Additional bibliography:

La production du vin et de l'huile en Méditerranée, eds. M.-Cl. Amouretti and J.-P. Brun (Paris 1993).

Michael Schnebel, Die Landwirtschaft im hellenistischen gypten. Erster Band. Der Betrieb der Landschaft (Munich 1925) 239-292.

R. Billiard, La vigne dans l'Antiquité (Lyon 1913).

Harriet Blitzer, "Korwnevika. Storage-Jar Production and Trade in the Traditional Aegean," Hesp. 59 (1990) 675-711.

          Here are a few links to web-based discussions of some of the agricultural products encountered here: citron.

    January 27, 2004. Apiculture: Christopher Trinacty -- This session may have to be moved as I may be away at a conference.

    Vergil celebrates bees in the famous long end to the Georgics. Bees are often said to have been essential for providing sweeteners in a world without cane sugar (a plant that, however, was not completely unknown to antiquity -- it's mentioned by Theophrastos and Dioskourides -- but whose introduction to the Mediterranean world as a crop came in the early Islamic period). But bees provide another, extremely important service, which has (in my view, and for reasons easy to explain) been relatively ignored: their role as pollinators. Grasses -- the family into which grains like wheat and barley fall -- are wind-pollinated, but bee pollination is crucial instead for many legumes (including vetches), vegetables (such as cucumber), and fruit trees -- including the olive. (The limited literature I have seen is ambivalent about the role of bees as grape pollinators, but there seems to be some evidence that grapes are more productive when bees contributed to pollination otherwise carried out by the wind.) It seems likely to me that much of the transportation of bees cited in our sources, rental of hives, and so forth relates to this pollination role, rather than directly to honey production. (As is the case with the hives one sees in Greece today.)

    Bees attracted attention also because of their supposed propagation (if that's the right word) through the bougone, the appearance of bees in the corpse of an ox. This story recurs in all kinds of sources, and forms part of the central interest of Vergil in bees.

    Basic Readings:

             P. Cair Zen. III 59467 (SB 6989): letter about transport of bees (HO); compare Columella 11.14.19. P. Cair. Zen. III 59368: beekeepers deprived of their hives by official malfeasance (HO).

           Plato, Nomoi 843d for a law against enticing another's bees onto your property. (HO)

           Geoponica XV.2-10 (HO)

PSI 426 (date: see Reekmans, Sitometrie 58): text showing there were two harvests of honey in Egypt. (HO)

Vergil, Georgics 4.281-558.

P. Cair. Zen. 59012, to be read in Xavier Durand, Des Grecs en Palestine au III^e siPcle avant Jésus-Christ. Le dossier syrien des archives de Zénon de Caunos (261-252) (Paris 1997) 107-121 no. 12 col. II and V, on the trade in honey. (HO)

R. D. Sullivan, "A Petition of Beekeepers," BASP 10 (1973) 5-12. (SR)

Claire Balandier, "Fonctions et usages du mile dans l'Antiquité greco-romaine," in Des hommes et des plantes. Plantes méditérranéennes, vocabulaire et usages anciens, eds. M.-Cl. Amouretti and G. Caret (Province 1993) 93-125.

HélPne Chouliara-Raios, L'abeilles et le mile en Egypte d'aprPs les papyrus grecs (Dodona 1989) 67-74, 83-89 (structure of the business of beekeeping); 99-108 (work of the beekeeper); 89-95 (beekeepers as a professional group); 74-83 (long-distance trade in honey). (SR)

G. Lüdorf, "Leitformen der attischen Gebrauchskeramik. Die Bienenkorb," Boreas 21-22 (1998-1999) 41-130.

J. E. Jones, A. J. Graham, and L. H. Sackett, "An Attic Country House Below the Cave of Pan at Vari," BSA 68 (1973) 397-414.

Additional Bibliography:

A few further references in the agronomists:

Varro, Res rust. 3.16.12-17; Col., RR 9.15.5-16.1; Plin., Nat. hist. 11.44-45.

J. Klek and L. Armbuster, Die Bienekunde des Altertums, 3 vols. (Leipzig 1919-1921).

    Some modern works on beekeeping

K. S. Delaplane, Honey Bees and Beekeeping. A Year in the Life of an Apiary (Athens, Geor. 1993).

The Hive and the Honey Bee (Hamilton, Ill. 1992).

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Beekeeping, eds. R. A. Morse and T. Hooper (New York 1985).

C. O'Toole and A. Raw, Bees of the World (London 1991).

T. D. Seeley, Honeybee Ecology (Princeton 1985).

M. L. Winston, The Biology of the Honey Bee (Cambridge, Mass. 1987).

    February 3, 2004. The Zenon Archive and Farming in the Fayoum: Eph Lytle and Michael Laughy

    The Zenon archive is a collection of several thousand documents that belonged, or related, to one Zenon of Kaunos (in Karia) who made a career for himself working for Apollonios, a high Ptolemaic official, in the mid-third century BCE. One of his tasks for Apollonios was to manage a large estate (dorea) given to him by Ptolemaios II, king of Egypt, in the Fayoum, a fertile depression west of the Nile. We will look at some of the documents from Zenon’s archive that relate to various aspects of his activities in making this estate work, but the topic is huge, and we will only scratch the surface. For the Fayoum, see now the wonderful Fayum Project website under the direction of Willy Clarysse.

Basic readings:

    Claude Orrieux, Les papyrus de Zénon. L’horizon d’un grec en Egypte au IIIe siPcle avant J.-C. (Paris 1983) 77-92 for introduction to Zenon’s Fayoum duties. (SR)

    P. Zen. Pestm. Suppl. A, pp. 253-265, with Italian translation and commentary (P. Lille 1 with French translation and commentary). This papyrus sketches out the plan for laying out an agricultural plot in the Fayoum, and includes a sketch of the farm (see Plate 1 in P. Lille; pp. 254-255 in P. Zen. Pestm.). (HO)

    P. Zen. Pestm. 64 (PSI 624) (HO), with H. Cadell, "La viticulture scientifique dans les archives de Zénon," Aegyptus 49 (1969) 105-120 (SR). Cadell argues that Zenon used Greek agricultural manuals to guide the planting of vines in Apollonios' Fayoum estate. We may want to consider whether we accept the argument or not (see further in the session on agricultural writers).

    PSI 502 in the text published by John L. White, Light from Ancient Letters (Philadelphia 1986) 41-43 no. 18 (English translation not in handout) (HO) with J. Bingen, "Grecs et Egyptiens d'aprPs PSI 502," in Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Papyrology (Toronto 1970) 35-40 (SR). See also HélPne Cuvigny, L'arpentage par espPces dans l'Égypte ptolémaVque d'aprPs les papyrus grecs (Brussels 1985) 19-25 no. 3 (lines 8-31 only); French translation; another a French translation: Régis Burnet, L'Égypte ancienne B travers les papyrus. Vie quotidienne (Paris 2003) Nr. 50 (non vidi).

Additional bibliography:

    The University of Michigan Papyrus Collection offers a nice online introduction to the Zenon Archive.

    Willy Clarysse, Zénon, un homme des affaires grec B l’ombre des pyramides (Louvain 1995).

    Claude Orrieux, Zénon de Caunos, parépidPmos, et le destin grec (Paris 1985).

    P. W. Pestman, A Guide to the Zenon Archive, 2 vols. (Leiden 1981).

    Claire Préaux, Les grecs en Egypte d’aprPs les archives de Zénon (Brussels 1947).

    Tony Reekmans, La sitométrie dans les archives de Zénon (Brussels 1966).

    Tony Reekmans, Consumption in the Zenon Papyri (Brussels 1996).

    Michael Rostovtzeff, A Large Estate in Egypt in the Third Century B.C. A Study in Economic History (Madison 1922).

    Reinhold Scholl, Sklaverei in den Zenon Papyri. Eine Untersuchung zu den Sklaventermini, zum Sklavenerwerb und Sklavenflucht (Trier 1983).

    Some resources for research in papyrology

Some papyrological aides:

    P. M. Pestman, The New Papyrological Primer² (Leiden 1994).

    Friedrich Preisigke, Wörterbuch der griechischen Papyrusurkunden, 4 vols. (Berlin 1925-1944), with Supplement 1 (1940-1966), ed. Winfried Rubran (Amsterdam 1969), Supplement 2 (1967-1976), ed. Hans-Albert Rupprecht (Wiesbaden 1991), and Supplement 3 (1977-1988), ed. Hans-Albert Rupprecht (Wiesbaden 2000).

    Friedrich Preisigke, Namenbuch (Heidelberg 1922). This is the place to start to identify personal names.

    Daniele Foraboschi, Onomasticon alterum papyrologicum. Supplemento al Namenbuch di F. Preisigke, 4 vols. (Milan 1967-n.d.). To be used with caution.

    Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus Ägypten (Berlin 1913/Wiesbaden 2002 --). 23 vols. so far. The Sammelbuch (abbreviated SB) collects the texts of new papyri and republishes them without commentary.

    Berichtungsliste der griechischen Papyruskunden aus Ägypten (Berlin-Leipzig 1913/Leiden 2002 --). 11 vols. so far. The Berichtungsliste (abbreviated BL) reports new edirions, readings, corrections, and suggestions, including from journals.

    Aristide Calderini and Sergio Daris, Dizionario dei nomi geografici e topografici dell'Egitto greco-romano (Cairo 1935-1988), 5 vols. and 1 suppl. so far.

    A number of extremely useful online resources for papyrology now exist:

Checklist of Greek, Latin, Demotic and Coptic Papyri, Ostraca and Tablets resolves the abbreviations that can make papyrology so intimidating to the neophyte.

Duke Data Bank of Documentary Papyri provides on-line versions of an enormous number of papyri and can be searched quickly for comparanda. It can however be somewhat confusing to use; practice some before you rely on it. (Your browser must be configured to display results in Greek; click on the "Configure Browser" link at the top left of the page; unless you have some special Greek font installed that is supported by the Data Bank, I recommend choosing UniType 8 as the Greek interface.)

Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis der griechischen Papyrusurkunden Aegyptens. This online archive gives a complete bibliography for papyri (republications, later studies, changes in readings, etc.) and links to photographs which can be searched in a variety of ways.

Wörter Listen allow scholars to search quickly for words or phrases in papyri.

For symbols and abbreviations in the Zenon material, see the index by M. Muszynski in Pestman, Guide, 2.557-580. Anothergood source for symbols and abbreviations generally (i.e., not specifically for the Zenon material) is Orsilina Montevecchio, La papirologia (Torino 1973) 471-477.

    Egyptian Calendar System

    The Egyptian calendar system can be confusing; luckily, there are now some good aids available on the web. Basically, the Egyptian calendar consisted of 12 months of 30 days each. To make up the difference between the 360 days so gotten and the solar year, additional days, called epagomenai, were added at the end of the year. Neverthless, the calendar moved through time. For example, the first day of the Egyptian year (Thoth 1) in the second year of the reign of Alexander the Great fell on our November 14, 331 BCE; by the reign of Kleopatra VII, the first day of the year in which her 22nd (and last) regnal year fell was our August 31, 31 BCE. These calculations can be accomplished painlessly at the Date Converter for Ancient Egypt. There is a good brief introduction to the calendar in Pestman, New Papyrological Primer².

    Here are the Egyptian months, in order:

   February 10, 2004. The Kellis Account Book: Ari Bryen

    Work at the Dakhkel oasis in the Egyptian desert west of the Nile has brought to light a very considerable amount of written material, the most spectacular of which are a codex of three speeches of Isokrates (P. Kell. III G 95), texts attesting to the presence of a Manichean community (P. Kell. II G. 91-94 and C. 1-9), and the agricultural account book which Roger Bagnall has published with commendable speed and illuminating commentary.

    Online resources include From the Sands of the Sahara, an exhibit of finds from the Monash University excavations.

Basic Reading:

            Roger Bagnall, The Kellis Agricultural Account Book (P. Kell. IV Gr. 96), Dakhleh Oasis Project Monograph 7 (Oxford 1997). Please try to read 25-51, 70-80, and 86-119 lines 1-658 (account of the fifth indiction) with 182-200 (commentary on lines 1-658).

Additional bibliography:

            Roger S. Bagnall and K. A. Worp, The Chronological Systems of Byzantine Egypt (Zutphen 1978), for help with those confusing indiction cycles and various calendars.

            Jairus Banaji, Agrarian Change in Late Antiquity. Gold, Labour, and Aristocratic Dominance (Oxford 2001) esp. 89-100, on models of the operation of large estates.

            Dennis Kehoe, Management and Investment on Estates in Roman Egypt during the Early Empire (Bonn 1992).

            Dominic Rathbone, Rationalism and Rural Society in Third-Century A.D. Egypt. The Heroninos Archive and Appianus Estate (Cambridge 1991). A detailed study on the basis of an archive of papyri.

            Tamara Lewit, Agricultural Production in the Roman Economy, A.D. 200-400 (Oxford 1991). General study of what the title says.

I do not know much bibliography generally on ancient accounting practices, except these two basic (and not wholly satisfactory) articles:

            G. E. M. de Ste. Croix, "Greek and Roman Accounting," Studies in the History of Accounting, eds. A. C. Littleton and B. S. Yaney (London 1956) 17-74.

            Richard H. Macve, "Some Glosses on 'Greek and Roman Accounting'," in Crux. Essays in Greek History Presented to G. E. M. de Ste. Croix on his 75th Birthday, eds. P. A. Cartledge and F. D. Harvey (London 1985) 233-264.

For papyrological aides, see under the Zenon Archive.

    February 17, 2004: Farm Tools and Farm Technology: Sarah James and Amy Dill

The identification of farm tools has a long history, both from mentions in literary and documentary sources and from archaeological finds; the works of K. D. White (listed below) remain fundamental. 

    Sarah describes her contribution as follows: "Agricultural processing tools can provide a variety of evidence about ancient economies and agrarian practices.  On archaeological surveys, the most commonly found types of processing equipment are those used for grinding cereals and pulses (querns and hand mills) and for crushing and pressing olives and grapes (mortaria and press beds).  These items are informative in several ways: 1) their material can tell us about trade patterns; 2) the form of the object can be used as a dating tool; 3) inferences can be made about the type of plants being processed and thus agrarian practices; 4) the scale of production can deduced from the type of equipment and be related to economic strategies.  Many of the tools found on surveys seem to come from rural areas and it is assumed that they represent farmsteads or equipment that was placed for convenience close to the fields.  Thus, the findspots of these processing tools can provide clues to rural settlement patterns in a region during different periods. These various uses of agricultural processing tools will be discussed with reference to artifacts found by the Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey (EKAS) between 1999 and 2002."

The basic readings for Sarah's session are marked with an (S).

    Amy's interest is lithics. She writes: "The spread of extensive agriculture in the prehistoric Aegean was accompanied by several significant changes in economy, settlement pattern and settlement hierarchy, trade, and technology.  Lithics, or flaked-stone tools, constitute one of the primary categories of evidence for these changes, and thus provide much useful information for the processes of agriculture, labor, and economy in the later Stone and Bronze Ages.  Their use continues even into the historic ages (Iron Age through Early Modern), albeit on a reduced scale, although other types of stone equipment continue to be important in the processing of agricultural material.  We will focus on various aspects of lithic technology, such as quarrying, manufacture, distribution, and use in order to illuminate the complex systems of exchange and labor necessary for extensive agricultural production."

The basic readings for Amy's session are marked with an (A). *means "read for sure."

There is an interesting list of farm tools to be found in the late agricultural writer Palladius (at Pall. 1.42.); a translation of this passage appears in John W. Humphrey, John P. Oleson, and Andrew W. Sherwood, Greek and Roman Technology. A Sourcebook. Annotated Translations of Greek and Latin Texts and Documents (London and New York 1998) 85-86 no. 3.9.