories were also subject to prosmetroumena, but the extra payments on
s•,12•, 23 each of the first two lines of the table cannot be calculated separately.
4 art. 4 eh. IIIc. P Oxy. VII ro44 col. ii 18 Nott: Figures are given to two decimal places; figures in brackets are inclusive of
4 art. 8 eh. Ille. P (Jxy. VII ro44 line 15 prosmetroumena.
4h art. 224 P. Lond. inv. 2174
4¼art. r eh. Ille. P Oxy. VII 1044 line 20•
4¼art. 3 eh. IIIc. P Oxy. VII 1044 col. ii 23
(pleonasmou basilikes)
5 art. 21 BC P Wash. unit:. II 77 line 22
s¼art. 9 eh. Ille. P Oxy. VII 1044 line r6
5~ art. 229 P Oxy. LVII 3906 line 16
si art. 21 llC P Wash. univ. I I 77 line 24

t :-.:ot 3! art. 7 eh. as incorrectly calculated in ZPE 67 (1987) p. 292.

Notes:
Figures are calculated to the nearest choinix; the artaba used in all cases was the
public artaba of 40 choinikes.
P O:r:y. VII 1044: see L.C. Youtie's revisions of the original edition in ZPE 21
(1976) 1-13; especially pp. 10-12. Her date of AD 235 may well be correct: see ZPE
67 (1987) p. 290. References marked • are not explicitly labelled as basilike, but
there is little doubt that they refer to thnt category.
P O:r:y. XLI I 304T see my revisions in ZPE' 67 ( 1987) 283-i)2.

293
 TABLE 5: Public Land in the Oxyrhynchite Nome
Abbrroiatiom: A Aurelius/Aurelia ar. aroura m male
Alex. Alcxandria(n) art. artaba Oxy. (of) Oxyrhynchus
Any x i&e any crop except isatis d. daughter of s. son of
and edwmenion f female vill. villager(s)

Reference Date Type of Description Arca Crops Location Holder's name Sex Status Also Subtenant's Notes
document of the land private name
land
owner

P. Oxy. Cleop. Petition bas:ililuge wheat lsion

XII 1465 or Aug. Pekysios
P. Wash. 21 BC Petition basilike ge wheat Takona Phanias a. m katoicic Yes
t,.l unil', II arakos Tholthis Sarapion hipparch,
-c n demosios
-+'-
georgos
P. Oslo 5"4 BC Petition basilike ge 5 ar. lentils Antipera Leon s. m Oxy. Yes
II 26 3 ar. & Pela Hcrakleides demosios
wheat georgos
P. Rein. Aug. Oath to from the public ? s. Philotas m vill. Yes
II 99 fann public (?)
land
P. Oxy. 43/4 Sub-lease of the royal Pela Sarapion alias m Artemon? s.
II 368 = St. farmland Didymoa s. Apollonios
Pal. IV Herakleides
p.116
P. Oxy. 44/5 Higher bid basilike ge 40 ar. Nesla Theogenes m Previously cult.
II 279 8, with chlora by
Theogenes others

Tausorapis d. f Yes Ploutas s.

Sub-lease private Iand part wheat, Seryphis
PS/IX 52/3 Ptolemaios
with basilike of barley, Komon
1029
15) arakos?
ar.
wheat Tanais Pisys m viii.
P. Coll. 87/8 Request for basililu etc. 3 ar.
s. Ammon
Youtu seed corn
I 22 Herakleos a. m viii.
Order to basilik~ etc. :1.5! wheat Talao
P. Koln 88 Paesis and three
grant seed ar.
Ill 137 brothers
corn
Imperial outia (wheat) ?Psobthis one person m
P. Rob. 88 Order to
grant seed and other land (east)
inv. 59
corn Oxy.?
Paterm m
P. Rob. 88/9 Order to
[outhis?]
inv. 49 grant seed
s. PaW1iris
corn Oxy.
wheat Psobthis Hcrakleides a. m
t,.l P. Oxy. 92 Order to ousia(ke,) 4d
-c grant seed pro(iodou) ar. (east) & Herakleides
Vl XVIII
corn (30+½ Perothis
2185
+1d
ar.)
batilike I ar. Pounis? Dionysia d. f Yes
P. Prine. 93 Grain
account Petosiris
II.µ Panechotes s. m
P. Oxy. Request for basilifuF 6 ar. wheat In name of
99 Panechotes
LVII 390:i seed corn Ptolemaios
+? alias Pa ... s.
Order to Psobthis
3907 Alexander
grant seed Application
31ar. wheat Kcrke- Thatres d. f
P. Oxy. 99 Request for made by
(21 + thyris? Diogenes
LVII seed corn Ploutiades s.
1ar.) Ptolemaios &
3903 = 3904
+ Order to Diogenes s.
39o8 = 3909 grant seed Nechthenibis
corn
 TABLE 5: Public Land in the Oxyrhynchite Nome Continued

Reference Date Type of Description Area Crops Location Holder's name Sex Status Also Subtenant's Notes
document of the land private name
land
owner

P. Oxy. 99 Request for I ar. wheat Noumenios; m All

LVII seed corn I ar. Apollonios; m villagers
3905 i ar. Totoes; m from Pela
I ar. Hippolytos; m
l ar. Pasalymis; m
½ ar. Horos s. m
Pcmsynis;
I ar. Horos s. m
Parais;
""
'°°' l ar. Naris; m
1 ar. Tanesneus d.
= 71 Peteminis
ar.
SBXIV rn8/9 Lease (public) Exakon s. m Oxy. Yes?
11280 Herodes
P. Matrit. 1 119/20 Official ousiac 210+ Tholthis
report ar.? (Lower)
P. Oxy. IZO Petition basilike Horion; m Horion sub-
XXIV 2410 villagers viii. leases to
others
P. Oxy. 1z9 Order to (public) 1 ¼ ar. wheat Ophis Apol!onios s. m Oxy.
VII 1024 grant seed Hcliodoros
corn
P. Oxy. 130 Sub-lease basilike 5 ar. clwrtos Scnepta? Sarapion s. m Oxy. Valerius s.
IV 730 Hcrodes Apollonios

basilike 3 ar. chortos Sinary Claudia f Dioskoros

P. Oxy. 134'5 Sub-lease
IV 810 Pto!cma
Taamire The demosia
P. Oxy. 139 Cession of demosia ge
ge adjoined
L!I 3690 katoicic land
the land
ceded
Lease hypo/ogos 3 ar.any x Senao Ophclas alias m Oxy.
P. Oxy. 139
X 1279 i&e or Korax
wheat (freedman)
P. Oxy. 148 Order to (public) 28¼ wheat Phoboou Kleochares s. m
XLI 2956 grant seed ar.? Kleochares alias
corn Chairemon and
his half- brother
Kleochart:.'! m
basilika 6! ar. any/ Sinkepha Lucius m Amoitas s.
P. Oxy. 151 Sub-lease
wheat Diogenes Dionysios
N xxxm edaphe
'°
-..J 2676
Epoikion of Apion s. m Oxy.
P. Oxy. 158/9 Transfer of demosia ge
VIII 1123 possession Petcnouris, Sarapion;
Panech- formerly Teos m viii.
mothis s. Totoe.'!
(land i ar. wheat Mouchin- Sarapion s. m Oxy. Diogenes s.
PSI 163 Sub-lease
Horos
registered to axap Hierax
Vil 739
him)
4 ar, Scnnis Anthestius m Oxy. Ye.'! Petitioner
P. Oxy. 180-92 Petition basilike
Primus alias disputes claim
IV 718
Lollianus that the 4 ar.
bas. was his.
Receipt for [public] Tcis Apollonios yr. m viii.
P. Oxy. 197
X 1262 seed corn s. Timagenes
alias Didymos
 TABLE 5: Public Land in the Oxyrhynchite Nome Continued

Reference Date Type of Description Area Crops Location Holder's name Sex Status Also Subtenant's Notes
document of the land private name
land
owner

P. Oxy. 197/8 Request for basilike 17 ar. wheat Tholthis Ischyrion s. m Oxy.
XLIX 3474 loan of seed (Thmoi- Heradion
corn sepho)
P. Oxy. 197-200 Receipt for basilike Heirs of Yes
XII 1441 Crown tax Dionysios s.
Asklepiadcs
P. Mil. llc. Judgement demosia ge Amoiss. m viii.
Vogl. about Amois & his
N IV 211 assignment of brother
'°00 land Onnophris m
P.Oxy. rlc. Report on demosia ge
XII 1445 unprod-
uctivc land
P. Oxy. late II- List of basilike Hcrakleidou Yes
XII 1537 early landowners cpoikion
Ille.
P. Oxy. 199 Petition (public) 20 ar. near Oxy. Apollonarion f Oxy.
VI 899 /200 ? ar. Chusis alias Aristandra
? ar. ? d. Aristander
110 ar. Ision Panga
381 ar. Seryphis
? ar, Senekelcu &
Kc[]

Antipera Horigeneia d. f Alex.? Yes I assume the

P. Col. Declaration basililu share
203/4 Marcus (aste) identity of
inv. 478 of ab,ochos of d Pela
Horigeneia
ar.
with H. in SB
XVI 12642,
despite the
editor's
reservations
Tanais? A. Dionysios m 13 art. wheat
P. Oxy. 217 Certificate demosia ge 13 ar.? wheat
supplied from
Htls. 24 for delivery Tanais
of seed corn granary.
Psobthis A. Syrion m Oxy. A. Ammonas registered to
P. Oxy. 219 Sub-lease basilike ge 6 ar. wheat/
(east) elder & A. s. ? Strati ... s. ?
LV 38.oo ch/ora
Heraklianus m Oxy.
alias Sarapion
N Registered to
t¼ar. A, Cornelius s. m Oxy.
'°
'° P. Lond. 224 Declaration basilike Sento
Paseis heirs of
inv. 2174 of abrochos
Hermogenes;
formerly of
Pekyllos s.
Potamon
wheat Monimou A.? s. m Oxy.
P. Hamb. 225 Request for basilikt ge 13¼
ar. cpoikion Channion living in a
I 19 loan of seed
village
corn Registered to:
1 ar. Palosis Julius Horion m veteran Yes
P. Oxy. 226 Declaration basilike Herakleios s.
XII 1459 of abrochos
Sepho Petosiris
tar.
Petosiris s.
Thacsis
 TABLE 5: Public Land in the Oxyrhynchite Nome Continued
Reference Date Type of Description Area Crops Location Holder's name Sex Status Also Subtenant's Notes
document of the land private name
land
owner

P. Oxy. 228 Request for demcsia ge 30 ar. wheat Sko L. Aur. m A. Biaios s.
VII 1031 loan of seed Apollonios & Biaios
corn son L. Aur. m
Matraios alias
Heraiskos
(;; P. Oxy. 229 Request for basilike ge 19 ff wheat Sinkcpha A. lulius s. m viii. Registered to
0 LV!I 3900 loan of seed ar. Ammonios, other persons,
0
corn 31 ar. Akairaios s. m viii. and assigned
rh ar. Papontos, to M. Lollius
19) ar. Kopreus s. m viii. Leonides and
9j¼ ar. Saras, Papontos Athenodoros
st ar. s, Cornelius m vi!I. s.
+ Athcnodoros
more

P. Oxy. 2351 Taxation list

VII 1044
(with ZPE
Yes
21 (1976)
1ff.} col. i
(ban'lihe) 1nar. Palosis (& Heirs of
Pausirion s.
m
Teis?:
6ff. h/eros of Pausirion
Dryos)
m Yes
basilihe di Palosia (& Petsirion s,
1off. Teis?) Sirion
ar. Yes
Palosis Pausirion s. m
basilihe l ar.
14f. Psenamounis
Tsenyris d. f Yes
basilike 11 ar. Palosis
17f. Petronius
alias Horion
(;;
0 Palosis Petsiris s. m
.... basilike 5/1,
19ff. Herakleos
ar.
through heirs
Tnephersois d. f Yes
basilike if ar. Netro
22ff. Onnophris
Tausiris m. f Yes
col. ii
pleonasmcu A ar. Palosia?
Ptolema
basilikes m viii. A. Spartiates
23 10¼ any X Sko A. Tioris &
P. Ryl. Sublease basilike alias
244 i&e three brothers
ar. Chairemon
IV 683 wheat
10¼
ar.
 TABLE 5: Public Land in the Oxyrhynchite Nome Continued

Reference Date Type of Description Area Crops Location Holder's name Sex Status Also Subtenant's Notes
document of the land private name
land
owner

p Oxy. Z45 Declaration basilikt d ar. Thmoine- Calpumia f Alex. Yes Registered to
XLII 3047 of abrochos psobthis Heraklia alias 'those of the
10 ar. Schoibis Eudamia d. house of the
Calpurnius deified
Theon Vcspssian and
Titu•'
SB mid- Land basililu
XVIII Ille. register
w
0 14067
t,l
SB 261 Sub?-lease basililu 1! ar. any Sko A. Dionysia d. f (minor) Claudius Diony.sia's
Xll 11o81 Theon alias Apelles alias tenure termed
Dionysotheon Isidoros 'hyparchein'
SB 296 Report basilike gt t ar. Seryphis Valerius s. m living in Paulos
VII 9502 Petosiris the
Serapeum
P. Oxy. Ille. List of basilikt
XII 1535 landholders
recto
P. Giu. 113 lllc. List of basilike
landholders

Granary ousiac; former Sinary

P Oxy. II le.
XLIV 3170 accounts estate of
Anthos;
prosodQ11
dioikeseos;
former estate of
Salvius lustus,
prosodou of the
idios wgos
Hcrmo- Ammonias•· m Oxy.
Ilk Letter ousiakt gt 26 ar.
PSI polite Petalos
XJI 126o nome? Ammonias m Oxy.
yr. •· Ammonias
'Those from
lbion' vii!.
w
0 demosia gt
w PSI Ilk. Accounts
VII 8o8
recto Stephanos & m Yes?
SB Ilic.? List of basilikt
Thcon
V 7633 landholders Yes?
Ammons. m
c.14½
ar. Aleos
'Those from viii.
P. Oslo III 319 Receipt for basilike gt
Petroki'
119 clothes tax
 Appendix 1: Table 6
TABLE 6: The Distribution of Landholding Sizes: Comparative Evidence

~ a. Classification of the productivity of land areas in post-1800 Egypt:

0
z (Adapted from G. Baer, A history of land ownership in modem Egypt,
1800-1950 (Oxford, 1962), 76)

Up to 3 feddan (4.5 arouras): insufficient to support a family on

its own.
3-10 feddan (4.5-15 arouras): enough to support a family.
10-roo feddan (15-150) arouras: 'medium landholders': necessitates
leasing out part of the land or
employing hired labour.
Over roo feddan (150 arouras): often absentees.
=l :,:.
1;j
u5 0
~

"
Ul S E b. Percentage of Hermopolite landholders in P. Landlisten F and G with
holdings approximating to the categories in A:
~
c:: P. Landi. F P. Landl. G
..
.,
-.,
'tl Under 5 arouras 29.0 30.2
0 5-15 arouras 34.5 34.0
:i:::
15-150 arouras 26.6 27.2
"'O c:: 150 arouras and above 9.9 8.6
<I.I
;;;I
.5
.... j"
..
.g
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0
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"' ·c: ... .g
~ ;;;-5 ~
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~
.. 0 'o a
...,
.,,
i
{i ..,
"
....
.:: ....=
..,
s0
c::
..!l
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>,
._

~ $.,-.,
'tl

a .. ..!lc::
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3o5
304
 Ul
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TABLE 7: Landholders and their Holdings in the Vicinity of Palosis (Early Ille. AD)
According to P Oxy. VII 1044, with L. C. Youtie, ZPE 21 (1976) 1-13; cf. J. Rowlandson, ZPE 67 (1987) 283-<)2; the data
from col. ii (unpublished) has been reconstructed from the information provided by Youtie's article. All unbracketed data
is based directly on the surviving text; for the bracketed village locations of kleroi, see Pruneti, Aegyptus, 55 (1975), 159-
244; bracketed tax categories have been inferred from the amount of tax paid.

Col. i:

Name of landholder Number of Total area Area of each Location: kleros Location: Taxation
parcels (arouras) parcel (arouras) village category

[] 4 9+ sNs Sotades (Palo sis?) (monartabos)

[] Nikomachos (Palosis)
w
0 ½ Andronikos (Palosis) (monartabos)
-.J
3n Sotades (Palosis?) monartabos
Heirs of Pausirion 4 2½? I Cherigenes Palosis (basilike?)
son of Pausirion ½¼ Oryos? {Teis?) (basilike ?)
[H ?] Menemachos (Palosis?) H (artabas)
l Dryos (Teis?) (basilike)
Petsirion son of 5 2½! I Andron with (Palosis) basilike
Sirion Menestheos
½ Nikostratos {Palosis?) (basilike)
Menemachos (Palosis?) (monartabos)
i Polemon (Palo sis?) basilike
t\ Dryos (Teis?) (basilike)
 TABLE7: Continued

Name of landholder Number of Total area Area of each Location: kleros Location: Taxation
parcels (arouras) parcel (arouras) village category
Pausirion son of 2 ,& ¼ Nikostratos (Palosis?) (monartabos)
Psenamounis l Menemachos (Palosis?) basilike
Tetsiris daughter of I I I Rest of (Palosis) monartabos
Harpsemis, wife of Menestheos
aforesaid
Tsenyris daughter of 2 31 2 Menemachos (Palosis?) monartabos
Petronius alias H Cherigenes (Palosis) basilike
1.,.1
0 Horion
00
Petsiris son of 6 si.% ¼ Nikomachos Palosis basilike
Herakleos through & Koraes? (basilike?)
his heirs ½ Polemon (Palosis?) (basilike)
I Polemon (Palosis?) (basilike)
3½ Polemon (Palosis?) (basilike)
½ Polemon (Palosis?) (basilike)
Tnephersois daughter 7 13j½a 10 Andron with (Palosis) manartabos
of Onnophris wife Menestheos
of Harapynchis(?) i Agathanor & Netro (monartabos)
Paramonos
*½ (ditto?) basilike

½ Andron with (Palosis) monartabos

Menestheos
1 Rest of (Palosis) monartabos
Menestheos
½ Andronikos (Palosis) (monartabos)
1 Polemon (Palosis?) (monartabos)

" sl ar. was booked

to Arsinoos alias Dionysios son of Apollophanes of the metropolis; a further 5 ar. from the kleros of Andron with
Menestheos had been sold to Artemeis daughter of Tsenpausiris (lines 26-8).

Col. ii:

~ Name of landholder Number of Total area Area of each Location: kleros Location: Taxation
'° parcels (arouras) parcel (arouras) village category

Heirs of Pausirion son 6+ Aphr()

of Onnophris Polemon (Palosis?)
Theon idiotike 1 ½ art.
(ditto) monartabos
[]
Andron (Palosis?)
Heirs of Pardalas son 3+ Strombos
of Thaesis Strombos
1½(artabas)
 TABLE7: Continued

Name of landholder Number of Total area Area of each Location: kleros Location: Taxation
parcels (arouras) parcel (arouras) village category

Tausiris daughter of more than 12 Cheri genes (Palosis)

Ptolema Nikomachos (Palosis)
A Rest of (Palosis) 1 ½(artabas)
Menestheos
Sotades (Palosis?)
s¼ idiotike 1 ¼ art.
½ basilike
Andron with (Palosis)
...
w
0 Menestheos
Nikostratos (Palosis?)
Menemachos (Palosis?)
Agathanor Netro
Paramonos
6i monartabos
~ pleonasmQU
basilikes)
Heirs of Pa[ ] son of at least 1 Sotades
Tsenpaulemis

TABLE8: The Provisions of Testaments from Oxyrhynchus, I-Ille. AD

Reference Date Testator Beneficiaries Bequest

(male/female) Heirs Others includes land

P. Oxy. II 379 81-96 Female Two brothers, one sister Provision for testator's
daughter?
P. Oxy. I 104 96 Female One son Husband receives habitation
of house; daughter also
benefits.
P. Oxy. III 650 1-Ilc. Female
P. Oxy. III 489 II7 Male Children Wife receives use of house,
w....
furniture, slaves.
... P. Oxy. IV 837 117/8 Female Son of first marriage, Daughter receives dowry;
children of second marriage guardian appointed for
children.
P. Oxy. III 583 u9/20 Female First to husband; then to Legacy of 100 dr. to husband's
adopted sons daughter
P. Oxy. III 490 124 Female A minor; or her closest
relatives
P. Oxy. III 491 126 Male Three sons equally; extra to Guardians appointed for Unspecified
eldest for paying debts. younger sons if under edaphe
twenty years old.
P. Oxy. III 634 126 Female Husband A slave (not belonging to the
testator) receives money and
habitation of house.
 TABLE 8: The Provisions of Testaments from Oxyrhynchus, I-Ille. AD Continued

Reference Date Testator Beneficiaries Bequest

(male/female) Heirs Others includes land

P Oxy. III 65r 126/7 Male Children Guardian appointed until

their majority
P. Oxy. II I 492 130 Female Two half-brothers, unrelated
to the testator
P. Kifln II 100 133 Female One son, two daughters Daughter's son receives Various plots
1 ar.; testator's 'husband' near Phoboou,
also benefits. Ophis and
Posompous
-
w
N
P. Oxy. 134 Male Fellow freedwoman Legacies to fellow freedmen.
Aristomachou

XXXVIII 2857
(Roman will)
P. Oxy. I 105 117-38 Male A daughter or her Wife receives habitation of
half-brother house and use of moveables.
P Oxy. III 646 117-38 Male Two sons equally; extra
moveables to the cider.
P Oxy. III 648 II7-38 Male
P. Oxy. III 493 early Man and wife Whichever of them survives The survivor may leave the
Ilc. jointly property to the four children.
P Oxy. III 647 early Female
Ilc.

Two sons A payment to 'Zoilos'

P. Oxy. II I 649 early lVIalc
IIc.
P Oxy. III 652 early Female
IIc.
Sons by former and present Provision for a nurse
P. Oxy. VI 968 early Female
Ilc. husband.
Plots near
early Female The two sons of Horos son
P Wise. I 13 Posompous
Ilc. of Pclux, equally
Aristomachou
and Pthochis
Son Wife has lifetime usufruct,
P Oxy. III 494 156 Male
and may sell or mortgage.
w Son (minor) Testator's sister to look after
~

w P. Oxy. I II 495 181----95 Male

boy and estate until his
majority
Ilc. Male Three sons, and wife,
P. Oxy. LII
equally.
3692 (Roman
will) chersampelos and
Ilc. Female Zoilos and Tamenis:
PSI III 240 date grove
relationship unclear
 TABLE 8: The Provisions of Testaments from Oxyrhynchus, I-III c. AD Continued

Reference Date Testator Beneficiaries Bequest

(male/female) Heirs Others includes land

PSI XII 1263 Ilc. Female Two sons; one receives an A slave and her daughter Includes land
extra rs ar. (Sarapous) to be freed and near Toou and
receive maintenance and Satyrou epoikion
lodging. Testator's grand-
daughter to receive services
w,... of Sarapous, [produce of?]
..... some land, and jewellery.
P. Oxy. VII Ilc. Male Daughter and her foster-
1034 (draft) brother, equally, and another
SB XVI 12331 II-Ille. ? Daughter and Hermias and Includes 2 ar.;
others, in two equal shares and near Teis, a
vineyard.
P Oxy. XXII 224 Male Sons must pay for funeral,
2348 (Greek supervised by wife and others.
record of opening
of Roman will)

;\hie Three sons and two Wife receives land on which Various plots
P. Oxy. VI 907 276
daughters dowry secured; dowry arable and
(Roman)
provided for unmarried vineyard.
daughter; guardian for
minors; bequest to friend.
PSI IX ro40 Ille. Male Son Female slave freed and
(Roman) provided for.
Children (minors) Epitropos to manage heirs' Epitropos to
w
...
Vl
P. Oxy. XXVII Ilic. Male
property, and to receive land receive cornland
2474 (Roman)
himself. near Senokomis
and Pela
 Appendix 1: Table 9
TABLE 9: The Evidence of Testacy in Declarations of Property
r-
Intestate Testament Other document
<U

Oxyrhynchus "'
Arsinoite
7 cases (3)
5 (1)
6 (1) 3 (2) t
(U
::i
0
..c:
0.. .....
Elsewhere 6 (4) 4 (2) I (1) ...
0
0.
0

Aggregate percentage of 47% 33% 750/o ...

(U
agricultural properties ...
..c:
0
Figures in brackets refer the number of cases in which the property
agricultural land.
included ...
(J)

<U
'ii(J
References ((g) = general return, (r) = regular return}: ...
o1
A
Oxyrhynchus: intestate-P. Oxy. II 247(g), 248(g), III 48r(g), SB VI 93r7i(r), ...
<U
93r7ii(r), PSI VIII 942(g), XV 1532 (g?}; testate-P. Oxy. I 75(r), II 249(g), III ..?:
482(g?), 638(r), P. Harr. I 74(g), P. Oxy. III 636 = St. Pal. IV p. rr4(r); other-P. ·;;;
Oxy. II 25o(g), III 637(g), IV 7r3(r). .....
0

Arsinoite: intestate-BOU III 919, IV 1034, XI 2097, 2100, P. Bon. 24c (all r).
Elsewhere: intestate: P. Ryl. II 108(r), M. Chr. zog(r), P. Vindob. Bos. 3(r), P. Oxy. ..:
IV 715.6ff.(g), M. Chr. 200.5ff., zoff. (request for permission to sell); testate-M. '"Cl
.fl
Chr. 2rr(r), P. Oslo II 24(g), PSI XIII 1325(r), P. Oxy. IV 7r5.r7ff.(g); other-P.
Amh. II 7r(r).
-
N

A
(U
3!
0
ell
C:
e
(NB: BGU IV 1034 and P. Oslo II 24 provide no details about whether the e .,;
(U
o1
...
C:
0
property included land or not). ..: "'
"' u
"Cl
0
...
(U

'"Cl .s
N
<"l

~~~
000
c..;c..;c..;
 TABLE IO: The Composition of Oxyrhynchite Dowries, I-Ille. AD Continued

Text Date Pherne Parapherna Other property

P Oxy. XLIX 157/8 Total 6900 dr.: gold earrings, tin, Parental apportionment
349 1 1 ta!. coin; gold ornaments 2 minas cloak, statuette, jar, of land/house property to
weight (600 dr. value); clothes 300 chairs, mirror etc. bride, with usufruct to
dr. value husband during marriage
P Oxy. VI 905 170 I mina weight gold 2 outer veils
St. Pal. IV p.n5 I 69-76 Ind. items 4 qtrs. and earrings 10 tins, jars, unguent-box, shares of 2 houses
(=P Oxy. 603) qtrs. weight; 3 garments 360 dr. red chiton
value
(.,J
SB VI 9372+ Ilc. Gold ornaments 14 qtrs weight, 217 copper vessels, bowl,
H
00
dr. value; clothes 40 dr. value; pair chest etc.
silver bracelets, 14 dr. weight (i.e.
total value 271 dr.)
PSI V 450 recto II-Ille. 6 minas 4 qtrs. weight gold; clothes female slave? (a house
col. I value 100 dr. seems to be security
given by husband)
P Oxy. X 1273 260 I mina 4.5 qtrs. weight gold
ornaments; clothes value 620 dr.
P Coll. Youtie II 67 260/1 17 minas less I qtr. weight gold Gold jewellery, clothes, Mother gives bride two
ornaments; necklace and earrings linen, brasses, stones, I slaves
value 1500 dr.; other items; clothes ta!. to buy slaves
value 5000 dr.; 4 tal. 2000 dr. to buy
other items

p Oxy. VI 907 276 Total 4 ta!. silver

p Oxy. X 1274 Ilic. Gold ornaments, clothes etc. total
value 2.5 ta!.

Note: This table includes all types of document which preserve details of dowry composition. For complete lists of marriage and divorce
documents, see Kutzner, Unters. zur Stellung der Frau, pp. 27f. and 65. The new edition of P. Mich. inv. 6551, P. Mich. XV 700, makes clear
that it was found at Karanis, and therefore should not be included among Oxyrhynchite texts.
(.,J a A syngraphe trophitis.
H
b See \Vhitehorne, Atti del 17 Congresso lnt. Pap. iii. 1269 on the date.
'° c The girl died before the grant of the dowry took effect.
d With \Vhitehorne, Archiv 32 (1986), 51f.
 Append£x I: Table I I
Appendix I: Tables I r-IJ
TABLE11: Agricultural Land Prices from Oxyrhynchus Note also values of land assessed for liturgical purposes:
Reference Date Area Type of Price Price per Reference Date Price per
Area Type of Price
land aroura land aroura
P. Oxy. IV 794 85/6 It§ ar. arable 500 dr. 490.19 dr./ar. P. Oxy. XLIX 70 15 ar. arable 6000 dr. 400 dr./ar.
PSI VIII 897 (i) 93 5 ar. arable 1200 dr. 240 dr./ar. 8 ar. 2500 dr. 312.5 dr./ar.
3508
PSI VIII 897 (ii) 93 3 ar. arable 240 dr. 800 dr./ar.
P. Oxy. LII 3690 139 5 ar. + arable 4500 dr. 643 dr./ar. Notes:
2 ar. " All the figures in this entry are extremely doubtful because of the fragmentary
P. Oxy. III 633 early 1-M ar. arable 900 dr. 616.43 dr./ar. nature of the text.
Ilc. b No allowance has been made for the price of the houses.

P. Oxy. III 504 early 61ar. arable 1000 dr. 150.15 dr./ar. < No allowance has been made for the price of the houses.

IIc.
P. Oxy. X 1270 159 lar. arable 106 dr. 636 dr./ar.
SB XII II229 161~ 2½ ar.? arable 1500 dr. 600 dr./ar.? TABLE 12: Seasonal Variation in the Dates of Sale Contracts
P. Matrit. 2 181/2 3 ar. arable 2000 dr. 666.67 dr./ar.
P. Wise. I 9 183 6ii ar. arable 4000 dr. 436.20 dr./ar. Monthly analysis of the dates at which the contracts were drawn up:
SB XVI 12333 189? 28½ ar. vineyard 17,100 dr. 600 dr./ar.
Thoth 2 cases Tybi 0 Pachon l
(with
Phaophi 4 Mecheir 4 Pauni I
wheel)
Hathyr 3 Phamenoth 2 Epeiph l
SB XVI 12553 II/Ilic. 8 ar. old 9000 dr. ? 1ooo dr./ar. ?"
Choiak 3• Pharmouthi 0 Mesore/extra days 2
I ar. +? vineyard
chersos +? • Two of these cases are dated on the first day of the month (P. Wise. I 9, P. Oxy.
P. Oxy. LI 3638 220 Not vineyard 1000 dr. XIV 1636); the third is to be dated not later than Choiak, but possibly earlier in the
stated and year (P. Oxy. X 1270).
irrigation
equipment
P. Gen. II II6 247 more vineyard 7400 dr. approx. 275
than & reedbed; dr./ar.b TABLE r3: Analysis of the Status of Creditors and Debtors on the Security
241! ar. arable; of Landed Propertya
houses
P. Oxy. XIV 1636 249 ½ar. arable 400 dr. 1200 dr./ar. Origin:
P. Oxy. XII 1475 267 l r ar. arable 9700 dr. c.820 dr./ar.< Oxyrhynchus Village Alexandria Total
(with irrig. Debtors 4 cases 7 I2
tiar. equip.); dry Creditors 6 I 2 9
orchard;
" Information for the table is derived from: P. Harr. I 138 col. iii I 1ff., P. Merton I
houses and
23, P. Oxy. I 56, II 270, III 506, XVII 2134, XXII 2349, XLIX 3508, PSI XIII
vacant lots 1328, PSI Congr. XI 9, P. Wash. univ. II 78, SB IV 7339, VI 9190.
P. Oxy. XLIX 274 12H ar. arable 30,000 dr. 2335.7 dr./ar.
3498 (with irrig.
equip.)
P. Oxy. IX 1208 291 I ar. arable 9000 dr. r I ,250 dr./ar.
(with irrig.
equip.)
321
 TABLE r4: Loans on the Security of Agricultural Land (Only cases which supply some details are included in this table)

Reference Date (AD) Sum loaned Interest p.a. Duration Security

P. Oxy. XXII 2349 70 24½ ar.

SB IV 7339 + P. Oxy. IX 1203 Vesp. 46 ar.
P. Oxy. I I 373 791!0 n20 dr. ro ar. katoicic land
P. Oxy. II 270 94 3500 dr. 12% 2 years 24h ar. katoicic and bought land
(another 7 ar. was mortgaged to a
different creditor)
P. Oxy. I I 343 99 2¼ ar. katoicic land
P. Wash. univ. II 78 col. ii 9 early le. 6 talents 12% 4 ar. and 1½ar.
w P. Wash. univ. I I 78 col. ii 11 early le. 340 dr. 12% 4 ar., vineyard, orchard, house,
N and vacant ground
N
P. Oxy. I I 348 late le. 40 ar. katoicic land
P. Oxy. III 483 ro8 12% I I years 6 ar. katoicic land
5 months
P. Oxy. I II 588 108 2 ar. katoicic land
SB VI 9190 131 total 618 dr. (210 1i ar. katoicic land (partly
dr. in addition chersampelos)
to 408 dr. loaned
on same
security in 129)

P. Oxy. I II 506 143 rooo dr. 6% 2 years 1ff ar. chersampelos

9 months
In same I tal. 600 dr. interest incl. 14½ar. cornland
month,
another loan
PSI Congr. XI 9 161/2? 2300 dr. interest incl. r4i ar., house, and vacant lots
P. Oxy. XVII 2134 c. 170 1800 dr. 6% 1 year 4 ar. katoicic land
9 months
w P. Merton Ill 109 Ilc. 3 ar.
N
w P. Leid. Inst. 43 14ff. Ilc. vineyard, ? ar. arable
P. Merton I 23 late Ilc. 500 dr. 48% I year(+?) 2 ar.
PSI XIII 1328 201 (loan 2 tal. 10% l year c.13½ ar. vineyard and arable,
made in including katoicic and bought
194) land.
P. Oxy. I 56 2II 6ooo dr. vineyard
 TABLE 15: Leases of Vineyards and of Work in Vineyards; The Character of the Remuneration

P Oxy. IV 729 P Ross. Georg. II 19 P Ho.rr. I 137 P. Oxy. XLVII 3354 P. Oxy. XIV 1631 PS/XIII
1338

Form of lease vineyard vineyard vineyards work work work

Description of (sharceropping) phoros (sharecropping): o.nti misthos misthos rm'sthos
main payment phorou
Size of main Landlord Landlord receives Landlord receives half Tenants receive 36o Tenants receive 4500 Landlord(?)
payment (per receives half 2100(?) dr. plus 400 her. of wine produced and dr./ar. dr. receives 1200
annum) wine produced or(?) 2500 dr. plus of other fruits dr./ar.
plus 50 ker. 50 ker. or its price
Extra payments 6o dr. (?) 75 bundles of vinewood; From each of two Tenants receive per Tenants receive: None
(made by bunch of 300 grapes; vineyards near Sinary: annum: 10 art. wheat; 4 ker.
tenants to 100 cheeses fruit of one date palm; 2 ker. sweet wine; 1 ker. sour wine; wine
landlord unless , art. pressed dates; 400 1 art. loaves worth 16 3 art. wheat; 2 her. Landlord receives:
w
N otherwise ker. wine; 5 jars of dr. new wine 1 l art. fresh dates;
of.
stated) olives; 20 gourds; 40 From the vineyard Tenants also 1 ½ art. pressed dates;
melons; 2 bundles of 'Pangouleiou' (near purchase the 1 l art. walnut dates;
vegetables a day in Seryphis): 4 her. produce of half the 1 l art. black olives;
season; 20
sweet wine; 2 art. date palms growing 500 choice peaches;
pomegranates; ! art. loaves worth 16 dr. among the vines 15 citrons; 400 summer
2 eh. black olives; IOO
Bunches of grapes; the figs; 500 winter figs; 4
peaches; 200 figs; 8 eh. large white melons
dried plums(?) price of piglets, 80 dr.

Note: The following texts are too incomplete to be included in the table:
P. Oxy. XIV 1692: preserves no details about the remuneration.
P. Lo.ur. IV 166: a 4000 [dr.] payment should probably be restored as a wage paid by the landlord; no other details survive.
P. Rob. inv. 7 (= BASP 25 (1988) 114-8): preserves fragments of several extra payments, including I art. wheat and a pig worth [30] dr.; but
no continuous sense can be made of them.
•I am grateful to Dr J. R. Rea for pointing out that the editor's reading, 100 artabas of peaches, seems an absurdly large amount, and
suggesting a possible alternative restoration of l]K[-\€1<]rwv('choice'); (cf. P. Oxy. XIV 1631).

TABLE 16: Vineyard Work as specified in the Leases of Work

This tabulates the information about work due from lessees of vine work in the three surviving Oxyrhynchite contracts
which preserve full details. In addition, P Laur. IV 166 clearly contained similar information, of which only fragments
survive; PSI XIII 1338 never listed work in detail, specifying only irrigation and weeding. In P Oxy. XLVII 3354, the
wage was paid in monthly instalments of differing value, sometimes associated with a particular task due in that season.
Since this information shows both the seasonal distribution of the tasks throughout the year, and their relative
importance, it is included in the table.

P Oxy. XL VII 3354 P Oxy. XIV 1692 P Oxy. XIV 1631

Remuneration:
Month due Sum (dr.) Tasks Tasks Tasks
v>
N Hathyr
01 200 Pulling up reeds, collection Pulling up reeds; transport Pulling up reeds, collection
Choiak 200 and transport of reeds of these to customary place and transport of reeds
Tybi 400 Proper pruning, making into (Pruning excluded from Proper pruning, making into
bundles, binding and work required) bundles, binding and transport
transport of bundles Sweeping up leaves and of bundles
Sweeping up leaves and disposal to suitable places Sweeping up (?) leaves and
disposal outside walls outside walls disposal outside walls
Hoeing Hoeing
Trenching round Trenching round
Layering as many shoots as Layering as necessary Layering as many shoots as
necessary necessary
Hoeing and digging (?)
trenching around
 P Oxy. XL VII 3354 P Oxy. XIV 1692 P Oxy. XIV 1631
Remuneration:
Month due Sum (dr.) Tasks Tasks Tasks

Mecheir 400 Supervising asses in reedbed Collection of new reeds for (Landlord responsible for
carrying chous reedwork reedwork)
Splitting reeds Reedwork (reeds supplied by Assistance in reedwork
Reedwork landlord)
(Phamenoth?) r8o Second hoeing Second hoeing
pinching shoots pinching shoots
(Pharmouthi) 240 'work of Pharmouthi' 'work of Pharmouthi'
thinning leaves thinning
<.,;
(Pachon) IOO trimming top-growth trimming
N Pauni 240 Necessary defoliation Necessary defoliation
°' Splitting each reed
(All year?) Watering Watering Watering
Constant weeding Constant weeding Constant weeding
Pinching shoots
thinning leaves
In the reedbed, ditching In the reedbed and ktema,
round, spreading manure supervising asses throwing up
chous
(Epeiph, paid l00 Make matting for treading- Be present at vintage Test jars for wine, put full jars
Thoth?) vat and press, and part for in open-air shed; and strain
(Mesore paid 100 wheel. Test jars for wine, put from one jar to another; guard
Phaophi?) full jars in open-air shed; oil, them.
move, guard them.

3 ... '<:
0
3~§'.<:
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 Appendix 1: Table 19
TABLE r9: Metropolitan Landlords: The Location of their Land and
Residence of their Tenants, I-Ille. AD APPENDIX 2:
Location of land Total Leases with metropolitan landlord OXYRHYNCHITE LAND LEASES
(toparchy) number of and tenant with known residence
surviving Total village Oxy. tenant
leases tenant

Upper le. 3 3 3a 0 INTRODUCTION

IIc. 4 3 0 3
Ille. 21 12 6 6 The purpose of this appendix is to present in summary form details of
Western le. 0 0 0 0
the r43 Oxyrhynchite land leases between the beginning of the first
IIc. 2
century BC and the end of the fourth century AD, in order to facilitate
5 3 I
Ille. 6 2
reference to this material in the foregoing text. It is hoped that the
3 I
Eastern le. 0 I
various columns are largely self-explanatory, but the list of general
Ilc. 6 6 abbreviations is followed by notes to elucidate the content of particular
7 0
IIIc. 2 2 2 0
columns.
Middle le. 0 0 0 0
Ilc. 7 6 5 I
GENERAL ABBREVIATIONS
.b
Ille. 6 !I 3 3
Thmoisepho le. 0 0 0 0 A. Aurelius/ Aurelia kat. katoicic
IIc. I re 0 0 a/a artabas per
IIIc. 0 0 0 0 aroura ker. keramion/-a
Lower le. 0 0 0 0 Alex. Alexandria(n) L landlord
IIc. 2 I I 0 any x i&e any crop except
Ille. 2 0 0 0 isatis m. measure
and echomenion Mac. Macedonian
a One resident in the Western toparchy, two in the Kynopolite nome {probably ar. aroura mo. whose mother is
dose to the land). art. artaba Oxy. (of) Oxyrhynchus
h One lease had both metropolitan and village tenants.
boul. bouleutes
c In this case, the tenant was Alexandrian.
(councillor) pryt. prytanis
eh. choinix/-ikes rec. rece1v1ng
d. daughter of s. son of
dr. drachma T tenant
ep. epoikion thr. fl. threshing floor
gran. granary viii. villager
gym. gymnasiarch wh. wheat

Other occasional abbreviations, particularly of place-names, should be

self-evident.

32 9
 Appendix 2: Oxyrhynchite Land Leases
NOTES ON INDIVIDUAL COLUMNS
Location: The toparchy is given, if known, even if this information is not
contained in the text of the lease.
Area: Separate parcels are listed separately; information relating to rents
on each parcel should be read horizontally.
Description: Information adheres as closely as possible to the text of the
lease, and indicates (i) if the lessor was acting on behalf of another
person, and (ii) the tenurial status of the land, often implicitly; e.g.
'Belonging (i.e. hyparchein) to L' indicates private land owned by the
landlord. '•belonging' is used where the verb is hypostellein.
Crops: Numbers refer to years within a system of crop rotation; i.e.
r/3 = 'years one and three'; 1-3 = 'years one to three'.
Rent, amount: This often relates to the crop of one year in a system of .; 0
crop rotation; see previous line. 1: "·-
0
=a ·a.:
0 "
Measure: 4-ch. m. =four-choinix measure; ¼ m.=metron tetarton.
Landlord, name: Where a landlord was acting in an official capacity, his
j J •
~ ""
"'<
0

office but not his name is given.

Landlord, status: Available information changes over the period, from
=a-I
f-- ~

~
late Ptolemaic military titles, to the origin (mostly Oxyrhynchus, i.e. :,

of metropolitan status) and later any offices held.

Tenant, status: This includes the village of origin of village tenants, and
l
§
its toparchy, if not already given under 'Location' column. See also
previous line. j~
General remarks: This regularly indicates if the lease is a renewal, and u d
:.U
<J u
-_...c
whether any debts are owed. ABR indicates a clause providing for rent
..!! :,
"' -c ...~
..c
reduction in case of abrochia. gu
~ -6
.
"-
u>-!":
i "5 5
-

e
u ~--
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a. ;:; • ..c" • ...l

·5
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E ell~
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ll'o
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8 - - ..,_..
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0( 11;:,ce

330 33I
 The contract The object The rent Tax Landlord Tenant General rem.arks
resp,

Reference Da.te Tem1 Loca- Area Descrip- Crop• Month Place Amount Measure Name status Name statu:!il
(yrs.) tion (ar.) tion due due p.a.

P. Oxy. 9 Thoth I Pffllis 36! which L wheat L's thr. Share- L Dionyiios ,. Mac. Artcmidoros Mac. T pays cost of
II 277 t9 BC holds H. cropping Alex:ande-r hipp- ,. hipp- transport and
(BL I) Pami.s. arch Artcmidoros arch threshing; both
share harvesting
cost. Tax
deducted from
rent.
l' Oxy. Phaophi Mer~
IV 823 6 BC mcrtha
Upper
SBXll J I (2 I 1 araktn Pauni Thr. fl. ../a wheat 4-ch. m. L Dcmctrioa Thooni.a Tax deducted
<.,.>
l"94l lhthyr for I 1 barley cp. ,: •a/• of T from rent. T
<.,.> 4 BC 2nd Deilou wheat provides meal for
N plot) i: s•I• Lat Little
wheat Pankyli,. T pay,
I cannl c.horlo1 ahan:::~ L price of 8 art,
6 cherscn no c.-op no wagc wheat. Rene
doubled if land
not wwn.

rst Century AD

The contnu:t The object The rent T•x Landlord Tenant G~cral remarks
tcap.
---- --- -
Rcfercncc Date Term Loe.a- Arclil Oe,-cr-ip- Crops Month Place Amount 1\-leuure Name atatua: Nllmc status
(y".) tion {u.) tion due due p.a.

l' Oxy. Phaophi Didymoa Land to be

11 3H AD 6 returned free
of J.yp,ri,.

P. Oxy. 30 I partly Pauni Tur. fl. wheat 4-ch. m. L Dionysio, s. One Fine of 200 dr. if
VIII Phaophi fodder? Tryph- of Thcon tenant T abandon, land.
!I~ 26 onl:s Ammon-
la.ion io:s s.
Ptol-
cm11ios
P. Oxy. 43 I Pela batililu Sarapion aliu Artcmon? s.
II 368 \Vc:Uern Didymoa s. Apollonios
=St. Pal. 1icrak1eides
lV p. 116
P. Oxy. «Is Neda 40 ba,ilik, p s a/• wheo< Official: Theogenes s. Ch/om apparently
!I 279 Upper !? ? ba,ililro- Theogenea previously grown
gmmmatcus on half the land.
PS/IX 52/J I Seryphi, 8 Belonging wheat 7 a/• wheat L Tat.aorapis d. Ploutas s, By survey, 1 art.
102-9 We,tern 8! to L, wheat 6 sf• wheat Kornon Ptolemaios 'sundr-lc:s' cxtn!J.
ii with barley s a/• Rent only on
6 b-asiiiJu barley inundated lwd.
anz,lt., 2a/• whe~t
<.,.>
<.,.> l' Oxy. Pham~ public 8+ .,,. 8 ¼ m. Thrakidao Ploution :,i,
<.,.> X!.Vll enoth 68 gran. c;:h, wheat Epimocho,
3JS2
P. Oxy. 70 l Thmol- 10 Belonging 1: a ra.lt<Js Pauni Thr. ft. 1: 7 ½ art. 4-ch. m. L Dionysioo Oxy. ? •· Philiskos viii. 10 art. seed repe.id

XLIX thothis to L Nigrou wh. of alias Pctosiris Cynop. with rent. T.

348S Upper :1: wheat ep. 2: 55 art. Thocri:s oome re.s-ponsible for
sl wh. dikes of the 10 ar.
1: wheat I: :UI- llrt.
wh.
l-: arakQ1 2: 10 ar-t.
wh.
P. Oxy. 71 2 Thmoi- 5 Belonging 1: cu'wll'QS Pa.uni Thr. fi. 1, •l •/• 4-<:h. m. L Tht:on :!I. Oxy. loll .. •· vilL ABR for
XLJX thothi, to L'a Archi- wh. of Thcon Pncphero:s Peret- foHowing year.
348<) Upper wife 2: wheat biou 2: 7 a/• Sarapion nouis,
ep, wh. Cynop.
SBX 87/8 I Nc,la Belonging nlapharun Pauni Thr. II. 2,ja 4-ch. m. L Hien.kiaina d. Oxy. Jlera.s A. vill. Meuure exceeds.
10532=R Upper to L Nc,la ,haphano,-of T Hcrodc:, Harrni.usis Syron ,tandard of
Pn·ru:. ,eed Western Sarapi.s.
Ill 147
 The contract The object The rent Tax Landlord Tenant General remark.,
resp.
----
Reference Date Term Loca- Arca Dcscrip .. Crops Mc:mth Place Amount Measure Name statWJ Name 11:atus
(yrt.) tion (ar.) tion due due p.a.

P. Oxy. 88/9 4 Tychio- 5 Belonging 1-3: aoy x J7 an. Dionysioa a. Oxy. Dionya:ioa s. Oxy. Amlto, in year 4:
II ulo nec:hoti1 toL i wh<At Oionysio1 Harpokration l for grazing,
Eastern 4: I wheat I for cutting
i aml<os
P. Oxy. 9<J 11 51 a/• One male T to repay 28 dr.
VI 975= wheat tenant loan a.t harvest
SBX with other dues.
rcn74

2nd Century AD

w The conttact The object The rent Tu Landlord Tenant General remarks
w
-4>- reap.
--- -
Refctcncc Date Term Loca- Arca Dc1crip- Crop, Month Place Amount l\1euur-c Name atatua Name statu1
(yrs.) tion (ar.) tion due due p.a.

P. Oxy.
XLI
"<4
Thoth
• Toka
Middle
d Belonging
to L' ■ aon
paid in
advance
6 art.
wheat
T Athcnarous d. vi 11.
Eunomo1 for Toka
Horion 1.
Oroenouphis
Oxy. SyncMmu. T to
supply teedt oxen
2 973 IOJ her son etc. La father
Syni•tor ■• owed T ,6o dr. T
Synistor P•Y• L ,i8 dr. for
brushwood
P. Oxy. , Tybi 3 Paobthi1 olive olivct, I 16o dr., 3 L Sonpion & Oxy. Horo1 1. vill.
Ill 639 IOJ Middlo garden dates, Hathyr art. olives E:xakon gon,. of Emochi ■ Psobthi,
= BASP other I Herode,;
19 (1991) fruits Choiak Cacdlia Polla
15tt3
P. Oxy. IQ J t: I Pauni gran. t: • •/• ! rcc. rn. Tcon a, T owe1 3! art.
XVIII Phaophi 2-3: Epi- wh. of Nechthcnibi, wh. arrears
>188 107 wheat scmou 2-3: IO Sarapion
a/• wh.

Tanai, Belonging i wheat/ Pa.uni Thr. 0. ,: 139 art, ¼ rec, m. L Straton a. O,:y. Pachnoubis a, vill. L choo ■-es rent
P. Oxy. ,5 4 '4
to L Iam/to- Tanai, wh. :i-4: of I, Hcliodoros Totoe1 Tanais meuurcr•. ABR.
XXXV!ll Phaophi Middle
chorto, 134 art. Land to be
2874 108
p.a. wh. & returned with
i chaff reed• cut ond I
ex-fallow.
(public Official: E.xakon 1. Oxy.
SBXIV 1<>8/9 4
11280 land) ba1Uilto- Herod••
gmmmat~w
Hathyr 36 dr., J more than one i art. barley extra.
P. Oxy. 3
an. wh, 1 6
Ill S90 112
art. barley
P. Oxy. to 4 Tanaia "<4 Belonging I wheat/ Pauni Thr. fl. 81 a/• I rcc.m. L Phatrcs •· Oxy. Totoea aHu vill. 12 art. wh. aeed
to Land i amlto, T•n•i• wh./ of L Harthoonis Ploutarchos; T1.nai1 interest-free.
XXII Phaophi Middle
nephew p.a. • a/a wh. P.a.chnoumis; Arrcu, 92 art.
lJSI ll2
or 24 dr./ Totoe1 s. wh.: 3• art.
or. Papiria remitted, rest
repaid @ 20 m.
p.a.
Extras: r art.
w
w bread and I art.
VI. to pauiaria; I
choff to L. L m,.y
re-Jet if Ts'
oblig•tion.s
unfulfilled.
Kcrke- Belonging Apollonio, •· Oxy. Apollonios
P. Stnu. 107"'"!6 I
th.yria to L Epimachos younger
IV "44
Western jointly brother of L
with
othc-n
Apollonou, d. Ptolemaio:, vill.
PSI
Vllw
')8--117 • Ne,ola
Upper
,I Belonging (fodder)
toL
ldr.
Sa.rapion Onnophri1
i.
hion
Psoga
Upper
 The c:ontnct The object The ttnt Tax Landlord Tenant Gc::ncr-aJ .remarks
rc,p.
----
Reference. Date Tenn Loca- Arca Det<:rip- Cropa Month Place Amount Mcaaure Name status Name •tatu■
(yn.) tion (ar.) tion due due p.a.

P. 0:,:y, 119 , Sko 9l Belonging i: a,al,os Pauni I:" a/• Sara.pion Oxy. One tenant Ox:y.
XXXVI Upper to L'• wh.
m6 wife 2: wheat '1: 10 a/•
wh.
t: wheat I: 1 t/•
,: I ,: 1
P. 0:,:y. uo/1 ,+1 public apotakton Petosiri1 ABR for
Ill '40 = gran. following years.
BASP29 Advitn-ce 18 a.rt,
(199,) wh.: n,pay art, s
1'4-8 year 1; 13 art. year
,.
w P. 0:,:y. ,s I Scnepto 101 Belonging chort.o1 Pauni 36 dr./ar. L Tryphon a. Ox:y. Apolloni.oa a. viii, Without turvcy,
w Thoth Middle to L. Ari1tandro1; Horo• Scnepta Litt1 11.dj1cent
Ill -499
°' IZI ex-corn in
atalk
Sarapion 1.
Hcrodc1
Oxy. holding-a.

L, ,n,,,,,J, " 6 P1imi1 101 Belonging! wheat/ P111uni Thr. II. 91 art. I ort. m. L Euda.imon a. Oxy. Dionysiot a. viii. \Vithout aurvcy.
ll"' 6o1-8 Meoc re Wartern to L lch/,,,.. Lenon wh. of Eudaimon Dionyaio1 Lenon ABR. L may not
"7 for Oiogcne ■ near Pela re-let or farm
grazing of Pela Wellltcrn him1elf. Lca ■c
p.a. begin■ in the new
year.
P. 0:,:y. 19 I Seneptal 5 1,a,;w,. clatJrto, Pauni 120 dr. L Sara.pion,. Oxy. Valerius•· viii. +dr. t[>ond, for
/V730 H1thyr Middle reg. to L Hcrodca Apollonino Scncpta the paidaria.
IJO
P. O:,:y. 1J.+'s I Sinary J IM,ilih• chartos ]20 dr. L Claudia Dio1koro1 T to irrigate at his
IV 810 Lower almJ<ho, Ptolem• own cxpentc.
P. 0:,:y. Thoth Herakloi- Diogcn« Two ten.ant ■ L hu gruing
IV 838 136 dou ep. right._
Wcatcrn

PSI IV
315
1367
• Po ... n.i,
(Hcrrn•
19¼ Belongjng VJ: chlora Pauni
to L
public
gran. of
i/3:"
ar.
dr./ Theon aliu
Anthoa ,.
Alex. Pcto1iri1 1.
Horos
viii. Sin-
agcri:a
T reap. for water-
guarding, dyke-
opolite :,/+: wheat at right Oxy. :,/4:7 a/• public Ammonio, (Hermo- work etc.
ru,me) time~ nomc wheat m. polite)
P. Oxy. 15 4 vineyard vines i vine L Sarapion Ammonio• •· Extra payment:
IV719 Plaophi on lease produce+ Apollonidea; roo obol cheaca
137 50 lumm,ia Ptollu ■• in Jut J year-a.
J chm- any xi&<: 'Wine6o dr. Loukio1
(138>) a,np,lo, +l?
SB XIV 137 or I LeontOI p•rt of Belonging wheat Tych- [1)6 I art. rcc. m, L Didymoo Oxy. Aphynchia viii. Prcviowly farmed
11µ8 1581 cpoikion u. to L'1 wife innech- 6 eh. Tychin- byT.
Eutcrn1 oti• wheat ncchotia
Eutern
P. 0:,:y. 139 s Sen.a 3 hypolo,os any x Me,ort~: 4 dr. for official: Ophclu aliu Oxy. ABR. T not
x,~9 We■ tem wheat, p:utures ,,mtegos Korax, obliged to renew
i&<:. freedman leuc.
SBXV! I+<YI 4 Kerkeura4I Belonging Huthoni1 •· Oxy. Onnophria •· I Oxy.
u693 Middle toL Sarmatos
P. Rot, II more vineyard, vina Hathyr 2.100 de.+ ). Prim.ion Various extru. T
Geo,r. II futhyr than I reedbed, ,t(>Offl. mw-t not leave
w clun- wine, or? until apiry of
w 19 l+l
-..J amp,/<>1 2500 dr. +I leue.
som. or
ita price
Dionyaia d. O:ry. P.s.enamounia viii. I> dr. ,:,otld, p .•.
P. O:,:y. s 6 38 Belongjng 1-5: any x Pauni Thr. 0. 190 art. bronze- L
I IOI
,.,
Phaophi to L i&c
6: .. final
yr. of
Pa-
kerke E
whc•t rlmmcd
4-ch.
rcc.m. L
Chairemon a. Thonia Pakcrkc Previouoly farmed
by T. ABR. L
may not re...Jet or

,. previow farm hinuelf.

lu■c
P.&rl. [11) 1 barley Pauni Thr. II. 4 a/a } 4-ch. L female more than one 4 dr. ,[>ond,.
By
Ltihg. I Phoophi of 1 barley m. of survey.
,0 '+9 d barley Thr. ll. 6 a/a Sinkepha
of I barley
sl ? Thr.11. 1 11 m. of
of It/,,,,. Chuaia
 The oontnct The obJect The rent Tax 1..andlord Tenant General remarks
rc1p.
--- -
Ref crcnct: Date Term Loc-.a~ Arca Dcacrip- Crop, Month Place Amount Mca1ure Nunc 1t&hJ1 Na.me natu1
(yr,.) tlon (or.) tion due due p.1.

BGUIV mid-Jk4 ul lklonging t/3: wheat t/3: all-in I ■. Apollonios Oxy. la. Ptoll .. : Ed. pr. lncorttctly
1017 (BI, (yr. 14 of to L 2-'4: wheat Pcteesi.s 1. datca to Ilk.
,) 1) xylam«1ai :,/4: Ncchthcnlbi,
any x i&:c (1]3• dr
P. Ox,-.
XXXIII Phaophi
16
• Sinkepha6l
Upper
bcui'Jih#
n:g. to L
VJ: any
ta.x crop
X Pauni Thr. A. t/3: to ar-t. 4 eh. m.
Sin- veg . .seed of
L Luc:iua
Diogenes
Amoita ■
Dionytio•
•· Oxy. ABR. E>tra
payment of I Jur.
•676 151 kcph• vetcnm wine.
~-4-:whut public 2-"4:+o art. Longinua
gr&n. wh.
P. Mttt•• 7 I Ouitou u Belonging xyltlme1a-1 Pau.ni 44 dr./ar. I, female Horo, •· viii. Sp,,,,,u and
I 17 Phaopru epolkion to L an)' x i&c Pcto1iri1; Adaiou additional
158 3 sp.timilwi n. dr,/ar. Korndiot 1. epoikion payment of half
w xyla~Jai HcHkleidu the chaff. The J
w
00 any x i&c ar. prcvlouJly
sown.
P. Strw. prc-161I &longing a~o.r (wheat) L Thcon •· male
VJ 534 to L and? Thcon
P. lip,. 16o-'1 4 Pthochi• 8 Belonging I wheat/ Thr. 0. JO art. 11u:rmou1 d. Oxy. Bolphi, mo, vill.
ll8 Eastern to L I d,/oro, whieat Thcon TothcutH Pthoch"
t:w dr.
I 1
P. Oxy. 11 I S■ tyrou •I On lcuc chortos Epeiph 100 dr. J. Sarapu •· Oxy. Am.oi1 mo, viii.
XL! 2974 Thoth cpoikion from Ptoll•• Taamois Turn-
16• Eu.tcrn Didymo ■ pcm.ou
s. Thcon Eastern
and hi,
1i1tcr
PSIVII 16 I Mouchin I rcgi11te:rcd whea.t Pauni Thr. fl. 6 f art. • 4-<:h. L Saupion 1. Oxy. Diogcne1 ,. Seryphi,
739 Thoth -:uap to L Scry- clt. whut n:c. m. L Hicrai: Haros Western
163 Weatcrn phi,

Antin, Kronion -. vill. Talao \Vithout survey.

wheat and Apollonios
P. Oxy. 165 4 To.loo 10 Belonging I whut/ I
toL 1 c.horto1or money ,. boo/. Pauairi1; hi1
XIV 1686 Lower Apollon°" half brother ■
idiotilt:eA" veg. accd Harpacsia and
lloros
more than or..e Land contain,
40 art. L more than one
SBXIV Phaophi 1+? arouru 11 *iph public wheel and well.
and• I any, Epciph/ gn.n, wheat, ABR. L pay, I
112.81 17• Mcsore 932 dr.
houtc i&:c ei:pcnsc of
ddei-ioration of
irrigation
equipment.
Sua.pion •· Alex. Lcuc labelled on
8 ort. I, Thruylknu d. Oxy.
vcno 'P•lo1(i1)'
P. O:cy. Ill 17,/3 4 Niko-
1tnitOU
• Belonging any x i&c:
to J, whut, 3:1 ?, mo, Apiu llcrmcio1
593=SB dr.
epoikion
XII 107to

SB VIII
9918
18o
Thmoia,
..
IJ
chortamx Pauni/
Epeiph
36 dr.far.

? art,
L Diony11oa

Demctroua Oxy.
one te:nanl

S11.C11.pion
mo, O,y.
Sp,,,,,i,.

Without .-urvcy.
Neale I Belonging barley aliu ThAcsi, d. TKhois
P. Oxy. 1!4 I
barley
Upper to L Tc:rc.-itiu•
XIV 1687 18<> dr
w hion ,I fodder }
w (,A,o,r.,1)
Pang11 J
'° Upper
Tum~ •I + Belonging I wheat/ I <lcpoait 8 art. I, Herakleidct. Oxy. I [armiu1i1 a, vill.
Tychin-
Tow~ 3 a.rt,
wh-eat 1.trean for
P. Ox:,. I 14 4 (pub. wheat allu Diogcnct gym1. Heras
pcmou pft/oi tot ... chlom p.a. &ehitoou pa,t year. ABR for
166=111 Phaophi gntn.1) 40 dr. and S•rapion
E.•tcm ttJ(>l>i future ycart.
501 186 &Jiu Diogenes
Tychin •c:hitoou:
wn• of
tee Proncti, /
Diogene ■
ururi abitati 110.
Apion ,. Oxy. Am.oil I, viii. Taboo Lca.M:begins on ,
TalllO Wor• of vinet Amoi• Hathyr.
P. Ox,-. 183 I Honon ZY"'·
XIV 16,p Lowcr vineyard/
reodbed
belonging
to L
 The con tracl The object The rent Tax Landlord Tenant General remark.I
resp.
--- --
Reference Date Term Lo,--~Area Dcscrip- Crop$ Month Place Amount Mcuurc Name :statu• S'.a!nc .t.Utu.s
()TL) tJon (ar.) tton due due p.a.

P. Fouad 19o'1 • Phuboou 4!

Eastern
Belonging 1: wheat
to 1 & barley
thr. II. 1:U a.rt . rcc. rn. L L
Phob- wh.j
Scrcnos 11.lins Oxy.
Diony1ios s.
Ptolemaio1 ,.
P11ponto3;
vi!l.
Phoboou.
T1 also lcuc
'kuma of the
4l
:2: chli:iru oou .... llrt. D1ony1101 Antonius :1. \\1u::d' from u.me
barley Thotsutrus L. ABR for
2:6o dr./or, following year,
Seed l<>•nof 4 art.
8 1: chlom I :14 dr./ar, wheot •t 33.3%.
~, barley 2:8 •I• The 8 ar. by
barley survey
PSI IX 14 I Toou J Olma of any x i&c Ph,m- ~..20 dr. I achyr1on s.. more than one Rit:rH mst2lmenu·
w 1036 Phoophi Eastern It,1 of moth/ 'l"h-ron 10,0 dr in .a.d,.·ancc;
4'- 191 Tapo1iri1 ?\.1eaorc 100 dr. in
0 Phtuncnoth; z:zo
dr, in rvtuorc.
P. Oxy. 8 4 Pakcrke: 5 Bclon11ing t/3: wheat Pauni Thr. fl. r/3, 6 •I•
4-ch. L Hierakion $, Oxy, Tcos s. viii. 7 art. whoit seed.
VI 910 Hothyr I-A.1tern to L :o'4:ch/o,u Pa- wh. rcc. m. L H1er1.kio:n Saraparnmon P1Uu:r~e rtp11d with rent,
197 kc.rkc J/4, Jl dr./ ABR for future:
Al', yean. Return
land free of ru.shea
ctc,
P. Oxy. 1<;9 l Pimpui sl Belonging 1: ,hlom Pouni public ,: >,t dr.far. I, .. Jon 11li1u1 Panechote:, •· ARR. Return land
LVII 3911 lo I.. 2.:wheat deposit i:6I •/• Si, Agothon frc-e of nuhes.
4 t: wheat wh.
2: c.hlon',. 1= sl o/•
wh.

P. Oxy. Thoth i+?

""' Time public
.1: 10 dr./ar.
L Diony1io, and one tenant AIJR for fut'1rc
VIII 11,5 lie, of first gran. at lcut one yean. L loaru T:1
me.tu. other 200 dr. at intcrcat;
rep•)' m P•u..~i.

Abstract? of term.s
share~ female
p /{on-. lk (yr 1+? Sina.ry lamp,/. of ic-U<'.1. l...ea..s-c
at
Lowtr Juunala croppintt Sinary lo begin in
I ,37 18 of?)
Scryphi1 1 amp,I, 11wlh; al
We.tern JdenuJ 1 S<"ryphi, to begin
orch•rd, m Hathyr.
rcedb<d Thotcu1 ,. Ep Sp<mdt 8 dr. ABR
Thr. !l. t/3: >-4art. L ApoHomo. ,. Oxy .
P ■ uni
P. Oxy.
L 3589
lk
• Kuke-
thoni•
8 Which L
hold,
r/3: ,.1,1,,,.,
wh.
:,/4: Bo art.
Apollomoa 7.oilos Sarap1on
tL Chair-
Repay IQ() dr, loan
m Phamcnoth
J/4: whcot ClTIOll next year. T
wh.
rc1porniblc for
dykes ctc
Hand• d. Oxy. Ptolerr-.aio.s s. Oxy. Mutha;,<xh,, If
Bdongmg any x i&c paid 8o dr. L
P, Lond_ lie. (yr. I Ncsl• l l{crmippos ABR, allowance
in Apcrot
inv. 2131 7 of/) Upper to I, to lcs.,nc in
a.liu
advance following ::,·car.
Ilarpokration
Penalty 1f L fails
to guuantcc ka!!e.
Juli-a hidora clar~ Chaircrnon s. Oxy,
w Mr.;
4'- P. Han-. late
early Ill
II/ • Tholthi, 30+ (J lklonging
plots) to L
ch.loro:
barley JO a.rt. Usima App{i:anw}
ll >>,t
I wheot/1 barley;
eh.fora 14[51] art.
wheat & 1
Thcon alias ? Alex. 1 viii,
P, Brux, late II/ Belonging treet? (,Jsl art.I, Er-e!li,?
to l. chaff and
inv. E early 111
winel
8og3 L male male ABR
Pauni public monC')',
P. Heid. lote l l/ 1+ wheat
gr-an,
mv. G 923 ea,ly l II
 3rd Century AD

The contract The object The rent Tax Landlord Tenant General remarks
"'"I'-
--
Reference Date Term Loca- Aru Descrip- Crop, Month Place Amount Measure Name st1tu1 Name ti.tatu.a
(yu.) tion (or.) tion due due p.a.

PSIV 2() I Monimou2 Register~ Plulr- Tur. fl. 4! a/• 4-ch. m. L Sarapion s. Oxy. Pempos a. viii. Mon.
468 Hathyr cpolkion cd to L mouthi Mon. lentil:s of Hera- Dionysfos Apea ep.
200 Upper ep. klcio, s.
Psephu
P. Yau ~ 4 Entciia 15 Belonging any x i&e Pauni Thr. fl. A total 4-ch, rn, IL/ DiogcnH a.liu Ox:y. Zoilos? aliu s. Oxy. Antichrctic loan
68=SB Upper to Ls Enteiia rent; loan IT Arcio1 and Germano,~ for 1700 dr. and 24
XII 11228 sl repay- Apion, •ons of arL wheat.
mcnts Apollonio1
deducted
SBX :iii 2 Paimi1 2l Belonging any x i.&c P,uni thr. H. J.f.art, 4-ch, rn. L Sarapion aliu Oxy. Hellen,. viii. ABR.
w 10263 Plulophi Wcttern (BL to Ls Paimis wheat of gran. Achillca s. Phaibastoa Paimi:1
..f>. ""5 VI) or rec. Zoilo11;
N m.ofL,. Oxy,
Saroubon a.
Scrcn.01- aliu
Pctronianus
P. Oxy. Pachon 5 &nep .. u6 Belonging any x i&c Paid in 2o0 dr. T Patkou.1 aliu Oxy. Thc:on alhu, Oxy. Mi1thaP,,clu. If
XXXI Wc:atcrn to L advanOC! Sarapous d. Arnmonios •· lgym.f ABR, allowance
2584 "" Diony1io1 bcuf. to le.s:sec:in
following ye,ir.
Lease OCginsat
start of following
year.
BGUIV ""1 3 Sko •I Un,old to be faod T official: bas, Eudaimons •· Oxy.
10<)1 Upper property on gramm. {acting E.udaimon
of the in.'.l!lpcction stmt,go,)
idioilogos
P.Oxy. L .,~, I 4 Mcr- s! Belonging I wheat/ Pa.uni Tur. II. 24 art. L A. Zoilo• 1. Oxy. A. Thonia s. viii. ABR.
3592 mcrtha to L I chfom Morm. wheat, 96 Diogcne1 Ptollu Mcrm.
Upper dr.

A. Oxy. A. Sarapion s. Oxy. ABR.

P. Oxy. L 20 4 Mcr- !O Belonsing I wheat/ P111unipublic i7 art. L
to Land I c111o,., granary wheat; Dioakouridcs gym./ Ath~odoroa
3591 Thoth mcrth.a
Upper putncn 208 dr. aliu Kastor bout.
219

51 11.rt. Im. L A. Su-apion Oxy, A. Podu •· viii. Sko ABR for

P. Oxy. IJ 2 Sko 1d belonging lentil,
lentila aliu l!Yffl, Psenamouni11 following year.
XVlll Phaophi Upper toL
Apollonian us
2189 219
(BLVI) viii. ABR,
oosilihe I wheat/ at fint public 8 a/• wheat L Ao. Syrion andOxy. Ammonas
P. Oxy. Phaophi 4 Poobthis 6
meu- granary Hcraklianu1 P•obthi•
LV 38oo 21~ Eutcrn reg. to
Strat{ u.ring~ aliH Sarapion
I ,1r1ons Pauni 44 dr./ar.
ABR.
I wheat/ wheat? L male male
P. Heid Ille. 1+ d? Belonging
inv. G 921 (220-«>) to IL I c1,1o,., 40 dr.1
Higher bid for a
I taJ. JOOO Ptolemaios Heron {with a
P. Oxy. JO Small property
dr. alias surety, A. sub-lease-.
XJV Tybi Oui, of Claudia
bidora A.stopari:aon; Sarapodoro•)
1630 -:u,?
alias Apia Ammoni03
&fou1Henk.Hos
A. Oxy. A. Haryotes •· viii. Mon- Previou,ly farmed
w
~
w
P. Oxy.
lfds.41
uy'+
• Sko&
Monimou
Upper
•• Belonging any x i&:e Pauni Tur. II, t45 art.
to L Mon-
imou
wheat
10.art. veg.
rcc. m. L L
oil m. Dionyaotheon CJIM.
1-1.
Phn .. imou by T. ABR. Rent
for machine 300
seed dr,
A. Sanpion Oxy. A. Patu •· viii. Epi- Irrlg1ktion
P. Oxy.
XVII
I
Choio.k
! Sko
Upper
•• Belonging cJrlom
to L,
Pauni 44dr./at.?
alias l!Yffl, Pataa sernou machine provided
Apollonianus; huul. epoikion ,cnt-frce. Ss.m.e
>137 226 partie1 have also
A. Ptolcma
alias Magna leased ,2 ar. under
wheat.

public I: ll- art . A. Terr:ua alia.sOxy. A. Be, .. s.

PSI I 73 2301 • Smepta
Middle
• Belonging i:[whcot1]
toL •:chm"'I deposit wheat Apollonia d. Hatrca; A.
i: 8o dr. Ptolem.a.ioa Sarapion s.
1&2: 1 t&o: I Besa•
l pmgm,,uui., I A. Silvanol!I :!I. vill, Confiscated eotate
SBXIV 23:>'.!1 > P>0bthis Belonging
on behalf of Horion Psobthis of Cla.udla Isidore
1140]" Lower to the
Imp. fisc a)iu Apia,
BGUXl ousia
,u6 (a)
 The contract The obje-<:l The: rent Tax L1mdlord Tenant G, nual r-emMu
'""P.
--- -
Rc-!c:rc::ncc Date Tenn Loai- Area Dc:scrip~ Crops Month Place Amount Measure N1tmc statu, Name 8tilt\Ul
(yrt.) tion (ar.) tion due due p.a,

SBX!V ,3;v'3/ I Ta.lao •i Belonging wheat public 6 a/• prupsal.eutu? A. Aphynchi, v1H Sen Confucatcd eua1c
tt-403= Lower to the depotit wheat on behalf of s. Petron.iu1 1l of Claudia hidora
BGUXI I muia wheat Imp. fiae aliu Apia.
,u6 (b) {wheat)
p Ry/. 3 l Sko ml BatiiiJur any x i&c 30 dr./ar.l La A,. Tioris, viii. A. Spartiittca Oxy. I....
1. have received
IV 68J Hathyr Up1><r rcglttcrcd Pankoll•uchi., Sko llliu l{Ym. 300 dr.
'44 101 to L,. wheat ? a/• wheat ?, Karowi1 Chaircmon b<>ul.
aons of Pato.
ehit
PSI IX 20'8 I KcrkcuraJ rhloro Pauni 10 dr./ar. L A. Oxy. A. Valeriu:a "· v1ll. liveJ1
t.,;
lob<) Middle Sarap<Jdoros acting I in Kc-rkc-
.fl,. al iu Scrcnot chief Uni
.fl,. pncat
p /Jar,
I 8o
15
Tooth
.. Q 1/3: whc,.at
sI a,.,
Pauni thr. fl.
Epi-
8 a/•
wheat on
-4eh. m.
I,
(fem.al<) A. Awis
lloros
t ARR Provi.swn
for building
"49 [chlom] semou wheat, waterwheel.
, I .,., 1 of• wheat
veg. accd on dtlom; oil m.
I ar. :,/4: l o/• VCR,
veg, accd aeed on
t &T,, veg. seed
rhlom (41
.,.),
wheat JI
ar.

BGU tady I Mcr- Bdongmg rhlorr:J Paum 6<, dr.far. L A. Pautft Oxy. A, PJt:csia_._ Oxy.
Xll! Ilic. merth• " to L Pamon[
1J40 Upp<r

P. Ya!, early Pha.r- L (more than Dorion? By survey. Rent

70 II le. mouth1 one) p11d partly tn
ad\·a.r,ce.

L M, Aur, Thcon A. Koprc1 s.

P. K6ln uthalf d wheat Paunl Sin- • o/• rcc. m.
kcph ■ wheat ali111Dionysios, Sara.a
11l 149 Ille. barley
Upper 11 •/• Thcon aliu
barley Hcultl""
(mmou)

;u art. L A, Sanpion Oxy. A. Cornehu, s. v1ll. Previowly

P Oxy. Thoabl1 S Bdongmg whc~t fnal public
l<f I
11lia• KJlm, KoHoutho,- cpoikion farmed by T.
Ph1oph1 Upper to L mr,.i11ur~grun. whcut
XXXVI Dionytothc:on boul. Plcrous
ing
2 795 •so A. Dlony1lo:1 Oxy A. Anilccto:1: Oxy.
PSI VIII 254"5 I sr•n Bdonging
to L
Paunl JO IU't,
ir:ntil1
4 eh. r«.
m.L
L
•liu agoro.
&So llarpoltrt1tton ,ionwJ;
,. Apollonios? 1'[ l •· viii. Mcr~
Apollonio1; mcrtha;
Mclu1. A( J viii. hion
Pa.nga
Cpper
A. S.rapou, d. Oxy. ~ I. viii, \\'age pud in
Ts. receive
p O:cy.
XLVI II
Hathyr
257
• Senepta
Middle
6 work of
vineyard
VlnCI,
dates wage 36o Th<0n SJrapammon, Nomou 1nstalmc:nts;
w dr./ar., and ~ 11. Hiercus epoikion Dale• purchuc-d
.fl,. and at customary rat('.
JJH buy half Middle
V\ rccdbcd
date
produce
Add1t1ona.l2- eh.
Senept.o • &longing I wheat Thr. ft. 4 ""· per an. on grain
toL 1 buley of wheat 5
cent.
chori<>n art. barley
T A. 8arapion s. Syros aJiaia Mutht1fK></r.<
of
P. Oxy. 30 any x i&e
Aak(lcpioa ?J Sarapion houac and land.
XX 1,8,i Thoth
rinplari.s of
158
Prcfc-c:1
m.L L A, Throdous a..Oxy. A. Philota• •- vilL Previously
Thr. H
p lVuc. J ~591J,o
'
Seno-
komi•
• Belongmg
to L'•
1· dilo-roi Pauni
Scno•
T: 100 dr.
Ncikammonios Mclas Ser\0- farmed by T. If
art. komi!ll ABR, T to
'Western daught<r 1: wheat komis ,:;1:.i
wheat irrig11.tc I at own
cxpcns.c and p-1)'
prnrmrtion of
rc:nt.

p Q,:y, after Ision 4 •'belong- diortos

XII 26o Pang• ing to the
150:i,· Upper ckka protla
 The contract The object The n::nt Tax Landlord Tcnont G~cral remarks
:resp,
--- --
Reference Date Tenn Loa- Arca Dcscrip- Crops Month Plaee Amount Mcuure Name l!iitatus Name stanu1
(yrs.) tion (ar,) tion due due p.a.

PSllX •611 I Tako!- 4+ Belonging chlom, on di/om: A, Apion ali.. Oxy. A, Apion s. Oxy. Wheel and
107; keilis to L vegetable 50 dr./u-.]~ Theonammon wns. Dloskoroi machine.
Middle 2½+ seed, on whe11.t: Pr-eviowly farmed
wheat, 9! and 6i by T: previous
barley a/a wheat; C"rop.swheat arid
on barley duom rQtate with
(•I 0<): •s present yea.r's

..
art. barley crops.
PSI IX l.~t? I ~tcr- II •belong- any x i&e P¥uni :22.0 art, 1'I official A. Chairc- Oxy.
1070 mcrtha 12d ing to the wheatl (prytani,) monia.mu,
Upper , city of alias ?
Oxy.
w
-I>,
SB XII
11o81
,61
• Slco
Upper
d barililu
belonging
any firit
mea1-
public 8 art.
granary wheat
L A. Dionyaia d,
Thcon a)in
Claudiu,
Apellco oli11,
ABR,

°' to L uring Dionysotheon,

minor
bidoros,
veteran
P. Oxy.
XlV
27
Thoth
• Mcr-
mcrtha
5 (in
two
Belonging
to L
any x i&.c Thr. fi. 10 art,
l\,fer- wheat
L A'JJ.Sc:renos
alia.s Sarapion
Oxy. Ati..Antonius a.vill.
PI.ton; Mcr-
ABR.

1689 2M Upper ploto) mcrtha [O art, & Aplon 1 sons P-.ru:,chotcs•· mcrtha
lcntib of Agathino, Pancchctes
P. Coll ,M I Antipcr11 J.o Belonging flax Tybi- 300 dr./ar.; L A. As. Mclaa .s. Oxy. Ts have use or L.'1
Youti, ll Pela to L :Mcsorc , 1t.1. l-lcra1deidi.aina Melns; ZoHion rt:scn·oir rent~fr-tt
68 Western instal- weight d. Hcraklcid .. , a, Dionya.ios for rctting.
ment11 tow matrona ttolaln
PSI XIII alter I Ision 161 JJandy land any x i Pachon I dr. official: A. 7.oilos s. Oxy.
1330 270 Pomga belonging prytanir Zoiloa gym./boul.
Upper to the city
P. Coll. 2p/3 I Mer- 6 bought at wheat, Pauni Thr. fl. 24 ort. L A, Sevcrus Oxy. A. HcraklcidcaOxy. Contract found at
Youti, ll or mcrtha auction barley or viii. whcli\t gym./ •· Pindaroa Hcrrnopoll•
70 •1&v Upper from the any bou/.
fisc

Pauni l t1d, L official: A. Ammonioi 0.1:y.

PSI III •1¥5 I hion 10 •belong- any
d,J,.aprotor :11,, Zoilos
187 or Panga ing to the
(RASP" :>8o'1I Upper JI d,ka- cho,101 :wo dr./ar.
(197+) 65f. prctia
on date) Mi1thapod1.<,
paid in Maximo, aliiu
P. Oxy. JO
advance Agathoklca
ll,t., . .µ Ph•ophi
27g-82 A. Serr:no:1 Oxy. A. Ktisto, a. Oxy. Contract 1utrta 1
TIUla.iS work of vines Wage to
P. Oxy. 25 I
Rufus & hi, I hthyr. Various
vineyard/ T•.: 4500 alias San.pion
XIV Choiak Middle r:xtn payments.
rccdbcd.; dr.i 10 art. a. Ag11.thinos son
1631 ,So viii. \Vage patd in
dates and whtat 1 4 Ptolemaios,
old instalments.
jan wine Pc:loioa s. Tanaia
vineyard; fruita
orch11.rd fruits
Herakle•
Epeiph 1600 dr./ar. L A. PloutarchosO•Y- A. Kopres ._ Oxy.
P. Midi. Phaophi 1 Ision Belonging Bax
Shdton ,s, Panga to I alias
AmmonioB
gym,
boul.
Papontos

Xl 6,o Uppc,
m. L A. Oxy. A. Justus mo. Oxy,
SBIV +Tybi
285
• Hert.-
kJeion?
I Belonging any
to L
Pauni 10 art.
barley ,kkaton Am.monarion Satorne
w 7#3 d. Theodoros
-I>,
'1
P. Oxy. ., 5 3000 dr./ar. L A. Ptolemai,
XlV 16<)0Thoth
287 A. Agathos Detailed
vineyard 4000 dr. LI (msle)
P. I..auY. ~ description of
IV 166 work wage to
tenant] work to be
performed by T.
2500 dr./ar. L Aelia A. Diogenes s. Oxy_
P. Oxy. 291 ! Seno- 3 Belonging flax
JIerodiaina Diogenest
XIV 1fui1 kom.is to L
Philonikos ,_
Watern
Theon
Pauni L (male) A. Silvanos
PSilll
178 "Tboth
,91 Oxy. 5000 dr. paid in
hion 6 Be1onging ,hort():s It•\. !8o0 L A. Didymos •· Alex. A. Petechon
PSIIX 296 l
s. Ar.nmonios adv&nce,
Panga to? dr. Sarapion
1071
Upper offic.c-holder
 The contract The object The rent Tu Landlord Tenant General umarks
rcsp.
---- -- -
Rdcrence Date Term Loe.a- Area Deacrip- Crop• Month Place Amount Mea.ture Name status Na.me status
(yrs.) tion (ar.) tion due due p.a.

P; "96 vineyard? Oxy. nomt?

Mici,,,d Unu,gual
23 provisions.
P; Oxy. 4 I Scncptl d Belonging dtOrlo, Pachon 1000 dr. L A. Plotinos •· Oxy. A. Akuis •· Oxy. Tllvee,in
LV 31lo.t Hathyr Middle to L Eudaimon ,x,g./ Api,, epoikion Pscnuar
"96 boul. near Sec epta..
PSI Xlll 13 I work in vcgctable1 Pa.uni 1200 dr.far. A. Diogeni, A. Theon s. Oxy. Contract start! 1
1338 Phaophi new llliu Thcon Hothyr. Hybrid
"99 vineyard Tourbiaina, !cue of land/
matfOffll 1toldta work?: rent not
wage.
SBXIV Ille. I Korobis Belonging wheat, t-hlltttroppina: A, Antoninu11 Oxy. A. Ar[•· viii, Prcvlously
w l!OOf to L barley1 a.liu Apion 1. Pa.tcrmouthi1 Mouch- rultivated by T.
4>-
00 ,hortos, Maron inuap
lentils \Vc,tcrn
P; Ilk. 1+1 Syron 4 Belonging •ooo dr./ A. A. 1,. Water wheel, T
MicJra,1. We1tern to? Ill',?I lilft. Dcmetrianua Ploutorchoo rcccivei rope.
19 bread iced, cow. Extra
payment chccace-.
P. Oxy. Ille. + Posom- sl Belonging A. Thcon alia,Oxy. A1. Thon, Viii. Previou.tly
XIV powi to L EpirtU11choa
a.. Epima.cho•, Phoboou cultivated by
1688 Aristo- Diogenes Ploutoa som Eutcm samcTs.
rnachou of Ancsoudt
Eutcm
P. Rob Ille. II Belonging i I In kind [A. I ali••l Antin, Three T1, Viii•.? Prcviow.ly
inv. 20 to the [and PtoJemaios Oxy, cultivated by
mioou money?] bcul. nme Ts. Watc:r
wheel.

A. Apollonia Petronius •· lndudea

Belonging date Complex irrigation and
P. Rob. Ilic. t+? Amoi.a and It
to L grovt? provisions~ wine-producing
inv. 7 least one other
and poorly equipment.
vineyard pre1crved;
and a ~nt for
oourt; the court.
eh/on, Money
rent
date grove Complex
P. Col. Ilic. t+I
and provil!lion11,
VIII poorly
orchud,
•J• with preserved;
date,, lip, include,
gourd. dateo and
and money
cuc:um- rent, extra
bcn. poymenu,
and a
wage?
Machine. By
SB VIII lllc. survey.
w Extra payment 4
t 9900
SB VJII Ille. r+? Pauni (barley) m.
d,kal""
L As. Apollo,,
Chairemon, eh. per art.
9919 Plou
A. Achilles Previo,uly fumed
Belonging I lcntia? (wheat) byT.
SB XIV Late 1+? Tholthi•
Ilic. toL. A.? oli.. Ory. A.?•· Oxy. L provides half
12025
Belonging chort-Ot 1hu«roppln.1 LI
SBX Ill/ I hion 4? Antiocho• Apolloni.os ex-pen.seaand
10016 !Ve. Pang• to L. seed.
Upper A female and {male)
Thr. fi. incl. ui,ual m. L
P; Am:t. Jll/ 1+1
of an cp. wheat and of female one other.
I 42 !Ve. near money~ L.
Mcr-
mertha
 4th Century AD

The coo tract The obj«t The rent Tu Landlord Tenant General rem.&rk1
reap.
--- --
Reference Date Tenn Loe•- Area Doc:rip- Crop• Month Place Amount 1\-teuurc Name status Name 1taru1
(yn.) tion (or.) tion due due p.•

P: !Au,. •7 I Tholthi, Belonging clwr101 (Thr. ll.l art. [l]m, of L1 I Jyra

ond I ]tism. viII.
IV Phaophi ? Eutern of viii.] ,horto- LI however ttylcd Taonnophrla Tholthis ~
165 305 1puman F.-.,
P: Ory. 16 I Plclo 9 Bdongi.ng flax b&lt.nc~ 1 ta!. 3500 L A. Ant)och1a Alex_ A. Dioskoros 11-.0x:y. -4-tal.
of rent paid
l 102 Phaophi Middle to L in dr./u. a.Ii.as Dionysia d. Apollonio:1 in advance.
3o6 Epciph d. Antiod10:1 offiee
11lLU holcl('r
Dionysios
P: Ory. ll ■ thyr I Is.ion •I Belonging flax Pium/ ~ ••1./u. L A. Oxy. A. Lconidc• •· Oxy. Land ex-fallow.
XXXI 315 Panga to L Epciph Dioskauride, gym, 11u.~on
w ,585 11]Ll13Julillfm:1 pryl.
Vl
0 bwl.
f! Ory. JO I bion bi Belonging flaJ: Paun1? on half: 4 L A Eutrop,. d. Oxy. A. Dioskoros •.Oxy" Land own.c-d
XLV l!ath)·r Pang-a to L tal./ar. TheoJon:n d. Ammonio, jointly with
1•55 JIS on half: alUU, gym, Pama.re.11.
T to
,hare~ Chaircmon pryt. ,upply all ,«d.
cropping b,,..J
l' Oxy, 16 I 1,ion Belonging llu at share- L A Oxy. A, Lron1dn a. Oxy. Land owned
I :03 Phaophi Pa."'lgll toL proper cropping Themi•toklc:a t:',-'171, Thcon; jointJy with
316 time alhu1 pryt. A, Dioskoro:1 :1.0xy. brother
Dioskout"idC'• houl. Ammonio1 Lcukadtm Ta to
,upply all ..,,d.
P Ory. 3 1?1! Antipcra 13 !klonging llu whole crop A. Heron 11l1ruOxy. A. DiMkoros ,.Oxy, Ltr.d talc.:-n from
XLV Pela to I. of I ar., Sarapion gym. Ammonio11o; J6a.r, in fallow, Ts
3,56 ,h•rc crop pryt. A. 1...<onI<lc1
s. Oxy. to supply all 1-ec(.L
of rcat Thron
P: Ory. 14 I lsion s Bt:longing du E.pl!'1ph 3 tal. tOOO L Uieira of ? &. A. Leonides,. Oxy.
Xl,V lhthyr Pang• to L /? dr./ar, Valerius Thcon;
3>57 318 A. Ammoniw1 Oxy,
•· Kopre1

A. Dio:1 •· Oxy. Aa 1..conidca I. Oxy.

Antipen lklonging Thcon
POry. J 19 I Zollo•
XLV Pela
3158 A. Apollonioa Oxy. A. Leonides 11. Oxy.
Antipcn1 Bdunging llliu Scrc.'no, 1, Theon
I! 0:ry. 319 I

XLV Pela Apo!ionlos

Gaia.no• s, -.+ill. A. l~mdc.t s (hy. T. suppltC"J. fu:-«!.
3'59 f\u proper :Jlur• L
P. O;ry. Antipcra b From Ammonioa cp. Theon
319 croppmg:
Pela what he timr.
XLV I to T; Ito Chou•
has on I<
316o L
lcuc

PS/IV 1•&111 I Place Bdonging L"l)' ., L r.-:cei1,·cs L A. Oiogcnrs

S.ih·ano•
•· Oxy. A, llcltos ,_
Dan1cl
iives m
M«-
T must dear
:1crub and
called proper I crop mcrth11. cultivate 1._nd.
316 time
P,yllo, (On the date ice
Ba$fr..a:l1and
Worp, CSIIE p.
36 l\, !),

w
PSIV
4½
..
Thoth
I hion
hnga
14 Belonging flax
lo 1
in the
c,poi~
kion?
I
rnlmariorJ
o! tow per
L llcir:! of
Salonianus
(BL I)
?
A, Leonida
Theon
s. Ory .

-
Vl H4 at,
A. Ari:nou:. d. Oxy. A, Lamachos Oxy.

- PS/VI

~
28
Phaophi
JJS
Diony11-io1 11- Kaaiano,

.t t.ho-ria d1Ue crop 3

Soo<, ,.1. A. Herakleid .. Oxy. A. Kastor"· Oxy. lnsta.lmenU paid
[Mc:sorcl to

~
I I s. ]kraklci<les gym. Patcrmouthios
inst11I- l!athyr.
Merore pryt.
mcnls
18:, 353 bo,,J,
~ Fl. Julian.,. ei- A. Patcn::v.ii a. vill,
(}u,,-u11 share-
. Ory. l I c-poiklon :i.o &ll R.nd Sanpitu., <Um- Choous hion
r..daphoi crnpping
LX409• Ph•ophi of Pat- ,. and d. of tor Pang•
bonthia called 1of Dioskouri<les
JSS
the bath
attcnd&nt' o!fic. A. Horos 1-. vill. T n:spom1iblc for
:i5 art. m. of L Flavius
Lenon Belonging any of Pa.salynlls Lenon naubia and
PSllX >9 I
wheat 8 art. Kronion
1078 lhthyr 4th plgus to I taxis ariaboh.
borley • l
356 art. veg. of
■«d
pret
_;
:.
E
e BIBLIOGRAPHY
e..,
ii
0
..
~
a ~l
~ ,r
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li:u BAER, K., 'The Low Price of Land in Ancient Egypt', ]ARCE i (1962),

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Fmley (e?.), Studies in Roman Property (Cambridge, r9 76), 8 - 10 2 . --- Rechtsgeschichte .Agyptens als romischer Provinz ( Die Behauptung
5
REA, J. R., Lease of a Red Cow called Thayris', JEA 68 (r 82), 277_8 2 . des iigyptischen Rechts neben den riimischen) (Sankt Augustin, 1973).
9
REEKMANS,,T., 'Treasure Tro,'.e and parapherna', Le Monde grec 7 8- . SHELTON, J. C., 'Ptolemaic Land Jv &.rj,foEt:An Observation on the
4 59
R1cc1, C., La ~oltura _della v1te e la fabbricazione del vino nel'Egitto Terminology', CE 46 (1971), r r3-r9.
greco-romano , Studt delta Scuola Papirologica, iv. r (Milano, 1924). --- 'BGU VI r2r6 and Ptolemaic 3w.p.tcr8wcris', in 'Land and taxes in
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147-55. 268f.
RoB~RTS, C. H., and Skeat, T. C., 'A sale of u1r6.\oyos at Tebtynis in the --- 'Artabs and choenices', ZPE 24 (1977), 55-67.
reign of Domitian', Aegyptus r 3 ( 1933) 455_ r. S1JPESTEIJN,P. J., Nouvelle lisle des gymnasiarques des metropoles de
47
RosTOVTZEFF, M. (Rostowzew), Studien zur Geschichte des riimischen l'Egypte romaine (Stud. Amstel. XXVII) (Zutphen, 1986).
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 GLOSSARY INDEX OF SOURCES

P Bad.:
I. PAPYRI
abrochos land not inundated in the current year II 36 93 n.
agoranomos municipal official, responsible for markets BGU: VI 170 8:zn.
1234 81n.,83n. p Berl. Leihg. I:
aroura standard unit of land measurement; equivalent to o.68 acre or 5 6:zn.
285 40 n.
0.275 hectare II 420 46n. 20 205n., 218n., 236n., 337
artaba unit of dry measure, of varying capacity; the standard govern- 422: see SB V 7599 23 222n.
475 81 n. P Bouriant 42 32, 72 n.
ment artaba contained 40 choinikes
648 91 n. P Brem. 36 78 n. .
basilikogrammateus one of the two chief officials of the nome. P. Brox. inv. E8o93 (publ. m CE 65
656 86n., 272n.
bouleutes member of a city council 661 81 n. (1990) 281-'7) 341
chersos 'dry land'; i.e. land with a permanently inadequate water II I 919 147 n. p Cair. lsid.:
IV 1017 243 n., 338 I 64
supply
1047 81 n. 7 65n.
choini:I: unit of dry measure, of approximately one litre capacity 1091 52-3, 54, 216, 26on., P. Col. VIII:
dekaprotos official in the third century responsible for collecting grain 269n., 342 209 93n., 96n.
taxes u88 93 n. 232 348
XI 2017 46n. 238 277n. .
drachma the basic unit of currency in Roman Egypt; also a weight P. Col. inv. 478 (pub!. m BASP 29
2126: see SB XIV u403
epoikion farmstead or small 'tied' village XIII 2234 i6n., 36n., 128n. (1992) 25-30) 36n., 44n., 62n.,
gymnasiarch head of the municipal gymnasium, an indication of status 2340 269 n., 344 9 5n., 99n., 128n., 299
idios logos Roman official of equestrian status concerned with the XIV 2400 15n. p Coll. Youtie:
2419 15n. I 22 38n., 295
Emperor's 'private account' 65 41, 43, 54n., 10 5°·, I15n.,
CPR I:
iuridicus Roman official of equestrian status concerned with legal 1: see M. Chr. 200 1250 ., 13on., 181,183,184,
matters 186n., 187, 189, 190n.
21 157n.
II 67 1un., 157-8, 318
keramion liquid measure of varying capacity: 'jar' 24 : see M. Chr. 288 68 12n., 19n., 114n., 267,346
kleros a parcel of land originally granted in the Ptolemaic period to 28: see M. Chr. 312
2 18 n., 70 52, 236n., 239, 244n., 2 69n.,
Le monde grec pp. 6o1-8 204n.,
military settlers 241 n., 242n., 251 n., 253n., 257n., 346
lderuch in the Ptolemaic period, a military recipient of a k/eros; by the 268n., 336
P. Erl.:
Roman period, sometimes simply 'landowner'. 93 232n., 235n.
M. Chr.:
IOI 233 n.
kyrios a male guardian required to represent a woman in Greek legal 200 147n.
P. Flor.:
transactions 209 147 n.
210 46n.
I 50 174n.
mina a weight, probably equivalent to 160 drachmas III319 173n.
288 161, 165
nome one of the administrative areas into which Egypt had been 368 84n., 85n.
312 144n.
divided since Pharaonic times P. Fouad:
P. Aberd. 57 81 n.
28 105 n.
sitologos official in charge of the local granary, responsible for grain P Alex. 13 233 n.
P Amh. II: 43 218n., 224n., z36n., 34°
revenues P. Fronk/. 2 223
strategos the chief official of a nome 69 49n.
P Gen.:
71 147 n.
talent monetary unit, equal to 6,000 drachmas; also a weight I 34 222 n.
94 84n. II II6 12, 1ogn., non., 125n.,
toparchy subdivision of a nome 95 158, 93 1300 ., 132-4, 183n., 184n,,
136 271 n. 186n., 320
P Amst. I 42 349

366
 Index of Sources Index of Sources
P. Giss.: P. Laur.: 611 250n. Oxyrhynchita', BASP 31
4 40, 78n. II 30 81 n. P. Michael.: (1994) 11-80) 18on.
6o 34, 39, 45, 51, 66 n., 79 IV 165 241 n., 350
roo 183n. 19 225 n., 227, 348 II 237 164
166 23on., 324,325,347 23 348 244 22 n., 55 n.
IOI 233n. P. Leid. Inst.:
113 35 n., 302
33 69n., 16on., 304 245 23n.
43 323 P. Mi!. Vogl.: 248 46n.
P. Hamb.: 59 64n.
I 19 38n., 73n., 95n., 97n., 299 II 65 243n. 249 147n.
P. Lips.: 69 2In. 250 r28n., 163
65: see SB XVIII 13995 II3 58n.
II 184 44n. I II 130 243 n. 265 132n., r56n., 159, 161-2, 164,
IIS 55n. 152 21 n. 165, 317
III 217 181 n., 183n. u8 241, 244n., 251 n., 264n., 338
P. Harr.: IV 2II 87n., 298 266 r55n., 156n., 317
P. Lond.: 212 2In.
I 74 128n., 148n. 267 155n., 3r7
177 (II p. 167) 93 n. P. Oslo: 268 157, 317
76 16n. 256 (II p. 96) 95n.
80 22on., 225n., 240, 25on., 344
II 24 147n. 270 47n., 200n.
257 (III p. 21) 94n., 96n. 26 24n., 38n., 95, 105n., 294 273 r2on., 16on., 194n.
95 234 n., 235 n. 315 (II p. 90) 95£. III rr 1 n4 n. 277 z16n., 225n., 248n., 258n.,
137 229n., 248n., 324, 341 II57 verso (vol. III 109f.) 49n.,
138 3on., 54n., 62n., 184n., 194n. 114 II n., 183n., 194n. 332
son. 279 85, 26o n., 294, 333
II 198 36n., 128n. 119 303
1218 (I II p. 143) 93 n. 146 146, zo7 n., 233 n. 280 13n., 45n., 241n., 244n., 334
201 109n. 1227 (III p. 130) 84n. P. Oxy.: 281 155n., 156, 158n., 317
224 114n., 13on., 218n., 236n., P. Lond. inv. 2131 (publ. in Hellenika I 45 180n. 287 20n.
34 1 38 (1987) 43-5) 218n., 263n.,
P. Heid.: 46 r29n., r8on., 182n., 195n. 290 58n.
265n., 341 47 r8on., 182n., 195n. 341 180n.
III 242 95n. P. Lond. inv. 2174 (pub!. in CE 62 48 137n. 34z 180n.
IV 344 230n. (1987) 205-18) 36n., 87n., 95n.,
56 323 346 47n., 18on., 190n.
P. Heid. inv. G921 (pub!. in ZPE 7S 128n., 292, 299
58 61 347 r8on.
(1988) 167-'70) 241 n., 254n., 343 P. Matrit.:
P. Heid. inv. G923 (pub!. in ZPE 75 67 179n. 348 322
l 296 350 23n.
(1988) 170-2) 341 74 22n.
2 126n., r82n., 183, 184n., 195n., 75 r55n., 168, 317 351: see SB XII 10795
P. Hibeh: 320
78 43 368: see St. Pal. IV p. u6
I 45 15n. P. Mendes. Geneu (St. Pal. XVII g-46) ror 37n., 204n., 205n., 217n., 372 155n., 317
53 44n. 62n., 67n.
II 248 II n. z18n., 244n., 253n., 254n., 373 3z2
P. Merton:
P. land.: 257n., 264n., 337 374 226, 332
I 17 205n., 218n., 243n., 244n., 338 102 350 379 31I
IV 52 81 n. 18 270n.
VII 136 3S 103 19n., 45n., r73n., 223n., 384 20n.
23 323 248n., 350 III 472 192n.
137 46n., 48 26 148n.
P. IFAO: 104 168n., 3u 483 322
II 75 r48 105 312 486 r51n., 179n., 192n.
I 13 53n., 317 III rog 323
III 5 156 106 148 n. 487 151n.
P. Mich.:
P. Koln: 117 232n. 48g 3 11
II 121 verso 178 n.
II 86 23n. 165 (publ. in D. Montserrat et al., 490 3 11
123 r78n., zo4n., 222.n. 'Varia Descripta 491 311
zoo 44n., 126n., 13on., 137, III 176 96n. Oxyrhynchita', BASP 31 492 312
148 n., 169--70, 312 191-2 166n.
III 137 8n., 38n., 87n., 295
(1994) u-8o) 18on., 182n., 493 3 12
V 238 178n. 186n.
141 49n., son., 51 n., 136n. 494 3 13
254-5 30n.
143 108, u6n. 174 (pub!. in D. Montserrat et al., 495 3 13
26o-1 30n. 'Varia Descripta 496 155n., 156n., 317
145 213 n., 331 262 166n. Oxyrhynchita', BASP 31 497 155n., 156n., 317
149 15on., 236n., 248, 262, 345 272 166n. (1994) u-8o) 12on., 18on., 499 22n., 217, 218n., 255n., 336
V 227 46n. IX 539-40 46n.
P. Kronion 52 158n. 182n. 500 84 n., 85 n.
555--6 83n. 175: see P. Oxy. L 3556 501 2r9n., 227n., 241n., 251n.,
P. Landlisten 68n., 6gn., 120-3, 178, 557 83n.
182n., 305--6 176 (pub!. in D. Montserrat et al., 254, 263 n., 339
XI 610 19n., 347 'Varia Descripta 503 25, 170
 Index of Sources
Index of Sources
504 12on., 182n., 320 810 98n., z2on., 238n., 253n.,
5o6 :izn., 42n., 48, 2oon., 323 1220 271n. 1585 125n.
255 n., 297, 336
507 192n. X 1252 116n. 1590 230, 272n.
823 332
512 248, 261 n. 1259 15 n. XIV 1628 24n., 213, 216n., 223 n.,
835 son.
517 22n. 1262 38n., 297 331
837 155n., JU
522 95 n. 1269 142n., 170n. 213, 216n., 223n., 331
838 336
528 r58n. VI 898 150n. 1270 184n., 218n., 320 114n., 225, 245, 258n.,
533 227n. 1273 155n., 156n., 318 343
8g9 19n., 40, 91-2, 298
575 224, 248 1274 107n., 157n., 319 24n., 191 n., 229n., 231,
900 67n.
577 57n. 1276 191 n. 27on., 324, 325---{),347
905 155n., 156n., r6o, 318
583 311 1278 228n. 1632 2z7n., 351
907 u6n., 1z6n., 14on., 141,
588 200 n., 322 1279 49n., 84, 236n., 244n., 1633 52-3, 191 n., 270n.
155n., 156n., 169,315,319
593: see SB XII 10780 908 rogn. 26on., 297, 337 1634 114n.
603: see St. Pal. IV p. u5 1283 109n. J636 43n., 183n., 184n., 185,
909 25n., 193, 229n.
633 (pub!. B. E. Nielsen, BASP 1285 8, 15 n., 18, 286--9<> r9on., 191, 196, 218n.,
910 224n., 251 n., 340
29 (1992) 143-52) 62n,, XII 1405 u6n. 320
913 263 n.
186n., 194n., 320 1415 116n. 1637 n4n., 126, 132n., 135,
916 92n.
634 3II 1418 n6n. 174, 229 n., 267 n.
919 24n., 135n.
636: see St. Pal. IV p. n4 1421 25n. 127 n., 150 n.
932 263n.
639 (pub!. B. E. Nielsen, BASP 1424 105n. 105 n., 191 n., 261 n.,
938 23
29 (1992) 152---{)3)24n., 1 434 55n., 62n., 108 270n.
967 125n.
219n., 334 1436 49n. 1659 8, 97n., 114n.
968 313
640 224,336 970 128n., 266 1437 61 1672 232
641 180 n. 1441 35n., 87n., 9on., 298 1673 229n., 232n.
975: see SB X 10274
645: see SB XIV II899 1444 97n., 109n. 1685: see P. Merton I 17
985 229n., 232 n., 233 n., 235n.
646 312 988 10 n., son. 1445 34, 54, 73, 84 n., 293, 298 1686 21n., 216n., 218n.,
647 312 1446 82n., 86, 87--8 241 n., 243 n., 255 n.,
VII 1024 38n., 95 n., z96
648 312 1459 36n., 42, 44n., 54n., 95n., 266n., 339
1031 II n., 38n., 72n., 300
649 313 128n., 129n., 218n., 299 1687 19 n., 218n., 236n.,
1032 19n., 170
650 312 1462 107n., 18on., 183n.,
1034 156n., 314 264n., 339
651 312 184n., 194n., 195n. 1688 254n., 268n., 348
1044 36n., 43, 44n., 54n., 72-3,
652 313 1465 38n., 295
87n., 9on., 98n., 1z8-...-30, 1689 191, 244n., 27on., 346
653 52n. 1470 105 n., 151n., 179n.,
131, 218n., 262n., 292, 1690 347
IV 705 non., 192n. 182n., 194n.
301, 307-10 1691 173n., 347
707 216, 229n., 235,253 n., 263 n. 1046 rogn., II4n. 1473 166n., 199
1692 25 n., 231, 339, 324, 325---{)
713 44n., 127, 141 n., 144n., 163, 1049 226 1475 10n., 18n., 108n., 115n.,
1699 191 n., 270 n.
164, 167--8, 170, 172 J83 n., 184n., 19on.,
1055 232n. 1704 190n.
715 46n., 147n. 192n., 219n., 320
1056 2In. 1713 191n.
718 19on., 292, 297 21 n., 125 n.
1o61 125n. 1719 21 n., 266
719 181 n. 19n., 216n., 218n., 238n.,
VIII IIOZ 156n. r732 233 n., 235 n.
721 49 n., 50, 51, 61 255 n., 256n., 26on., 345
Ill2 95n. 1735 233 n.
727 262 1508 51, 105 n.
Il13 36n., 128n. 1743 75, 277n.
728 219n. 1514 109n.
I114 23 n., II3 n., 151 1748 227n.
729 37n., 217n., 226, 228n., 1530 l 14n.
rr23 91 n., 297 1758 263n.
229n., 231, 234-5, 258n., 1124 333 1531 96n.
324,337 1532 94n. 1764 l!On.
nz5 226n., 227n., 340 XVII 2125 JI n.
730 22n., 98n., 205n., 255n., 1141 z33n. 1533 35n.
296, 336 1534 35 n., iogn. 2126 II2n.
1156 21 n. 2129 46n., 113n., 135, 179n.,
740 150 n., 224 n. IX 1188 25n. 1535 35n., 302
743 269 n., 274 n. 1537 35 n., 125n., 298 187-8
1208 r6n., Sgn., 15rn., 183n.,
794 II n., 320 1544 109n. 2131
184n., 19on., 194n., 195, 2133 141 n., 151n., 167, 170n.
796 317 320 1549 16n., 36n., 44n., 128n.
807 22n. 1554 15n. 2134 44n., llln., 323
1209 191 n.
1578 II4 n. 2137 lln., 112n., 173, 22on.,
37°
37 1
 Index of Sources Index of Sources
n5n., 255, 264n., 268n., 2713 151n. 3o49 14 3474 38, 95n., 298
343 2722 8gn. 3051 55n., 58n., 227t1., 255n. 3475 16n.
2140 II2 n. 2723 25n., 111n., 136n., 3063 23 3482 17 n., 46 n.
2141 83, 95n., 263n. 182n., 185, 186n., 3066 125n. 3487 166 n.
2155 232n. 194, 196n. XLIII 3105 116n. 3488 11 n., 251 n., 333
XVIII 2185 32n., 38n., 57n., 295 XXXVI 2757 142n. 3u7 142n., 151n., 170 3489 11n., 264n., 333
2187 152n. 2760 271 n. XLIV 3167 16 3491 145n., 155n., 156n.,
2188 227n., 238n., 25on., 2775 6on., 109n. 316g r8n., 97n., ro8n., 159n., 164, 318
254n., 334 2776 25on., 264n., 269n., rr4n., ri6-r8, 136n., 3498 r6n., 43n., 183n.,
2189 II2, 343 336 261n. 186n., r9on., 320
XIX 2228 22n., 67n. 2781 21 n. 32n., 55n., 61, 118n., 3500 155n., 165n.
2231 141n. 2795 226n., 254n., 345 138, 303 3507 232n.
2234 16n. XXXVIII 2834 137n. 3175 n6n. 3508 127, r73n., 188, 2oon.,
2235 151n. 2836 137n. 3197 108 321
2240 74n., 224n., 227n., 277n. 2837 SS n., 137n. 320 5 67n. 3515 207n., 233 n.
2241 12n., 6on., 75, 277n. 2838 r37n. XLV 3242 25n., 128n., 174 3516 207n., 233 n.
2242 74-5, 277 2839 137n. 32 44 16n. 3521 6on., 232n.
XX 2267 67n. 2840 137n. 3246 95n. L 3556 180n.
2269 53 n., 272 n. 2841 2on., 137n. 3250 13n. 3564 rron.
2271 Sn., 135n. 2847 49n. 3251 227 n., 255 n. 3582 230n.
2274 228n. 2848 IIOn. 3253 233n. 3588 107n.
2284 219n., 265, 345 2849 23 n., 113n. 3254 219n. 3589 12n., 216n., 227 n., 250 n.,
2285 109n. 2850 23n. 3255 19n., 173n., 223 n., 350 34 1
2286 109n. 2852 151n. 3256 19n., 223 n., 248n., 350 3591 226n., 241 n., 244n., 269n.,
XXII 2341 98 n. 2854 6on., rr3n., 116n., 3257 19n., 261 n., 350 343
2346 105n. 26on. 3258 351 3592 241 n., 244n., 342
2348 140 n., 314 2857 140, 312 3259 35 1 3596 I 13n.
2349 105n., 2oon., 322 2865 108n. 3260 19n., 217, 248n., 351 3597 l 13n.
2350 227n., 255n. 2866 ro8n. XLVI 3268 16n. LI 3638 ion., 15n., 48, u5n.,
2351 98n., 173n., 205n., 224, 2867 ro8n. 326g 16n. 183 n., 186n., 19on., 193,
227n., 242n., 244n., 2873 55n., 58n. 3270 16n. 320
25on., 254n., 255n., 335 2874 21 n., 216, 225n., 3285 210 LII 3690 17n., 47n., 143, 179n.,
XXIV 2410 42, 55n., 58n., 87n., 226, 251, 255n., 335 3287 61 183n., 186n., 190 n., 195,
9~, 189n., 296 XLI 2954 196 3290 112n. 297, 320
2422 8 2956 38n., 87n., 297 3291 n2n. 36g1 18m.
XXVII 2473 54n., 96n., 183n. 2968 135n. 3302 151n. 36g2 140, 313
2474 126n., 262, 315 2970 233 n. 3307 15n. 36g4 r8n.
XXXI 2566 u5n. 2973 37n., 221 n., 226n., 262, 3313 152-3 n. LV 3783 95n.
2568 109 n. 265, 334 XLVII 3333 15n. 3795 9n., i3n.,
2569 21 n, 2974 217n., 241 n., 242n., 3339 18gn. 3800 83n., 86n., 226n., 25on.,
2583 25, 127, 2II 1 226 n. 255n., 338 3352 252n., 333 251 n., 299, 343
2584 173n., 226n., 252n., 2979 273 3354 25 n., 220, 228n., 3803 252n., 278
264n., 265 2982 125n. 229n., 231,232, 236n., 3804 !On,
2585 19n., 45n., 218n., 350 2985 21 n., 232n. 324, 325, 345 LVII 3902 38n., 295
XXXIII 2676 83n., ro6n., 226n., 2986 21n. 3357 273 3903-4 38n., 87n., 295
236n., 243n., 244n., 2997 114n. 3365: see P. Coll. Youtie I 3905 38n., 72n., 86n., 87n.,
297, 338 XLII 3046 26n., 36n., 128n., 132n. 65 296
2680 263n., 272n., 274n. 3047 13n., 36, 41, 43, 45n., XLVIII 3388 224 39o6 38n., 72n., 92n., 99n.,
XXXIV 2704 23 n. 49n., 50, 54n., 6o, 9on., 3392 21 292, 300
2705 IIOfl. 95n., 128n., 13on., 34o6 263n. 3907 38n., 295
2706 IIon. 132-4, 267 n., 292, 302 3407 263 n. 3908-'"9 38n., 295
2712 u2n., 227n., 263n., 134-5, 189n., 207, 246n., XLIX 3462 16n. 391 r 218n., 251 n., 340
267n. 267n. 3473 45 n. LVIII 3823 u4n.

37 2 373
 Index of Sources Index of Sources
LX 4089 9n., 12, 13n. 320 46n., 49n., 5on., 185n., 1338 114n., 230n. 233n., 6612 69n., 181n., 183n., 184n.,
4091 II n., 14n. 186n. 267 n., 324, 325, 348 185n., 304
4092 9n., ion., 351 V 450 156n., 183n., 19on., 318 XV 1532 128n., 141 n. IV 7339 2oon., 322
P. Oxy. inv. (22)3820/N(a) (pub!. in 468 37n., 342 PSI Congr. XI: 7343 190n.
BASP 8 (1971), 7-10) 18 469 19n., 218n., 261 n. 9 132, 323 7361 96n.
P. Oxy. Hels.: 472 u4n., 233n., 267n. II II2Il. 7443 244n., 347
9 35, 41, 49, 5on., 51n. VI 687 200n. PSI Congr. XVII 25 36n., urn., 7474 68n.
20 95n. 706 35 1 r28n. V7528 95n.
22 35, 54n. VII 732 297 P. Strass.: 7599 47n., 49n., 51n.
24 38n., 299 733 II0n. IV218 81n., 82n. 7633 303
35 317 739 37n., 216n., 25on., 338 244 r73n., 264, 335 VI 8971 184n.
41 220,221 n., 225, 244n., 254n., 343 772 19n., 264n., 268n., 335 9190 zoon., 322
VI 534 37n.
42 265n., 347 795 II3n. 568 96n. 9298 151n.
P. PheretTUJuis I In., 97 n. 807 178n. 9317 141 n.
P. Tebt.:
P. Prine.: 808 303 9372 318
I 56 120
II 42 II n., 45n., 9on., 292, 295 819 105n. 9502 302
VIII 88o 19n., 345
II 288 96n.
III 131 46n. 325 84n., 92n. VIII 9900 22on., 349
147: see SB X rn532 890 228n., 233n. 9918 21 n., 205n., 217, 218 n.,
897i 183 n., 185, 186n., 320 373 39n.
P. Rein. 99 260 255n., 349
897ii r83n., 184n., 185, 186n., 374: see W. Chr. 349
P. Rob. inv. (pub!. in BASP 25 (1988) 10207 95n.
26gn., 320 376 Sr n.
99--127): X rn216 19n., 218n., 224, 255n.
471 96n.
4 114n. 942 128n., 151 10256 227 n.
IX 1029 89, 236n., 264n., 294, 333 576 94n.
7 228n., 229n., 23on., 324, 349 10263 342
1030 24n., 219n. P. Theon.:
20 22on., 254n., 263n., 348 10274 227n., 334
1036 13n., 62 n., 216n., 244n., 7 107 n. 10500: see P. Koln II 100
49 95n., 295 II 107n.
59 38n., 57n., 295 34° 10532 238n., 264n., 268n., 333
1040 3 1 5 24 232n.
P. Ross. Georg.: !0533 84n.
106g 255n., 344 P. Thmouis I 33, 67n.
II 19 24n., 37n., 228n., 229n., 231, 10573 222n.
1070 68n., 216n., 244n., 256n., P. Turner.
232, 234, 235, 324, 337 10756: see P. Koln II 100
26on., 269n., 346 24 52n., 53n., 136n., r94n., 196n. XII 10780 264n., 339
P. Ryl.: 25 265n.
1071 19n., 255n., 347 10795 23n.
II 96 78n.
1072 r3on., 2r7n., 218n., 22on., P. Ups. Frid 1 148n., 168n.
II9 200Il. 10918 non.
225n., 236n., 239, :.i5on., P. Vindob. Wory 2: see P. Wash. univ. II 10942 23 n., 216, 221 n., 226 n.,
125 r6on.
254n., 256n., 346 77 227, 248n., 258n., 332
126 23 n. rn78 64n., 218n., 2:.ion., 227, P. Wash. uni'I!.: II033 16n., 36n., 128n.
154 164 253 n., 351 I 18 233 n. II08I 68n., 216n., 226n.,
159 183n., 185n. X 1097 213 n., 331 II 77 23n., 38n., 72, 89n., 93n., 292, 263n., 302, 346
r6o 192n. II02 151n. 294 n228 226n., 265, 342
IV 683 87n., IOI n., I 12, 13on., ru9 22n., 135, 229n. 78 15n., 322 11229 181 n., 320
218n., 256n., z65, 269n., 1144 Sr n. P. Wise. I: II233: see P. Gen. II n6
301, 344 XII 1249 u2n. 7 25rn., 254n., 263n., 345 XIV 11272 13 n.
P. Sakaon 44 17 n. 1250 Il2n. 9 89n., 183n.,320 I1280 22n., 26on., 296, 335
PSI: 1252 II2n. 13 126n., 148n., 313 n281 219n., 22on., 225n.,
I 73 zz6n., z51n., 343 1253 run. P. Yale I: 241 n., 243 n., 339
83 II4n., 233n., 267n. 1255 II0n. 68: see SB XII n228 n336 55n., 58n.
9o 352 126o 59, 303 6g II4n. 11403 6o, 115n., 132, 216n.,
III 178 347 1262 135n. 70 344 26on., 343-4
187 19n., zr6n., z18n., 244n., 1263 126n., 314 SB: 11428 !07 n., 254n., 264 n., 337
256n., 260n. XIII 1322 128n., 163, 200n. I 1010 151 n. II6o4 236n., 248n., 254n.,
240 (revised PSI Corr. I) 126n., 1325 147n. 4414 81 n., 83 n. 256n.
159n., 170, 313 1328 47, 200, 323 5673 son. 11846 317
IV 315 226n., 25rn., 266n., 337 1330 ion., 68n., 216n., 244n., 5806 I 12 n., 266 11899 25n., 227n., 274
316 2r6n., 248n., 351 256n., 26on., 346 III 6294 263n. 11933 55n.

374 375
 Index of Sources
12016 349 349 92
12025 109n., 254n., 349 359 81 n.
12108 11 n. 379 67n. INDEX OF PROPER NAMES
12158 109n., 254n.
12208 17 n., 63, 65-6, 304
XVI 12235 114n.
2. OTHER TEXTS
12277 195n.
12324 14n. Augustus, Res Gestae 15ff. 56 n.
12331 126n., 314 I. Pl,ACES II()-23, 126, 135, 146--7, 174n., 178,
Columella, De re rustica r. 2. 4 177 n.
12333 186n., 320 230, 246n., 266,267, 277-8
Digest 8. 4. 6. 1 173 n.
12335 16n. Adaiou II, r3, 107
Dio Cassius 5r. 17. ~ 55
12336 55n., 58n. Akanthou 13 Ibion Chuseos 112, I 14, 135
Diodorus.:
12553 186n., 320 Alexandria 24, 28, 81, 104, 107-8, 187, Ieme 163
12579 14n. r. 73. 2ff. 28 n. 269n. Ionthis 25
12583 55n., 58n. I. 80 175 chora of 107, 184 Ision Panga 10, 18-19, 45 n., 268 n.
126o7 188n., 246n. Herodotus 2. 168 27 n. see also citizens, Alexandrian Ision Tryphonis 16, 181 n., 269n.
12627 3 17 Hesiod, Works and Days 341 177 (general index) Istrou 13
12642 z79n. Histona Monachorum 17 n. Antinoopolis 104, 108, 120, 122, 128,
12693 337 Lysias, Or. 7 208 266
I Karanis 32, 40, 65, 82-3, 106, 122-3,
13035 277n. Pliny, Ep.: I,
Antipera Pela 12, 19, 62, 105, 114, 135,
XVIII 13150 16n. 189n.
I. 24 177 n. 267 Kerkemounis 12, 107
13161 93n. 3. 1 9 177 n., 196 Apollonopolite Heptakomia 33-4, 78-g
13246 (P. Lips. inv. 266) 78 n. Kerkeosiris 43, 76, 102, 212-13
7· II 177 n. Apollophanes, canal of n-12 Kerkethyris 12, 108
lJ31I 234n.
10. 6 106 n. Arsinoite nome 2-3, 5, 9, 17, 18, 19, Kerkeura 137
13995 81 n.
Strabo: 23n., 24n., 28-g, 30--1, 32, 37-8, Keuothis 1r, 14n.
14607 35n., 302
St. Pal.: 1 7, I. 35 24 39n., 44n., 45 n., 46n., 48, 49, 50,
Koba 15n.
17. 2. 5 1 75 64-6, 81-3, 86-7, 88-go, 94-6, 107,
IV p. 114 147n., 200n. Kynopolite name II, 17, 22, 40
Suetonius, Divus Augustus: 122, 135, 146-7, 212, 216, 222-3
p. II$ 156n., 318
p. II6 294, 333 89.1 55 n. Artapatou 13, n4, 135
Lenon n, 13, 204, 268n.
XX 29 169n. 101 56 n. Assua r5n.
Leon, epoikion of 107
W. Chr.: Theophrastus, De caus. plant. 2. II. 3 Athychis 12
Leukiou 109 n.
341 3on., 33-5, 41, 42, 61, 64, 66, 209 n. Lile 13
72n., 78, 83n., 291 Thucydides 3. 68. 3 209 n. Bahr Yusuf (river Tomis) 1, z, 9, 10-u,
12, 13, 14, 15, r6n., 204, 268n. Lower toparchy 14-15, 18, 105, 134,
268, 269
Chusis 10, 12, 19, 6on., ru, 112, 135 Lykopolite nome 16

Delta 3, 13, 107 Mendesian nome 32, 66---J

Dositheou 14, 15 Mermertha 12, 18, rr3 n., 268, 269, 270
Middle toparchy 13-14, 18, 127, 184n.,
Eastern toparchy II, 12-13, 128, 134, 270
270 Monimou n, 12, 128, 174, 269
Episemou 11, 12, 112, 265, 268n. Mouchinaxap 12
Euergetis (Kynopolite) 11n. Mouchis 15n.
Euhemeria 23 n., 94, 160
Naboo 33-4, 36,41, 42, 66
Fayum: see Arsinoite nome Naukratis rn4
Nemera 14
Heraklas, epoikion of 107 Nesla 85, 127, 163, 172, 268n.
Herakleopolite nome 14-15, 28, 40, 146
Hermopolite nome 10, 49 n., 50, 59, 66, Ophis 13n., 137, 169
&), 98n., 102-3, 107,112,114, Osoronnophris 132n.

377
 Index of Proper Names Index of Proper Names
Paimis ro, 11, r2, 18n., 108, 114, 135, Small Oasis 1, 114, 135, 206, 225, 244 Aristius Optatus 64-5 Julia Palla 58n.
136, 204, 268 n., 270 Soknopaiou Nesos 4 n., 83-4, 201 n. Augustus (emperor) 29, 30, 3S, 49, 51, Ti. Julii Theones (family of) 107-8,
Pakerke: Sou is 14, 15, 135n. 55, 56, 61, 93-4, 104-5, 107-8 1 35
(Eastern toparchy) r6n., 128,194,204 Syron 137 Aurelius Horion no, 192 Ti. Julius Alexander 49, 77, 81, 91,
(Middle toparchy) 13, 6zn. 155--6
Palosis 14n., 72, 128-9, 136 Taamire 195 C. Avidius Heliodorus 195--6
Paomis 110n. Taamorou 14n., 15 Calpurnia Heraklia 13n., 50, 60, 10on., Livia (wife of Augustus) 55
Pathyris 192, 195 Takona 14, 15, 28n., 44 110, 128, 13on., 132-5, 267n.
Patsontis 4on., 83 Talao 15, 35, 37, u2, 115, 135, 162, 266 Calpurnius Aurelius Theon 110 Mettius Rufus 162, 163-4
Peenno 14, 44n., 109, 114, 127, 163 Tanais 109, 217, 270 L. Calpurnius Firmus (family of)
Pela 10, 11, 12, 44n., 62, rag, rro, 113, Tebtunis 4n., 21n., 81, 186n., 207,243 IIO-II, 183, 185, 196---] Nemesianus (archive of) 6on., 207n.
13on., 132, 137, 204, 232, 243, 266, Teis 14, 16n. L. Calpurnius Gaius I 10, 183
270 Terythis u, 13, 107 Charite 207 n. Octavian: see Augustus
sluices at 16n. Theadelphia 17, 32, 81-3, 96n., 199, Claudia Isidora alias Apia 24, 6on.,
Petne 13, 14 234n. 114-15, 132, 135, 206, 224-5, 245 L. Pompeius Niger 105
Phebichis 15n. Appianus estate 2on., 21n., 22n., Claudius (emperor) 55n., 137 Ptolema alias Magna II2n.
Pheretnouis II, 40, 97 24n., 205n., 206, 229n., 231--z, Claudius Severus alias Diodorus
Philadelphia 181n. 233, 247 108--g, n6n. Sarapion alias Apollonianus (family of)
Phoboou 44n., ro8, 134, 137, 1!>9,268n. Thrnoinakomis 132n. Claudius Syrian 6on., 113n. 59, 1oon., n1-12, 135,173,265
Plelo 13 Thmoinepsobthis 50, 132n. Ti. Claudius Theon 58 Sarapion alias Dionysotheon I 13, 183
Posompous Aristomachou 137, r!>9, Thrnoisepho toparchy 14, 109, 2!>9 Sarapion, son of Herodes 22, 137
268n. Thrnoithothis rr Diocletian (reform of taxation) 35, M. Aur. Saras 113
Psobthis (Lower toparchy) 15, IIS Thmouis 33 63-4, 68, 121 Seneca (estate of) 55n., 58
Psobthis (Middle toparchy) 137, 219 Tholthis: Diogenis alias Tourbiaina 114, 233, Septimius Eudaimon 6on.
Psychis 15n. (Lower toparchy) 15, 28n., 44, rr4, 267n. Septimius Severns (emperor) 104,
Pthochis r 14 222-3 Dioskouriaina alias Sabina 112, 267n. 116n.
Ptolemais (Thebaid) 104 (Thrnoisepho toparchy) I 14, 137 Serenus alias Sarapion 53, 136, 185,
Thosbis 109n., II3 Exakon, son of Herodes 137 190-1, 258, 261, 170-1
Toka 14, 112, 135 Soterichos (of Theadelphia) 199, 227n.
Sadalou 12 Tornis, river: see Bahr Yusuf Hadrian (emperor) 33, 40, 51, 71-9 Spartiates alias Chairernon 101, 111-12,
Sarapion Chairernonos epoikion 12n, Toou 13n., 62 Herakleidiaina I 14, 267 157, 265--6
Satyrou II, 128 Tychinnechotis 13n., 45 n., 58 n.
harbour of II, 13 Tychinphagon 15, u4 Isidorus (of Karanis) 64-5 Taarpaesis alias Isidora 130, 137, I 69--70
Schoibis 132n. Tychinpsalbo 14-15
Senao 18n., 136n, Julia Isidora 114 M. Vibius Horigenes 108n., 183, 184
Senekeleu 11, 12, 127, 135 Upper toparchy 10-12, 18, 107, 268, 269
Senepsau 12n.
Senepta 18n., 51, 108, II2, u4, u6, Western toparchy 10, rr, 12, 13, 18,
135, 136n., 137, 217 268--]o
Sennis 108, II3, 114, u6, 136n.
Senokomis 127, r37
2. PERSONS
Senopothis 13
Senta 21 n., 182 (The name• Aurelius• when acquired in
Senyris 12 consequence of the Constitutio
Sepho 14 Antoniniana is ignored)
Seryphis 12, 13, 16n., 18, 25, 108, u2,
135, 191, 266 Achilles I 09, 133
Sesphtha 15 Aline, daughter of Komon 137
Sinary 10, 15, 32n., 55n., 6o, II8, 135, Amrnonion 6on., 109
184, 269n. Antonia Drusi 22, 55n.
Sinkepha 12, 60, 92 n., 268 n. Apollonarion 38, 40, 91--z, 120
Sko 11, 12, 101, 107, 111-12, 128, 174, Apollonia alias Dicus 113n.
265, 268 n., 2!>9 Apollonia alias Harpocratiaina 183

379
 General Index
tenancy, role of 135-6, 206--J, 234, gifts of land 12on., 193-4
278--<j goats 22, 137
GENERAL INDEX see also imperial estates granaries 138
accounts of 116-18, 138, 189, 266
fertilizer 24, 228, 231, 234 deposits in 108, 109, 112, 116
fishing 16, 267 n. giro-transfers between 138
flax 19,114,225,238,239, 241,245,246- grapheion (record-office) 3, 184
7, 256 of Tebtunis 160, 166n., 178, 184n.,
abrochos (uninundated land) 33, 220 confiscation of land 30, 44-5, 47, 52-3, fodder crops zo-1, 85, 107, 112, 226, 204, 246n.
declarations of 16, 35-6, 77, 79, 94-5, 55, 68, 108, 115, 132, 191, 26o 238--<j,255, 273; see also arakos, gymnasia! class 104, 111, 113, u5-16,
JOO, 111, 125, 128, 134-5 Constitutio Antoniniana 105, rn, chortos, chlora 162
deduction of tax on 74, 253 139-40 form of rent on 241, 246
episkepsis (inspection) of 35, 76--J crop rotation 20, 24, 238-40, 243-4, market in 22, 192 harbours II, 13, 14
absentee landownership 183, 196 250-1, 255, 271 uses of 21-2, 23, 226, 273 harvest 98, 186, 199, 208, 225, 271
accounting 92, r 10 fragmentation of land 171-5, 184, heirs 87, no, 140, 141, 143, 174-5, 261-2
date palms 18, 24-5, 227, 229 194-5, 197-8, 2 59 hereditary lease 30, 54, 62, 71, 91
see also estate accounts
declarations: freedmen 105, 140, 182, 183 hieratic account 30, 33, 61
ager publicus 39n., 93
of abrochos: see abrochos freedwomen 12on., 140 houses rn7, 126n., 137, 142, 161, 168,
Aiguptioi 114, 140
of property to bibliophylakes 125, 169, 181, 191
arable land u2, 126n., 132, 137, 176,
127-8, 145-'7, 168, 187 ge: hydroparochoi: see irrigators
185-6, 219, 220-1, 229
demography 87-8, 148-52, 172n., 194 aigialos/ou 4on., 83-4 hypologos 34-6, 39-40, 45, 47, 48-53, 65,
arakos 21, 216, 241-2 demosia edaphe 39 n.
asses see donkeys ampelitis 19, 33 n. 67, 71, 132n.
see also ge demosia basilike 19, 28, 29, 32-40, 51, 62, 64-9,
autourgia 97, 203-4, 257 definition of 49 n.
depreciation of currency 186, 188--<j, 70, 72, 74-5, 78-g, 81, 83, 85-6, leasing of 84-5
191, 246--J, 248--<j &r-90, 92n., 93, 97, 98-100, 105,
barley 20, 24, 73-4, 213, 215, 236, 240-1 purchase of 136
desert, edge of ro, 12, 15, 18-19, 82 216n.; 'classed as private' 72n.,
bibliotheke enkteseon; see property guards 15
register 78 idios logos 25, 30, 37, 52-3, 216n.
diamisthosis 70-1, 76, 80-3
boundaries of land 124-6, 128, 217 demosia 37-40, 63-9, 73, 75, 91 n., 93, imperial estates 13, 30, 33-4, 40, 55-61,
dioikesis (fisc) 30, 32-3, 40, 52-3, 57n., IOI, 121 67, 1oon., 133, 225
see also embankments; neighbours 66n.
en aphesei 44 n. see also ousia, ousiakos logos
divisions of property I 14, 126--J, 194-5, eonemene 33-4, 36, 41, 42, 48-51, 105 inheritance 101, n3, 127, 136, 137, 163,
canals 10, 12 n., 15, 16 211n.
hiera 29, 30, 33, 51, 61-2, 68 r78n., 184, 190
cattle 22-3, rn8, r13 n., 136, 176, 208, donkeys 23, 25, 105, 206, 208, 226, 231, idioktetos 33, 42-3; see also ge dowry and 157-<), 166--/1
209-10, 215, 221-2, 231 234, 235 basilike, classed as private Egyptian practices 141, 144-5, 169
cheese 229 dorea (gift-estate) 13, 29, 55--<i,133
idiotike 33, 35, 37, 40, 41-3, 53n., 63- intestate 140-3, 146--/, 167, 170-1
chersampelos 19, 33n., 37n., 41, 48,229 dowry u2, 132n.
9, 73-4, 181, 216n.; see also land, partible 140-1, 171-2, 194-5
see also ge ampelitis control over 155--<i,162
private of public land (de facto) 87, 92, 175
chersos (dry land) 23, 33, 35, 52, 64, 215, and land transactions r93-4, 200
katoikike 19, 29, 32, 34, 3D-7, 41-8, from women 141-2, 165, 169-70
258 value of 160
161, 177, 216n.; alienation see also wills
chlora (green crops) 85, 239, 240, 241, see also parapherna, pherne, proix,
of 179-81, 184, 185; irrigation 16, 23, 128, 271, 274
242, 243, 245, 261 prosphora
non-arable 48 basin 20, 220
chortos (grass, hay) 21, 216, zr9n., 226, klerouchike 43, 45, 51, 66n. machines 16, 20, 23, 112, 128, 181,
2 45
Egyptian language 4, 177, 209-11 ousiake 57, 6o, 67, 70, 72, rnon., 112; 186, 219, 220, 225, 227, 234
Christian Church (as landowner) 68 see also ousia
embankments 16-17, 126, 132., 133, 229 perennial 19
cisterns 16 see also perichoma pareimene 44 n. of vineyards 226, 230, 234
citizens: epefros 34, 66n., 73-4 prosodou 32, 40, 57 n. irrigators 206, 230, 234-5
Roman 55-6, 104-<j, 111, 140, 182 epibole 69n., 72, 88--<jo georgoi 58n., 81, g6n., rn8, 207, 212-13, isatis 84, 236
Alexandrian 58, 104-'7, n1, 113, 114, equestrian rank 108-10, 113-14 224, 262
115, 123, 142, 182-3, 185, zoo, estates 19, 23, 113, 205-'7 basilikoi 93, 96 joint ownership 128, 129, 173-4, 198
266--J, 269 accounts 205 n., 207, 235, 277 demosioi 38, 57, 70-1, 81, 93--<i
colonia (land category) 34, 51 geographical spread of 134--<i,138 ousiakoi 51 katoche (lien) 144-5, 151, 162-4, 166
compulsory assignment of land 57, 62, management of 136 geouchoi (landowners) 96 n. katoicic land: see ge katoikike
68--<j,82-3, 88-92, 99, IOI sale of 184, 188 gift estate: see dorea registry 45-'7, 180, 184

380
 General Index General Index
kleroi 29, 35, 44, 109n., 125-6, 128-30, declarations of 22-3 oxen see cattle areas sold 184-5
133-4, 216, 217 loans 198-g Oxyrhynchus: motives for 177, 192-3, 196....,.,
klerouchoi 96 n. defaults on 199-200 city land of 68, 216n., 256, 260-1 to neighbours 191, 195-7
kleruchs 29, 33, 41, 133, 212 to farmers 101, 199, 224, 227 excavations at 1-2, 111n. to relatives 129, 183, 193, 195-6
koitai 126, 131, 217 secured on property 111, 198-'.201 of sacred land 30
of wheat 189, 246 paidaria 98, 205 by state 47, 48-53, 189; see also ge
lachanospermon 24, 75, 236, 239-40, 243 parachoresis (cession) 29 n., 46, 48, 180 eonemene;at auction 52-3, 89,
lakkoi: see cisterns manure see fertilizer paraphema 157, 159-00 276n.
land: marriage: pasture 19, 58, 84 to unmarried women 193-4
categories: see ge, monartabos brother➔ ister 172 perichoma 16, 34, 45, 125 sale of standing crops 219,232, 248n.
market 178-g, 187--9-0,197 ceremonies 152-3n. pherne 153 seed corn:
private ownership of 29, 68-g, 104, contracts, Egyptian 152-3; content of 154, 157~, 162 grants of 36, 38, 40, 57, 95, 98, 99, IOO
176---7 dispositions of property in ownership of 166 provision in private-lease
public 30, 37-40, 42, 216; held by 144-5, 162-5, 167, 194 phrontistes 59, 114, 207, 264 n., 266, 279 contracts 209, 214-15, 222-5,
private landowners 90--101; unwritten 142, 144, I 53 n. ploughing 23, 221-2 243n.
proportion of 63, 96, 98; measures 106n., 242-3 pottery 107, II3 sharecropping 210, 214-15, 223-4, 225,
redistributions of 81-4; metropolitans: progmateutes 109, r I 5, 207 241, 248
subleases of 83, 99, 216; written as landowners 65, 66, 9on., 104, 106, prasis (sale) 29, 180--1 sheep 22, 25, 93, 136, 137, 229
leases of 83-5 115-18, 120--4, 126, 129-30, 134, presbuteroi 82-3, 95, 96n. shepherds 23, 136
registers 30, 31---0,39, 62, 64, 102-3, 137, 182-4, 277-8 pnce: sitologoi 14n., S7, 95, 114, 137
109, n8-19, 120-3, 178, 261 as holders of public land 32n., 68-g, of land 18o, 185-6; sold by the slaves 108, 205
registration in 'names' 59, 87, 97, 94, 97 state 49, 53 speculation:
99-101, 109n., 111, 129n., 216, as lessors 267-'72 of wheat r88n., 245 in land 190--2
267n. as private tenants 261 of wine 232-3 in fodder 192n.
tenure, Ptolemaic 27-9, 43-5, 46, 70, minors: priests 129, 182, 209 in wheat 188-<), 245-6
76, 80, 83, 93-4, 96, 97, 133, 177, as landowners 127, 150--1 property register 46, 47, 145-'7, 161, 163 sponde (tip) 98, 205, 278
180, 212 forbidden to make will 142, 147 proix 153-4, 157 strategos 3, 18, 25, 57, 59, 84, IIO, II 1,
leases of land 37, 39n., 45n., 106n., as lessors 262-3 prosphora 154, 160-1, 164-5 II2
10~ 137, 178n., 191 purchases of land for 194 psiloi topoi: see vacant lots
subsistence level 119-20, 122
in Classical Greece 208 misthos: see wage
Coptic 210 misthotai of imperial estates 58-g, 81 ratio privata 67
taxation of land:
date of contracts 218-19, 252 monartabos (land category) 35---0,41, 43, rhaphanos 24, 238n., 268n.
changes in 64-'7
demotic Egyptian 209-11 54, 181 reed bed 228, 229
Crown tax 114
descriptions of land in 125, 130, mortgage of land 37, 41, 89, 101, 132n., rent:
freedom from tax (ateleia) 49, 52, 59,
216-18 190, 192, 198-'.201 apportionment in sale contracts
137n.
duration 208, 209, 252-'7, 265n.; of 186....,.,
in kind 19, 20, 28-g, 31, 32; rates on
indefinite duration 252 n., 278 neighbours to property 125, 127n., 134, arrears 227, 254-5, 274, 275
in Egyptian and Greek contracts 210 private land 33, 35-'7, 41, 49,
extra payments in 229, 232 151 53-5; rates on public land 71-8o,
of Ptolemaic period 212-13 nesos 34, 73-4, 84 in kind 240-52; see also
sharecropping 91
between relatives 264
levels 215, 236, 240, 242-3, 247-51; in in money 19, 72, 75
renewals 217, 253, 254 oil crops 24 payments for 100, 137, 216-17, 221 n.,
and sale of land 186 see also lachanospermon, olives vineyard leases 230
226---7;arrears 193; by banking
see also tenants olives 24, 135, 137, 219 in money 24on., 241, 244, 245, 246....,.,,
transaction 117-18, 136
leases of work 205---0,214n., 229-30, orchards 8, 24, 35, 219, 229 248-g
paid in advance 221 n., 264-5 of sacred land 61-2
231, 233 ausia 13n., 32, 4on., 55---0,58n., 6o, 115,
for ploughing oxen 222 tenants:
legal systems, interaction of 139-40, 216n.
on public land 49, 53, 71, 83; in advertisements f0r 86, 272-3
169, 181 n., 210 of Isis of Taposiris 13, 62, 108, 244
leguminous crops 24 money 84, 85 economic position of 227-8
Lower and Upper 107
see also crop rotation see also taxation replacements of on public land 8½
Nikanoriane 98-g
lentils 24, u1, 213, 236 sacred land: see ge hiera social status of 209, 212-13, 224, 256,
tamiakai (fiscal estates) 60--1, 75,
liturgies 91-'.2, rro, u3, u6, 188, 192, sale of agricultural produce 245 257-8, 264-5, 269, 276, 278
81n.
199 sale of land 29, 37, 41, 46, 90, u3 testaments see wills
ousiakos logos 22n., 30, 40, 55, 57, 6o-1,
livestock 21-3, 58, 99n. and the agricultural year 186....,., threshing floors 20, 219-'.ZO,225-6
67

382
 General Index
unwritten contracts 70-1, 86, 139, 2o6, embarkation of 15
2u-12 medium of rent payment 240--0
prices ue price
vacant lots 126 n., 137, 168, 219 second crop 20
vegetables 19, 230n. specified in leases 236, 238--40, 241
veterans 51,100, 104--0, 182,191, 263n., storage of 14, 25, 134, 189; see also
270 granaries
villagers: yields 247-9
farmers of public land 94--'7 wills 126, 136, 137, 155, 168--<)
landholders 58, 59, 65--0, 112, 116-18, form of 140, 144-5
122-4, 126-7, 129-30, 134, 136, persons excluded from making 142
178 n., 203-4 prevalence of testacy 142-8
and mortgage of land 201 Roman 140
private tenants II 1, 268--<J wine 107
vendors and purchasers of land 182, payments in 233
184-5 sale of 21 n., 110, 112, 232
villages 18, 174, 192, 220-1 see also vineyards, vintage
officials 25; see also presbuteroi wood:
sites of 10, 14, 82, r 11 acacia 25, 193
vinedressers 233, 236 cypress 14n.
vineyards 8, 10, 16, 17, 19, 24, 48, 107n., women:
110, 112, 113, II4, 125n., 128, 132, and cultivation of public land 87, 91,
162,181,185,186,193,216,220 97--<J
ex-vineland 35, 41, 51, 132n.; see discriminated against in bequests of
also chenampelos, ge ampelitis land 169--?o
leases of 219, 228--36, 252, 267, 270 gymnasiarch 114
new 234-5 landholders 6, 112, 113-15, 231
work required in 231 lessors 262, 263-4
vintage 231-2 and loans 200-1
and marital property 165
wage 205, 230 petitioners 152
labour 101, 205-8, 234, 235 rent collectors 272
payments 232-3 unrestricted inheritance rights 150
wheat 19-20, 73-5, 84-5 vendors or purchasers of land 182