"Tziper", Not "Q.

Iper"
Author(s): Rodney Ast
Source: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 137 (2001), pp. 229-230
Published by: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn (Germany)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20190964 .
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 229

TZIPER, NOT Q. ?PER

The name of the Roman praeses of Aegyptus Herculia, Valerius Ziper, is clearly attested in 8 papyri,
the latest securely dated to the year AD 320. l In two bilingual reports of trials conducted before a
of Aegyptus Herculia, one of which can be dated to 12 December 321, the praeses' name
praeses
appears to be Qiper.2 As a result, it had once been maintained that either Ziper's successor to the office
was a certain Q(uintus) Iper or else Valerius Ziper and Quintus Valerius Iper were the same person.3 In
his edition of CPR V 7, a letter from a logistes to Valerius Ziper, J. Rea commented on the name which

appears in the two bilingual reports. He convincingly argued that a) it was highly doubtful that Ziper,
whose name is unusual,4 was succeeded by Iper, whose name is elsewhere unattested (and suspiciously
similar to his predecessor's), and b) Q(uintus) Iper is unlikely to be the correct reading of the name,
because the employment of praenomen and cognomen, with nomen omitted, would be contrary to
normal naming practice.5 Since Rea's edition of CPR V 7, agreement seems to have been almost
universal that Valerius Ziper is the praeses intended in both of the bilingual proceedings.6 All that has
remained is the task of explaining the paleography of the apparent Q at P. Sakaon 33.19 and 34.11.

Among the Ravenna papyri published by J.-O. Tj?der is a contract of sale dated 10 March 591 (P.
Ital. II 37; plates 132-135).7 The husband of the seller is a man named Tzitta, and throughout most of

1 P. Cair. Isid. 77.28

(AD 320); P. NYU la.l (AD 318-320); P. Oxy. LIV 3746.34f., 59f. (23-25 (?)March 319); P.
Sakaon 40.1 (AD 318-320; = P. Thead. 19.1); SB VI 9187.1 (13 April 318) (= P. Col. VII 169.1), 9188.3, 7(16 July 318) (=
P. Col. VII 170.3, 7), XX 14585.12 (AD 319), XXII 15778.4 (AD 320).
2 P. Sakaon
33.[12], 19 (3 June 318-320; for the years, see J. D. Thomas, "Sabinianus, Praeses of Aegyptus
Mercuriana?," BASP 21 (1984), 227 and n. 17) (= P. Ryl. IV 653 = ChLA IV 254, pp. 57-62); P. Sakaon 34.11 (12 Dec. 321)
(= P. Thead. 13= ChLA XLI 1204, pp. 76-79).
3 For the former see J. Lallemand, L'administration civile de de l'av?nement de Dioct?tien ? la cr?ation
view, l'Egypte
du dioc?se (284-382) (M?moires de l'Acad?mie royale de Belgique. Classe de lettres et des sciences morales et politiques
57.2) (Brussels 1964), 255-256; A. H. M. Jones, J. R. Martindale & J.Morris, The Prosopography of the Later Roman
Vol. I. A.D. 260-395 1971), s.v.; for the suggestion that Quintus Iper and Valerius Ziper were the same
Empire. (Cambridge
individual, see Lallemand, who reports the conjecture of C. H. Roberts, L'administration, 256.
4 Four the name are attested in our sources, all of which date to the sixth for
other people bearing Ziper/Zircep century;
brief discussion of three of these individuals, see J. R. Martindale, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Vol. IIIB

A.D. 527-641 (Cambridge 1992), s.v., and for the fourth, see P. Oxy. XVI 1903.7.
5 See Rea's note 2.
commentary,
6 See and Constantine Mass. 150 and n. 29; J. D.
T. D. Barnes, The New Empire of Diocletian (Cambridge, 1982),
Thomas, BASP 21 (1984), 227 n. 17; P. J. Sijpesteijn & K. A. Worp, "Bittschrift an einen praepositus pagi (?)," Tyche 1
(1986), 194. The editor of P. Sakaon 33 and 34 follows the original editors of the two papyri in printing Q(uintus) Iper, but
without any commentary on the texts it is impossible to know how he interprets the passages.
7 Die nichtliterarischen lateinischen
Papyri Italiens aus der Zeit 445-700, vol. 1 and plates (Lund 1954/55), vol. 2
(Stockholm 1982) (= P. Ital).

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230 R.Ast

the document his name

is spelled with tz in ligature, although in one line it is spelled simply with z.8
The formation of tz (especially at line 71, plate 134) bears striking resemblance to what precedes iper at
P. Sakaon 33.19 and 34.11: the horizontal of t proceeds directly into a characteristic z? and the vertical
stroke of t ends by looping to the right. On the basis of this evidence, I believe that Tziper, and not

Q. Iper, is the correct reading of P. Sakaon 33.[12], 19 and 34.11. Since Tziper is no more than a
variant transliteration of the Greek name Z?rcep, Rea's suggestion that Valerius Ziper was still praeses of

Aegyptus Herculia in December 321 (the date of P. Sakaon 34) is confirmed.

Heidelberg / Toronto Rodney Ast

8
Ligature is employed at lines 5, 71, 74f., 92; at 86 tz are not in ligature; at line 98 his name appears as Zittane, and at
80 it is rendered in Latin but with Greek characters as Keixocve. The name also occurs with tz in ligature at P. Ital. II 38
41.96 (AD 616-19; plate 137, line 52) (= ChLA XXIX 879, pp.81-85); cf. Titzianum at 35,15 (plate 123) and Tzaliconi at
49.22 and 25 (plate 154) (= ChLA XXIX 885, pp. 116-121). In The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Vol. IIIB.
A.D. 527-641 Tzitta's name is spelled Tzitas. For discussion of the tz ligature, see P. Ital. I, p. 117 and L. Schiaparelli, "Note
34 may contain the earliest
paleografiche e diplomatiche," Archivio Storico Italiano 7.11 (1929), 3-10. P. Sakaon 33 and
attested examples of this ligature.
9 statement about the second of the formation of the hypothetical in the two Sakaon CPR V 7,
Cf. Rea's stage Q papyri,
note to line 2.

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