Cover

Half title

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

List of figures

List of contributors

Preface

Calendars

Abbreviations

Maps

Chapter 1 Introduction and historical framework

Introduction

1.1 The Ptolemaic period (332-30 BC)

1.2 The Roman period (30 BC-AD 284)

1.3 The Byzantine period (AD 284-640)

1.4 Monuments in juristic papyrology

1.5 Law under the Ptolemies

1.6 Law in the Roman period

1.7 Law in the Byzantine period

1.8 The law of Coptic legal documents

Chapter 2 The historical development of the form, content, and administration of legal documents

Introduction

2.1 Evolution of forms of Greek documents of the Ptolemaic, Roman, and Byzantine periods

2.1.3 Records office document (loan of money)

Body of the document (the former outer script):

Autograph confirmation by the debtor:

Autograph confirmation by the creditor:

Confirmation of registration by the grapheion official:

Verso:

Docket:

The letter format (cheirographon)

2.1.4 Third-century bc cheirographon (payment for reed propping)

Verso:

2.1.5 Second-century bc cheirographon (settlement of a debt)

Cheirographa in Roman Oxyrhynchos

2.1.6 Oxyrhynchos cheirographon (repayment of money loan)

Body of the document:

Autograph confirmation by the declaring party:

Autograph confirmation by the guardian of the declaring party:

Account of the money transfer through the bank:

The Byzantine period

2.1.7 The "new cheirographon": earlier format (money loan)

Dating formula 1:

Body of the document:

Dating formula 2:

Autograph confirmation by the declaring party:

Autograph confirmation by the scribe:

Verso:

Docket:

2.1.8 The "new cheirographon": later format (sale in advance of delivery)

Dating formula:

Body of the document:

Autograph confirmation by the debtor:

Autograph confirmations by the witnesses:

Autograph confirmation by the scribe:

The "private protocol" and the hypomnêma

2.1.9. "Private protocol" (land lease)

Body of the document:

Autograph confirmation by the lessee:

Dating formula:

2.1.10 Hypomnêma (vineyard lease)

Appeal by the prospective lessee:

Autograph confirmation by the co-lessee:

Autograph confirmation by the landlady's agent:

Verso:

Docket:

2.1.11 Hypomnêma (lease of land with date palms)

Appeal by the prospective lessee:

Endorsement by the lessor:

Dating formula:

From the double document to the grapheion document

2.1.1 Early Ptolemaic double document (loan of money)

Inner text: the body of the document:

Inner text: list of the witnesses:

Outer text: the body of the document:

Outer text: list of the witnesses:

Outer text: acknowledgement by Bithys, the syngraphophylax:

Verso:

Docket:

2.1.2 Later Ptolemaic double document (loan of wheat)

Inner text:

Body of the document, outer text:

The debtor's autograph confirmation:

The syngraphophylax´ confirmation of the receipt of the document:

Registration of the document by the grapheion official:

2.2 Demotic sales

2.3 Demotic cessions

2.4 Demotic loans

2.5 Greek loans

2.6 Archives and registration in Roman Egypt

2.6.1 Two edicts of the prefect T. Flavius Titianus

Col. i, lines 7-17:

Col. ii:

Col. iii:

2.6.2 Edict of the prefect M. Mettius Rufus

2.6.3 Abstract sheet of the property records office

2.6.4 Extract from the Gnomon of the Idios Logos

2.6.5 Application for registration of a deed

Lines 1-2:

Line 3:

Lines 4-5:

Lines 5-9:

2.6.6 Petition to the prefect M. Iunius Rufus

2.6.7 Deposition of documents

2.6.8 Deposition of the records of administrative officials

2.6.8a Beginning of a labor contract

2.6.8b List of journals followed by endorsements

Verso:

2.7 Byzantine sales: some aspects of the development of legal instruments in the later Roman and Byzantine period

Greek schemes

Coptic schemes

2.7.1 Greek-Coptic specimen forms of sales on delivery

2.7.1a Sale on delivery of reeds

Introductory formulas:

Promise of timely delivery in good quality:

Guarantee clause:

2.7.1b Sale on delivery of kouphon-vessels

Introductory formulas:

Promise of timely delivery in good quality:

Guarantee clause:

Chapter 3 The languages of law

Introduction

3.1 Ethnic diversity in a wealthy household

3.1.1 Greek loan by Apollonia

On the verso:

3.1.2 Greek will by Dryton

Witnesses:

3.1.3 Greek petition from Dryton's daughters

3.1.4 Demotic divorce agreement for Dryton's granddaughter

3.2 Greek and Demotic in the Roman Fayyum

3.2.1 Demotic house sale and cession with Greek registration

Demotic sale:

Demotic cession:

Greek registration:

Subscription of the seller, in Greek:

Subscription of the buyer, in Demotic:

3.2.2 Greek sale of a priest's dwelling with Demotic subscription

Greek sale:

2nd hand, subscription of the guardian on behalf of the seller, in Demotic:

3rd hand, subscription on behalf of the seller and her guardian, in Greek:

4th hand, subscription of the buyer, in Greek

5th hand, registration of the sale, in Greek:

3.2.3 Greek subscription to a Demotic contract of sale

2nd hand, descriptions of the contracting parties, in Greek, at the bottom of the papyrus:

3.3 Roman law in Egyptian documents

3.3.1 Roman will (testamentum per aes et libram)

Col. I:

Col. II:

2nd hand:

Verso:

3.3.2 Military diploma

3.3.3 Formal opening of Roman wills

3.3.3a Request to open a will

In Greek:

3.3.3b Report of proceedings

3.3.3c Opening of a will

In Latin, heavily abbreviated:

3.3.3d Opening of a will

In Greek:

3.3.4 Cretiones (formal acceptances of inheritances)

3.3.4a Cretio

In Latin, on wax:

In Greek:

3.3.4b Cretio

In Latin:

In Greek:

3.3.5 Bilingual request for a guardian

Translation of the Latin:

3.4 Greek and Coptic in the Byzantine era

3.4.1 The sociolinguistics of Greek and Coptic in Byzantine Egypt

3.4.2 Greek-Coptic interferences from a linguistic point of view

3.4.3 Greek-Coptic interferences in Byzantine and early Islamic documentary evidence

3.4.4 Greek-Coptic interferences in the legal documents

Case 1: One papyrus, two languages

Case 2: Greek deeds in Coptic dresses

Case 3: Byzantine rhetorical style applied to Coptic speech

Case 4: Awareness and instrumentalization of bilingual speech

Chapter 4 The family

Introduction

4.1 Marriage

4.1.1. Ptolemaic Demotic marriage contract

Greek registration docket:

4.1.2 Greek marriage contract

4.1.3 Byzantine marriage contract

4.2 Divorce

Divorce settlements: format

Divorce in documentary practice vs. imperial law

4.2.1 Repayment of part of a dowry

4.2.2 Divorce settlement

Verso:

4.2.3 Divorce settlement

Fourth century AD documents relating to unilateral divorces

4.2.4 Petition for unilateral divorce

4.2.5 Petition to the stratêgos

4.2.6 Courtroom speech on behalf of an abandoned orphan

4.3 The Romanization of family law

4.3.1 Sale of land by siblings

4.3.2 Request for a guardian

Translation from Latin:

4.3.3 Request for the ius trium liberorum

4.3.4 Inheritance on condition of emancipation from paternal power

4.3.5 Joint sale of land by father and son

4.4 Fatherless persons

4.4.1 Request for a guardian

4.4.2 Census return with property of a fatherless woman

4.4.3 Registration of a child with fatherless parents

4.4.4 Application for the corn dole in Oxyrhynchos

4.4.5 A case of concealed fatherlessness

Verso:

4.4.6 Census return of the ex-husband of a fatherless woman

4.5 Deeds of last will: Demotic, Greek, and Latin

4.5.1 Donation of the woman Eschonsis to her son

4.5.2 Will of the officer Dion, including manumission of slaves

Witnesses:

4.5.3 Will of the cavalry officer Dryton on the occasion of his marriage

4.5.4 Division of property among the children (donatio mortis causa)

4.5.5 Draft of a Roman will (testamentum per aes et libram)

4.6 Intestate succession

4.6.1 Inheritance of soldiers' land allotments

4.6.1a Rules of an ordinance (prostagma)

Col. I (lines 1-15):

Col. II (lines 16-19):

4.6.1b Petition regarding succession

4.6.2 Legitimacy and inheritance

4.6.2a A prefect's decision about soldiers' marriages

4.6.2b Imperial constitution about rights of soldiers' children

4.6.3 Minutes of court trial: representation in succession

4.6.4 Minutes of court trial: limits to freedom of testation

4.6.5 Application for succession to an inheritance

4.6.5a Bilingual request for bonorum possessio

In Latin:

In Greek:

In Latin:

In Greek:

4.6.5b Request in Greek for bonorum possessio

4.6.6 Devolution of inheritances without heirs

§4

Chapter 5 Capital

Introduction

5.1 Ptolemaic Demotic loans

5.1.1 Loan with conditional sale

5.1.2 Loan of wheat

5.1.3 Partial repayment of a money loan

5.1.4 Litigation over a loan

5.2 Ptolemaic Greek loans

5.2.1 Loan secured against mortgage (hypothêkê) of a house

In a more cursive script:

Names and descriptions of the parties, in large characters:

5.2.2 Six-witness loan contract of wheat

Scriptura exterior: full contract, not sealed:

Names and ethnics of six witnesses:

The first witness is also the keeper of the contract, who identifies himself as such:

Subscription by the debtors (2nd hand):

Subscription by the keeper of the contract (3rd hand):

Scriptura interior: shortened version of the contract, to be sealed:

Verso: names of the parties and the six witnesses, displayed to the right and left of the three seals

Verso: summary

Verso: note after the loan was returned.

5.2.3 Notarial loan contract of wine

Verso: Greek summary

5.2.4 Repayment of a loan of money

Verso: Demotic summary

5.3 Greek loans in the Roman period

5.3.1 Loan of wheat and barley

5.3.2 Loan of money

5.3.3 Cancellation of a loan contract (synchôrêsis)

5.3.4 Private letter about redemption of pawned clothing

In the left margin, at right angles:

Verso:

5.4 Real security

5.4.1 Personal pledge of jewelry as security for a loan

5.4.2 Loan secured against mortgage (hypothêkê) of a house

5.4.3 Loan against mortgage (hypallagma)

5.4.4 Mortgage in the form of a menein-contract

5.4.5 Greek loan with a Demotic sale of property

5.4.5a Greek loan contract

5.4.5b Demotic sale and cession

5.4.6 Procedure for execution against a debtor´s property

5.5 Loan contracts serving other purposes

5.5.1 Loan with antichretic lease

5.5.2 Loan with paramonê

5.5.3 Loan with paramonê

5.5.4 Deposit concealing a dowry

Chapter 6 Sale

Introduction

Objects of sale

6.1 Demotic sales and cessions

6.1.1 Demotic sale and cession of a house

Sale:

Scribal signature:

Cession:

Scribal signature:

6.1.2 Demotic sale of land

Greek subscription (fragmentary), registering the payment of the conveyance tax:

6.2 The different applications of the Demotic sale and cession contract

6.2.1 Demotic mortgage in the form of a sale

Witness list

6.2.2 Demotic sale with deferred delivery

Greek registration docket:

List of twelve witnesses on the verso

The various uses of the cession instrument

6.2.3 An early Demotic quitclaim

Witnesses:

6.2.4 A Demotic quitclaim after judgment

6.2.5 An unregistered Demotic quitclaim

6.3 The Greek sale of real property

6.3.1 Sale of shares of a house

6.3.2 Sale of a house

6.3.3 Sale of shares of a house

6.3.4 Sale of a house at auction

6.3.5 Sale of agricultural land

6.3.6 Sale of a vineyard

6.4 Sales of movables

6.4.1 Sale of cows

6.4.2 Sale of a cow

6.4.3 Sale of a horse

6.4.4 Sale of a donkey

6.4.5 Sale of a camel

Back:

6.4.6 Sale of a loom

6.4.7 Sale of a dining couch

6.4.8 Sale of wood

Back:

6.5 State registration of sales: the katagraphê

6.5.1 Sale of land

6.5.2 Sale of land

Column I:

Column II:

Column III:

6.5.3 A law of the autonomous city of Alexandria

6.5.4 Sale of house and land

6.5.5 Gift of a vineyard

6.6 The Byzantine era: Greek, Coptic, and Arabic sales

6.6.1 Greek sale of parts of a house

Recto

Dating clause:

Address:

Deed corpus:

Stipulation:

Completion note by the scribe:

On verso, docket, mostly abbreviated:

6.6.2 Coptic sale of a courtyard

Recto

Remains of the stamped protocol in Arabic:

Invocation formula and issuing date:

Introduction of the issuer and of the addressee, declaration of free will, and description of the sale object:

Receipt of the sales price and transfer of ownership:

Penalty clause:

Signatures of witnesses:

Completion note by the scribe:

Docket on verso:

6.6.3 Coptic sale of an estate

Recto

Address:

Deed corpus:

Date, stipulation, and witness signs:

Docket on verso:

6.6.4 Late Coptic sale of two rooms

6.6.5 Late Coptic sale of a house

6.6.6 Arabic sale of parts of a house

Invocation and introduction of the parties:

Designation and description of the purchase object:

Acknowledgement of receipt of the sales price and transfer of the ownership from vendor to purchaser:

Exclusion of a claim by the vendor, and guarantee to indemnify the purchaser against any claim:

Stipulation of the sale by the vendor in a state of free will and sound mind:

Issuing date:

Witness list:

Chapter 7 Leases

Introduction

7.1 Ptolemaic Demotic land leases

7.1.1 Demotic lease of temple land

Recto

Verso:

7.1.2 Demotic lease of temple land

Recto

Sixteen witness signatures on the verso

7.1.3 Demotic lease of temple land to a Greek cavalry officer

Recto

Sixteen witness signatures on the verso

7.1.4 Demotic lease of land from the Roman period

Demotic:

Greek:

7.2 Kleruchic land in the Ptolemaic period

7.2.1 Extract from the "Revenue Laws" of Ptolemy Philadelphos

7.2.2 Extract from official correspondence on deceased cavalrymen

7.2.3 Official correspondence about a military reassignment

On the other side:

7.2.4 A series of royal rulings

7.2.5 Extract from a Greek land survey

7.2.6 Demotic division of family property (docket in Greek)

7.3 Greek leases in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods

7.3.1 Lease of land of the Apollonios estate

7.3.2 Lease of half a klêros

7.3.3 Lease of a house in Alexandria

7.3.4 Sharecropping lease of a vineyard

7.3.5 Application to lease the property of orphans

Verso:

7.3.6 Prolonged leasehold of the Kronion family

7.3.6a Receipt for rent

7.3.6b Application to withdraw from lease

7.3.7 Prodomatic sub-lease of public land

7.3.8 Lease of fishing rights with receipt

Verso (downwards, along the fibres):

7.3.9 Lease of land

7.3.10 Lease of a pottery

7.3.11 Lease of "immortal" goats

7.3.12 Lease of land

7.4 The Byzantine era: Greek, Coptic, and Arabic leases

7.4.1 Coptic misthôsis-lease of a part of a house

Recto

Address form:

Deed corpus:

Closing form:

Docket on verso:

7.4.2 Coptic lease of a house, written on an ostracon

Invocation and address form:

Deed corpus:

Closing form:

7.4.3 Greek misthôsis-lease of arable land

Invocation:

Date:

Address of the lessor and self-introduction of the tenant:

Deed corpus:

Kyria clause:

Stipulation clause:

7.4.4 Coptic misthôsis-lease of a "waterless aroura" of land

Opening form: Invocation, issuing date, self-introduction of the tenant and address of the lessor:

Deed corpus:

Closing form and witness signatures:

7.4.5 Coptic misthôsis-lease with waterless clause

7.4.6 Coptic epitropê-lease with sharecropping agreement

7.4.7 Late Coptic lease of a tenancy "without survey"

7.4.8 Arabic lease of a tenancy "without survey"

Abstract:

Invocation and address:

Deed corpus:

Summary:

Chapter 8 Labor

Introduction

8.1 Ptolemaic (Greek) labor contracts

8.1.1 Contract for land clearance

8.1.2 Labor contract

8.1.3 Contract for maintenance of irrigation canals

8.2 Roman and Byzantine labor contracts

8.2.1 Contract for labor in an olive mill

8.2.2 Service contract for a swineherd

Verso:

8.2.3 Work in a tapestry-making workshop secured by an interest-free loan

8.2.4 Redemption of a sister bound by a service contract

8.2.5 Weaver's apprenticeship contract

8.2.6 Wet-nursing contract

8.2.7 Contract for substitution in a liturgy

8.2.8 Contract for services of a flutist at vintage time

8.2.9 Contract for transportation of manure

8.2.10 Lease of labor in a vineyard

8.2.11 Contract for irrigation of a vineyard

Verso:

8.2.12 Sharecropping lease

8.3 Dependent labor: the case of the enapographoi geôrgoi

8.3.1 Contract for vineyard labor

8.3.2 Receipt for a waterwheel

8.3.3 Advance on wages

Verso:

8.3.4 Deed of surety

Chapter 9 Slavery in Greco-Roman Egypt

Introduction

9.1 Slaves and slavery in the Ptolemaic period

9.1.1 Rules on slaves in lawsuits

9.1.2 More rules on slaves in a lawsuit

Col. VIII

Col. IX

Col. X

9.1.3 Registration of households, including houseborn slaves

9.1.4 Extract from a royal ordinance on taxes and fees on slave sales

9.2 Slaves and slavery in the Roman period

9.2.1 Investigation into the death of a slave

9.2.2 Request for the interrogation of a slave (anakrisis)

9.2.3 Selection of a slave boy (epikrisis)

9.2.4 House-to-house return with "married" free woman and slave man

9.2.5 One-third of a slave is manumitted, two-thirds are to be sold

9.3 Slaves and slavery in the Byzantine period

9.3.1 Letter concerning the enslavement of a debtor's children

From top to bottom on the left margin:

Verso:

Address, reverse side up:

9.3.2 Husband's letter about his wife, a free person now enslaved

9.3.3 Affidavit concerning a woman's free status

Chapter 10 The judicial system in theory and practice

Introduction

10.1 Ptolemaic justice

10.1.1 A sentence of the chrêmatistai

10.1.2 Petition concerning usury and illegal detention

10.1.3 Trial in Krokodilopolis

10.1.4 Chrêmatistai and laokritai

10.2 The Politeuma

10.2.1 "Citizens" and "strangers"

Verso:

10.2.2 Juridical function of the oath

10.2.3 Unhappy bridal arrangement

Verso:

10.2.4 A politeuma of the Idumaeans at Memphis

10.3 Roman litigation: reports of court proceedings

10.3.1 Court proceedings: trial before a stratêgos about baby-snatching

10.3.2 Court proceedings: trial before a stratêgos about a loan and mortgage

10.3.3 A centurion as iudex datus in an intestate inheritance

10.3.4 Petition to a centurion

10.3.5 Prefect's edict limiting access to military courts

10.3.6 Bilingual report of proceedings before the military court of a dux

Verso:

10.4 Criminal procedure in the Roman period

10.4.1 Petition about a violent attack

10.4.2 Application for an official medical examination

10.4.3 Doctor's report

10.4.4 Warrants

10.4.4a Warrant

10.4.4b Warrant

10.4.4c Warrant

10.4.5 Bilingual report of judicial proceedings

Dramatis personae (main characters only) and summary

Column II

Column III

10.4.6 Governor's edict on physical punishment

10.5 Clerics as arbiters in Christian Egypt

10.5.1 Bishop's decision about missing Christian books

10.5.2 Decision of the priest Sereu

10.5.3 Woman's letter to her spiritual father

10.5.4 Conflict about a marriage

10.5.5 Arbitration by a bishop

10.6 Monks as mediators in Christian Egypt

10.6.1 Letter for a prisoner's release

10.6.2 Request from the villagers of Nesoi

10.6.3 Widow's petition to Apa John

10.6.4 Letter from an imprisoned recruit

10.6.5 Letter concerning a prisoner's release

Concordance

A. List of Texts

B. Concordance of Documents

1. Greek

2. Latin

3. Bilingual Greek and Latin

4. Demotic

5. Greek-Coptic (bilingual)

6. Coptic

7. Arabic

Suggested reading for introductions to papyrology in English

Glossary of technical terms

Works cited