Archæology and the Bible

by George A. Barton

After the death of my wife Aphrodite, or, as she was called by some, Aphroditoute, having departed from the district of Herakles and Sabinos, I enrolled the other children who dwell with Mysthes who is called Ninnos, who was 33 years old, and after the others, the wife of my son Mysthes who is called Ninnos, viz.:—Zozime, freed-woman of Ptolemaios Ammoniarios, daughter of Marion Geomytha, and was 22 years old, (who was living with her mistress, in the enrolment of the 9th year; at the time of the enrolment she [Zozime] was living in the Greek quarter, but has now moved into the neighboring quarter of Apolloneios Hierax) and the children of these two, Ammonios, aged 5, and Didymos, aged 4, and Aut ........, were not otherwise enrolled in the enrolment in the first year of the Emperor Cæsar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus and the Emperor Cæsar Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus, on the thirtieth of Payni [i. e., June 24, 161 A. D.]. To Potomon, governor of the Arsinoite district of Herakles, and Asclepiades, the royal census-taker, and Agathos Daimon and Dioskoros, census-takers of the metropolis, on behalf of Mysthes who is called Ninnos, Mysthes, son of Philo, whose mother is Herais, daughter of Ammoniosone, of the citizens of the metropolis, who are enrolled from the quarter of Apolloneios Hierax: there belongs to me in the district of Ammonios ¹⁄12 part of the place called Nekpherotios, in which I enroll myself and my household for the current enrolment of the 14th year according to the household enrolment, as also I enrolled myself according to the household enrolment in the 23rd year of Antoninus (i. e., 160-161 A. D.); I am also Mysthes who is also called Ninnos; the one enrolled is 59 years old, and his wife, Zozime, the freed-woman of Ammoniarios, daughter of Marion, who was enrolled in the household enrolment of the 23rd year in the same quarter, is 38 years old, and the children of those two, ........ not enrolled in the enrolments, 11 years old, and likewise Dioskoros 10 (?) years old, and likewise ........, 9 years old, and a daughter, Isidora, 8 years old: thus I make my deposition. 15th year of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Cæsar, the lord. Intercalary Mesore: (i. e., the end of August, 175 A. D.).

This papyrus, dated in the year 175 A. D., is very important as it proves that the census came every fourteen years. The enrolment mentioned at the end of it was made in connection with the census of 174-175 A. D., since the document is dated in August of the year 175. The enrolment mentioned about the middle of the document was the enrolment of 160-161 A. D. That was dated in the summer of 161. The one mentioned near the beginning of the quotation as having been made in the 9th year must refer to the census of the year 146-147, and the 9th year of Antoninus Pius, which was the year 147. The proof that the census was taken every fourteen years[608] is of the greatest importance to our subject, as will appear below.

This enrolment was made by one Mysthes Ninnos on behalf of his son, who was also called Mysthes Ninnos, the wife of the son who was a freed-woman, called Zozime, and their children, who were the grandchildren of the man making the enrolment. Mysthes Ninnos, the grandfather, had been married twice. His first wife was named Aphrodite; after her death he married Herais, the mother of the son, Mysthes Ninnos.

2. Translation Referring to an Enrolment in the Reign of Nero.[609]

Copy of an enrolment of Ammonios and ...... ios, the gymnasiarch and librarian of the public library in the city of Arsinoe, in the presence of Pa ...... xineos ...... Paesios, son of Myo, priest of those who are from Karanis of the district of Heracles. According to the commands through the most excellent governor, Lucius Julius Vestinus, I have enrolled today my goods which are free from debt and mortgage and lien; in the neighboring village, a third part of my father’s house and courtyard, and places cleared of abodes, two lots of a half acre each, which were bought from Mesoereus, son of Nekpherōs, in the fifth year of Nero Claudius Cæsar Augustus Germanicus, Emperor, and a house in the village, which was bought from Onnophreus, son of Peteoræpeus, in the sixth year of Nero Claudius Cæsar Augustus Germanicus, Emperor. Whatever I make from these or buy in addition I will first report as it shall occur.

The date of this document, which is only a copy, is not given, but as it refers to two transactions in real estate, which were dated respectively in the 5th and 6th years of Nero, and as that monarch’s reign began in October of the year 54 A. D., it is probable that this is a copy of an enrolment made in connection with the census of 62-63 A. D. This proves that the system of taking the census once in fourteen years was in operation as early as the reign of Nero.

3. Fragment from the Reign of Tiberius.[610]

To Eutychides and Theon, local census-takers and village census-takers, from Horion and Petosiris, priest of Isis, the most great goddess, of the temple called the Two Brothers in the city of Oxyrhynchus on the street Myrobalanos, near the Serapeum. Those who live in the house which belongs to me and my wife Tasis and to Taurius, son of Harbichis, and to Papontos, son of Nechthesorios, and to Thæchemere, in the house which is near the aforesaid temple of the Two Brothers are as follows:

The papyrus at this point becomes too mutilated for further translation.

The importance of this document is revealed by an examination of the names of the officers, Eutychides and Theon. Another papyrus from the same place, which contains a notice of a removal, is dated in the 6th year of the Emperor Tiberius.[611] As these officers were still in office when this census was taken, this must be the census of the year 20-21 A. D.