Oxyrhynchus: an economic and social study

Table of contents :
I NTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I-(1) Name and Situation.
(ft) Nature of the Evidence.
(8) Ptolemaic Background.
CHAPTER II-First Two Centuries of &man Rule.
CHAPTER III-Third Century: Omens of Coming Barbarization.
CHAPTER IV-Formation of the Great Estates.
CHAPTER V-The Senate During the Third and Fottrth Centuries.
CHAPTER \TI- Fourth and Fifth Centuries: Descent Towards Barbarnm
CHAPTER VII-Final Period of Byzantine Feudalism.
CHAPTER vm-Chr-iatianity in O:tyrhynchus.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX

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OXYRHYNCHUS AN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STUDY

BY

HUGH :tvIAc LENNAN

AMSTERDAM ADOLF M. HAKKERT - PUBLISHER 1968

PREFACE of documents from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri are t hose of the editors, P rofessors Grenfell, Hunt and Bell . It is almost embarrassing for me to say tliat the work of these scholars has been of inestimable help, since without it this small volume could not have existed. The other documents from Oxyrhynchus are contained in the Pubblicazioni della Societ.a Italiana per la ricerca dei Papiri grei:i e Latini in Egitto (PSI ). Translations from these latter documents, when used, have been done by myself. All other bibliography is cited in the course of the narrative. I should like to acknowledge, as well, my indebtedness to Professors Allan Johnson, ,,1• K. Prentice and Duane Reed Stuart, of Princeton {;niversity. Professor Johnson gave me constant help and encouragement during the composition of this thesis. He allowed me to draw freely on his reservoir of knowledge and wisdom and made me realize that from these scattered documents of a ruined town in Egypt a pattern of human life could be revealed. Professor Prentice and Professor Stuart read the manuscript; to these gentlemen, for their strict, kindly and unselfish criticism, and for their many suggestions, I am deeply grateful.

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RAXSLATIONS

H.M.

Reprint of the Editi on Pri nceton 1935

CONTENTS I NTRODUCTION

CHAPTER

I - (1) Name and Situation. (ft) Nature of the Evidence. (8) Ptolemaic Background.

CHAPTER

II-First Two Centuries of &man Rule.

CHAPTER

III-Third Century: Omens of Coming Barbarization.

CHAPTER

IV-Formation of the Great Estates.

CHAPTER

V-The Senate During the Third and Fottrth Centuries .

CHAPTER

\TI- Fourth and Fifth Centuries: Descent Towards Barbarnm

CHAPTER VII-Final

CHAPTER

vm-Chr-iatianity in O:tyrhynchus.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Period of Byzantine Feudalism.

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INTRODUCTI0)1 HE growth and collapse of the Roman Empire, that. astounding cycle in which a brilliant culture in the cities rose, waned and passed finally into the darkness of a quasi-feudal system in which the village-unit became in most regions more vital than the city, presents to us now, as it has presented to all generations since the Renascence, a series of questions which somehow must be solved if our own culture is to survive. It bas long been evident that if we are to interpret the growth and decline of the Roman Empire we must study the history of the provinces. This has, of course, been done. And the results of the study of the Roman provinces make it clear that it is in the relationship between the towns and the rural districts that some of the most important keys to the secret of the collapse of Rome lie concealed. Therefore, if we could investigate the histocy of a single provincial town we might be able to sec the main picture in a more exact perspective. Oxyrhynchus was the name of a town and of a small district in Roman Egypt. The purpose of this work is to trace from a social and economic standpoint the history of its growth and decline through the seven centuries during which it was subject to the Caesars. My reason for the choice of this particular town is a simple one: owing to the accidental discovery of a great many papyri on its site we have more information about Oxyrhynchus than about any other . town of corresponding size in the entire empire. Egypt was not, perhaps, a typical province, but it was a vitally important one. And because Italy, and Rome herself, depended so largely on this province for its corn supply, the fate of Egypt was closely linked to that of the Empire as a whole. Of Egypt proper, Oxyrhynchus was at least as typical as Peoria is typical of the American l\IiddJe-West. So, to survey this town is more or less to look at Roman pro\·incial life through the large end of the telescope. Civilization has always been supported by the patience of the poor, and nowhere were the poor more patient than in Roman Egypt. Rostovtzeff, at the conclusion of his great Social and Economic History of the Rom.an E11tpire, intimates that Rome perished because her civilization was not of the masses but of a single class; that s~ fell because the upper classes, degenerating through the centuries, not only failed to absorb the proletariat but were themselves absorbed by the masses. This inevitable, organic decay in the Roman system

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OXYRHYNCHUS

is fully and pitilessly illustrated in the Oxyrhynchus papyri, and the poignancy of the story is enhanced by the fact that the writers of these documents were not men of letters. They were, in fact, innocent of any knowledge whatever of the general implications that lay in their own simple affairs. The inhabitants of the province of Egypt constituted one of the main supports of Roman greatness, but with the exception of the people of Alexandria, they generally lacked the refinements which were the fruits of the Roman system. It is true that there was a theatre in Oxyrhynchus, and baths and a gymnasium in accordance with the Greek tradition. Certain of the citizens read the classical literature of Greece. But the average man was debarred from the enjoyment of these things, and in Egypt he probably had less opportunity to better his station than his counterparts had in other less servile provinces. Even after t he grip of the central government weakened, exploitation continued in a new and more rigorous form, for some of the local citizens enriched themselves during the chaos of the third century, and through the two centuries following reduced their own people to a state bordering on serfdom. In the final period, just before the Arab invasion, a handful of landed proprietors Ji ved high and extravagantly, but the price of their fine living was the virtual enslavement of the people in the district. Although this study cannot be used with complete freedom as a basis for conclusions applied to the Empire as a whole, it is still safe to say that a. great deal of it is applicable. Certainly the Oxyrhynchus papyri have been of enormous service to modern scholars in their task of investigating the general history of the late Roman Empire.

CHAPTER

I

(1)-~AME A:\TD SITUATIO~ X YRHY~cn~s

too~ its ~utlandish name from a certain species of

Ofish which m antique trmes was adopted as a sort of genius loci . This fish-cult dated back to remote pharaohs, and during Roman times had apparently lost most of its importance. At any rate, not a single Oxyrhynchus papyrus mentions its existence. On the other hand, the fish-cult was about the only feature of the town which our few literary sources trouble to mention. To Plutarch, for example, it was interesting to observe that once upon a time the neighbouring Kynopolites outraged the Oxyrbynchites by eating fish, whereat the Oxyrhynchites angrily invaded their neighbours' territory and ate dogs; whereat, again, war broke out between the two districts and reached such proportions that legionaries were forced to intervene.• This stra.nge affair, if it happened at all, was certainly an affray between the native fellahin, for the descendants of Alexander's Macedonians, who formed the upper classes of the town, seem to have shown no interest in the worship of the genius loci. The fish-cult, howe,·er, has been variously mcnti'oned.• The earliest reference to the situation of Oxyrhynchus is given in Claudius Ptolemaus.• The ltinerariuni Antonini A11gusti places it on the military road which ran along the left bank of the Nile.• It was approximately one hundred and seventy miles south of Alexandria. The dh;sion of Egypt into nomes, and the further division of nomcs in to toparchies, was not altered by the Roman~. The toparchies were named as follows: the Upper, the Western, the Ampeliote, the Middle, the Thmoisepho, and the Lower. Over each toparchy a to· parch presided; over ea.ch village a village-scribe; over the whole nome a. stratcgus, who had military power under the Ptolemies but in the Roman period was merely the chief civil official, receiving his appointmcn t from the Prefect of Egypt. There were, of course, many minor officials, but it is not our purpose here to enter into details of their functions. The two geographic features which determined the nature of Oxyrhynchus, as they did the rest of Egypt, were of course the t. De /side tt Osir-ide: ch. 72. ~~~~~ XVLI 40; al50 Aclian: de NOi. Anim X, 46; and Clement of Ale,randrl~: Adho,·t, p. 29,

l.

3. IVs. 29. 4. Pnrthey-Pindtr edll .• p. 71; Wes,. cf. also XII 154? (P. Oxy.)

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OXYRHYNCHUS

river and the desert, which formed respectively the eastern and western boundaries of the nome. And these two constants of nature, the one a bearer of life to the farmers, the other a relentlessly encroaching enemy to be subdued only at the cost of an endless labour of irrigation, undoubtedly contributed to that fatalistic attitude towards human affairs which we observe in all Egyptians. (2)-NATURE OF THE EVIDENCE Few of the papyri taken from the ruins of Oxyrbynchus have come down to us by reason of any merit of their own. Chance, and the wind of the desert, and the labours of two English archaeologists have been responsible for their survival and selection. In spite of the la'rge number of the documents, their nature makes a chronological treatment difficult and occasionally impossible. For the first two centuries of Roman rule the evidence is meagre. For Ptolemaic times it is even less. After the introduction of the local "senate" by Severus in the year 200 A.D. the documents become more plentiful; indeed, for the vitally important third century the picture is fairly complete. For the fourth century the evidence is no better than adequate; for the fifth there is hardly any at all. For the sixth and seventh centuries, however, we have fairly complete information. The interpretation of many of these documents is open to doubt and the conclusions based on them are sometimes apt to be arbitrary. Yet for the main conclusions I have dra,vn, the evidence seems sufficient. For example, during the first century and a half of our era there are practically no references to important local events in the papyri, yet I feel safe in saying that the town grew and prospered during this period and became, by the close of the second century, one of the principal centres of Egypt.• Again, although the evidence for the fourth and fifth centuries is so meagre, it is possible to make a general estimate of the significance of the changes which occurred during this time by contrasting the picture presented at the close of the third century with that discernible in the sixth and seventh. The profound economic deterioration revealed in the third century papyri very clearly was the main cause of the stagnant, quasi-feudal society which existed later. Perhaps the most important social change to occur in Egypt during the period of Roman domination was the 5. IV 705; also Ammianuia Marccllinus. Res Gest. XXII 16. 6: Ae1:Jl1lu.s ipsa .. , Athribi d Ox-y.. rhyn,ho ei Thrui ct il1em,lsis maximl,f urbib,u niltt.

AN ECOl\OMlC AND SOCIAL STUDY

13

development of Christianity. This is revealed, sometimes dramatically and ironically, in various personal letters. (3)-PTOLEMAIC BACKGROUND Although Oxyrhynchus was a very ancient Egyptian to",1,• this history does not concern itself with the nativ~ fellahin. They were a changeless, inarticulate folk, always conservative, and even today the majorit~· of them are almost as primitive as they were under the pharaohs and have as little voice in the affairs of their country. The society which we are examining was dominated by the Greeks who had settled in the country after the invasion and conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great. Very few documents survive from Ptolemaic times among the Oxyrhynchus papyri, but from some later documents, as well as from others from Tebtunis and Hibeh, we have enough information to know that when Egypt fell to Rome, Oll.7rhynchus was no crude native village, but a hellenizcd "metropolis," probably divided into racial quarters and certainly serving as an important centre in the Ptolemaic system of government. AlthouJih there is no archaeological evidence of any value.' we see from a document dated eithf'r 73 or 44 D.C. (XIV 1639) that at this time the Serapeum, which so often appears later to designate the central area of the town, was already the hanking district.• The Serapeum had a function not unlike that of a cathedral with its square in a modern European city like Cologne.• The populat.ion at this period was somewhat mixed,10 although we 6. How ancient the Lown wr.u, we have no mt-an"I of knowing. In the twcnty-thtrcl dynasty (B.C. 743,714) h. is mentioned as having come into the hnndi'J of the: re\·oltcrl orince Tafnekhthc:th. (See Knight: Nile a•d Jorda•. D· 290).

7. S ir Flindcr~ Petric made 90me exca\'ations at Qxyrhynchu111 in the winter of 1922 a nd round only one 1>ie« of sculpture which ,...as pre--Roman. The monuments e,ccavated were or Coptic

workma.nship. The most interesting of the ruins was the theatre. which showed a mixture or design. The architecture- was mainly Greek, but had variatiOns. The vomitoria and long tunnel pa.._c...~ge under lhe seats were Roman. the colonnade around the top was Syrian. The th~trc:, wilh thl, mixture or influence, with the Crttk &train prcc1orniiuuin". i• typical of this town. (Sec Petrie: Tombs of the Cowrtlers o"d Oxyrhynclrus, p. 12, ff.). 8. Preisi~ke (Girowes.en pp. 20 ff.) examines the evidence for banks at the Serapeum in Oxyrh>•nchus. The document cited nbo\•e mentions the "private bank of He.racleidctt at the Serapcum.'' Grenfell and Hunt believe thcrt> was only one bAnk besides. the "public bank." At. any ra.tc, the banking monoply of the Ptolemies is well known. Pl'eisigke thin~ there were two more banks besides the public o ne, but thf view of Grenfell and Hunt is plau.sible enough. namely, that hesidc.s the ·•royal banks" there wert in Ptolemaic times banks whtch were lca.M:d out by the state and calle .:I afttr the name of the lt"st('. Jf thts is 10. then the bank or Heracleides was such a one. At any rate. the existence of banks at all indicates some deSTee or ctntra liz.ed life. 9. X 11 1457 mtntion11 "n house bcloni:ing to me nt th"'." Scrapeum nt the south !lidc of the ,iquare.'' cf. alro II 254. 10. P. Hib. 90: a contract of lease for a part of a clerurhierhaps the loi~sles of l 86. l_n the latte.r document (I 86) the.re is a complaint against a 01JUT..;,. Apparently the tax-gathering was as onerous and thankless as ever, and the agents were responsible for any deficiencies. 34. This Is the only reference which 1ugge:1u that the House a,ave gro.tultica to public officials like the tkf,..,or. JS. The cancellus measure. See editor's note to XVJ l855. 1044 proves that it goes back to Roman tlmN. XVI 1910 1how1 that an arto.ba equalled 40 cboenlctt, An artaba of thi.1 size was uted by the Ptolemies also. 36. This gives an indication of the enormous size of the Apion estates.

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SOCIAL STUDY

75

The a.vn-yEOvxos probably collected what had previously been gathered at each village or district by the local steward. This is indicated by XVI 1856 (Christopher to George): "As I also personally exhorted your brotherly magnificence in the Honourable House concerning the people of Actuariou and Heraclosianou and Keuothis, that you would cause them to pay Joseph, my most discreet steward, in order that he too may find means to deliver the taxes imposed on him in your Honourable House ... For, by the Grace of God, it is you who control these things as yo u control also the Honourable House." Two other significant references to tax-gathering are XVI 1840 and I 142. In the former a nameless agent writes, "As the Lord lives, if I do not find they have shown much zeal in collecting, I shall punish them well." The latter document shows that a boatman had received 1485¼ artabae from the village of Koma as "payment for the 18th indiction," in addition to 11 solidi, S½ carats to cover the cost of transport to Alexandria. Koma was almost certainly an Apion village."

The a.vn-yrovxo, also represented the House in questions of law and order on the estates. From XVI 1854 we gather that George had arrested some riparii and µHfbnpo,. These were also dependent on the House. It is likely that receipts and expenditures, as compiled in local districts by the stewards, passed through the hands of the &vn-yeoiixo, as well as of the banker. XVI 1911-1912 are examples of such accounts. Some of the receipts are from individuals, but the most frequently recurring phrase is 1ra.pii -roii -yewnwv Ko,voii. Trade-guilds were frequently called Ko,va, but the term is not often used of 'YEWfYYol before this late period. The phrase is probably a covering term for the receipts handed in from a single locality. The work of the 'YEWfYYoi was directly superintended by the steward over them. XVI 1911191~ are very possibly accounts compiled in the office of an &vn-yeovxos from accounts submitted to him by stewards. Frequently the stewards paid the monies they received directly to the banker.u 37. See XVI 1861

38. This was in the contract of the steward of l 136 which we have already quoted. XVI 1910 is an example o( a Hat drawn up by a steward. How many ciJ.IT't'YEOLIXOl. we.re on the estate

we have no means or knowlna. Sarmatcs, a new name, appears In XV l 1861.

A..'J ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STUDY

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OXYRHYXCHUS

We have no definite information concerning the marketing of goods, but it is certain that the export trade was large. Victor (XVI 1846) wishes "to send the fishing vessel to Alexandria." The steward of I 136 contracts to deliver the corn to the official controller of boats. For the installation of machinery and implements, together with repairs on them, the House was responsible. A good example is I 137, which concerns the repair of a water-wheel. 30 " • • • Whereupon your magnificence, with regard for the state of your property, credited me in my accounts with the value of a new, proper, serviceable and satisfactory axle, which I have received as the complement of all the machinery ... for the water-supply of the crops ... This axle is to serve the purposes of irrigation for a term of seven years, and the old one bas been given to the porter." Seed-corn was frequently dispensed. An example is found in I 1SS, in which t he village of Takona acknowledges the receipt of 200 artabae. Even the rise and fall of the Nile was carefully measured and figures were submitted to the higher members of the bureaucracy. XVI 1830, addressed t o Calus (another new name), who is a "chartulariits in the Honourable House," contains figures on the rise of the Nile for three successive days.

The House of Apion, independent enough of the central government, was, as we have said, entirely outside the jurisdiction of any local authority. The country was somewhat disordered. Possibly there was danger from other -yEoiixo,. At any rate, the H ouse had the power to fight its own battles. It maintained retainers (bucellarii) ,•0 police (r iparii)," and messengers (uu.u.uo.xo,) ." The retainers were rationed one pound of meat per day, according to XVI 201S. The u&µ.µ.a.xo,, probably armed messengers who conveyed monies to divers parts of the country, received 1/S solidus per month. XVI 2045 gives a list of thirty-four of them. T he urpa.nwTa, mentioned in XVI 2010-!Wl 1 were probably government soldiers. If so, then the House of Apion was compelled at times to issue them rations, for the documents are receipts for barley provided to urpa.nwra.,. 39. Cr. for similar acknowlcdgcm•nt• XVI 1983,1990. 40, XVI 2013 (These particular bNcello.rii were probably Apion's. He certainly had them}. 41. XVI 1845 and 2039 42. XVI 2045 and 1904.

77

And so, under this system the peasants were utterly crushed and the possibility of any other kind of existence does not seem to have occurred to them. In the previous centuries we witnessed many bitter uprisings against the grinding oppression of those in power, but now there were no more outbreaks. The complicated, stylized machinery of feudalism rested on the descendants of Alexander's Macedonians and these Greeks, their blood now mixed, lay under it with no move~ ment of spirit. One might say that in the fourth century a poor man was helpless and knew it; by this time it seems to have occurred to no one that those born to low estate could have a better fortune. The peasants received a pittance in return for their labours, but failure to perform the work required placed them helpless in the hands of their masters. It is safe to say that the House or Apion never gave anything to a single dependent without surety. And there is not a reference to suggest that any member of the H ouse of Apion did so much as a day's work, administrative or otherwise, on the estates which provided his wealth. C. REMAI~"ING DOCUMENTS

The picture presented by the remainder of the documents is not very distinct. It is impossible to tell the exact relationship between the House of Apion and the rest of the district. Indeed, there was probably no real relationship at all. There were, however, other landlords, and some of them were influential, but that the House or Apion had an acknowledged preeminence is shown by the fact that it alone is referred to as "The Honourable House." XVI 2029, a document which indicates t his, is also interesting fo1 other reasons. It demonstrates that the landlords shared to some extent the maintenance of law and order. I t gives an account of the incliction years in which various landlords supported the riparii. XVI 1892 is the sole reference t o the Imperial Estate. We have no particulars, except that it was administered by an agent. Some other estate holders are mentioned. Flavius Anastasius (XVI 1902) is shown to have paid an annona militaris of 4't6 artabae and 4000 myriads of silver denarii to the crews of certain galleys stationed off O:'Yrhynchus. In XVI 2(Jl6 there is a reference to two other -ytoiixo•, Trmagenes and Eudaemon. One Flavius Alexander is mentioned in XVI 1899 in a receipt for part of a water-wheel. Flavius Apphous, son of Eulogius, appears in XVI 1959, and both father and son were -yeoiixo,. In VII 1088 a Flavia Euphemia is referred to as 'YEouxoou'f/

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Ox"TRHYSCHOS

in Oxyrhynchus. (Both these latter two documents deal with leases of small properties in the city.) All the above-mentioned landlords seem to ha,•e been far below the Apions in rank. But Fla\'ius Screnus (I 140) must have been a man of great wealth and distinction. He is described as a comes of the Consislatory and he supported a racing stable. Perhaps this man was a descendant of the Serenus who turned to the land at the close of the third century. Another important lord was the comes John, of I 140 and 155.

In this period there is no evidence of hostilities between landlord and landlord. The Apions were content with the status quc, and were immune from any derogation of privilege. The lesser ')'EOiixo,, however, made sporadic attempts to increase t heir wealth at the expense of less solvent freeholders. The most satisfactory method of doing so was to foreclose on debtors. The law encouraged this practice and provided adequate machinery for carrying it through. But X \"1 1865 seems a less patient, though doubtless successful, method. A lord called Julian had acted like a bandit and his victim almost apologized to the cxceptor when he made his complaint. " . .. I exhort your illustrious brotherliness to write to me concerning this, as by God's grace l pray, I may not be led into any unholy act. For the lord J ulian did not act rightly in taking what did not belong to him; and if he did so act(?), and took them, he is bound to restore them, for what is carried off in war is restored in peace ... That my master may know this I took the opportunity of exhorting you hy this, my writing; but my main object is to send many reverences to my master."" Proceedings against debtors were rigorous and we have several petitions on per libellum suits written to defensoru by the plainti~s against defendants." A good example is XVI 1883, dated 504. It 1s ,IJ.

XVI 1865. This lut senl•nce bears a siniJter rttemblance to X 1253-"w• give this info,. mntion in order that nothfna may ncapc your nod«. my Lord Prtfttt:· It is from the \ast ..ntence ol XVI 1865 that I lnler that Julian, II not an ut1bll1htd j'EOUXOS, was •• ltRlt a man ol ,ome power. I admit, however. that my interpretation It not absolutely certain .

.w.

The llbellu, was a plaintilf'a r,,ctltion to tht court of the rrcesu trc,c,, In which court it was read formally, It was rou.,...td by th• a.,r{xt,a.uis cl tb• pra,s,s pronouncina his auth~tY for further 1$1 action. In XVi 187i the ,rotsts ordtra that peple con«rn~ should either "l\tld'y the plaintiff or bt-comc 1>l'lrtie, lo a ault, The nt'