A FRAGMENT OF A DEED OF SURETY

NOHA A. SALEM
AIN SHAMS UNIVERSITY, EGYPT

P. Cair. Mus. 10721 9.3 x 5.2 cm. Arsinoites (AD VI)

The papyrus contains the beginnings of 10 lines. Only the left margin is
preserved. The script runs parallel to the fibers; two vertical folds can be
seen. The papyrus is registered as coming from an unknown provenance,
but the formula, as well as some words, suggest that it comes from the
Arsinoite. The length of the lines can be calculated due to the formula in
lines 6 and 8; since the papyrus has been glued onto cardboard, the verso
is hidden. The handwriting is sloping to the right; it can be compared with
handwritings of the late sixth to seventh centuries. Cf. e.g. CPR XXIV, 24
(Arsinoiton Polis, AD 582–602).
Some words in the text betray it as a deed of surety. On the one hand ,
the plural forms for both the verbs and the pronouns urge to consider the
guarantors to be more than one person (cf. ll. 3–4 παραδώσομε̣[ν and l. 6
ἡμεῖ[ς). On the other hand, they guarantee only one person, as appears in ll.
8-9 τὸν ἐπιζητούμενον.
The deed of surety documents (ἐγγύη) dating from the fourth to the
seventh centuries were procedures commonly employed to regulate and
control the relations between different parties, especially in large estates,
and to keep the population stable for tax purposes by controlling fugitives.
Papyri contracts of deeds of surety were usually struck between a
landholding household and a third party who provided financial insurance
that a laborer would remain on and work, as well as pay taxes or rent for
which he was liable. Otherwise this guarantor was liable to imprisonment
and other penalties.1

1Cf. J. Hillner, Prison, Punishment and Penance in Late Antiquity, Cambridge

2015, p. 176; S. T. Tovar, “Violence in the Process of Arrest and Imprisonment in
Late Antique Egypt,” in H. A. Drake (ed.), Violence in Late Antiquity: Perceptions
and Practices, Burlington 2006, 106; J. Banaji, Agrarian Change in Late Antiquity,
Oxford 2001, pp. 127–28; M. Mirkovic, The Later Roman Colonate and Freedom,
194 A Fragment of a Deed of Surety

Texts of deeds of surety usually run as follows:

- Dating formula
- To B (the debtor) from A (the guarantor) χαίρειν
- Acknowledgment formula , such as ὁμολογῶ ἑκουσίᾳ
γνώμῃ ἐγγυᾶσθαι καὶ ἀναδεδέχθαι παρὰ so and so…(this formula
may show simple changes from text to text)
- The details of the surety (sometimes explaining the duration of the
deed).
- Stipulation clause (including execution clause)
- Statement that the deed is valid
- Signature of the guarantor
- Signature of the notary.
The current text is part of the stipulation of the deed.

Recto
--- ---- --
1 [̣ + 8 ] ̣ [̣ + 11 ἀ̣λλὰ καὶ]
ε[̣ πι]ζ̣ητούμ[ενον παρὰ τῆς ὑμῶν]
ὑπερφυίας, π̣[αροίσομεν καὶ παρα-]
δώσωμε̣[ν αὐτον ἐν τῇ δημοσίᾳ]
5 ε̣ἴ̣ρκ
̣ τῃ ταύτ[ης τῆς πόλεως,]
ὅθεν καὶ ἡμεῖ[ς αὐτὸν παρείληφαμεν.]
εἰ δὲ μὴ τ[οῦ]τ̣[̣ ον ]
παραδώσωμ[εν, ὡς εἴρηται, ἐπιζη-]
τούμενον, ὑπ[ ]
10 [ +7 ] ̣[ ]
-- -

II, Philadelphia 1997, p. 83. For a list of deeds of surety of the 5 th–7 th centuries, see
G. Bastianini, “Una Malleveria dall’ Archivio degli Apioni,” Miscellanea
Papyrologica, Papyrologica Florentina 7 (Firenze 1980), pp. 25–27; addenda in K.
A. Worp, “Nochmals der Notar Anup. Eine byzantinische Bürgschaftsurkunde,”
ZPE 47 (1982), pp. 285–90, esp. p. 287; P. J. Sijpesteijn, “Five Byzantine Papyri
from the Michigan Collection,” ZPE 62 (1986), pp. 133–49; P. J. Sijpesteijn, “A
Late Deed of Surety from Oxyrhynchus (P. Princ. Inv. AM 11244),” ZPE 65
(1986), pp. 163–67; N. Gonis, “P. Oxy. XVI 1979 descr.: Deed of Surety,” JJP 32
(2002), p. 29; B. Palme, “Pflichten und Risiken des Bürgen in byzantinischen
Gestellungsbürgschaften,” in E. Cantarella, J. Mélèze Modrzejewski, und G. Thür
(Hrsg.), Symposion 1999: Vorträge zur griechischen und hellenistischen
Rechtsgeschichte (La Coruña, 6.–9. Sept. 1999), Köln-Weimar-Wien 2003, pp.
531–55.
 Noha A. Salem 195

Apparatus
l. 3 l. ὑπερφυείας
l. 4 l. παραδώσομ̣[εν

Translation
[N. N. acc.] from the same city (?), but also required by your
magnificence; we will bring him forward and produce him in the public
jail of this city, from where we also have received him, and if we do not
produce this man [for any reason whatsoever], him, who is required, as is
said, we will be [liable

Commentary
0–1 ἀπὸ]| τ̣[ῆϲ αὐτῆϲ] π̣ό λ̣ ̣[εωϲ: Only a few traces of the lower parts of
these letters can be seen. Cf. CPR XXII 4, 13 (Herakleopolites, AD 626–
675). ἀ̣λλὰ καὶ is suggested in the lacuna to fit with the next line; it forms
a common formula of the deed of surety. This line should be preceded by
the acknowledgment formula : ὁμολογῶ ἑκουσίᾳ γνώμῃ ἐγγυᾶσθαι καὶ
ἀναδεδέχθαι παρὰ (often the landholding(s) in the genitive case) N. N. (the
guaranteed person(s) in the accusative case, followed by their location in
which they are attributed). Cf. the introduction of this paper; for further
examples, see CPR XXII 4; CPR XXIV 24 (Arsinoiton Polis, AD 582–
602).
1 ε̣[πι]ζ̣ητούμ[ενον παρὰ τῆς ὑμῶν: The restoration here depends on
the main verbs of the common formula. Cf. the introduction of this paper,
and the commentary on l.1.
- ε[̣ πι]ζ̣ητούμ[ενον: The restoration here to the singular form depends
on l. 8–9. This line can be restored either by ὑμῶν (as in SB XVIII 13951,
8 [Arsinoites, AD 487–491], and P. Oxy. I 135 [AD 579]) or by ὑμετέρας
(as in P. Oxy. I 144, 3 [AD 580]). ὑμῶν seems to fit the remaining space
better, and is comparable to the average of characters in the lines (+24
characters), cf. lines 6 and 8.
3 ὑπερφυίας: For ‘ι’ instead of ‘ει,’ cf. F. Gignac, A Grammar of the
Greek Papyri of the Roman and Byzantine Periods, Vol. I, Milano 1975, p.
57. Since such texts are usually presented to landholding parties, honorific
titles like ὑπερφυεία, ἐνδοξότατος, ὑπεροχή, ὑπερφθεστάτος,
μεγαλοπρέπεια, etc., are common.
196 A Fragment of a Deed of Surety

Other texts keep the name or the position of the addressee, such as the
great landowner Φλάουιος Ἀπίων (PSI I 62, 5; Oxy., AD 613); ὁ
ἁγιώτατος πρεσβύτερος καὶ γραμματεὺς καὶ ἐπίστατος τῆς Ἀρσινοιτῶν
πόλεως Ν. Ν. (SB Ι 4658, 2–3; Arsinoites, AD 651–700); στρατηλάτης καὶ
παγάρχος Ἡρακλέους πόλεως (CPR XXII 4, 32; Herakleopolis AD VII);
or παγάρχος τῆς Ἀρσινοιτῶν (CPR XXIV. 24, 4; Arsinoites, AD 582–602),
etc.
3–5 For the restoration of these lines see SB XVIII 13952, 16–18
(Hermopolites, AD 501–600); CPR X 127, 15–17 (Arsinoites, AD 584);
CPR XXIV 24, 11–13 (Arsinoites, AD 591–602); SB XVIII 1351, 8–9
(Arsinoites, AD 487).
4 Documents do not tell us more about the relation between the
guarantor and the ensured person(s). Throughout the documents, we find
that the guarantor may be more than one person, as in the present text. In P.
Oxy. LXX 4794 (AD 580), a sole brother of two cultivators guarantees
them. Sometimes documents show the name of the guarantor, and other
times both the name and the position of the guarantor are mentioned , as in
CPR XXII (Herakleopolis, AD 625–675): “John the cloth mender is the
guarantor for Georgos the soldier.”
4–5 ἐν τῇ δημοσίᾳ] ε̣ἴρ̣ κ
̣ τῃ ταύτ[ης τῆς πόλεως: The term “prison” in
late antiquity was conceptually different from modern usage. Generally,
the official function of the Roman public prison seems to have been one of
preventive custody, while the modern function is considered to be a
comprehensive penal institute; cf. Hillner, Prison, Punishment and
Penance, p. 44. Εἴρκτη as a term for “prison” was not as widely used as
φυλακή; cf. CPR XXIV 24 (AD 591–602); Chr. Mitt. 71 (AD 458–473).
ἐν τῇ δημοσίᾳ φυλακῇ is the commonest phrase in deeds of surety attested
in the Greek documentary papyri; for example, see SB I, 4817, 3 (AD 301–
700); SB VI 9146, 15 (AD 701–800); SB XVIII 13951, 9 (AD 487); etc. In
documents dated to the later sixth century, some deeds of surety use ἐπὶ
δημοσίου τόπου ἐπὶ τῆς πόλεως. The public place of the city was at times
qualified as ἐν τῇ δημοσίᾳ φυλακῇ τῆς πόλεως. Cf. Hillner, Prison,
Punishment and Penance, pp. 176–82; S. T. Tovar, “Las prisiones en el
Egipto bizantino según los papiros Griegos Y Coptos,” Erytheia 20 (1999),
pp. 47–55.
7–9 εἰ δὲ μὴ τ[οῦ]τ̣̣[ον: Line 7 and the following lines carry the
penalty clause in case of breaking the terms and conditions of the surety.
Line 7 can be supplemented with ἕνεκεν προφάσεως (“for any reason
whatsoever”), as in CPR XXII 4 (Herakleopolis, AD 625–675); P. Mert. II
98 (Oxy., AD 601–700).
 Noha A. Salem 197

8–9 ἐπ ιζη]τούμενον: This may be restored, as in SB XVIII 13951, 9–

12 (7 th century). For the exact word order, see SB I 4658, 16–17
(Arsinoites, 4 th–7 th century).
9 ὑπ[εύθυνοι ἐϲόμεθα: This is a possible reconstruction, as in P. Eirene
II 12, 18 (Herakleopolites, AD 492).
10 The trace is a long horizontal stroke.