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Lecture
4: The Roman Administrative System
Egypt in the Roman Empire
Aims
Objectives
Lecture summary
Sources
Lecture structure
Further work
Aims
To explore changes resultant from the Augustan administrative
settlement
To examine available source material
To consider the implications of the changes for like in Roman
Egypt.
Objectives
By the end of the session, students should be better able
- to understand the development of the Augustan administrative
system in the cities of the chora.
- to explain and explore some of the key source material
- to discuss at least one of the key sources and be more
confident in dealing with the primary material
Lecture
Summary
How did the Augustan settlement affect the cities of the chora?
The cities of the chora had, essentially, been under the control
of the temple elites and Ptolemaic officials. The new system
introduced under Augustus fundamentally altered the political
dynamics of the cities, moving power away from the temple
and to the gymnasia. Yet, this was a slow and complex process.
This lecture looks at the political structures that emerged
from the Augustan settlement and how the new administrative
system was implemented and controlled. It also examines a
series of sources and explores ways in which we can understand
those sources and what we can gain from them.
Sources
1. Census Return
P. Bad. 75 (b) = Sel. Pap. II 312 (AD 147). To Julius Saturninus,
strategos of the Herakleopolite nome, from Petesouchos son
of Pisois, mother Thenamennis, from the village of Ankyronon.
I register in the ninth year of Antoninus Caesar the lord,
in accordance with the order of Valerius Proclus, the prefect,
the half share of a house and pronesion. I am Petesouchos,
aged 42, my wife is Tausiris of Pareitis, aged 34, my son
is Pnepheros, aged 17, another son is Psenamounis, aged 5.
[Pnepheros, his son, was abroad on the seventeenth year].
There belongs to me in the same village other buildings and
my wife Tausiris owns other buildings. And I swear by the
fortune of emperor Caesar Titus Ailius Hadrianus Antoninus
Augustus Pius and by the god of the nome, Herakles, that I
have presented the aforesaid return honestly and truthfully
and have told no lie nor omitted anyone who ought to have
been returned by me nor taken advantage of an identity of
names nor presented any person for examination in the character
of another, otherwise may I incur the consequences of the
oath. The tenth year of the emperor.... Mareies (through Alphunchis)
Phib(), Ve()[ Sense obscure] and Isidorus, village scribes,
have signed.
2.
Gymnasial Epikrisis
P. Ryl 103 = Sel. Pap. II 34:
To Phrominius and Sabinus alias Thrakidas, former gymnasiarchs,
Sabinus alias Thrakidas being a minor acting through his guardian
E[ ] former gymnasiarch, examiners, from Horion son of Heraklides,
son of Herakilides, mother Lykarous daughter of Herakleides
slave of Ischyrion son of Papos of those from the metropolis,
registered in the amphodon of Bithynon topon. My brother of
the same mother and the same father, Herakleides, having reached
his 14th year in the present 18th year of Hadrian (134) and
being due to be examined, by the order I enclose the credentials
of our parents. Our above mentioned father Herakleides son
of Herakleides of Herakleides, mother Tasoucharion (sister
of his father), registered in the 8th year of Vespasian with
both his parents in the amphodon Kilikion and in the ninth
year of Domitian and the seventh year of Trajan similarly
registered himself with his parents in the amphodon Bithynon
allon topon, at the same time registering his wife Lykarous
who was our mother. In the census of 2nd year of Hadrian,
both our parents registered in the same quarter, at the same
time registering the two of us, and in the census of 16th
year of Hadrian, I registered myself together with my mother
and my brother Heracleides, now prsented for examination,
since our father had died after the census of the second year.
Lykarous daughter of Herakleides slave of Ischyrion son of
Papos, mother Didyme daughter of Hermas, was reistered in
the eighth year of Vespasian together with her mother and
brothers in the amphodon Seknebtuneion. She died in the 16th
year of Hadrian. Her parents were registered in the house
to house census in the ninth year of Domitian in the Kilikon
amphodon living together. I place before you my epikrisis
and a column from the property census...
3.
Gymnasial Epikrisis
P. Oxy. XLVI 3283 (148/9):
No. 120.
From Theon son of Theon grandson of Theon, mother Diogenous
daughter of Dionysius, from the city of the Oxyrhynchites.
In accordance with the orders concerning scrutiny of those
entering the gymnasial class (to discover) whether they are
of this stock, my son Paysaris, mother Thaesis daughter of
Didymus was registered in the amphodon Ippeon Parembole as
having reached the age of thirteen in the past eleventh year
of Antoninus Caesar the Lord. Therefore I have presented myself
for scrutiny (epikrisis) and declare that in the scrutiny
that took place in the fifth year of the deified Vespasian
under Sutorius Sosibus, then strategos, and Nicandor, then
royal scribe, and the other proper persons, my grandfather,
Theon son of Ammonius, was examined in the amphodon Pammanes
Paradeisou in accordance with the documentation he presented
that his grandfather Theon son of Ammonius is in the list
of the thirty-fourth year of the deified Caesar, and I declare
that my father Theon entered and was examined in the 11th
year of Domitian on the aforesaid evidence in the same district
and that I entered and took my place in the gymnasium list
in the same amphodon of Pammanes Paradeisou and that the great-grandfather
of the mother of my son....
4.
Temple at Dendur: Augustan Temple
http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/view1.asp?dep=10&full=0&item=68%2E154
5.
Inscriptions from Dendera
I. Portes 24 (12 BC): Demotic: [ ]4th month of winter, 4th
day, of Caesar the God, son of the God, before Isis Thermouthis
the lady of [ ] the dyke of the avenue of Hathor the lady
of Iunt, the eye of Ra, the lady of Heaven, the mistress of
the gods, the lady of [ ], Ptolemaios son of Panas, the strategos,
the syngenes, the borther of the Pharaoh, the prophet of the
Hoprus. the prophet of Hathor, the prophet of Ihy, the prophet
of Isis, the prophet of the gods of the temple of Iunt of
the the goddess, the overseer of the treasury of Hathor the
lady of Iunt, isis the great goddess, Horus of Behdet the
great god, the lord of heaven forever, dedicated the bare
pieces of land which are on the south of the shrine so that
they may be used for the services of the place of Shai. The
width goes from south to north, and the length from west to
east up to the canal of the avenue of Hathor.
Greek: On behalf of the imperator Caesar, son of a God, Augustus,
Zeus Eleutherios, to isis the most great goddess also called
Thermouthis, the one by the dyke opposite the avenue of Aphrosite,
Ptolemaios son of Panas, strategos, in charge of the revenues
of the Tentyrite (gave) the bare plots of land which are on
the south of the temple from the west of the Soterion up to
the canal. Year 18 Caesar, Pharmouthi 4
(from Bowman and Rathbone 1992)
I. Portes
25 (AD 1): On behalf of the imperator Caesar, son of a God,
Zeus Eleutherios Augustus, when Publius Octavius was prefect,
M. Claudius Postumus epistrategos, and Tryphon strategos,
those from the metropolis and nome dedicated the propylon
to Isis, great goddess, and to temple-sharing gods....
I. Portes
27 (AD 23): For the emperor Tiberius Augustus, when Gaius
Galerius was prefect, Q. Fresidius Pedo epistrategos, and
Zoilos strategos, the building of the walls of the temple
of Aphrodite and Isis, great goddesses, was finished....
I. Portes
28 (AD 32 - 37) [Heavily restored]: for Emperor Tiberius Caesar,
new Augustus, son of the deified Augustus, when Aulus Avillus
Flaccus was prefect, Aulus Folmius Crispus epistrategos, and
Sarapion son of Trychambos strategos, those from the metropolis
and the nome (dedicated) the pronaos to Aphrodite, great goddess,
and her "temple-sharing" gods..
I. Portes
30 (AD 42): For the Pax and Concordia of Tiberius Claudius
Caesar Augustus Germanicus, in the presence of the gods (?),
(dedicated) by Lucius Aimilius Rectus, prefect, and Tiberius
Iulius Alexander, epistrategos, with Areios son of Areios
being strategos....
6. Strabo XVII 1 12
Of the native magistrates of the city [Alexandria], one is
the exegetes who wears purple and has inherited honours and
oversees the buisness of the city, and then there is the hypomnematographos
(the Secretary) and the the chief judge (archidikastes) and
fourthly the night strategos (general).
7.
P. Oxy. IV 711
]and others of those registered by us in the 15th year of
Caesar (c. 14 BC) as being ephebes by [...]f[....] as from
6th year of Caesar... (25-4 BC)
Lecture
Structure
- The
Augustan officials
- Exegetes
- Agoranomos
- Gymnasiarch
- Kosmetes
- The
new metropolite powers
- Metropolitans
and temples
- Metropolitans
and the strategos
- Metropolitans
and the centurions
- The
gymnasial group
- Origins and the end of the village gymnasia
- Supervision and the epikrisis
- The
Augustan settlement: Revolution or evolution
- Date of introduction of major reforms
- Poll Tax
- Census
- Amphodal organisation
- Epikriseis
- Augustus and the temples
- Conclusions:
New City/Old City
Further
Work
Bibliography: The Roman
Administrative System
Essay: 2. What were the major features of the Augustan
settlement of Egypt
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