Land and Taxes in Ptolemaic Egypt
Land and Taxes in Ptolemaic Egypt
Dorothy J. Thompson, Girton College, Cambridge
Katelijn Vandorpe, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
This book provides the first edition with an extensive introduction and full commentary of a unique land survey written on papyrus in Greek which derives from that area of southern (Upper) Egypt known as the Apollonopolite (or Edfu) nome and is now preserved in Copenhagen. Dating from the late second century BC, this survey provides a new picture of both landholding and taxation in the area which differs significantly from that currently accepted. The introduction sets this new evidence in its contemporary context, drawing particular attention to what it reveals about the nature of the relations of the Ptolemaic royal administration with local grandees, Egyptian temples and the army. No student of Hellenistic Egypt can afford to ignore this text, which importantly extends our knowledge of Upper Egypt under the Ptolemaic kings and involves some modification to the prevailing picture of landholding in Hellenistic Egypt.
- Provides the first edition of the first Hellenistic land survey to survive on papyrus from southern Egypt
- Includes an introduction to the importance of the text within the context of land and taxation in Upper, or southern, Egypt
- Offers new evidence for the widespread existence of private land in the south and involves some substantial modification of the prevailing picture of landholding in Hellenistic Egypt
Product details
August 2021Paperback
9781316612057
201 pages
244 × 168 × 10 mm
0.37kg
19 b/w illus. 1 map 31 tables
Available
Table of Contents
- Part I. Introduction to the Edfu Land Survey:
- 1. The Edfu land survey in context
- 2. Acquisition and physical description
- 3. Date and nature of the survey
- 4. Survey operations and the officials involved
- 5. Fiscal land categories
- 6. Taxes
- 7. Condition and use of the land
- 8. Historical discussion
- 9. Overview of the Edfu land survey
- Part II. Text and Translation: Part III. Commentary.
