DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1036#0041
INSCRIPTION OF PTOLEMAIS.
33
before and since, a heavy burthen of taxation : her
conquerors have always claimed a full share of those
fruits which are ' the boon of the Nile.' Every five
years, it would seem, the Praefect revised the Egyptian
census for the purpose of taxation (Marquardt, Rom.
Staatsverwaltung, ii. p. 244; Franz, C. I. G. iii. p. 319),
while the precise strain that the country could bear
was nicely calculated every season by help of the
Nilometer (Marquardt, ibid.; Franz, ibid. p. 318).
No wonder therefore if we find that some of the most
important Egyptian inscriptions deal with the re-
mission of burthens. The Rosetta stone (B.C. 198)
is full of this subject. It is the occasion of the
important decree of Ti. Julius Alexander, Prsefect of
Egypt under Galba (Sept. 28, A.D. 68 : C. I. G. 4957).
Accordingly it is not an improbable conjecture that
the Emperor Claudius, in whose reign there was a
scarcity felt in Rome on more than one occasion,
may have granted the inhabitants of Ptolemais some
remission of taxation : possibly some poll-tax (Franz,
C.I. G. iii. p. 318) payable by every adult male of
Ptolemais, was either lightened or removed, in return
for an increase in the amount of corn shipped from
Ptolemais. If so, ' the 6470' will be the adult male
population of the town in A.D. 42 ; and not only were
these relieved, but also the young men who attained
their i<fyr)j3eCa, i.e. the age of eighteen, in that year,
were by anticipation brought within the scope of the
decree ; although they would not be of full age, and
therefore (I suppose) not liable to taxation, before
the age of twenty. These 6470 plus the ephebi of the
year A.D. 42 seem to have retained their privilege
until the reign of Nero, and therefore are specified
thus exactly in this dedication of the year A.D. 60;
we may infer that Nero confirmed the privileges
granted by Claudius.
The words ttoKis (line five), i<^rj^evKOTe<; and
(perhaps) iravhr^ixel (line 12) need not imply that
Ptolemais (though its name would imply the prse-
Roman foundation) enjoyed any municipal con-
stitution after the Greek pattern. Indeed there is
a significant absence of the words /SouX*; or S-%40?,
or of a civic eponymos: with which contrast the
dedication to Alexander Severus from the boule of
Antinoe (C. I. G. 4705). Strabo mentions it as a
remarkable exception in Egypt that Ptolemais in
the Thebaid had a communal government (xvii,
p. 813). Only three other towns, Naukratis,
Alexandria, and Antinoe are known to have been
similarly organised on Greek lines ; and, of these,
Alexandria had no boule. Augustus and his suc-
cessors looked upon the Egyptians as a seditious
rabble, unfit for any measure of home-rule ; the unit
of civic organization was the Nome or district, and
we may suppose the population of Ptolemais to have
been simply merged—for all political purposes—in
the population of the Nome. The word polis (line 5)
does not tell the other way: Sais is likewise termed
a polis (C. I. G. 4697 e). Nor need ifcofteveiv (line 12)
involve the gymnasium and the education of the
young Greek citizen, and those other interesting
associations which the word suggests to the readers
of Attic literature : it merely seems here to express a
particular age.
The second year of Claudius (line 9) was, to speak
exactly, from Jan. 25 A.D. 42 to Jan. 25, A.D. 43. It
is noted by Dio Cassius (lx, 11) that in A.D. 42
there was a severe scarcity at Rome, and that this
even suggested to Claudius the idea of building the
harbour at Ostia. This statement prepares us to
believe, what has already been suggested above, that
Claudius this year may have given some special
encouragement to the exporters of corn from
Ptolemais.
The date in Nero's reign (line 14) is noteworthy for
a different reason. Mommsen shows (Staatsv. ii. 798,
note) that in the second year of Nero's reign a new
method of reckoning his years was adopted, so that
his 'seventh year' does not mean Oct. 13, A.D. 60—
Oct. 13, A.D. 61, but rather December 10, A.D. 59—
Dec. 10, A.D. 60. If this be the year of our dedica-
tion, it is dated a few months after Nero had outraged
human nature by the murder of his mother, and had
shocked Roman prudery scarcely less by his appear-
ance on the stage. But neither event affected the
fortunes or the feelings of these far-off dwellers on the
Nile, and when they style Nero the ' saviour and
benefactor of the world' (lines 3-5) they are using
the commonplaces of provincial compliment. In
C. I. G. 4699 (from Memphis) he is called 6 ayaOos
fyal/J-aiv t^9 olKovfievrj^.
Next to the name of the site, the most interesting
information yielded by the inscription is the name
of the Praefect Lucius Julius-------us. Unfortunately
his cognomen is lost, but this name is new. He must
have succeeded Tib. CI. Balbillus, who was appointed
Praefect of Egypt A.D. 56 (see Franz, in C. I. G. iii.
P- 311)-
33
before and since, a heavy burthen of taxation : her
conquerors have always claimed a full share of those
fruits which are ' the boon of the Nile.' Every five
years, it would seem, the Praefect revised the Egyptian
census for the purpose of taxation (Marquardt, Rom.
Staatsverwaltung, ii. p. 244; Franz, C. I. G. iii. p. 319),
while the precise strain that the country could bear
was nicely calculated every season by help of the
Nilometer (Marquardt, ibid.; Franz, ibid. p. 318).
No wonder therefore if we find that some of the most
important Egyptian inscriptions deal with the re-
mission of burthens. The Rosetta stone (B.C. 198)
is full of this subject. It is the occasion of the
important decree of Ti. Julius Alexander, Prsefect of
Egypt under Galba (Sept. 28, A.D. 68 : C. I. G. 4957).
Accordingly it is not an improbable conjecture that
the Emperor Claudius, in whose reign there was a
scarcity felt in Rome on more than one occasion,
may have granted the inhabitants of Ptolemais some
remission of taxation : possibly some poll-tax (Franz,
C.I. G. iii. p. 318) payable by every adult male of
Ptolemais, was either lightened or removed, in return
for an increase in the amount of corn shipped from
Ptolemais. If so, ' the 6470' will be the adult male
population of the town in A.D. 42 ; and not only were
these relieved, but also the young men who attained
their i<fyr)j3eCa, i.e. the age of eighteen, in that year,
were by anticipation brought within the scope of the
decree ; although they would not be of full age, and
therefore (I suppose) not liable to taxation, before
the age of twenty. These 6470 plus the ephebi of the
year A.D. 42 seem to have retained their privilege
until the reign of Nero, and therefore are specified
thus exactly in this dedication of the year A.D. 60;
we may infer that Nero confirmed the privileges
granted by Claudius.
The words ttoKis (line five), i<^rj^evKOTe<; and
(perhaps) iravhr^ixel (line 12) need not imply that
Ptolemais (though its name would imply the prse-
Roman foundation) enjoyed any municipal con-
stitution after the Greek pattern. Indeed there is
a significant absence of the words /SouX*; or S-%40?,
or of a civic eponymos: with which contrast the
dedication to Alexander Severus from the boule of
Antinoe (C. I. G. 4705). Strabo mentions it as a
remarkable exception in Egypt that Ptolemais in
the Thebaid had a communal government (xvii,
p. 813). Only three other towns, Naukratis,
Alexandria, and Antinoe are known to have been
similarly organised on Greek lines ; and, of these,
Alexandria had no boule. Augustus and his suc-
cessors looked upon the Egyptians as a seditious
rabble, unfit for any measure of home-rule ; the unit
of civic organization was the Nome or district, and
we may suppose the population of Ptolemais to have
been simply merged—for all political purposes—in
the population of the Nome. The word polis (line 5)
does not tell the other way: Sais is likewise termed
a polis (C. I. G. 4697 e). Nor need ifcofteveiv (line 12)
involve the gymnasium and the education of the
young Greek citizen, and those other interesting
associations which the word suggests to the readers
of Attic literature : it merely seems here to express a
particular age.
The second year of Claudius (line 9) was, to speak
exactly, from Jan. 25 A.D. 42 to Jan. 25, A.D. 43. It
is noted by Dio Cassius (lx, 11) that in A.D. 42
there was a severe scarcity at Rome, and that this
even suggested to Claudius the idea of building the
harbour at Ostia. This statement prepares us to
believe, what has already been suggested above, that
Claudius this year may have given some special
encouragement to the exporters of corn from
Ptolemais.
The date in Nero's reign (line 14) is noteworthy for
a different reason. Mommsen shows (Staatsv. ii. 798,
note) that in the second year of Nero's reign a new
method of reckoning his years was adopted, so that
his 'seventh year' does not mean Oct. 13, A.D. 60—
Oct. 13, A.D. 61, but rather December 10, A.D. 59—
Dec. 10, A.D. 60. If this be the year of our dedica-
tion, it is dated a few months after Nero had outraged
human nature by the murder of his mother, and had
shocked Roman prudery scarcely less by his appear-
ance on the stage. But neither event affected the
fortunes or the feelings of these far-off dwellers on the
Nile, and when they style Nero the ' saviour and
benefactor of the world' (lines 3-5) they are using
the commonplaces of provincial compliment. In
C. I. G. 4699 (from Memphis) he is called 6 ayaOos
fyal/J-aiv t^9 olKovfievrj^.
Next to the name of the site, the most interesting
information yielded by the inscription is the name
of the Praefect Lucius Julius-------us. Unfortunately
his cognomen is lost, but this name is new. He must
have succeeded Tib. CI. Balbillus, who was appointed
Praefect of Egypt A.D. 56 (see Franz, in C. I. G. iii.
P- 311)-