Greco-Roman Egypt Terms

agoranomos

a municipal official responsible for the marketplace -in Ptolemaic and early Roman Egypt was a notary in a wide variety of transactions

annona

a requisition or tax in kind

apomoira

a tax on vineyards and orchards

archidikastes

a judicial official

aroura

the standard unit of area; equivalent to 0.68 acres or 0.275 hectares

choinix

sub-division (1/40 or 1/48) of the artaba; approx 1 liter in capacity

chora

the hinterland of Egypt (including the metropoleis), as opposed to the city of Alexandria

deben

an egyptian unit of money, = 20 drachmas

deme

a subdivision of the citizen body in a greek polis

dorea

revocable gift-estate granted by the Ptolemies to their high officials

epistates

a local superintendent in the ptolemaic period

epistrategos

ptolemaic period- regional governor of the Thebaid

roman period- four epistrategoi were in a tier of administration between the nome officials and those of the province

epoikion

farmstead, or ‘tied’ estate village

exegetes

a municipal official

gymnasiarch

the chief official of a gymnasium

indiction

year in the series of tax cycles of fifteen years beginning in AD 312

iuridicus

a roman official of equestrian status, concerned with legal matters

katoikic land

the category of land assigned in the ptolemaic period to high-status kleruchs (cavalrymen). In the roman period, it became a category of private property; taxed at one artaba per aroura

kite

an egyptian monetary unit; 1 kite was equal to 2 drachmas.

kleros

a parcel of land assigned to military settlers during the ptolemaic period. In the roman period, the term was often simply a topographical description (‘in the kleros of so-and-so’)

kleruch

a military settler in the ptolemaic period, assigned a kleros of land

kleruchic land

the category of land assigned to kleruchs in the ptolemaic period.

komarch

a village official

kosmetes

a municipal official

kyrios

the male guardian required for women in Greek legal contexts

logistes

the main nome official from the fourth century

metropolis

the chief town of a nome, granted full civic status by Septimius Severus in AD 200

mina

a unit of currency (=100 drachmas), and of weight

nome

one of the approximately 40 districts into which Egypt was divided for the purposes of regional government

obol

a subdivision of the drachma

6 or 7 obols = 1 drachma

pagarch

a local government official

Persian (of the epigone)

the exact origin and significance of the term is disputed.

early ptolemaic period- ‘persian’ seems to designate persons with some sort of privileged status without a claim to a more specific ethnic designation.

late ptolemaic and roman periods- the term refers to the legal status of an indebted party who had relinquished certain personal rights in order to secure the collection of the debt

polis

a greek city, normally possessing the institutions of political self-government: citizen assembly, council and magistrates

procurator

a roman financial administrator

prytanis

the ‘president’ of a city council

quarter

a weight

16 quarters = 1 mina

4 quarters = 1 gold piece (chrysos)

sestertius

roman coin:

4 sestertii = 1 denarius

solidus

a gold coin in the period after Diocletian’s currency reforms between c. 295/6 and 300

stater

a weight of approximately 14 g. Also a denomination of money (4 drachmas)

strategos

the chief administrative official of a nome

subscription

the ‘signature’ normally appended at the bottom of a document

a government artaba of the Roman period

c. 40 liters, containing 40 choinikes

standard coin in ptolemaic and roman egypt

tetradrachm- 4-drachma piece or stater

In ptolemaic period, tetradrachm was

a silver coin weighing c. 14g and remained relatively pure

from late 3rd century bc, monetary values are expressed

in the token bronze money, which underwent successive depreciations in relation to the silver. In Egyptian texts, deben and kite were used

by early roman period

‘silver’ tetradrachm had become a billon coin with an alloy of silver and base metal which became increasingly debased; by mid-third century ad, it was almost completely bronze

the tetradrachm was treated as equal to

roman denarius (which did not circulate in egypt), though it contained less silver

exact monetary relationship

1 talent=60 minas=1500 staters(tetradrachmas)=6000 drachmas

1 drachma = 6 or 7 obols

1 myriad = 10000 denarii

after Diocletian’s reforms of imperial currency btwn c. 295/6 and 300,

coinage of Egypt was assimilated to that elsewhere in roman empire

Diocletian’s reforms: the gold solidus was divided into

24 carats

diocletian: payments also continued to be made

in the debased billon currency, expressed as multiples of the denarius (i.e. the tetradrachm): talents and myriads

drachma and its multiples and subdivisions were

units of weight as well as of money

most dry and liquid measures

varied in capacity according to the size of the container used to measure them

the main dry measure

artaba