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ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID1614
TM IDTM 22511
Findspot (DEChriM ID)28   (al-Bahnasā)
ClassTextual
MaterialPapyrus
Writing mediumSheet/roll
Text contentDocumentary
LanguageGreek
Description

P.Oxy. 55 3787: Tax list 
This large sheet (11.6 x 28.7) contains two columns (33 and 36 lines) of names and amounts in drachma, titled λουκίου συστάτου, related to a tax called ἐπικεφάλαιον πόλεως (city poll-tax). Subheadings name villages in the Oxyrhynchite nome. A δίακων ἐκκλησίας named Apphous (line 24-25) is listed under the village Thosbis or Mermertha, and ἀνα[γ]νώστης (line 57, possibly a Christian “reader”) named Besarion is listed under Tampetei. The list further contains the names Στέφανος (line 31) and Πέτρος (line 64). The document is the reused verso of P.Oxy. 44 3184, which contains lists of village liturgists (γραφὴ λειτουργῶν) dated to Oct/Nov 296 and 9 January 297. They are addressed by comarchs of the villages Talao and Muchintale, to Aurelius Asclepiades (also known as Achillion), πρωτοστάτης μερῶν κάτω τοπαρχἰας.

Selection criteriaMention of Christian cult officials/institutions, Christian onomastics
Date from297
Date to320
Dating criteria

The dates of recto P.Oxy. 44 3184 place the writing of the document after 297. The ed.pr. argues that the mention of Christian cult officials places the document before the Diocletianic persecution, before 303. The συστάτης Lucius (the Λουκίος from the title) is considered to possibly be Lucius Septimius Serenus, known from PSI III 164 (286/287 CE). Bagnall 1991 dates the document to a timeframe between 313 and 320.

Absolute/relative dateRelative date
Archaeological context

Found in al-Bahnasā (Oxyrhynchos) during the excavations of Bernard Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt between 1896 and 1907.

Accession number

Oxford, Sackler Library, Papyrology Rooms 28 4B 60/D(3)a Vo

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editio princeps
• Bowman, Alan K., Michael W. Haslam, John C. Shelton and J. David Thomas. 1976. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Vol. XLIV (P. Oxy. XLIV). Graeco-Roman Memoirs 62. London: Egypt Exploration Society. 140-144, No. 3184.
• Rea, John R. 1988. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Vol. LV (P. Oxy. LV). Graeco-Roman Memoirs 75. London: Egypt Exploration Society. 33-40, No. 3787.

Additional bibliography
• PCE.II.B (2005) = –––. “II. Civil Documents using Ecclesiastical Terms.” Papyri from the Rise of Christianity in Egypt: Draft Conspectus. (PCE.XI). Macquarie University. 3, No. 11. [http://www.mq.edu.au/pubstatic/public/download/%3Fid%3D45105&usg=AOvVaw2xqK_R6N3vQdQpC4Mq_iMD]
• Bagnall, Roger S. 1991. “Notes on Roman and Byzantine Documents.” Chronique d'Egypte (CdE) 66. 282-296: 293-296, No. 6.
• Bagnall, Roger S. 1993. Egypt in Late Antiquity. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 280n118.
• Blumell, Lincoln H. and Thomas A. Wayment. 2015. Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents and Sources. Waco TX: Baylor University Press. 425-427, No. 116.
• Bowman, Alan K. 1971. The Town Councils of Roman Egypt. Toronto: Hakkert. 171, P. Oxy. ined. 22 (296).
• Bowman, Alan K. 1974. “Some Aspects of the Reforms of Diocletian in Egypt.” Akten des XIII. Internationalen Papyrologenkongresses. Marburg/Lahn, 2. bis 6. August 1971, edited by Emil Kiessling and Hans-Albert Rupprecht. Münchener Beiträge zur Papyrusforschung und Antiken Rechtsgeschichte 66. München: C. H. Beck. 43-51.
• Choat, Malcolm. 2006. Belief and Cult in Fourth-Century Papyri. Studia Antiqua Australiensia 1. Turnhout: Brepols. 67-68.
• Judge, Edwin A. 2010. “The Puzzle of Christian Presence in Egypt before Constantine.” In Jerusalem and Athens. Cultural Transformations in Late Antiquity, edited by Alanna Nobbs. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. 140-155: 147.
• Luijendijk, AnneMarie. 2008. Greetings in the Lord. Early Christians and the Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press: 183-184n121, 198n25.
• Wipszycka, Ewa. 1993. “Les Ordres Mineurs dans l’Eglise d’Egypte du IVe au VIIIe Siècle. Appendice: Sur les lecteurs qui ‘ne connaissent pas les lettres.” Journal of Juristic Papyrology (JJP). 181-215: 195n29.
• Wipszycka, Ewa. 2001. “Les papyrus documentaires concernant l’Église d’avant le tournant constantinien: Un bilan des vingt dernières années.” In: Atti del XXII Congresso Internazionale di Papirologia. Firenze, 23-29 agosto 1998, edited by Isabella Andorlini, Guido Bastiniani, Manfredo Manfredi and Giovanna Menci. Firenze: Istituto Papirologico «G. Vitelli». 1307-1330: 1308-1309.

Authors
Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023
Suggested citation
Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023, "Artefact ID 1614", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1614
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