DOI article:
Kenyon, Frederic George: Progress of Egyptology: graeco-roman Egypt, 1907-8
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12423#0060
50
Progress of Egyptology.
of the Jewish colony there in the fifth century B.C., have been edited by him,
with the assistance of Schubart and Spiegelberg, as a special publication of
the Berlin Cfriechische Wrlcunden.10 They consist of two groups of early
Ptolemaic documents, of considerable interest. The first five, discovered
together in an earthenware jar, belong to the reign of Ptolemy Soter; and
no. 1, dated in the year 311/10 B.C., is the earliest dated Greek document
at present known. Of this a facsimile is given. Four of the texts are
contracts, executed in duplicate and elaborately folded and sealed, so that
one version was accessible, while the other remained under seal for the
purpose of verification,—a practice of which later instances are sufficiently
common; but the folding here is more elaborate, and the seals are
artistically far in advance of any previously found on papyri. The texts,
which include a marriage contract and a will, are simple and straight-
forward; incidentally they prove that Ptolemy I. reckoned his regnal
years from 324/23 B.C., and show that Hibeh Papyrus 84a, hitherto
regarded as belonging to 301, should really be assigned to 285/84. The
fifth text is a list of domestic articles received by way of inheritance, in
the year 284/83. The second group consists of 19 Greek and 9 demotic
texts, of the years 225-223 B.C., most of which are the official correspond-
ence of one Milon, irpaKrcop lepcav (temple finance officer) of the temple at
Apollinopolis (Edfu). One document (no. xiv.) contains regulations for
the farming-out, on behalf of the state, of land and other sources of income,
and several of the others deal with the measures required by the failure of
a group of contractors to make the required payments. The whole group
falls into line with the great Eevenue Papyrus and with the Theban temple-
accounts, which were among the earliest publications of Grenfell and
Wilcken respectively.
Another group of early Ptolemaic documents is included in the second
fasciculus of the Lille papyri, which appears under the editorship of MM.
Collart and Lesquier.11 It contains twenty documents, all of the third
century B.C., from the excavations of Illahun and Ghoran. The texts are
short, and include accounts, official and private letters, and documents
relating to the public storage and transport of grain. One of them (no. 14)
contains an additional proof of the fact that on the death of a military
settler (/cXijpovxos) his holding reverted to the state, by which it was
granted tie novo to a fresh tenant. The last document (no. 29) is of a
different character from the rest, since it contains a series of regulations
relating to the legal status of slaves. The editors point out the close
resemblance of these regulations to Athenian law, and the mention of
certain magistrates (fOyuo^uAa/ce?) who were established at Athens in the
Progress of Egyptology.
of the Jewish colony there in the fifth century B.C., have been edited by him,
with the assistance of Schubart and Spiegelberg, as a special publication of
the Berlin Cfriechische Wrlcunden.10 They consist of two groups of early
Ptolemaic documents, of considerable interest. The first five, discovered
together in an earthenware jar, belong to the reign of Ptolemy Soter; and
no. 1, dated in the year 311/10 B.C., is the earliest dated Greek document
at present known. Of this a facsimile is given. Four of the texts are
contracts, executed in duplicate and elaborately folded and sealed, so that
one version was accessible, while the other remained under seal for the
purpose of verification,—a practice of which later instances are sufficiently
common; but the folding here is more elaborate, and the seals are
artistically far in advance of any previously found on papyri. The texts,
which include a marriage contract and a will, are simple and straight-
forward; incidentally they prove that Ptolemy I. reckoned his regnal
years from 324/23 B.C., and show that Hibeh Papyrus 84a, hitherto
regarded as belonging to 301, should really be assigned to 285/84. The
fifth text is a list of domestic articles received by way of inheritance, in
the year 284/83. The second group consists of 19 Greek and 9 demotic
texts, of the years 225-223 B.C., most of which are the official correspond-
ence of one Milon, irpaKrcop lepcav (temple finance officer) of the temple at
Apollinopolis (Edfu). One document (no. xiv.) contains regulations for
the farming-out, on behalf of the state, of land and other sources of income,
and several of the others deal with the measures required by the failure of
a group of contractors to make the required payments. The whole group
falls into line with the great Eevenue Papyrus and with the Theban temple-
accounts, which were among the earliest publications of Grenfell and
Wilcken respectively.
Another group of early Ptolemaic documents is included in the second
fasciculus of the Lille papyri, which appears under the editorship of MM.
Collart and Lesquier.11 It contains twenty documents, all of the third
century B.C., from the excavations of Illahun and Ghoran. The texts are
short, and include accounts, official and private letters, and documents
relating to the public storage and transport of grain. One of them (no. 14)
contains an additional proof of the fact that on the death of a military
settler (/cXijpovxos) his holding reverted to the state, by which it was
granted tie novo to a fresh tenant. The last document (no. 29) is of a
different character from the rest, since it contains a series of regulations
relating to the legal status of slaves. The editors point out the close
resemblance of these regulations to Athenian law, and the mention of
certain magistrates (fOyuo^uAa/ce?) who were established at Athens in the