Two Receipts of Artemidora

Author(s): Rodney Ast

Source: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 163 (2007), pp. 183-187
Published by: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20476406
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 183

Two RECEIPTS OF ARTEMIDORA*

P. Heid. inv. G 1752 22.0(w) x 10.4(h) cm AD 157/158 and Oct. 12, 158
Bacchias

The papyrus is broken at the top and on the left. It consists of two columns of writing, each
containing at least one receipt. Top, bottom and right margins are extant in the first column, and the
receipt in the second column is complete on all sides, with traces of the last line of another receipt
visible at the top of the papyrus. Two different hands can be distinguished: the first is small and
accurate, while the second is irregular and noticeably less refined. A vertical collesis divides the second
column. Writing is parallel to the fibers, and the back is blank.
The receipts were issued to a woman from the village of Bacchias named Artemidora, who is said to
be without a legal father (&c6ctcp). She is the same person who about five years after this papyrus was
recorded petitioned the royal scribe for tax relief on two aruras of vine land because of insufficient
inundation (W.Chr. 226 = P.Grenf. II 56). In the two receipts edited here she pays taxes also related to
the ever important process of irrigation: the first receipt records payment of 3 drachmas 4 obols for
v(wx,d31ov) K(ox)ot(Kcov), a dike tax on catoecic land paid in lieu of the corvee, and the second registers
payment of 1 drachma ?2 obol 2 chalci for a little known tax called the "levy for the ram" (gEp I6;t
KploV), which was apparently intended to cover maintenance costs associated with some part of the
irrigation system. Whether Artemidora's naubion payment covered the same property that is petitioned
for in the document addressed to the royal scribe (W.Chr. 226) is impossible to verify. A rate of 3
drachmas 4 obols in naubion tax would correspond to about 11 aruras of land,1 part of which might have
been the two aruras of vine land featured in W.Chr. 226.
Because the left side of our receipt is lost, we can only estimate how much Artemidora paid for both
the naubion tax and the additional charges. Traces in the last line indicate that she was charged for the
issuance of the receipt (mo4toXlKOv), and this was likely preceded by two other charges commonly
found in similar documents, npoa68aypwp6'gEva (additional charges) and KoXI43Oo; (agio). Rpo6ux1a
YpMp6Vtx amounted to 1/10 the sum of the naubion, and Ko%.X15o; to 1/60 the combined total of the
naubion and npoa86txypxp60pVcX. If 3 drachmas 4 obols represents the total tax, then npoG6tocypa
pO6?xVcX probably amounted to about 2 obols 2 chalci and KO6kkioo; to 1/2 obol; indeed, the latter figure
is consistent with ink remains at the beginning of the line.
P.Heid. inv. 1752 is particularly interesting for the enigmatic tax recorded in the receipt in column
two. The impost is referred to as ?ptlt6o; KplOV), and is known from three other papyri: P.Col. V 1
verso 6.91-109; P.Tebt. II 352.7-8, 10; and P.Vars. 9.7-8. In each document it is said to be for the 21st
year of Antoninus Pius (157/158). Editors of the Columbia papyrus suggest that it was a periodic tax
levied perhaps every other year,2 but current evidence does nothing to support this view. The fact that
each attestation encountered thus far is said to be for the 21st year of Antoninus Pius suggests that it was
a one time assessment, similar to other g?pl(1oi imposed by the state in order to finance, for example,
occasional construction projects.3

* I first encountered this papyrus in a seminar on unpublished documents conducted by Dieter Hagedorn at the Institut
f?r Papyrologie in Heidelberg during the summer semester 2001; my thanks to him for the initial permission to work on the
piece, and to Andrea J?rdens for allowing me to publish it several years after that first encounter.
1 This figure depends on the conversion rate offered by J.C. Shelton in P.Cair. Mich. II, p. 42; see too 30-32.
2 P.Col. V 1 verso 6,p. 252-253.
3 See, for example, O.Heid. 76, a receipt for (lepiajio? rcpa?ai?ioi), which was exacted in the year 144/145 to cover the
cost of building or repairing a garrison; cf. too O.Heid. 228, a receipt for jiepiauo? ?opiavEioi), which was intended, it
seems, to cover construction costs for a temple to Hadrian.

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 184 R. Ast

gEplcyOS KplO-)
Text Date (of tax) Receipt Date Tax Amount Place
P.Tebt. II 352.7-8 21St yr. (157/158) July 21, 158 2(?) dr. 2 ob. 2 Kerkesephis
chalci(?)4
P.Tebt. II 352.10-11 21st yr. (157/158) July 21, 158 1 dr. ? ob. 2 chalci5 Kerkesephis
P.Vars. 9.7-8 21St yr. (157/158) Feb. 22, 160 1 dr. 2 ob. Kerkesephis
P.Col. V 1 verso 6.91- 21St yr. (157/158) ca. 160-161 various amounts Theadelphia
-10 9_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
P.Heid. inv. 1752 21St yr. (157/158) Oct. 12, 158 1 dr. ? ob. 2 chalci Bacchias
The theory defended in the commentary to P.Col. V 1 verso 6.91 that the "levy for the ram" must
have been related to irrigation and not an impost named after an individual called Kpo6; (an idea
embraced by editors of both P.Tebt. II 352 and P.Vars. 9) is surely correct.6 A text commonly cited in
discussions of this tax is BGU 1 14, which reports payments for dike workers who were responsible, we
are told in two places, for performing some kind of work on "rams." The verb used to describe this
work is napVAi4o,7 the meaning of which is disputed, with possibilities including "to clean out" and "to
reinforce with brushwood."8 Regardless of the meaning of the verb, Kpl5; seems to have denoted an
irrigation device or some part of the dike and canal system.9 An interesting passage that has not been
cited before in connection with the ram tax is Bell.Gall. 4.17.9, where Caesar compares the oblique
stakes used to support the bridge constructed over the Rhine to a "ram" (aries): ac nihilo setius sublicae
et ad inferiorem partem fluminis oblique agebantur, quae pro ariete subiectae et cum omni opere
coniunctae vim fluminis exciperent, "And nevertheless stakes were also driven at an angle downstream,
so that, situated below like a ram (pro ariete) and joined to the entire structure, they could sustain the
force of the river." What Caesar describes is some type of buttress,10 and it is possible, I suppose, that
the Kptoi we encounter in documents pertaining to irrigation were dike supports or buttresses.
Another point of interest that emerges from examination of extant Kpto; receipts is the fact that they
were drawn up in places throughout the Fayum. In P.Vars. 9, Herieus pays his dues to the tax collectors
of Kerkesephis, who are also the recipients of payments reported in P.Tebt. II 352. The Columbia

4 BL VII, 271.
5 BL VII, 271.
6 The same explanation is found in Preisgke, WB, s.v., and S. L. Wallace, Taxation in Egypt (Princeton 1938), 163-164;
see too D. Bonneau, Le r?gime administratif de Veau du Nil dans VEgypte grecque, romaine et byzantine (Leiden 1993), 71
and 279.
7 napvXiLpvxE? ic[p]i?v %cop?o\) (col. Ill, line 9); napvXxipvxE? Kpi?v ?rcoiK?oi) (col. Ill, line 23).
8 For the former interpretation, see, e.g., BGU XVI 2590.7 (= SB XVI 12312), with note in BASP 16 (1979), 28; P.Col.
V 1 verso 6.91n. For the latter, see LSJ, s.v., "make dykes with brushwood." The word apparently derives from vXr\, as
does the much discussed ?cpD^UGjLio?, see PJ. Sijpesteijn, Aegyptus 42 (1962), 128-132, and, more recently, P.Berl. Cohen
13.5n., with further bibliography. An additional ambiguity, and the one discussed most by those who argue in favor of the
meaning "to clean out," is whether words like ?qvXiciio?, refer to removal of mud and sediment or of brush and reeds.
9 D. Bonneau, op. cit., 71.
10 The phrase pro ariete (?iicnv Kpio? in the Greek paraphase) has good manuscript authority, but to some editors it has
seemed nonsensical and alternative readings have therefore been defended?e.g., pro pa?ete in F. van Oudendorp's 1737
ed.; pro anteride, an emendation proposed by R. Harder and printed in the Teubner editions of both A. Klotz (1952) and
W. Hering (1987). pro ariete is kept in L.-A. Constans' Bud? edition of 1926 (rev. by A. Balland, 1996), ("Ce passage est le
seul o? le mot soit employ? pour d?signer un contrefort ou un ?tai") and in du Pontet's OCT (1900). Cf. TLL, aries. IV: de
trab?bus in pont?bus faciendis adhibitis; Lewis and Short, s.v. II C: "A beam for support, a prop or buttress ... as a shore or
prop." The props were called "rams" presumably because of their resemblance to battering rams used in warfare (cf. the note
in the Bud? edition, ad loc). Illustrations of the kind of buttress employed in Caesar's bridge over the Rhine can be found in
annotated editions of Bell. Gall, such as H. Meusel (Berlin 1913; 19th ed., 1961); see too P. Connolly, Greece and Rome at
War (London and Mechanicsburg, PA; revised edition, 1998), p. 240, no. 8. In a papyrus of much earlier date, P.Enteux.
8.11 (= SB III 7245; Feb. 27, 221 BC), Kpio? seems also to denote a buttress, though not one associated with a dike.

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 Two Receipts of Artemidora 185

document appears to have been compiled at Theadelphia, and the taxes registered in our papyrus were
paid to collectors in Bacchias. Of these three places-Kerkesephis, Theadelphia and Bacchias, no two
were located in the same meris. 1 Kerkesephis, if its location is correctly understood, was in the
Polemon meris, Theadelphia in the Themistos, and Bacchias in the Heracleides. The two things that the
villages shared were a location within the Fayum and close proximity to Arsinoite canals. Otherwise,
they had little in common. If, therefore, people were paying the Kplo; tax nome-wide,12 we should
probably assume that the impost did not have strictly local significance but financed irrigation work that
was important to a broader area.13
Finally, the rate at which the KplO; tax was assessed, an issue that has been treated by previous
commentators, deserves brief attention. The word gcpvR05; has been thought to describe a capitation
tax assessed in equal amounts on all taxpayers, but the Kpt6; impost appears to have been a land tax.
The editors of P.Col. V 1 verso 6 in fact suggest that it was a land tax calculated at a fixed rate of 2
obols 2 chalci per arura.14 It is impossible to verify this rate using the figures found in the Heidelberg
papyrus. A payment of 1 drachma ?2 obol 2 chalci is consistent with a plot of about 3 aruras. Yet all
that we know is that the naubion tax in column one was calculated against about 11 aruras of land.15 If
it is true that ?ptR0; iKptlOV had a fixed rate of 2 obols 2 chalci per arura, then perhaps we should
assume that it was assessed on grain land, not on garden land as in the case of the naubion tax.

col. i

(Hd. 1) [FttOD Kat E]iKo(toi- A1uOKpTo ropo; Kacd(po;

[Tt-rou AiXioo] A6ptavoi- Avtov[F]'Vou XxaxTtyou
[E?a0f3Doi; Month, Day]-. 6tIyp(awV) Ap?Ftp KX1 gvr6'X(ot) 2pcxK(topcflv) &py(uptKov)
[BocK(XItC6o;) Apt8l&0pa ]i6t@op v(@xi4ou) K(at)OI(K(oV) toiV 4[u]ro (?to0)
(6paXg&;) TpY; (T?tpdo0Xo0V)
5 [iRpo(56uxyplpoj?VoV) (6tI43oXoV) (6i%XX%KOV) KO(XQA4OV1J)] (iut3?X1o0V)
G(VOXtKOi)).
Margin
4 L. p?1g
col. ii

(Hd. 2)

vacat

11 See the map in T. Derda, Arsinoites Nomos. Administration of the Fayum under Roman Rule [Journal of Juristic
Papyrology, Supplement VII] (Warsaw 2006), 21.
*2 During this period the Fayum is thought, technically speaking, to have comprised two nomes, Derda, op. cit., 61-112.
13 Our sources suggest a surge in labor devoted to the irrigation system in the Arsinoite towards the end of the 150's.
For example, eight receipts survive from the 21st year of Antoninus Pius (157/158) for work that was done in the 20th year on
embankments at a canal near the village of Theognis (P.Mert. Ill 103 and PSI X 1110; see Th. Kruse, Der k?nigliche
Schreiber [Leipzig 2002], 312-313). The project seems to have been conducted outside the regular schedule of penthemeros
work performed on dikes and canals.
14 See P.Col. V 1 verso 6.91n. u?piauoi Kaiaapeioa) and A?piocveioi) appear to have been similar land-based
assessments; see D. Hagedorn and J. Shelton, "A New Tax in the Kronion Archive," ZPE 14 (1974), 42-43, and "Zur H?he
des Steuersatzes bei u.epio|i?c ?opiaveioi)," 283-284.
15 A similar discrepancy has been noted in some of the figures recorded in P.Col. V 1 verso 6. In their commentary to
line 91, the editors point out that Musonius Maron appears to have been assessed on 1 1/4 1/8 1/32 1/64 aruras for the
naubion tax (line 40-41), which would, if the land were subject to 2 ob. 2 chalci in Kpio? tax, lead us to expect a payment for
liepiouo? Kpio? of about 2 dr. 2 ob. In line 106 we learn, however, that Musonius pays 15 drachmas, and the editors suggest
that the discrepancy might be explained by the fact that Kpio? payments in lines 91-109 represent arrears.

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186 R. Ast

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 Two Receipts of Artemidora 187

E?CO0; 6?D'T?'p[0U] KXI ?-iKo6T[Tol0] A16,oKpa'Topo; K(xioapo;

Tio-oi Ai2dou A6ptavoi3 AV _twivou XF_3xwToi5 Ez 3oi-U;
10 ID(xW&xpi I?. I&yp(cXXVFV) [1] Kal [g]ct6OX(oI) lp6K(topTtv) &py(optlKv) BxKXI46o;
Ap?rtt&6dpa 4X[]-cop gwptygoi5 KplOV Kix (FToo;) <(6poxXg` v)> go[a<v>] (i1?O$3 IOV)
(6iXakcKov)
(IV?X1 (6 X) a (' R11:?0p'IV) (8'X(XKOV).
Margin

col. i
"[In the ... year] of Emperor Caesar [Titus Aelius] Hadrian Antoninus Augustus [Pius Month, Day].
To Areius and his colleagues, tax collectors [of Bacchias, Artemidora], who is legally without a father,
has paid for the naubion tax on the catoecic land for the same year 3 drachmas 4 obols [for prosdia
graphomena 2 obols 2 chalci, for kollybos] 1/2 obol, and the fee for the receipt."

Col. ii
"In the 22nd year of Emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrian Antoninus Augustus Pius. Phaophi 15. To ...
and his colleagues, tax collectors of Bacchias, Artemidora, who is legally without a father, has paid for
the levy for the ram for the 21st year 1 drachma ? obol 2 chalci. Totals 1 drachma 1/2 obol 2 chalci."

col. i
1 I assume that the receipt in this column did not post-date that in col. 2, which means that it must have been dated in the
20th (eiKo6c 0V), 21st (tp toi Ko C eiKOcT0Eo ), or 22nd (6?_?poV KOC _iKoa6X0) year. The supplement at the beginning
of line 2 suggests a loss of at least 11 letters, and if F'r'o extended into the left margin, then we can probably expect ca.
15 letters to be missing. ?'roj; accounts for five of these, which by itself is too few to fill the entire lacuna, thus we can
probably rule out [trou; c]iKo6toi as a possible reading. [?iToi0; npO)tO KX1 E]iKocTYoiV is perhaps to be preferred to
[LE01; 6eVrTpoi ial ?]iKoItoi6, but the latter remains a possibility.
4 [Boxtiui6o Ap?Et8cOpa &](traop might be too long a supplement. Thus I print the abbreviated form of the village
name, BcsK(X168o;), which is found also in, e.g., P.Lond. II 166a.4 (p. 116).
The classic treatment of the topic of legal "fatherlessness" in papyri is still H.C. Youtie, "9TET6xopc;: Law vs. Custom in
Roman Egypt," in Scriptiunculae Posteriores I (Bonn, 1981), 17-34; more recently, work has been done by M. Malouta,
"The Terminology of Fatherlessness in Roman Egypt: a'Xn&?p and xpi txtic)ov gxrp6;, in J. Fr6sen, T. Purola and
E. Salmenkivi (eds.), Proceedings of the 24th International Congress of Papyrology. Helsinki, 1-7 August, 2004 [Com
mentationes Humanarum Litterarum 122] (Helsinki 2007), 615-621.
For lists of other naubion receipts, see Wallace, op. cit., 380 n. 63; this is supplemented by D. Hobson in P.Rainer Cent.,
p. 347 n. 2, and by P. Schubert in the intro to P. Gen. III 140, where examples of only vctivliov KaxtoiKcov receipts are
given. More recent examples of the latter tax can be found in, e.g., P.Berl. Cohen 4 and 6(?); P.Hamb. IV 250.7; SB
XXII 15852, 15854.

col. ii
7 6pcXg]ocX; tcF4[accpcs? This is part of another receipt, perhaps for vwctitov ?VwpsCFOwv. In P.Tebt. II 352.6, payment
for vwxaf3ov Evmpel')v is recorded right after that for vwxlctov KaxTo1iov. For discussion of both naubion imposts, see
Wallace, op. cit., 59-61, as well as the intro to P.Hamb. III 210, with further bibliography.
10 The name of the tax collector is short. Ap[c]'o is perhaps one possibility, which would mean that we have the same tax
collector as in the preceding column (line 3), but the last letters of the name are not entirely consistent with this reading.
A4[o]K(Opp) is also possible, although the hooked ligature ascending from the bottom of the second letter seems more
characteristic of rho than of iota.
11 It is doubtful that the symbol for ?toD5 was written in the lacuna before Ka, since as a rule the symbol appears before
the year only in dating formulas. I assume therefore that the clerk wrote only one of the two curved strokes that we
would typically expect to find for both ?'uo5 and 5poxwtv. Similarly, it seems safe to assume that nu was omitted from
the end of ,ui[a'v>]; the lacuna is too small to accommodate two letters.

New York Rodney Ast

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