BGU XVII 2685: An Eleven-Year Lease?

Author(s): Rodney Ast

Source: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 156 (2006), p. 194
Published by: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20191080
Accessed: 29-12-2016 11:57 UTC

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 194

BGU XVII 2685: An Eleven-Year Lease?

Prior to the publication of BGU XVII 2685 (Aug. 13, 585), ten years was considered the longest
term covered by a Hermopolite lease. BGU XVII 2685 seemed to defy this limit, offering unique
evidence of a lease contracted for eleven years.1 This evidence is based, however, on a misreading of
the end of line 10 and beginning of 11, where the editor prints p?pia0 a0ai 7cpo?/ ?v??Ka?xfj xp?vov,
and of the time specified in line 29 (the edition has ?[v??K]a?xo??). A photograph of the papyrus,
which is reproduced in Tafel XII, is reduced to a size that renders the document very difficult to read in
some places; nevertheless, the beginning of line 11 clearly has ?7ti??Ka?xfj %p?vov, not ?V??Ka?xf|
Xp?vov, and this is consistent with the formulation (?rci -?xfj xp?vov) typically employed in other
Hermopolite leases covering more than one year.2 In line 29, we should read ?[?K]a?xou??traces of
delta are visible prior to the lacuna?instead of ?[v??K]a?xou?. As for the end of line 10, where the
editor prints the unusual p?pia0cba0ai Ttpo?,3 the correct reading is surely p?pia0cba0aiTtapa aou. I
am uncertain whether the papyrus has p?pia0coa0ai 7iap? aou or p?pia0a>a0ai 7i(ap?) aou. Space at
the end of the line is tight and the photograph is inconclusive. I prefer p?pia0coa0ai Tcapa aou, since
the descending vertical stroke seems to belong to a rho (as opposed to an abbreviation mark); the
upsilon was apparently written in superscript.
Thus, BGU XVII 2685 should join the ranks of ten-year leases known from other Hermopolite
contracts. Until evidence to the contrary emerges, ten years remains the upper limit for Byzantine
leases not just from the Hermopolite but, as far as I can tell, from elsewhere in Egypt as well.4

New York Rodney Ast

* All dates are taken from relevant entries in the Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis (HGV) http://www.rzuser.uni
heidelberg.de/-gvO/Texte/HGV-Texte.html.
1 In his introduction to the document (p. 32), the editor naturally highlights the unusual length of time, which is also
commented on in two reviews, R. Bagnall, BMCR 2002.06.18 (http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2002/2002-06-18.htrru) and B.
Kramer, APF 48 (2002), 270. As Bagnall observes, SB VI 9085 inv. 16055 (= APF 50 [2004], p. 178-180, no. 3; Sept. 12,
589) shows that the contract was terminated early, with the same plot of land being leased to two different people four years
later.
2 Cf., e.g., ?Tii ?iett? xp?vov in CPR V 16.7 (Sept. 16, 486) and P.Lond. V 1765.5 (June 25 - July 24 or Aug. 24-28,
554); ?rci -cpie-ni xp?vov in BGU XII 2160.9 (Sept. 21,488) and P.Coll. Youtie II 89.9 (June 28,485); ?rci TexpaeT?i xp?vov
in BGU XII 2164.5 (Dec. 13, 494) and SB VI 9085 inv. 16048.7 = APF 50 (2004), no. 1, p. 173 (Sept. 15, 565); ?rci
rcevToceTT? xp?vov in P.Heid. VII 405.6 (Oct. 23, 577) and P.Strasb. VII 656.7 (Aug. 30, 506); ?rci eCaexfi xp?vov in BGU
XII 2147.6-7 (Oct. 7, 464) and XII 2151.8 (Oct. 19, 476); ?rci erciaexfi xp?vov in BGU XII 2155.7 (Oct. 18, 481). I have
found no example of an eight-year lease from the Hermopolite; for one from Aphrodite, see P.Michael. 43 (June 8, 526),
where line 4 has rcpo? ?Kico?rn xp?vov. CPR XVIIA 11.14 (end of 320) was thought to specify nine years, but the reading
evoxxfj (9 years) has been challenged in favor of ?vocexf) (1 year), BL X, 59. For the phrasing of one-year leases, see the
following note.
3 This reading is unusual because leases contracted for more than one year are generally formulated in the way
illustrated in the preceding note. One-year leases often follow the pattern u?jLUG0coo9ai rcap? NN rcpo? uxSvov eviain?v
Eva, see, e.g., BGU XII 2150.5-6 (Nov. 8,472); 2156.6-7 (Aug. 27,483); 2157.4-5 (Sept. 21,485); XVII 2676.9-10 (Jan. 5,
500?); P.Strasb. VI 597.8 (without ?va) (ca. Sept.-Dec, 541).
4 J. Herrmann was aware of only three 10-year leases, two of which came from the Hermopolite, Studien zur Boden
pacht im Recht der graeco-?gyptischen Papyri (M?nchener Beitr?ge zur Papyrusforschung und Antiken Rechtsgeschichte
41) (M?nchen 1958), p. 93-94 and p. 281 and 286 (nos. 110, 178, 184); D. Hagedorn has recently expanded the list of
Hermopolite examples, ZPE 150 (2004), 158.

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