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The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Vol. 3, edited by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt (London: Egypt Exploration Fund, 1903)
Official Documents: Nos. 475-483 (AD 143 - 578) [1][2]
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No. 475. Report of an accident. 28.7 x 9 cm. AD 182. {p.159)
A letter from the strategus Hierax to one of his assistants
(hyperitai), enclosing a copy of a report sent him by a certain
Leonides with regard to the death of a slave, who had been killed by
falling from an upper story while watching an entertainment given by
dancing-girls. The strategus orders the hyperite to view the dead body
in company with a public physician; cf. Nos. 51 and 476.
Translation from Greek: (p.160)
"Hierax, strategus of the Oxyrhynchite nome, to Claudius Serenus,
assistant. A copy of the application which has been presented to me by
Leonides also called Serenus is herewith sent to you. Take a public
physician and view the dead body referred to, and having delivered it
over for burial make a report in writing. Signed by me. The 23rd year
of Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Caesar the lord, Athur 7. To
Hierax, strategus, from Leonides also called Serenus, whose mother is
stated as Tauris, of Senepta. At a late hour of yesterday the 6th,
while a festival was taking place at Senepta and the castanet-players
were giving their customary performance at the house of Plution my
son-in-law ..., his slave Epaphroditus, aged about 8 years, wishing to
lean out from the bed-chamber(?)[1] of the said house and see the
castanet-players, fell and was killed. I therefore present this
application and ask you, if it please you, to appoint one of your
assistants to come to Senepta in order that the body of Epaphroditus
may receive proper laying out and burial." Date and signature of
Leonides.
notes:
1. domatos: doma here clearly indicates a room on an upper floor, and probably means the same as domation, i.e. a bed-chamber.
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No. 476. Report of Mummifiers. 9.8 x 6.3 cm. 2nd century AD. (p.160)
A report addressed to the strategus by two mummifiers (éntaphiastai)
who had been commissioned to examine the cause of a death which had
taken place. Cf. 51, a similar report by a public physician, and the
preceding papyrus.
Translation from Greek: (p.161)
"To Phocion, strategus, from Thonis son of Florus and Ptolema, aged
about 35 years, having a scar upon his left wrist, and from Thonis son
of Petaus and Taoues, aged about 62, with no distinguishing mark, both
of Oxyrhynchus, mummifiers. Today we were commissioned by you
through your assistant Heracleus to inspect the dead body of Apis son
of Pausis, of the said city, and to report the circumstances of the
case. We therefore inspected the said body at his house..."
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No. 477. Registration of an Ephebus. 15.7 x I1.3 cm. AD 132-3 (p.161).
This interesting papyrus is an application addressed to Marcus Claudius
Serenus, exegetes and holder of a variety of titles, and to other
Alexandrian officials, from Ammonius, a citizen of Alexandria, who
wished his son to be registered among the ephebi of the following year.
At Athens the dokimasia and enrolment of epheboi
took place at the age of 18, when they were received into their tribe
and deme, and attained their legal majority, though they did not obtain
full civic rights until the age of 21. At Alexandria it appears from a
Tebtunis papyrus of the reign of Trajan that admission to the ranks of
the epheboi: was possible
at a much earlier age, when the (p.162) assumption of legal rights
would be out of the question. We also learn from the same document that
the epheboi were registered in numbered symmoriai.
Translation from Greek: (pp.162-163)
"To Marcus Claudius Serenus, neocorus of the great god Sarapis,
ex-chiliarch, late praefect of the first cohort of the Damascenes,
chief of the cultivators, priest and exegetes, and to the Caesarii [1]
and the other prytaneis, from Ammonius son of Theon son of Sarapion, of
the Althaean deme of the Propapposebastian tribe [2], who became an
ephebus in the 5th year of Domitian. I wish to enroll among those
becoming ephebi in the coming 18th year of the Emperor Caesar Trajanus
Hadrianus Augustus my son .Nilammon (p.163) by my late sister
Thaubarion, citizen, and therefore request you to instruct the officers
concerned [3], on receipt of my declaration on oath that the foregoing
statements are true, to write to the proper officials to deal with my
case on my (proving the descent) of my aforesaid son Nilammon, and to
(communicate with) the cosmetes and gymnasiarch... to enroll him among
the ephebi... "
Notes:
1. If these are officials the title is apparently not otherwise known.
A Caesarian tribe (?) at Alexandria) occurs in No. 378, but if members
of one particular tribe were. being addressed, the Propapposebastian
would be expected ....
2. On the tribes and demes of Egyptian wéAes see Kenyon, Archiv,
II. 70 sqq. .... Propapposebastia (cf: No. 497. 20) is known as the
name of an Alexandrian phule from an inscription published by Jouguet in Bull. Corr. Hell. xx. 398. Cf. 513. I, note.
3. The cosmetes and the gymnasiarch are no doubt the officials at
Oxyrhynchus, The wish of the petitioner was that after the completion
of the formalities at Alexandria the san magistrates should be
communicated with, and the status of the boy thus established.
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No. 478. Selection of Boys (epikrisis). 26 x 6.1 cm. AD 132. (p.163)
An application addressed, as usual at Oxyrhynchus in such cases, to the
Bibliophulakes, by Dionysous, a freedwoman, requesting that her son,
who had reached the age of 13, might be placed on the list of
privileged persons who paid a poll-tax of only 12 drachmae, and stating
the grounds of the claim. The evidence of this papyrus was utilized by
us in a discussion of the whole question of epikrisis in P.Oxy.II.
pp.217 sqq., to which the reader is referred. .... That the
general sense of epikrisis is ‘examination,’ ‘ decision,’ requires no
special demonstration, and the term of course is, as we remarked (P.
Oxy.II.p.220), a relative one. But in connexion with the poll-tax,
epikrisis and its cognates acquired a technical signification, being
used of the process by which persons of a certain status were partially
or wholly relieved of liability to that impost. ..... It is abundantly
clear from [the lines] below, that persons who enjoyed the
privilege of paying less than the regular amount of the tax went
through a process of epikrisis, and were just as much epikekrimenoi as those who were entirely exempt.
Translation from Greek: (p.166)
"To Hadrion and Zotlus, keepers of the archives, from Dionysous
freedwoman of Dionysia daughter of Dionysius also called Chresimus son
of Dionysius, of Oxyrhynchus, with her guardian Eudaemon son of
Menoetes, of the same city. In accordance with the orders concerning
the selection of boys 13 years of age when their parents on both sides
are inhabitants of the metropolis rated at 12 drachmae, I declare that
my son Ptollis son of Phaon son of Ptollis registered in the quarter of
the Square of Thoéris [1] (interlinear note ‘the Kmelemus (?) quarter,
as he says') has reached the age of 13 years in the past 16th year of
Hadrianus Caesar the lord, and that his father Phaon son of Ptollis son
of Phaon, his mother being Athena, was an inhabitant of the metropolis
rated at 12 drachmae as shown by a uniform poll-tax list of the 13th
year of Hadrianus Caesar the lord at the said quarter, and is now dead,
and that the father of my aforesaid patroness Dionysia (interlinear
note “he does not agree”), Dionysius also called Chresimus son of
Dionysius, of the same city, was similarly rated at 12 drachmae by the
selection of the 7th year of the deified Trajan in the Lycians’ Camp
quarter, and died at an advanced age; and I swear by the Emperor Caesar
Trajanus Hadrianus Augustus that the foregoing statement is correct.
The 17th year of the Emperor Caesar Trajanus Hadrianus Augustus, Tubi
13. I, Dionysous, freedwoman [2] of Dionysia daughter of Dionysius also
called Chresimus, have presented the declaration and sworn the oath. I,
Eudaemon son of Menoetes, have been appointed her guardian and wrote
for her as she was illiterate. "
Notes:
1. The adscript added below this line by a different hand is a note by
an official remarking some inconsistency between this statement of the
dudodoy in which Ptollis lived and his own assertions. The question had
an important bearing on the consideration of the claims for exemption,
for it appears from No. 258 that a certain permanence of residence was
required; cf. the previous note. A similar interlinear insertion occurs
in 1. 28 in connexion with the evidence on the mother’s side.
2. This passage combines with B.G.U. 324 to show that slaves were
placed on the same footing with regard to liability to the poll-tax as
their masters; and we here learn that liberated slaves at least could
even transmit their privileges to their children.
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No. 479. Census Return. 20.5 x 6.9 cm. AD 157. (p.167)
An unaddressed notice from a woman, Demetrous, expressing the wish that
her grandson should for the future be registered at her own house. The
year in which this papyrus is dated was not a regular census-year; the
document was therefore supplementary of a previous return, and
necessitated by the change of residence on the part of the boy in
question, who was now living with his grandmother instead of his
parents.
Translation from Greek: (p.168)
"From Demetrous daughter of Amois son of Philoxenus, with her guardian
her son I wish that Horus, the son of my aforesaid son Amois and
Heraclous daughter of Harbaithus, who in tHe present 2oth year of
Antoninus Caesar the lord is 8 years of age, should henceforth be
registered at the house of which I own part in the quarter of the
Square of Thoéris. I therefore duly present this memorandum." Amois son
of Aperos. Date, and signatures of Demetrous and Amois written for them
by Hermon.
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No. 480. Census Return. 11.5 x 6.3 cm. AD 132 (p.168)
The concluding portion of a census-return (kat' oikion apographe) on
oath, written in A.D. 132, but following the formula of the early first
century Oxyrhynchus census-returns; cf. No. 255. The description of the
writer’s family and abode is lost; the property described consisted
only of an uninhabited house.
Translation from Greek: (p.169)
"(I register) in the Myrobalanus quarter a house and fixtures which previously
belonged to my said father in common with Cleon son of Dionysius and
others, in which no one is registered or lives; and I swear- by the
Emperor Caesar Trajanus Hadrianus Augustus that I have honestly and
truly presented the above return, and that neither stranger nor Roman
nor Alexandrian nor Egyptian nor freedman nor any one else dwells or is
registered in it except the aforesaid, or may I be liable to the
penalties of the oath. The 17th year of the Emperor Caesar Trajanus
Hadrianus Augustus, Athur 29. I, Chaeremon son of Chaeremon, have
presented the return and sworn the oath."
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No. 481. Property Return. 15.5 x 9 cm. AD 99. (p.169)
This and the following papyrus are examples of the periodical returns
of house property similar to P.Oxy.72, 247-50; cf. P.Oxy.II. pp.177-9.
It is noteworthy that No. 482 is dated in AD 109, or just ten years
later than the present document; and there is thus evidence for a
series of four general registrations of real property separated by
periods of approximately ten years, namely those in AD 80, 90, 99, 109,
while another occurred in AD 129; cf. No. 584.
Translation from Greek: (p.170)
"I hereby register in accordance with the decree the half-share
belonging to me at the present date at the metropolis in the quarter of
the Square of Sarapis... of a house and yard and other fixtures and
entrances and exits, which share has devolved upon me from my father
Heras son of Heras and Tnepheros, of the same city, who died before the
registration of the 9th year of Domitian [1], leaving me his only son
and heir” Date and signature of Heras written for him by Amoitas.
Notes:
1. the implication is that the property had been registered in the 9th
year of Domitian (A.D. 90) in the name of the son; and we may also
infer that no general registration had intervened between that occasion
and the date of this papyrus [nine years later] ....
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No. 482. Property Return. 23.5 x 6.7 cm. AD 109. (p.170)
A return of property, probably addressed to the Bibliophylakes, written
ten years later than the preceding papyrus. Cf. Nos. 686 and 687, which
are similar returns made probably in the same year, and No. 481 introd.
On the verso in a different hand is a list of persons with their
respective fathers’, grandfathers’, and mothers’ names...."
Translation from Greek: (p.171)
"(I register), apart from what I have previously registered [1] and
sold, now at the present time the third share which belongs to me at
the village of Senemeleu of two shares out of four shares out of five
shares of a joint house and the court adjoining it on the south side
and other fixtures and entrances and exits and appurtenances [2],
situated in a cavalry soldier’s quarters [3], which share has devolved
upon me with other property from my late father Diogenes son of
Ptolemaeus son of Ptolemaeus, his mother being Tekosis daughter of
Harthodnis, of the said city, in accordance with the will which he drew
up in his lifetime through the record-office at the said city in the
month Tubi of the first year of the deified Nerva, which will was
unchanged at his death. And I swear by the Emperor Caesar ie Trajanus
Augustus Germanicus Dacicus that I have given no false information."
Notes:
1. The point of this is that when land was about to be alienated,
notice had to be given to the Bibliophulakes; cf. 483 and 287. viii.
37, note.
2. This passage is a good illustration of the minute subdivision of
house and land property, the fraction of the whole house owned by the
writer being only 2/15.
3. cavalry soldier’s quarters: These instances show (p.172) that the
old military organization of katoikoi in the Fayum (cf. P.Tebt.I.
pp.545 sqq.) still survived to some extent in the Roman period; cf. P.
Meyer, Heerwesen, p. 106 and
note on No.488.
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No. 483. Application for leave to mortgage, 24.3 x 10.7 cm. AD 108. (p.172)
An application, addressed to the Bibliophylax by a certain Achillas, of
a similar character to B.G.U.184 and 379 and P.Brit.Mus.299 and 300;
cf. P.Oxy.II. p.180, where part of this papyrus is quoted. There is
however this difference between those documents and 488, that in them
the applicant wished to part with his land, while here he apparently
wished only to mortgage it; cf. 1.11 of the Florence papyrus published
by Vitelli, Athene e Roma iv. 73 sqq., and No.588. No.488 is also
noticeable for containing at the end a letter from the Bibliophylax to
the agoranomi authorizing the drawing up of the contract required.
Translation from Greek: (p.173)
"(To Sarapion, keeper of the public records, from Achillas. ... Wishing
to mortgage to)... through his... , priest of Zeus, Hera [1] and...,
the (6 arourae) of catoecic land which I own near the village of ...in
the eastern toparchy in the holding of Zenodorus ...(on condition that
the repayment is made) by the 5th intercalary day of the month
Caesareus of the 22nd year of Trajanus Caesar the lord, at the interest
of 1 drachma for each mina per month dating from next month,
Pharmouthi, which I will pay off at the conclusion of each twelvemonth,
I present this application in order that you may instruct the agoranomi
of Oxyrhynchus, who are also recorders, to execute the deed in the
proper way. And I swear by the deified Augusti and by the Fortune of
the Emperor Caesar Nerva Trajanus Augustus Germanicus Dacicus and my
ancestral gods that the aforesaid arourae are my own property and free
from all liability either public or private up to the present day. The
11th year of the Emperor Caesar Nerva Trajanus Augustus Germanicus
Dacicus, Phamenoth dies Augustus. I, Achillas son of Didymus, have
presented the application and sworn the oath. Sarapion, joint keeper of
the records with Theon, to the agoranomi of the metropolis, greeting.
Achillas has the 6 arourae on the register. Execute the deed therefore,
as is fitting." Date.
Notes:
1. Very likely these deities are in a Graecized form the triad commonly
worshipped at Oxyrhynchus, Sarapis, Isis, and Thoéris (e.g. 46. 8).
Sarapis and Zeus were often identified (cf. Milne, Journ.Hell.Stud. 1901, p. 277), and Isis might well be identified with Hera, whose worship is rarely mentioned in Egypt (Milne, op.cit. p. 289). Thoéris was perhaps identified with Athena; cf. No.579.
Footnotes:
1. [Editor's Note:] The original textual commentaries and notes provided by Grenfell and Hunt on
passages in Greek, and on some bibliographic references, have
frequently been abbreviated or omitted, if not essential to
understanding the content of the papyri documents. Any such omissions
are marked with "....", and any added words needed for clarity are
placed between brackets [ ]. These elisions are separate from those
used by Grenfell and Hunt in the translated text, which have not been
altered.
2. [Editor's Note:] References to all other papyri from the Oxyrhynchus
collections are given with their sequential number as "No. xx".
Abbreviations to other papyri collections and standard historical
references used by Grenfell and Hunt include the following:
Archiv.= Archiv fur Papyrusforschung.
B.G.U. = Aeg. Urkunden aus den K. Museum zu Berlin, Griechische Urkunden.
C.I.G. = Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum
C.I.L. = Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
Cod. Just.= Codex Justianus
Cod. Theod.= Codex Theodosianus
C.P.R. = Corpus Papyrorum Raineri, by C. Wessely.
Marcellinus =The late Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus.
P. Amh. = The Amherst Papyri (Greek), Vols. I-II, by B.P.Grenfell and A.S.Hunt.
P. Brit.Mus. = Greek papyri in the British Museum, vol.I-II by F.G. Kenyon.
P. Cairo = Catalog of the Greek Papyri in the Cairo Museum,by Grenfell & Hunt.
P. Fay. = Fayum Towns & Their Papyri by B.P.Grenfell, A.S.Hunt, & D.S.Hogarth
P. Flor. = Papiri Fiorentini, Vol. 1, by G. Vitelli.
P.
Grenf. = Greek Papyri, Ser. 1 by B.P. Grenfell, and Ser. II by Grenfell and Hunt
P. Hibeh = The Hibeh Papyri by B.P Grenfell and A.S. Hunt
P. Leipzig = Griechische Urkunden der Papyrussammlung zu Leipzig by I Mitteis.
P. Leyden = Papyri Graeci Musei Antiquarii Lugduni-Batavi, by C. Leemans.
P. Oxy. = The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, parts I-VI, by B.P. Grenfell and A.S. Hunt.
P. Strassb. = Griech. Papyrus der K.Univ.bibliotheck zu Strassburg by F.Preisigke.
P. Tebt. = The Tebtunis Papyri, by B.P. Grenfell, A.S. Hunt, et al.
Wilcken, Ost. = Griechische Ostraka, by U. Wilcken.
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