Tal Ilan

Julia Crispina of the Babatha archive revisited:

A women between the Judean desert and the Fayum
in Egypt, between the diaspora revolt and
the Bar Kokhba war

In 1992, I published an article by the title “Julia Crispina, Daughter of Berenicianus,

a Herodian Princess in the Babatha Archive: A Case Study in Historical Identifica-
tion.”1 In this article I discussed a mysterious Roman woman, Julia Crispina, who
appears in the Babatha archive, discovered in 1964 by Yigael Yadin in the Cave of
Letters in Nahal Hever, in the Judaean Desert, together with other documents of
the refugees from the Bar Kokhba revolt. It concerns a batch of documents that
belonged to a woman called Babatha, and records her eventful life, which included
two marriages and widowhoods, and many legal battles over her son’s guardian-
ship and over inheritance.2
Julia Crispina appears in two of Babatha’s documents with the elevated title
“episcopos” to be translated as overseer.3 She supported the orphans of the brother
of Babatha’s second husband on the issue of inheritance of their uncle’s property
against similar claims of his daughter (doc. No. 20), and then of Babatha herself
(no. 25). Thus, the very mention of Julia Crispina serves as evidence to the sort of
important roles women could attain in the world in which they lived – she liter-
ally served as a the rophans legal representative (lawyer). At the same time, they
demonstrate Julia Crispina’s compliance with the patriarchal law that was in prac-
tice at the time, which favored male heirs, even distant relatives, over close female
relatives.4 This is a very interesting gender phenomenon, for which good examples
from ancient Jewish history exist. These demonstrate that powerful women did not

1 Ilan, “Julia Crispina,” 361–381.

2 For this woman see Yadin, Bar Kokhba, 247–248; Polotsky, “Greek Papyri,” 258–262: Lew-
is, Bar Kokhba; Yadin et al., Documents, 73–141; 201–44; 257–276.
3 Lewis, Bar Kokhba, nos. 20 (pp. 88–93), 25 (pp. 108–112).
4 The issue was discussed in detail by Cotton and Greenfield, “Babatha’s Property,” 211–224;
and in a slightly altered version in Cotton, “Courtyard(s),” 197–201; “Deeds,” 410–414 (Hebrew)
and by Oudshoorn, Relationship, 213–298. I discuss the issue in some detail in my forthcoming
“Women’s Archives”.
268 Tal Ilan

necessarily display female solidarity, but rather played along with the negative male
worldview of and legislation against women. I have written about this elsewhere.5
In my 1992 article, I argued that this very Julia Crispina was the granddaugh-
ter of Queen Berenice, mentioned often by Josephus and other ancient writers. I
made this suggestion based primarily on two details: 1. The fact that Julia Crispi-
na’s father was named Berenicianos, like Queen Berenice’s son (Josephus, B.J.
2.221, A.J. 20.104). I argued that since “the male name Berenicianus was unheard
of until” the time of Berenice, we should assume that “the out-spoken Herodian
queen decided to name her son after herself.” 2. The fact that a close family asso-
ciate of the Agrippa family was, according to Josephus, designated Julius Crispus
(Vita 33) and may have also been related to the family by marriage, makes it prob-
able that Julia Crispina was his granddaughter. Thus, she was Jewish at least by
descent. Since she was associated both with the royal Berenice and the aristocratic
Julius Crispus, she was a member of the Jewish aristocracy. She also had Roman
citizenship, as her name indicates. Based on these privileges, she may have served
as an episcopos for orphans, rather than on the general principle that women at
the time could serve in such elevated offices.
Already Hans Polotsky, in 1962, noticed an interesting connection between Julia
Crispina of the Babatha archive and a woman with the same name mentioned on
a papyrus from Egypt, dated to 133 c.e., a mere two years after the above papyri
are dated. He wrote:
It would be a strange coincidence indeed, if two women of the same Roman name
had been living at about the same time in the same area. The dates would seem to
suggest that after the spread of the Jewish Revolt Julia Crispina broke off her Jewish
connections and transferred her activities to Egypt, if indeed they had not extended
to Egypt even before.6

It is this angle of the Julia Crispina story that I would like to revisit in this paper.
I currently serve as co-editor (together with Noah Hacham of the Hebrew Uni-
versity) of the renewed Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum. The initial project was
headed by Prof. Victor Tcherikover of the Hebrew University, and its authors pub-
lished three volumes of the by-then published Greek documentary papyri men-
tioning Jews and Judaism from Egypt between 1957 and 1964.7 Together, the edi-

5 We find, for example, in the reign of the Jewish queen Shelamzion spotty traces of a witch-
hunt, in which women are implicated (m. Sanh. 6:4; y. Ḥag. 2:2, 78a; y. Sanh. 6:6, 24a), see my
Silencing the Queen, 215–229; or we see the convert queen Helene of Adiabene donating to the
Temple a golden plaque with the episode of the wayward woman and how she is punished from
Num 5:12–31, inscribed on it (m. Yoma 3:10), see my Integrating Women, 69–70.
6 Polotsky, “Greek Papyri II, k Papyri“s,” in Ilan Peled zuerkennen unterscheidet sich davon,
sich zu bekennen“opjetges Bekenntnis anerkennt sich bewusst,” 261.
7 Tcherikover, Fuchs and Stern, CPJ.
 Julia Crispina of the Babatha archive revisited 269

tors of the series edited 520 papyri. In the renewed project we will be editing circa
150 Greek documentary papyri, which have been published since 1964, as well as
at least 40 Hebrew and Aramaic papyri, at least 20 Demotic papyri, and another
60 literary papyri (including Septuagint fragments). In all, our new corpus will
include circa 300 papyri. The Julia Crispina papyrus that Polotsky mentioned in
his article will be edited in our volume, and we will be reconsidering its signifi-
cance, for the Babatha archive, for the history of the Bar Kokhba Revolt, and for
the history of the Jews in Egypt.
The Julia Crispina papyrus was included in volume 1 of BGU (Aegyptische
Urkunden aus den Koeniglichen Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin: Griechische Urkun-
den), published in 1895, with the Greek still being hand-copied, in this case by Paul
Viereck.8 In the beginning Viereck read “Doulia Crispina.” This reading, however,
was quickly corrected by U. Wilcken in the original publication.
The papyrus was of course not included in the first CPJ, because that project
was completed before Yadin discovered the documents of the Babatha archive. Yet,
there is little doubt that it belongs in it. If Julia Crispina was the granddaughter of
Queen Berenice, it should be noted that one section in the original CPJ is devoted
to the economic activities in the Red Sea region of a certain Marcus Julius Alexan-
der, whom the editors of CPJ identified as Berenice’s first husband.9 Berenice, when
very young, was married into Egyptian-Jewish aristocracy. Her husband, Marcus,
was the son of Alexander Lysimachus, the Alabarch of the Jewish community in
Alexandria in the middle of the first century c.e. (Jos. A.J. 19.277). This Alexander
had played an important economic role in the community, which required that its
holder be wealthy.10 Berenice’s sister – Miriam – was married to the next Alabarch
of Alexandria – Demetrios (Jos. A.J. 20.147). The Alabarch Alexander, Berenice’s
father-in-law, was Philo of Alexandria’s brother (Jos. A.J. 18.250).11 Thus, Bereni-
ce’s family was closely associated with Egyptian-Jewish aristocracy.
Yet, even if Julia Crispina of the Fayum papyrus is not Berenice’s granddaugh-
ter, there should be little doubt that she is the same woman as her namesake who
appears in the Babatha archive two years earlier. A quick search in the papyrus
name-database of the important internet sites trismegistos and papyri.info imme-

8 BGU 53.
9 CPJ II. 197–200, no. 419.
10 The editors of CPJ also thought they identified Alexander the Alabarch himself in some
papyri – designated Gaius Julius Alexander (CPJ II. 200–203, no. 420), who owned a royal es-
tate, associated with Julia Augasta (Augustus’ wife) in the village of Euhemeria in the Fayum in
26–29 c.e., but the identity is far from certain.
11 In association with this family we, in our new CPJ, will also be considering P.Hamb. 8, in
Meyer, Papyrusurkunden I, 27–29. This papyrus is issued for a Julia Berenice, who owns royal
lands in Theadelphia, another village in the Fayum. She could be this Miriam’s daughter, who
was indeed called Berenice, see Jos. A.J. 20.140.
270 Tal Ilan

diately reveals that the name appears only in our Fayum papyrus.12 In other words,
when in 1964 Prof. Polotsky, with his encyclopedic knowledge, identified the Julia
Crispina of the Babatha archive with a woman of the same name from the Fayum,
one could claim this was mere coincidence. He did not have access to electronic
databases and it was just a question of time before scores of other Julia Crispi-
nas will crop up all over the place. Now, half a century later, with all that sort of
technology at our fingertips, we stand at exactly the same point. Julia Crispina of
the Fayum is the only woman bearing these combination names, aside from Julia
Crispina of the Judaean Desert. They have to be the same Julia Crispina.
So, let us look at the Julia Crispina papyrus more closely. In 1994, it once again
came to the attention of scholars. Roger Bagnall and Bruce Frier, who studied Egyp-
tian demography in the Roman period, identified this papyrus, among scores of
others, as a census return and included it in their catalogue of similar documents
from Roman Egypt.13 Census returns were obligatory documents that property
holders in Egypt were expected to present to the authorities. These documents
“were submitted … at 14-year intervals … through 257/258”14 and in this way the
Romans were able to calculate how much tax they could collect from their sub-
jects. Julia Crispina’s census return looks as follows:
To Dionysios, strategos, and Archibeios, royal scribe of the Arsinoite nome, The-
mistos division, and to Ammonios, village scribe, and to Ptolemaios and to the
other laographoi of the village of Dionysias from [J]ulia Crispina through her agent
[Ho]ros, son of Onnophris from the village of [D]ionysias.
In accordance with the orders, I register what belongs to me in the village of
Di[ony]sias for the house-by-house registration of the past 16th year of the Imperator
Caesar Traianus [Hadria]nus Augustus: In [the] quarter of Harpokration a house and
a courtyard and in the Boubasteion quarter another house and courtyard. Therefore
I submit this registration.
(2nd hand) I, Amonios, village scribe, have signed.
(1st hand) Year 17 of Hadrianus Caesar, the lord, Epeiph 30.

A lay reader will immediately notice that, next to the correct burocratic formulae,
that the scribe uses, and which are difficult for us, who conform to other buro-
cratic systems, to follow, Julia Crispina is clearly registering her possession of two
houses with courtyards in two different quarters in the village of Dionysias. She
was undoubtedly a wealthy woman. What we cannot notice at first glance, we can
learn from Bagnall and Friers, who saw hundreds of such documents and registered
them according to standard criteria. This registration I copied from their book:

12 See under www.trismegistos.org and papyri.info.

13 Bagnall and Frier, Demography, 207 and see also Cowey and Kah, “BGU I-IV,” 148.
14 Bagnall and Frier, Demography, 2.
 Julia Crispina of the Babatha archive revisited 271

1. HOUSEHOLD NO.: 131-Ar-5

2. Source: BGU I 53 (cf. BL 1.12)
3. Prov., Date: Dionysias (Arsinoite), 24/7/133
4. Declarant: Ioulia Krispina through phrontistes Horos s. Onnophris
5. Family members, free non-kin, slaves: None
6. Verif./photo: Berlin, P.6880; seen 15/4/1991.
7. Discussion: Complete. Only property (two houses with courtyards) is declared,
no persons.

In the first line Bagnel and Friers give the household of Julia Crispina a num-
ber: 131 stands for the year it was issued. Ar stands for the Arsinoite Nome in the
Fayum and 5 is the number of this papyrus among the census-return papyri from
this region (according to chronology).
The second line gives the publication of this papyrus which we have already
seen.
The third line indicates where the papyrus comes from (Dionysias in the Arsi-
noite Nome) and what its date is – 24th of July 133.
Line four reveals the declarant: Our Julia Crispina, and the man who reg-
isters the property for her. Being a woman, she may have required a guardian.
Babatha in the Judaean Desert certainly required one for all her documents.15 She
also produced a census return with a guardian (whom, by the way, she later mar-
ried).16 The person who registers for Julia Crispina carries the title “phrontistes,”
which is translated above as “agent.” Although he is not described here as a kyrios
(guardian) perhaps this amounts to the same thing. In an aside we may add that
we know him from two documents from the neighboring village of Theadelphia,
from two years later, paying the poll tax.17 We cannot learn from our document,
or from these other ones, what sort of role he played in Julia Crispina’s business.
Line five tell us that Julia Crispina registers alone. She has no other family mem-
bers or clients or slaves. This is a detail we did not notice in our previous reading
because we did not know how other such documents are supposed to look. Now
that we notice it though, we may wonder, what such a lady was doing alone in
Egypt with two houses (that do not seem to be let).
Line six tells us that the document was examined by the editors in 1991, which
means that even though it was published in 1895, a century later, notwithstanding

15 On this issue see Cotton, “Guardian,” 267–273; Oudshoorn, Relationship, 299–377.

16 See Lewis, Bar Kokhba, 65–70 (no. 16).
17 The papyri are P.Col. II 1 R 1 b and P.Col. II 1 R 3: Col. I, l. 18 (Westermann and Keyes,
Tax). Both are also found in the first CPJ (vol. III, nos. 489b and 489d) but this is actually not an
indication that this person, or anyone else on these lists was Jewish. The editors of CPJ produced
this section in volume in order to demonstrate that the name Sambathion cannot be considered
Jewish in the Late Roman period. In both these papyri persons with this name appear.
272 Tal Ilan

all the 20th century wars, it was still housed in the Berlin Egyptological Museum. I
know of the continued existence of this papyrus from a slightly earlier date, because
in 1988, when I was writing my article on Julia Crispina, a Berlin friend of mine
crossed from the west to the east and acquired a picture of the papyrus for me.
In line 7, the last line in this Bagnal and Frier’s registration, the editors declare
that the document is not mutilated and that they find it interesting that houses
without people are being declared here.
To these observations I would like to add some of my own: According to the
calculation of Bagnall and Friers, the nearest census year to our document is
131 c.e. (and this is also why the number of our document begins with 131), but
our document is dated clearly to the year 133. Thus, the formulation in the doc-
ument, “house-by-house registration of the past …” (ll. 9–10), must refer back to
the missed census. Why is the woman submitting her census declaration two years
after the required registration date? It seems to me that this can be explained by the
fact that, both in June and in July 131, she was in Maoza on the Dead Sea, carrying
out transactions on behalf of her wards in nearby Ein Gedi. Having hindsight, we
can observe how precarious Julia Crispina’s presence in Ein Gedi, exactly at that
time, was becoming, though she may well have been oblivious to the danger she
was in. In the summer of 132 c.e., the Bar Kokhba Revolt broke out in Judaea,18
and we know that Ein Gedi, where the drama of the Babatha archive unfolds,
was a stronghold of the rebels, and that relatives of Babatha were involved in the
fighting.19 That Julia Crispina found this an opportune time to leave the region
and return to her holdings in Egypt should not surprise us. She became a refugee,
a victim of the war, and immigrated to one of the traditional places of refuge for
Jews reported throughout history, from Abraham, to Jacob, to Ahiah of Shiloh, to
the Prophet Jeremiah, to Jehudah ben Tabai, to Jesus. Whether Julia Crispina was
Jewish or not, Jewish destiny was at her heals.
Yet, I think she was Jewish. Her absence from Dionysias in the years previ-
ous to her census declaration are probably best explained by this fact. She owned
houses in the region. Thus, she was certainly not destitute. Choosing Egypt as a
place of refuge was not accidental. Why were her houses standing empty, though,
if she was wealthy? I think, the best explanation for this fact, is also tied up with
Jewish fate. In 115 c.e., only 17 years before the outbreak of the Bar Kokhba Revolt
in Judaea (and two years before the previous census in Egypt 117), there had been
another Jewish revolt – in Egypt. It had gone badly for the Jews and many scholars
believe that it had put an end to the Jewish community and the Jewish presence in
Egypt for many decades, perhaps even centuries. This is one of the most central

18 See Eshel, “Dates,” 93–105.

19 Yadin, Bar Kokhba, 233–234.
 Julia Crispina of the Babatha archive revisited 273

questions that the new CPJ is investigating.20 The Jewish revolt in Egypt would
have been a good time for Julia Crispina to leave the country and seek refuge else-
where. She fled to the largest Jewish settlement of her time – Judaea, and pursued
her various interests there. Little did she know that war would be following on
her heals. The fact that in her census declaration “only property is declared, with
no persons registered in it”21 may indicate that Julia Crispina had, in July 133, just
arrived in Dionysias, and had not yet had time to set up house. If my reconstruc-
tion is correct, we may conclude that perhaps the first wave of Jews who settled, or
at least attempted to settle in Egypt after the Diaspora Revolt, did so already less
than two decades after its disastrous climax, when fleeing the Bar Kokhba revolt.
Julia Crispina would have been an early bird.
I finish this short exposé with a few gender observations. War, wherever and
whenever it happens, is always a tragedy for many, those who die, are enslaved,
lose their livelihood or home, who need to flee and generally join the enormous
waves of refugees that war brings in its wake. The refugees include the entire spec-
trum of populations – men, women, children, and the elderly, all of whom, how-
ever, are always fleeing from men who are waging the wars. Julia Crispina was
rich and powerful, both in Judaea and in Egypt. In peace she could participate in
the legal system that privileged wealth, even that of women. But when war came,
she was a woman, and in this her fate was to become a refugee, representing all
the other women (and children and everybody else who was a victim of the war).
Her wealth should not be ignored here either, because it allowed her to flee com-
fortably, unlike most other women we may imagine, but know nothing about. It
was her wealth that left its traces for us to follow.

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21 Bagnall and Frier, Demography, 112.
274 Tal Ilan

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