Contracts and people in early Roman Tebtunis: a complex affair

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License Newcastle University ePrints - eprint.ncl.ac.uk Langellotti M. Contracts and people in early Roman Tebtunis: a complex affair. In: 27th International Congress of Papyrology. 2016, Warsaw: The Taubenschlag Foundation. Copyright: This is the author’s manuscript of a paper that was presented at 27 th International Congress of Papyrology Conference, held 29 th July to 3 rd August 2013 in Warsaw, Poland. Link to Conference: http://www.papyrocongress2013.wpia.uw.edu.pl/ Date deposited: 10/11/2017

Transcript of Contracts and people in early Roman Tebtunis: a complex affair

Page 1: Contracts and people in early Roman Tebtunis: a complex affair

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

Newcastle University ePrints - eprint.ncl.ac.uk

Langellotti M. Contracts and people in early Roman Tebtunis: a complex

affair. In: 27th International Congress of Papyrology. 2016, Warsaw: The

Taubenschlag Foundation.

Copyright:

This is the author’s manuscript of a paper that was presented at 27th International Congress of

Papyrology Conference, held 29th July to 3rd August 2013 in Warsaw, Poland.

Link to Conference:

http://www.papyrocongress2013.wpia.uw.edu.pl/

Date deposited:

10/11/2017

Page 2: Contracts and people in early Roman Tebtunis: a complex affair

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VOL. I

PROCEEDINGSOF THE 27TH INTERNATIONALCONGRESS OF PAPYROLOGYWARSAW | 29 JULY – 3 AUGUST 2013

EDITED BYTOMASZ DERDAADAM ¸AJTARJAKUB URBANIK

IN COOPERATION WITHGRZEGORZ OCHAŁA ANDRZEJ MIRO¡CZUK

VOL. IWARSAW 2016

27th International Congress of Papyrology XX

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UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW FACULTY OF LAW AND ADMINISTRATIONCHAIR OF ROMAN AND ANTIQUE LAW

UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF PAPYROLOGY

THE RAPHAEL TAUBENSCHLAGFOUNDATION

THE JOURNAL OF JURISTIC PAPYROLOGY

SERIES EDITORSTOMASZ DERDAADAM ¸AJTARJAKUB URBANIK

VOLUME XXVIII

Supplements

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Proceedingsof the 27th International Congress of Papyrology

Warsaw, 29 July – 3 August 2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Volume OneLITERARY PAPYRI: TEXTS AND STUDIES

OPENING LECTURERoger S. Bagnall, Illegitimacy in Roman and Late Antique Egypt ..................

SECTION ONE: POETRYJosé Antonio Fernández Delgado, Contribution of the new papyri to the history

of Hesiod’s text ................................................................................................Marco Antonio Santamaría Álvarez, Theseus’ and Pirithous’ catabasis in

P. Ibscher col. I (Hes. fr. 280 Merkelbach–West = Minyas fr. 7 Bernabé) ......C. Michael Sampson, A new reconstruction of Sappho 44 (P. Oxy. X 1232 + P. Oxy.

XVII 2076) ..............................................................................................Benedetto Bravo, Anacreonte, Poetae Melici Graeci 346/1, fr. 1, 1–12: Uno scherzo

sull’erõs del potere politico .........................................................................Kathleen McNamee, A new look at the Würzburg Phoenissae commentary .....Fjodor Montemurro, P. Berol. 5514 re-examined: textual and exegetical problems

in Euripides, Melanippe desmotis, fr. 495 Kannicht .....................................Krystyna Bartol, How to serve a giant fish? Pap. Duk. F 1984.7 = Adesp. Com.

1146 K.-A.: Some textual problems ...........................................................Angelo Casanova, Note sul lessico della rhesis di Panfile (Men., Epitr. 801–835) ...Jan Kwapisz, P. Heid. G 310a revisited: Hellenistic sotadeans, hexameters, and

more? ........................................................................................................Marco Perale, A Hellenistic astronomical poem from Oxyrhynchus ..................Gabriel Nocchi Macedo, Juvenal in Antinoë. Palaeographic and contextual

observations on P. Ant. s.n. ........................................................................

5

21

37

53

63

85

97

117

129

145

155

167

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VI TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION TWO: PROSENatascia Pellé, Frammenti delle Historiae di Tucidide su rotoli riutilizzati: uno

studio bibliologico e paleografico ...............................................................Francesca De Robertis, P. Mich. inv. 918 e la tradizione della terza Filippica di

Demostene ................................................................................................Rosa Otranto, Esegesi demostenica su papiro: P. Lit. Lond. 179 [MP 3 307] .......María Paz López Martínez, Consuelo Ruiz Montero, The Parthenope’s

novel: P. Berol. 7927 + 9588 + 21179 revisited ............................................Giuseppe Ucciardello, New light on P. Strasb. Gr. 1406–1409: An early witness

of Secundus’ sentences ................................................................................Chris Rodriguez, Le cri d ’une victime de la tyrannie: La théâtralisation des

débats dans les Acta Appiani .....................................................................Natalia Vega Navarrete, Acta Appiani: Gerüchte über den kaiserlichen Hof in

Alexandria ...............................................................................................

SECTION THREE: HERCULANEUM PAPYRI Christian Vassallo, Towards a comprehensive edition of the evidence for pre -

socratic philosophy in the Herculaneum papyri ..........................................Giuliana Leone, L’edizione di Epicuro, Sulla natura, libro II ............................Aurora Corti, P. Herc. 454: Una «scorza» di Epicuro, Sulla natura XXV (P. Herc.

1420/1056) ...............................................................................................Michele Alessandrelli, Graziano Ranocchia, P. Herc. 1020 (Stoici

scriptoris anonymi opus incertum). Condizioni fisiche, aspetti bibliologici e storia editoriale ......................................................................................

Mario Capasso, Nuovi frammenti del De adulatione di Filodemo (P. Herc. 1092) ...Mariacristina Fimiani, Contributo al testo del P. Herc. 1423 (Filodemo, Retorica,

libro IV) ..................................................................................................Graziano Ranocchia, P. Herc. 1004 ([Filodemo], [Sulla retorica], libro incerto).

Condizioni fisiche, descrizione bibliologica e storia degli studi .....................Matilde Fiorillo, Segni di interpunzione e di correzione nel P. Herc. 1004

(Filodemo, Retorica VII) ..........................................................................Giovanni Indelli, Francesca Longo Auricchio, Il P. Herc. 1471 (Filodemo,

La libertà di parola) nelle carte Vogliano ..................................................Kilian Fleischer, New readings in Philodemus’ Index Academicorum: Dio of

Alexandria (P. Herc. 1021, col. XXXV, 17–19) ..........................................Daniel Delattre, Joëlle Delattre-Biencourt, Annick Monet, Agathe

Antoni, La reconstruction du P. Herc. Paris. 2, Philodème, [La Calomnie]:Quelques nouveautés textuelles ..................................................................

Holger Essler, Daniel Riaño Rufilanchas, ‘Aristarchus X’ and Philodemus:Digital linguistic analysis of a Herculanean text corpus .............................

187

201223

235

251

279

301

315347

357

373389

401

413

433

445

459

471

491

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TABLE OF CONTENTS VII

Michael McOsker, Verso una nuova edizione del P. Herc. 188 (Demetrio Lacone,Sulla poesia I). Storia del papiro ed indentificazione degli avversari .........

Antonio Parisi, Osservazioni preliminari sul P. Herc. 124 ................................Gianluca Del Mastro, Il titolo del P. Herc. 1005 .............................................

SECTION FOUR: CHRISTIAN LITERARY PAPYRI Jitse H. F. Dijkstra, The ‘Alexandrian World Chronicle’. Place in the late antique

chronicle traditions, date, and historical implications ..................................Marco Stroppa, I papiri greci dell’Asceticon dell’abate Isaia ..............................Alan Gampel, Céline Grassien, P. Duke Inv. 766: Le plus ancien témoin papy-

rologique d ’un canon poétique liturgique ...................................................

Volume TwoSUBLITERARY PAPYRI, DOCUMENTARY PAPYRI,

SCRIBAL PRACTICES, LINGUISTIC MATTERS

SECTION FIVE: POPULAR LITERATURE, MEDICINE, MAGIC, LETTERS Francisca A. J. Hoogendijk, Page of an oracle book: Papyrus Kellis 96.150 .....Luigi Prada, P. Oxy. XXXI 2607 re-edited: A Greek oneirocriticon from Roman

Egypt .......................................................................................................Ann Ellis Hanson, P. Ryl. III 530 and the Latin commentaries to the Hippocratic

aphorisms .................................................................................................Isabella Bonati, Between text and context: P. Oslo II 54 reconsidered ...............Antonio Ricciardetto, Inventaire et typologie des listes grecques et latines de

produits pharmaceutiques .........................................................................Korshi Dosoo, Magical discourses, ritual collections: Cultural trends and private

interests in Egyptian handbooks and archives ............................................Rachel Yuen-Collingridge, Legibility in the Greek magical papyri: The

treatment of formulae in PGM IV ...........................................................Laura Willer, Die Handhabung magischer Schriftamulette im römischen ÄgyptenLincoln H. Blumell, A Christian amulet containing a doxology with sketches on

the back ....................................................................................................Iain Gardner, The Sethian context to a Coptic handbook of ritual power

(= P. Macquarie I) ....................................................................................

503515525

535549

561

595

623

647659

677

699

717735

745

755

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VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS

Marie-Hélène Marganne, Du texte littéraire au document: Les connexionsentre les papyrus littéraires et documentaires grecs et latins ........................

Amaia Goñi Zabalegui, On the other side of the dialogue: letters addressed towomen from Roman Egypt .......................................................................

Antonia Sarri, Handshifts in letters ..................................................................

SECTION SIX: COLLECTIONS OF PAPYRI María Jesús Albarrán Martínez, Archives d ’Apa Sabinos dans le fonds copte

de la Sorbonne ..........................................................................................Carla Balconi, Papiri della collezione dell’Università Cattolica di Milano pro-

venienti dalla Grande Oasi .......................................................................Katherine Blouin, Papyri in Paris: The Greek papyrus collection in the Biblio-

thèque nationale de France ........................................................................Franziska Naether, Demotic texts from Leipzig ..............................................Déborah Vignot-Kott, D’Apollonopolis Magna à Varsovie. Regard sur les

textes démotiques d ’Edfou dans les collections polonaises ............................

SECTION SEVEN: GREEK AND LATIN PAPYRI AND OSTRACA: NEW AND REVISITED TEXTS Panagiota Sarischouli, BKT IX 158 revisited: An extract from judicial pro-

ceedings rather than a prose fragment ........................................................Hélène Cuvigny, Un type méconnu de document administratif militaire:

la demande de versement de frumentum praeteritum (O. Claud. inv. 7235 et ChLA XVIII 662) ...............................................................................

Eleonora Angela Conti, PSI inv. 1816. Una lettera privata in scrittura libraria..Alia Hanafi, Two unpublished documents from the Coptic Museum in Cairo ....Fatma E. Hamouda, A boule-papyrus from Karanis .........................................Shareen A. Aly, Three Greek ostraca from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo .......Nadine Quenouille, The Gerontios-Archive: A sub-archive to the Abinnaeus-

Archive? ...................................................................................................Anne Boud’hors, Jean Gascou, Le monastère de Dorothée dans la montagne

d’Antinoopolis ..........................................................................................Seham D. A. Aish, Noha A. Salem, Ten new documents from the archive of the

elaiourgoi of Aphrodite (O. Cairo Museum S.R. 18953) ..............................

SECTION EIGHT: COPTIC PAPYRI AND OSTRACA Anne Boud’hors, Apprendre à lire et à écrire: deux documents coptes revisités .Esther Garel, The ostraca of Victor the priest found in the hermitage MMA 1152 .

767

777797

823

837

853883

895

911

931943953961967

975

991

1011

10271041

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Jennifer Cromwell, Coptic documents in two copies: A study of corrections andamendments ..............................................................................................

SECTION NINE: ARABIC PAPYRIUrsula Bsees, Half a sale contract or an unknown type of document? Going deeper

into P. Cair. EgLib. inv. 885 verso .............................................................Johannes Thomann, An Arabic horoscope on parchment with a square diagram

for ad 1002 (P. Vind. inv. A. Perg. 236) .....................................................

SECTION TEN: ANATOMY OF A TEXT, BIBLIOLOGICAL MATTERSFrancesca Maltomini, Use and reuse of papyrus rolls and scraps: Some bibliological

matters .....................................................................................................Francisca Pordomingo, Scriptio plena vs. élision dans les papyrus littéraires:

Les papyrus ptolémaïques avec des textes poétiques ....................................Enrico Emanuele Prodi, Titles and markers of poem-end in the papyri of Greek

choral lyric ...............................................................................................Chiara Meccariello, Title, !ρχ$, %π'θεσι,. Notes on the heading and

arrangement of the tragic hypotheses on papyrus ........................................Chiara Martis, Sistemi di correzione nei papiri letterari greco-egizi: Consider-

azioni preliminari ....................................................................................Thomas A. Wayment, Michael R. Trotter, P. Oxy. LXIV 4405: An early

witness to a system of textual division at Oxyrhynchus ..............................Nathan Carlig, Symboles et abréviation chrétiens dans les papyrus littéraires

grecs à contenu profane (ive–viie siècles) ....................................................

SECTION ELEVEN: LANGUAGE, VOCABULARY, ONOMASTICSSonja Dahlgren, Egyptian transfer elements in the Greek of Narmouthis ostraka .Grzegorz Ochała, Multilingualism in Christian Nubia: A case study of the

monastery of Ghazali (Wadi Abu Dom, Sudan) ........................................Maria Chiara Scappaticcio, Coniugare nell’una e nell’altra lingua. Sondaggi

dalle flessioni verbali greco-latine su papiro ..............................................Joanne Vera Stolk, Dative and genitive case interchange in Greek papyri ........Elena Martín González, -ον'σκορδον (PGM IV 2209) ...........................Zsuzsanna Szántó, Les noms bibliques des Juifs dans l’Égypte hellénistique ......

TABLE OF CONTENTS IX

1055

1077

1085

1097

1113

1137

1185

1201

1231

1245

1257

1265

1285130513251333

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X TABLE OF CONTENTS

Volume ThreeSTUDYING PAPYRI

SECTION TWELVE: HISTORY OF PAPYROLOGY, NEW PAPYROLOGICAL TOOLSHolger Essler, Wilckens Briefe an britische Kollegen ........................................Alain Martin, Charles Wessely à la «Semaine Égyptologique» de Bruxelles ........Herbert Verreth, Topography of Egypt online ................................................Marius Gerhardt, Die Berliner Papyrusdatenbank (BerlPap) ..........................Jean-Luc Fournet, Simona Russo, La culture matérielle dans les papyrus: une

nouvelle entreprise lexicographique ...........................................................Nicola Reggiani, Data processing and state management in Late Ptolemaic

and Roman Egypt: The project ‘Synopsis’ and the archive of Menches ........

SECTION THIRTEEN: PAPYROLOGY AND ARCHAEOLOGYRodney Ast, Paola Davoli, Ostraka and stratigraphy at Amheida (Dakhla

Oasis, Egypt): A methodological issue ........................................................Mario Capasso, Nuovi ritrovamenti di papiri e ostraka a Soknopaiou Nesos

(2010–2012) ..............................................................................................Alberto Nodar, Two new texts from Oxyrhynchus: Archaeology and papyrology

on the site .................................................................................................Thomas Landvatter, Archaeological and papyrological inquiry at Karanis:

Problems and potentialities .......................................................................Giovanna Menci, Ogetti iscritti appartenenti alla collezione dell’Istituto Papiro-

logico «G. Vitelli» .....................................................................................Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert, La papyrologie à la rencontre de l’archéologie:

Le lexique des mobiliers d ’éclairage ...........................................................

SECTION FOURTEEN: JURISTIC PAPYROLOGY Rob Kugler, Judean legal reasoning in P. Polit. Iud. 3–5: A research report .......Joachim Hengstl, Noch einmal zum Erfahrungsprofil des Apostels Paulus aus

rechtshistorischer Sicht .............................................................................Fara Nasti, The new complete edition of P. Haun. De legatis et fideicommissis:

Some remarks ...........................................................................................

SECTION FIFTEEN: HELLENISTIC EGYPT Lucia Criscuolo, Queens’ wealth ....................................................................

1351136513791387

1393

1415

1447

1473

1483

1493

1519

1533

1565

1579

1591

1605

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Andrew Monson, Harvest taxes on cleruchic land in the third century bc ........Hans Hauben, Boats and skippers in the service of Apollonios the dioiketes

especially in Zenon’s Alexandrian years (261–256 bc) ................................Christelle Fischer-Bovet, Les Égyptiens dans les forces armées de terre et de

mer sous les trois premiers Lagides .............................................................Patrick Sänger, The meaning of the word πο#$τευµα in the light of the Judaeo-

Hellenistic literature .................................................................................Christian-Jürgen Gruber, Amtsdauer und -nachfolge von Eklogistai vom aus-

gehenden ersten Jh. v.u.Z. an in Ägypten ..................................................

SECTION SIXTEEN: ROMAN EGYPTLivia Capponi, C. Calpurnius Proculus and an example of Greek stenography

under Augustus .........................................................................................Micaela Langellotti, Contracts and people in early Roman Tebtunis: A com-

plex affair ................................................................................................Marie-Pierre Chaufray, Comptes du temple de Soknopaios à Dimé à l’époque

romaine ....................................................................................................Adam Łukaszewicz, Double greetings in P. Brem. 5 and some other remarks on

Hadrian’s Egypt ........................................................................................Thomas Kruse, Zu den Kompetenzen des administrativen Hilfspersonals der

enchorischen Beamten in der römischen Kaiserzeit ....................................

SECTION SEVENTEEN: LATE ANTIQUE EGYPTMiroslava Mirkovic, Taxes and people: Transactions and misuses in the Late

Roman and Early Byzantine Egypt ..........................................................Usama A. Gad, Who was who in the aristocracy of Byzantine Oxyrhynchus .....Alexandra Jesenko, Die Topoteretai im spätantiken und früharabischen Ägypten ..Karin Maurer, Sven Tost, Polizeiliche Erzwingungs- und Verwaltungsstäbe

im spätantiken Ägypten ............................................................................Matthias Stern, Welche Gefängnisse kontrolliert der Pagarch? ..........................Isabelle Marthot, L’irrigation des terres du village d ’Aphroditê à l’époque

byzantine ..................................................................................................

SECTION EIGHTEEN: LIVING IN EGYPT IN GRAECO-ROMAN TIMES Mario C. D. Paganini, Decisional practices of private associations in Ptolemaic

and Early Roman Egypt ...........................................................................

TABLE OF CONTENTS XI

1615

1633

1669

1679

1695

1709

1725

1737

1751

1761

177517871801

18251843

1871

1889

Page 11: Contracts and people in early Roman Tebtunis: a complex affair

XII INDEX OF THE AUTHORS

Lucia Rossi, Le navire kerkouros, une galère marchande fluviomaritime? Pourune contribution à l’étude de la mobilité commerciale sur le Nil .................

Isabella Andorlini, Import of luxury goods in the light of the papyri of theRoman period ...........................................................................................

Yousry Deyab, Laissez-passers in the light of documentary evidence from MonsClaudianus, ad 98–117 .............................................................................

Myrto Malouta, Antinoopolis by land and river ..............................................Eman Aly Selim, Where was Psenharpsenêsis? ..................................................Claudia Tirel Cena, Who hides behind the god Djeme? ..................................Rasha Hussein el-Mofatch, Where is the party? ...........................................

SECTION NINTEEN ARABIA AND BEYONDJaakko Frösén, From carbonized papyri to the Monastery of Saint Aaron at

Petra. The ‘last will’ of Mr. Obodianos (P. Petra Inv. 6A) ..........................Jorma Kaimio, The division of landed property in P. Petra 17 ............................Rachel Mairs, New discoveries of documentary texts from Bactria: Political and

cultural change, administrative continuity ................................................

INDEX OF THE AUTHORS

1903

1927

19431961197319811993

20132025

2037

Aish, Seham D. A. 1011Albarrán Martínez, M. J. 823Alessandrelli, M. 373Aly, Shareen A. 967Andorlini, I. 1927Antoni, A. 471Ast, R. 1447

Bagnall, R. S. 5Balconi, C. 837Bartol, K. 117Blouin, K. 853Blumell, L. H. 745Bonati, I. 659Boud’hors, A. 991 and 1027

Bravo, B. 63Bsees, U. 1077

Capasso, M. 389 and 1473Capponi, L. 1709Carlig, N. 1245Casanova, A. 129Chaufray, M.-P. 1737Conti, E. A. 943Corti, A. 357Criscuolo, L. 1605Cromwell, J. 1055Cuvigny, H. 931

Dahlgren, S. 1257

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page 12: Contracts and people in early Roman Tebtunis: a complex affair

Proceedingsof the 27th International Congress of Papyrology

Warsaw, 29 July – 3 August 2013pp. 1725–1736

Micaela Langellotti

CONTRACTS AND PEOPLE IN EARLY ROMAN TEBTUNIS: A COMPLEX AFFAIR*

Written contracts formed an important part of the economy ofRoman Egypt. Early in the first-century ad notarial documents

(demosioi chrematismoi), that is agreements drawn up at the record-office,bearing a registration docket signed by the notary, grew in importance,and gradually replaced private agreements, which had been more com-monly used in the Ptolemaic period.1 A wide range of economic transac-tions between private individuals was now required to be ratified throughnotarial agreements, which, in villages, were registered through a notaryin a record-office called a grapheion.2 An exceptionally rich sample of this

* This paper was written while holding a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship atKing’s College London (2011–2014), for which I thank the British Academy, and offers apreliminary report of a book-length study on the economy and society of early Roman Teb-tunis. I am grateful to Dominic Rathbone for commenting on an earlier draft and JaneRowlandson for sharing with me her ideas on agricultural arrangements at Tebtunis. 1 For the introduction of new rules of registration in the Roman period, see M. Depauw,‘Autograph confirmation in demotic private contracts’, Chronique d’Égypte 78 (2003), pp. 66–111, at pp. 80–90 and 102–105. 2 For a general discussion of the grapheion in Roman Egypt, see Fabianne Burkhalter,‘Archives locales et archives centrales en Égypte romaine’, Chiron 20 (1990), pp. 191–216,

Page 13: Contracts and people in early Roman Tebtunis: a complex affair

1726 MICAELA LANGELLOTTI

type of agreements is provided by the documents of the first-centurygrapheion archive of Kronion from Tebtunis. The archive, with one hun-dred sixty-nine documents so far published, sheds considerable light onthe administrative procedures of a local notarial office in the Roman peri-od, for which otherwise we have very little information.3 The historicalpotential of the grapheion archive goes beyond administration. Of partic-ular value are the contracts, which represent the bulk of the collection,and three long drafts of registered contracts dated to ad 42 and 45/6 – P. Mich. II 121 verso, 123 recto, and V 238. The analysis of this materialallows the reconstruction of several aspects of village economy and society, such as the socio-economic stratification of the village, the avail-ability and use of credit, the role of agriculture and non-agricultural activ-ities, and the socio-economic position of women. In this paper I will usethe three grapheion registers to examine the links which can be identifiedbetween some contracts. I will show that contracts were not alwaysstraightforward agreements, but were often associated with other trans-actions so as to form a coherent economic arrangement.

First, I shall clarify nature and content of the registers. They are allanagraphai, that is lists of titles. All private contracts are listed day by day,and each contract is given one-line entry in which only basic details areprovided, that is type of agreement, names of the contracting parties,only rarely with patronymics, and object of the contract. However, somedifferences are to be noted. P. Mich. II 121 verso, which covers fourmonths in ad 42, from the end of April to the end of August, is an admin-

at pp. 202–208 and 213; W. E. H. Cockle, ‘State archives in Graeco-Roman Egypt from30 bc to the reign of Septimius Severus’, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 70 (1984), pp. 106–122; W. G. Claytor, ‘A schedule of contracts and a private letter: P. Fay. 344’, Bulletin of theAmerican Society of Papyrologists 50 (2013), pp. 77–121, at pp. 78–81; R. H. Pierce, ‘Grapheion,catalogue, and library in Roman Egypt’, Symbolae Osloenses 43 (1968), pp. 68–83; H. G.Wolff, Das Recht der griechischen Papyri Ägyptens in der Zeit der Ptolemaeer und des Prinzipats,II, Munich 1978, pp. 18–23 and 35–44; U. Yiftach-Firanko, ‘Law in Graeco-RomanEgypt: Hellenization, fusion, Romanization’, [in:] R. S. Bagnall (ed.), The Oxford Hand-book of Papyrology, Oxford 2009, pp. 541–560, at pp. 549–550. 3 See intr. to P. Mich. II, pp. 1–6, and Elinor Husselman, ‘Procedures of the recordoffice of Tebtunis in the first century ad’, PapCongr. XII, pp. 223–238.

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CONTRACTS AND PEOPLE IN EARLY ROMAN TEBTUNIS 1727

istrative register. Its main purpose was to keep an up-to-date record of allcontracts registered at the grapheion, which could be easy to consult andreadily available to the grapheion staff should check need to be made. Onthe recto of the papyrus we find the abstracts of 50 contracts (eiromena),48 of which correspond to entries in the anagraphe on the verso. P. Mich.II 123 recto and V 238, which together cover sixteen months from Sep-tember ad 45 to December ad 46, served a financial purpose. In both reg-isters each entry is accompanied by the indication of a scribal fee fordrafting the document (grammatikon).4 This type of register was used bythe notary to keep an up-to-date record of the income for the running ofthe office. P. Mich. II 123 recto also contains a wider range of agreements,including not only contracts but also petitions, rules of associations, andvarious payments.

Contracts included in the three registers are of various types, such asalimentary contracts, apprenticeships, divisions of property, leases, salesand cessions, wet-nurse contracts, work contracts, loans and deposits.Previous studies of the archive have focused on the analysis of particulartypes of contracts in order to examine specific areas of the economy ofTebtunis. In 1973, in her unpublished dissertation, Lori Toepel offered anextensive analysis of the contracts registered at the grapheion and took theincidence of loans to argue for an economic crisis in ad 45/6.5 The theoryof an economic crisis was supported by Mariadele Manca Masciadri andOrsolina Montevecchi, who analysed the wet-nurse contracts, which theyinterpreted as fiduciary sales of children.6 In 1984 Deborah Hobson usedthe three registers to investigate the role of women as economic actors invillage life, concluding that women played a limited role in the economy

4 U. Yiftach, ‘The grammatikon: some considerations on the feeing policies of legaldocuments in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods’, [in:] D. P. Kehoe, D. Ratzan & U. Yif-tach (eds), Law and Transaction Costs in the Ancient Economy, Ann Arbor 2015, pp. 145–161. 5 Lori Toepel, Studies in the Administration and Economic History of Tebtunis in the First- Century ad, Diss. Duke University 1973, especially the conclusions at pp. 305–313. 6 Mariadele M. Masciadri & Orsolina Montevecchi, ‘Contratti di baliatico e venditefiduciarie a Tebtynis’, Aegyptus 62 (1982), pp. 148–161, at pp. 158–161; for a different inter-pretation see R. S. Bagnall, ‘Missing females in Roman Egypt’ Scripta Classica Israelica 16(1997), pp. 121–138.

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of the village, mainly as consenting parties or owners of real estate.7 Shealso investigated the enoikesis-contracts, antichrectic agreements wherebythe right of occupation is offered in place of paying interest on a loan, aspart of her study on houses and households in Roman Egypt.8 Morerecently Jane Rowlandson has used the leases registered at the grapheionto investigate agricultural tenancy in village economy, and Dominic Rath-bone has looked at two accounts to analyse market behaviour and mone-tary circulation in village society in the first century ad.9

In my study of the grapheion archive I consider all the contracts listedin the registers as a whole, that is not by contract type. Instead ofanalysing the various types of contracts as independent economic topics,I have been looking for links between them. In other words, I have triedto identify transactions which were entered into by the same contractingparties and may therefore have been connected to one another. Some linksare patent and well-attested. The most common examples of contractuallinks that can be found in the grapheion archive include the following: (1.) contracts of residence (enoikesis) are sometimes associated with a sepa-rate loan or deposit; (2.) wet-nurse contracts (homologia trophimou) arealways coupled with a contract of loan.10

7 Deborah W. Hobson, ‘The role of women in the economic life of Roman Egypt: Acase study from first century Tebtunis’, Echos du monde classique. Classical Views 28/3 (1984),pp. 373–390. 8 Deborah W. Hobson, ‘House and household in Roman Egypt’, Yale Classical Studies 28(1985), pp. 226–227. For a general description of enoikesis-contracts, see introduction to P. Mich. X 585. For a discussion on antichretic agreements, see H.-A. Rupprecht, ‘ZurAntichrese in den griechischen Papyri bis Diokletian’, PapCongr. XIX, II, pp. 271–289. 9 Jane Rowlandson, ‘Agricultural tenancy and village society in Roman Egypt’, [in:] A.K. Bowman & E. Rogan (eds), Agriculture in Egypt: From Pharaonic to Modern Times [= Pro-ceedings of the British Academy 96], Oxford 1999, pp. 139–158; D. W. Rathbone, ‘Villagemarkets in Roman Egypt: The case of the first-century ad Tebtunis’, [in:] M. Frass (ed.),Kauf, Konsum und Märkte, Wiesbaden 2013, pp. 123–142. 10 For wet-nurse contracts, see K. R. Bradley, ‘Sexual regulations in wet-nursing con-tracts from Roman Egypt’, Klio: Beiträge zur alten Geschichte 62 (1980), pp. 321–325; Mascia-dri & Montevecchi, ‘Contratti di baliatico’ (cit. n. 6). Enoikesis-contracts are the mostattested type of antichretic agreements, with 12 occurrences in May–August ad 42, 36 inthe year ad 45/6, and 18 in September–December ad 46. Wet-nurse contracts associatedwith a loan are attested 3 times in May–August ad 42, 18 times in the year ad 45/6, and 9

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Some other links are less obvious. The main difficulty in spotting con-nections between contracts is establishing the identity of the contractingparties since only basic information is provided. Certain names occurwith more regularity than others, and almost all names appear in morethan one transaction. The situation becomes even more complex when,in referring to the same person, aliases and alternative names are used. InP. Mich. II 121 the identification of the parties is sometimes facilitated bythe presence, on the recto of the papyrus, of the summaries of 48 con-tracts. The abstracts provide us with more detailed information about thecontracting parties: patronymics and at times metronymics, age, socialstatus, and often a list and description of their properties. Information isalso given about guardians and signatories. The combined analysis of theanagraphe entries and abstracts reveals an administrative habit, wherebypeople often registered two or more contracts on the same day or withina short period of time. By examining both entries and abstracts, we alsonotice that some contracts, entered by the same contracting parties, aresomehow associated. Internal references, such as profession, object andnature of transaction, and name of the spouse, also help us identify con-tracting parties who entered multiple contracts. In what follows I offer afew examples of links between contracts, and discuss how these linksenable us to throw light on the life of some villagers (and non-villagers)and unveil a microcosm of specific economic dealings.

The first case involves two leases of catoecic land dated to 11 May ad 42.The two leases are listed in two consecutive entries in the anagraphe, andfor both we have their corresponding abstracts on the recto of thepapyrus.11 In the first lease the lessor is a certain Akousilaos, who agrees tolease five arouras to one Eutuchos. The abstract is fragmentary, and thefirst few lines are missing. However, we learn that the five arouras belongto a catoecic plot of six arouras, and that the contract is made two years in

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in September–December ad 46. For a list of all wet-nurse contracts and receipts of wet-nurse wages registered at the grapheion of Tebtunis in ad 42 and 45/6, see Mariadele M.Masciadri & Orsolina Montevecchi, I contratti di baliatico [= Corpus Papyrorum Graeca-rum 1], Milan 1984, pp. 177–194. 11 P. Mich. II 121 verso, col. II, l. 4 = recto, col. I xiv, and verso, col. II, l. 5 = recto, col. II i.

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advance and will be valid for five years. Eutuchos, the lessee, will be respon-sible for the payment of public dues, whereas Akousilaos, the lessor, will beresponsible for the payment of the arithmetikon. In the second lease Akousi-laos son of Kastor leases five arouras to a certain Tamarron daughter ofHaruotes, who acts under the guardianship of her son Eutuchos. For thisentry we have a well preserved abstract, from which we learn that the con-tract is a prodomatic lease, whereby the rent is paid two years in advance,and that it has five years validity.12 The terms, object and conditions of thetwo contracts are identical. As far as the contracting parties are concerned,there is little doubt that the Akousilaos of the first contract is the sameAkousilaos son of Kastor who occurs in the second contract, and thatEutuchos, lessee in the first contract, is the son of Tamarron, lessee of thesecond contract. The two contracts must refer to the same plot of land.The peculiarity of these leases lies in the fact that the lessor makes two sep-arate contracts, exhibiting the same terms and conditions and involving thesame object for lease, first with a lessee, Eutuchos, and then with his mother, Tamarron. To my knowledge, no other similar case is attested inthe Greek papyrological evidence. One explanation could be found in thenature of the contracts as prodomatic leases, whereby the lessor might bein fact the debtor and the rent might constitute a loan. The difficulty isthen to establish who provides the credit, whether Eutuchos or his motherTamarron. It is probable that the mother provided the loan, whereas herson was responsible for the agricultural works to be carried out on the land,as seems to emerge from the terms of the contracts themselves.13 As aresult, the two leases would have expressed two aspects of the samearrangement, one involving the loan, and another one involving the practi-cal agricultural works. Another way to interpret these leases is to look atthem from a legal point of view. In order to safeguard their interests, Eutu-chos and his mother might have required two separate contracts to be

12 For a general discussion of prodomatic leases, see D. Hennig, Untersuchungen zurBodenpacht im ptolemäisch-römischen Ägypten, Munich 1967, pp. 201–216 and 223–228; forprodomatic leases in early Roman Tebtunis, see Rowlandson, ‘Agricultural tenancy’ (cit.n. 9), pp. 150–151. 13 On the roles of women in agricultural arrangements, see Rowlandson, ‘Agriculturaltenancy’ (cit. n. 9), pp. 154–155.

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drawn up in their names so that they could independently take actionagainst the lessor/debtor if they needed to.14

Although most of the information we find in the grapheion registersrefers to the inhabitants of Tebtunis, a few contracts involve people fromnearby villages, such as Talei, Theogonis and Kerkesoucha Orous, withwhich the record-office of Tebtunis had some sort of administrative asso-ciation.15 One example is Petheus son of Petheus from KerkesouchaOrous, who can be identified in three contracts drawn in May ad 42. On13 May Petheus, together with his wife Thenphanes, occurs as the lesseeof a granary owned by the brothers Didumos and Alexander, sons of Tele-sis, in the village of Kerkesoucha Orous.16 The total rental is in kind, setat 50 artabas of barley, which the lessees agree to pay in the followingNovember.17 Four days later Petheus receives a deposit of 52 drachmasfrom Didumos son of Telesis, one of the lessors of the previous contract.18

In both contracts Petheus is said to be 40. In an agreement dated to 21May we learn that Petheus son of Petheus was the president and secretaryof the weavers of Kerkesoucha Orous.19 Here Petheus is said to be 35. Twofacts confirm that we are dealing with the same Petheus: first, the indica-tion of a scar on his right eyebrow; second, his residence at KerkesouchaOrous. Furthermore, the inaccuracy in the indication of his age is a com-mon feature in documents from Roman Egypt.20 In this contract Petheusagrees to pay 92 dr. to five fellow-members for the price of the beer. It isunclear whether this payment represented a reimbursement to the five

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14 I thank Jane Rowlandson and Dominic Rathbone for helpful discussion of this case. 15 See Husselman, ‘Procedures of the record office’ (cit. n. 3), p. 224; see also Gianna S.Crotti, ‘Rapporti tra !εογον&' e (εβτ+νι'’, Aegyptus 42 (1962), pp. 103–113. 16 P. Mich. II 121 verso, col. II, l. 19 = recto, col. III v. On granaries in Roman Egypt, seeG. Geraci, ‘Granai nell’Egitto ellenistico e romano: problemi tipologici, lessicali, funzio -nali e metodologici’, Mélanges de l’École française de Rome 120 (2008), pp. 307–322. 17 The lessees agree to pay also two cocks worth 4 dr. and one artaba of barley during thefestival of Amesya. 18 P. Mich. II 121 verso, col. II, l. 20 = recto, col. III vi. 19 P. Mich. II 121 verso, col. III, l. 13 = recto, col. IV vi. 20 W. Scheidel, Measuring Sex, Age and Death in the Roman Empire: Explorations in AncientDemography, Ann Arbor 1996, pp. 53–91.

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members of the association who were responsible for the provision ofbeer at social gatherings, or rather it was the president’s duty to providebeer and pay for it.21

The three contracts so far discussed help us draw a fairly good pictureof the life of an Egyptian villager engaged in two main economic activi-ties: weaving and managing a granary. For the year ad 42 Petheus was elec-ted president of the association of weavers he belonged to, which proba-bly gave him some authority and social prestige. The fact that, togetherwith his wife, he regularly leased a privately owned granary seems to sug-gest that the activities associated to it were profitable. A relationshipbased on a high level of trust can be seen between Petheus and one of thelessors of the granary, Didumos, which was a common feature of econo-mic dealings in village society. His financial situation is not completelyclear. In all of the three contracts he is labelled as Persian of the epigone,a title marking his condition as a debtor, and in May ad 42 he had to bor-row some money.22 However, this does not constitute conclusive proofthat his economic condition was not good, as he could have borrowedmoney to make investments.

A trend that seems to emerge from the analysis of the grapheion con-tracts is the practice among some villagers to lease several plots of landfrom different lessors within a short period of time.23 Between 12 and 21November 45, for instance, a certain Maron occurs as a lessee in four trans-actions with four different lessors. An indication that we are dealing withthe same Maron is a note to each entry according to which Maron owes

21 P. Mich. II 121 recto, col. IV vi n. 2. On the duties of the president of an association,see A. E. R. Boak, ‘The organization of gilds in Greco-Roman Egypt’, Transactions of theAmerican Philological Association 68 (1937), pp. 212–220, at pp. 213–215. On professional asso-ciations in Roman Egypt, see now M. Gibbs, ‘Trade associations in Roman Egypt: Theirraison d ’être’, Ancient Society 41 (2011), pp. 291–315. On professional associations in earlyRoman Tebtunis, see now Micaela Langellotti, ‘Professional associations and the State:the case of first-century Tebtunis’, Chronique d ’Égypte 91 (2016), pp. 107–130. 22 Katelijn Vandorpe, ‘Persian soldiers and Persian of the epigone. Social mobility of sol-diers-herdsmen in Upper Egypt’, Archiv für Papyrusforschung 54 (2008), pp. 87–108. 23 Rowlandson, ‘Agricultural tenancy’ (cit. n. 9), p. 155, has shown that at Tebtunis ten-ants did not depend economically on a single lessor, but held relationships based on ten-ancy and credit with several different parties.

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money for the scribal fee. In nine days Maron leased 9Q arouras, probablyof sacred land, from Hatres and other priests, and a total of 13 arouras to becultivated with fodder crops from three different people, all bearing Egypt-ian names – Pakebkis, Orseus son of Phasos and Punchis.24 A more com-plex example of this leasing trend is given by Orseus son of Orseus. Withina span of ten days in May ad 42, Orseus, aged 29, occurs as lessee in twotransactions, for which we have entries on the anagraphe and abstracts onthe eiromenon. On 11 May he leases 14 arouras of public land near Tebtunisfrom a public farmer (demosios georgos) named Pakebkis son of Horus.25 Theland was to be sown with a fodder crop for the grazing of sheep and goats.On 21 May Orseus leases another 23 arouras (12 of private land, and 11 ofsacred land) from the brothers Orsenouphis and Palleus, sons of Horouan-chis.26 As in the previous contract, the land was to be used as pasture forsheep. Given the amount of land leased by Orseus specifically for the gra-zing of sheep, 37 arouras in total, it is safe to assume that Orseus eitherowned a big flock of sheep himself, or leased flocks acting as a professionalbreeder, that is a probatoktenotrophos. At Tebtunis the sheep and donkey fee-ders, the so-called probatoktenotrophoi, were organised in an associationwhich is attested to have acted together with the association of the ‘exempt’of the imperial estate of Claudius (apolusimoi).27 Among other activities,they were responsible for finding pasture land for the flocks they managed,which seems to fit the leasing activity of Orseus son of Orseus.28

A further example of how internal references can help us trace connec-tions between contracts which were not recorded on the same day is givenby two transactions involving Leonides and Musthas. On 13 September 45Leonides rents out some pasture land, nomai, to Musthas and others.29 Ina separate agreement, made three weeks later, on 6 October, Leonides

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24 P. Mich. II 123 recto, col. VII, ll. 5, 22, 29–30, 40. 25 P. Mich. II 121 verso, col. II, l. 9 = recto, col. II v. 26 P. Mich. II 121 verso, col. III, l. 12 = recto, col. IV v. 27 P. Mich. II 123 recto, col. III, l. 40, and col. VIII, l. 26 (ad 45). 28 On prabatoktenotrophoi, see Micaela Langellotti, L’allevamento di pecore e capre nell’Egittoromano, Bari 2012, pp. 92–94. 29 P. Mich. II 123 recto, col. II, l. 21 = P. Mich. II 125, l. 11.

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acknowledges the receipt of 80 drachmas for ktamia from Musthas andothers.30 The word ktamia is attested only in the Arsinoite evidence andwas used locally as an equivalent for nomai.31 It is worth noting that bothLeonides and Musthas are not attested anywhere else in the grapheion doc-uments, which suggests that they might not have lived in Tebtunis.

A careful analysis of the grapheion contracts enables us also to identifysome of the wealthy people in the village. I give here a few cases. First,Orsenouphis, son of Horouanchis, public farmer and private landowner,as seen above. Together with his brother, he held in lease 11 arouras oftemple land and owned a plot of 12 arouras near the village of Kerkeosiris.He also owned a catoecic plot near Tebtunis, of which the size is notgiven.32 He was secretary of the public farmers of Tebtunis.33 A contractrecorded on 28 May ad 42 confirms an agreement between Orsenuphis,acting together with other four elders of the public farmers, and twosheep- and donkey-feeders.34 The second parties, having leased half of thedry pasture land (chersonomai) of the village which the public farmers con-trolled, bound themselves to make a payment at the public bank in Arsi-noe as part of the phoros for the year in favour of the elders of the publicfarmers. Orsenouphis and the other secretaries all bear Egyptian nameslike most of the lessors of public land attested in the grapheion registers.

Three men, all bearing Greek names, occurs as creditors in several wet-nurse contracts associated with a loan, and receipts of wet-nurse wages inad 45/6. These are Komon, Apion and Zoilos. On 28 October ad 45 Komonappears as paying wet-nurse wages of 60 drachmas each to two women, andon 12 November he occurs again as creditor in a wet-nurse contract madewith a certain Kollauthis and her husband for the value of 110 drachmas.35

30 P. Mich. II 123 recto, col. IV, l. 33. 31 Langellotti, L’allevamento (cit. n. 28), p. 69. 32 P. Mich. II 121 verso, col. III, l. 12 = recto, col. IV v. 33 P. Mich. II 121 verso, col. III, l. 18 = recto, col. IV xii. 34 P. Mich. II 121 verso, col. III, l. 18 = recto, col. IV xii. The papyrus contains the readingγρ(αµµατε&'), secretaries. However, Husselman’s suggestion that this was an error forπρ(εσβ+τεροι) is convincing. See Langellotti, ‘Professional associations’ (cit. n. 21), p. 120 n. 54. 35 P. Mich. II 123 recto, col. VI, ll. 13, 20, col. VII, ll. 7–8.

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Apion is the creditor of three wet-nurse contracts, two recorded on 2 November ad 45, and one dated to October ad 46; the amount lent is notindicated.36 Finally Zoilos is attested in three receipts of wet-nursing wagesin January, March and September ad 46.37 The amount paid is not stated.Who were Komon, Apion, and Zoilos? They were certainly wealthy, but ourextant evidence does not allows us to say more about their socio-economicstatus.38 However, since their names are very rarely attested in the grapheiondocuments, I would suggest that they were not from Tebtunis, but possiblymetropolites of Ptolemais Euergetis.

The links between contracts, which have been discussed so far, repre-sent only a small sample of the connections to be found in the grapheionregisters. Two types of links can be distinguished: those between transac-tions which, together, form a complex economic arrangement, and thosebetween agreements involving the same contracting parties, which, froma contractual point of view, are independent from one another. However,the analysis of links of the second type allows the reconstruction of eco-nomic dealings pertaining to an individual or a family, and enables studyof economic habits recurrent in village society. One of these habits, as wehave seen, is the common practice among villagers of leasing public landand borrowing money. The formally recognised pairs of contracts in thegrapheion registers are antichretic agreements and make up a significantpercentage of the overall recorded transactions: 7.2% in May–August ad 42, 7.2% in the year ad 45/6, and around 16% in September–Decemberad 46. To this we need to add a not (yet) quantifiable number of linksbetween contracts involving the same contracting parties. According tomy provisional calculation, the known links for the year ad 45/6 make uparound 30% of the overall transactions, the rest being formed by mar-riage contracts, loans and deposits, enoikesis-contracts, sales and leases,

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36 P. Mich. II 123 recto, col. VI, ll. 22–23; P. Mich. V 238, col. III, ll. 136–137. 37 P. Mich. II 123 recto, col. XI, l. 29, col. XIII, l. 32; P. Mich. V 238, col. I, l. 22. 38 Masciadri & Montevecchi, ‘Contratti di baliatico’ (cit. n. 6), p. 159, already notedthat among the employers of wet-nurses some names occurred several times, which theythought confirmed their thesis that wet-nursing contracts were fiduciary sales of children,and that therefore the employers were in fact creditors.

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some of which were antichretic agreements themselves. According to thetraditional view, the large number of loans and antichretic agreements isa sign of economic and financial difficulties. In 1936 Allan Chester John-son, in support of his theory of a rural population living at subsistencelevel, wrote: ‘The number of loans recorded at the record-office of Tebty-nis in the reign of Claudius indicates that debt must have been more orless chronic with the peasant’.39 However, a different interpretation canbe proposed. First, it must be borne in mind that the contracts registeredat the grapheion of Tebtunis represent only a part of the economy of thevillage, and that other economic channels, such as markets and privatenon-written agreements, are rarely visible in the extant documentation.As a consequence, the high incidence of loans and antichretic agreementsis not necessarily to be considered a sign of economic distress, but ratherrepresented an ingrained tradition, whereby social and economic rela-tionships were mainly based on credit. Borrowing money had not neces-sarily a negative connotation and can indicate willingness and confidenceto invest. The common use of antichretic transactions, on the otherhand, was a convenient way for villagers to get a loan and save cash at thesame time.

To conclude, I suggest that the identification of links between con-tracts, and of the contracting parties involved, be the methodology to beadopted in the study of the grapheion registers, and more generally of thecontracts from Roman Egypt. By recognising those contracts which aremade by the same parties, it is possible to reconstruct many of the eco-nomic dynamics of village life, therefore to offer a more vivid and com-plete picture of village economy.

Micaela LangellottiNewcastle UniversitySchool of History, Classics and Archaeologyne1 7ru Newcastle upon TyneUnited Kingdome-mail: [email protected]

39 A. C. Jonhson, Roman Egypt to the Reign of Diocletian [= An Economic Survey of AncientRome 2], Baltimore 1936, p. 451.