(IOWP) Papyri and Papyrology

Imperium and Officium Working Papers (IOWP)

Papyri and Papyrology

Version 01

May 2011

Bernhard Palme (University of Vienna, Department of Ancient History, Papyrology and Epigraphy)

Abstract: Lexicon article on the papyrological evidence for the Roman army and the significance of papyri and ostraca for Roman army studies.

Papyri and Papyrology

In the field of Classical Studies, papyrology is the most recent area of expertise. After the charred scrolls from Herculaneum and the odd discoveries since Napoleon’s Egyptian expedition had come to the attention of scholars, the academic discipline first took hold following the great findings in the Fayum in 1880 and the systematic excavations for papyri which were subsequently established in Oxyrhynchos, Herakleopolis as well as in Antinoupolis and Hermupolis in Middle Egypt. Papyrology is concerned with all types of texts which are written with ink on papyrus or on other inscribable everyday materials like clay shards (ostraca, especially from Upper Egypt), leather and parchment, cloth and wood (also from outside Egypt: T.Vindol.; T.Vindon.). A distinction to the associate science of epigraphy, which works on engraved or carved inscriptions on stone or metal, exists additionally in the fact that the text, written in ink, is in most cases composed in cursive handwriting. Papyrus was used as writing material soon after the development of the hieroglyphic script (verifiable from ca. 2500 BCE). Made from the marsh plant Cyperus papyrus, which grew wild along the Nile and in the Delta, papyrus was produced only in Egypt in antiquity but was exported, since the Hellenistic era at latest, to the entire Mediterranean world. Only in those regions where precipitation was extremely low, principally in Egypt itself, were papyri preserved. Approximately 1 million papyri are stored in the museums and libraries of Egypt (Cairo), Europe (the largest collections: Oxford, Vienna, Berlin, Florence, London) and North America (Ann Arbor, Yale, New York, Berkeley), cf. http://www.ulb.ac.be/assoc/aip/liens.htm#ancre890351. To date approximately 50,000 edited texts are available. Roughly 7,000 of these have literary content matter while the remainder („documentary papyri“) come from everyday life and transmit private and official correspondence, legal contracts, texts from governmental administration and tax collection as well as accounting of all kinds. The texts are composed in all the languages which were spoken in Egypt in antiquity. The overwhelming majority of the texts are written in Greek, Coptic and Arabic, though the degree in the publishing of these is completely different. The edition of Greek texts (ca. 600 Corpus volumes) is furthest advanced. „Papyrology“ denotes more specifically the Greek (and Latin) papyrology bound to classical studies, whereas the study of Egyptian texts (hieroglyphic, hieratic and demotic), the Coptic and the Arabian papyri has developed into independent disciplines due to the specialization. The Greek papyri essentially cover the so-called „papyrological millenium“ from ca. 300 BCE until 700 CE,

NFN Imperium and Officium. Comparative Studies in Ancient Bureaucracy and Officialdom NFN Imperium and Officium. Comparative Studies in Ancient Bureaucracy and Officialdom 3 whereby the chronological distribution of the pieces of evidence is very imbalanced. Most of the (edited) texts come from the 2 and 3 centuries CE. The geographical distribution within Egypt is also uneven. Alongside the mentioned cities in Middle Egypt and several sites in Upper Egypt like Antaiopolis, Thebes (ostraca), Elephantine and Syene, the most important discovery sites are villages of the Fayum at the edge of the settlement zone, most notably Karanis, Tebtynis and Socnopaiou Nesos. Hardly any papyri survive from Alexandria and the densely populated, but damp, Delta. Furthermore, bundles of interrelated texts („archives“) impair the picture (http://www.trismegistos.org/arch/index.php). Beyond Egypt, the dry desert regions around the Dead Sea (P.Babatha, P.Hever, P.Murabba’ât), in Syria (P.Dura, P.Euphrat.) and Libya (O.BuNjem) have occasionally preserved texts. In sum, the number of papyri found outside Egypt presently amounts to no more than 700 pieces. Papyrology was a well organised academic discipline from the beginning, cf. the homepage of the Association Internationale de Papyrologues: http://www.ulb.ac.be/assoc/aip/liens.htm. The majority of the texts are edited in Corpus volumes and individual editions are summarized in the SB and KSB. All volumes of editions and other printed tools as well as the current scribal abbreviations for them are recorded in a continually updated checklist (http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/papyrus/texts/clist.html). Dictionaries render the vocabulary, personal- and place names accessible while paleographies assist with the deciphering and temporal classification of the texts (also in the checklist). The BL lists corrections to readings and additions. A repertory of electronic tools facilitates the access to the texts: in the DDBDP (http://www.papyri.info/) the texts may be accessed in the original wording; the BP (http://www.ulb.ac.be/philo/cpeg/bp.htm) offers a database of the specialist literature since 1931; the HGV (http://www.rzuser.uni- heidelberg.de/~gv0/gvz.html) enables a rapid orientation of dates, re-editions, corrections and images. A growing number of papyri is available in digital image online. Documentary papyri are vital source material for Roman army studies. On the one hand they furnish documents from the internal administration of the army. Different rosters (especially from Dura Europos) list the personnel according to centuriae and turmae (Rom.Mil.Rec. 1–5), guards and duties (Rom.Mil.Rec. 10–19), casualties (Rom.Mil.Rec. 34) or decurions and centurions with dates of their promotion (P.Mich. III 164: 234/4 CE). Various accounts, receipts, morning rapport, monthly summaries and pridiana (Rom.Mil.Rec. 64) illustrate the daily routine. Among the commentarii and regulations, the Feriale Duranum (Rom.Mil.Rec. 117) from 223–227 CE stands out as a very important piece of evidence listing the official festivals. The texts occasionally illuminate the internal procedures by

NFN Imperium and Officium. Comparative Studies in Ancient Bureaucracy and Officialdom NFN Imperium and Officium. Comparative Studies in Ancient Bureaucracy and Officialdom 4 recruitment (BGU II 423, 2 cent. CE) or dismissal (i.e. ChLA XXV 784; 150 CE: 22 soldiers request acknowledgement of their missio). Ostraca – in particular those from the desert areas (O.Claud., O.Krok., O.Douch., O.Florida) – offer diverse examples for the daily, official correspondence, the circulars and the reports. An exceptional document (O.Krok. 87) reports about the attack of barbarian raiders on a small outpost in 118 CE. Comparable pieces of evidence from other parts of the empire in addition to the material from Egypt bear testimony to the uniform organization of the army. Secondly, numerous documents pertain to the Roman army indirectly as they illustrate its operation and its executive-administrative functions in the provinces. In addition to the provision of the troops, which is tangible in receipts for food, fodder and raw materials like wood and clothing (i.e. P.Hamb. I 39: 179 CE), papyri speak frequently about the soldiers’ civil duties and their role in provincial administration (i.e. with the implementation of the provincial census or the Epikrisis), in measures for the improvement of the infrastructure (buildings and irrigation systems), and as administrative points of contact for the indigenous population, as for example the centuriones regionarii who were stationed in the country and were readily called upon as the authority in disputes. A third group of papyri shows individual soldiers or veterans in their social environment. Private letters (i.e. BGU II 632, P.Mich. VIII 490 and 491; 2 cent. CE), wills (BGU I 326: 194 CE) and legal documents (i.e. law suits: BGU I 327: 176 CE) illuminate the familial relationships, but also the soldiers’ economic activities among themselves (i.e. loan: ChLA XLV 1340: 27 CE; sale of slave: ChLA III 200: 166 CE) and with civilians, as well as the soldiers’ elevated status in the village communities. Long-range developments, like the genesis of soldier families over generations, the establishment of preferred areas of veteran settlement or the growing extent of local recruitment and the provision of the praetorian fleet with Egyptian recruits, are discernible in the study of isolated individual destinies. Overall, the papyri document for the Roman army – as generally – not the history of events or war activities, but rather the immediate living environment of the soldiers.

Bernhard Palme

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References and suggested readings

Bagnall, R. S. (ed.), Oxford Handbook of Papyrology. Oxford 2009. Bagnall, R. S., Reading Papyri, Writing Ancient History, London & New York 1995. Rupprecht, H.-A., Kleine Einführung in die Papyruskunde, Darmstadt 1994.

Alston, R., Soldier and Society in Roman Egypt. As Social History. London & New York 1995. Cuvigny, H. (ed.), La route de Myos Hormos. L’armée romaine dans le désert Oriental d’Égypte, I–II, (FIFAO 48). Le Caire 2003. Daris, S., Documenti per la storia dell’esercito romano in Egitto. Milano 1964 (= Doc.Eser.Rom.). Fink, R. O., Roman Military Records on Papyrus, (Philological Monographs of the American Philological Association 26). Cleveland 1971 (Rom.Mil.Rec.). Lesquier, J., L’armée romaine de l’Egypte d’Auguste à Dioclétien. Cairo 1918. Mitthof, F., Soldaten und Veteranen in der Gesellschaft des römischen Ägypten (1.–2. Jh. n. Chr.), in: Alföldy, G. - Dobson, B. - Eck, W. (Hgg.), Kaiser, Heer und Gesellschaft in der römischen Kaiserzeit. Gedenkschrift für Eric Birley. Stuttgart 2000, 377–405. Palme, B., Zivile Aufgaben der Armee im kaiserzeitlichen Ägypten. In: A. Kolb (Hrsg.), Herrschaftsstrukturen und Herrschaftspraxis: Konzepte, Prinzipien und Strategien von Herrschaftsorganisation und Administration im römischen Kaiserreich. Akten der Tagung an der Universität Zürich, 18.–20. 10. 2004. Berlin 2006. 299–328. Stauner, K., Das offizielle Schriftwesen des römischen Heeres von Augustus bis Gallienus (27 v. Chr. – 268 n. Chr.). Eine Untersuchung zu Struktur, Funktion und Bedeutung der offiziellen militärischen Verwaltungsdokumentation und zu deren Schreibern. Bonn 2004.

NFN Imperium and Officium. Comparative Studies in Ancient Bureaucracy and Officialdom