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to a desire to avoid such disputes concerning the inheritance as they had themselves been parties to in the case of that of Jacob. After a verbose preamble in which they state that their motive in concluding the agreement is to prevent the survivor being in any way defrauded by their heirs (μήποτε κτλ. εὑρεθείη τὸν ζῶντα ὑστερούμενον παρὰ τῶν ἀμφοῖν ἡμῶν τέκνων), they declare, νοοῦντες φρονοῦντες λογισμοὺς ἔχοντες ἔρρωμένας τὰς διανοίας τὰς φρένας ἀπαθεῖς τὰς αἰσθήσεις ὑγιεῖς ἐπὶ ποδῶν βαδίζοντες ἐπ ̓ ἀγορᾶς παρερχόμενοι εἰς ταύτην τὴν ἔγγραφον ὁμολογίαν), that on the death of either of them the survivor shall have full and entire possession of all the property of the deceased, whether acquired by inheritance, purchase, or personal exertion, and that on the death of that survivor their common property shall be divided in equal shares among their children, no child being favoured at the expense of the others. They then provide that if any child attempts to set aside this agreement he shall be disinherited and pay a fine of 12 solidi. The nature of the document suggests that it may have been drawn up fairly soon after marriage as a kind of marriage settlement; but the parties must, as already said (above, p. 165), have been married at least as early as 582, whereas the date of this document is A. D. 583-4 (above, p. 165).

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The collection includes a number of sales, which are of considerable interest in several ways; for the formulae employed (cf. Vorb. section VI), for the light which they, with other Byzantine sales of houses, throw on the structure of the Graeco-Egyptian dwelling-house, and for the evidence they afford as to the topography of Syene. There are five of these sales, all of which are sales of house property. To them may be added Inv. 1790 (New Pal. Soc. VI, no. 128), which is a transfer of house property in consideration of the discharge of obligations which the vendor is unable to meet; and in the matter of evidence for the structure of houses we may also add Inv. 1801, a loan on the security of house property. I have not left myself room here for any discussion of the first two subjects, but one interesting point in connexion with the second may be noted. In Inv. 1802, in the specification of the property sold, occur the words ἄλλο (i. e. κέλλιον) δὲ ἀπηλιωτικὸν νεῖον εἰς λίβα εἰς τὸν πυλόνα καὶ τὸ ὑποπέσσιον”) ἤτοι τχρηρε, where έχρησε is evidently a Coptic feminine noun synonymous with vлoлέoбov. Mr. Crum, in reply to a query, informed me that he could not trace any such Coptic word, but suggested that light might be thrown on it from Demotic sources. This suggestion proved

1) Cf. the formula in the „Schenkung auf den Todesfall", Zeitschr. d. Say.-. Stiftung, XXXII, p. 326, and in the will in P. Cairo byz. 67151. Prof. Heisenberg suggests a reference to Mitteis, Grundzüge, 246 (Elterliche Teilung c).

2) Cf. also P. Flor. 15, 17, where iлолiσσiоv is the right reading, Archiv 111, 532.

12*

fruitful; for Sir Herbert Thompson, whom I next consulted, has identified the word with a rare Demotic feminine word found, up to the present, in only one document. This is P. dem. Strassb. 1 (Spiegelberg, Dem. Pap. d. Strassb. Bibl. p. 18ff.), a conveyance of house property dated in the 9th year of Alexander. According to information kindly supplied me by Sir Herbert Thompson, the parts of the house are the following (I quote from his letter):

=

„hyt Copt. 2AEIT, elsewhere usually лvior, but occasionally diga or лoоavior (Spiegelberg translates Vorhof“).

hph = a building, meaning unknown.

hrr

'nh

trt

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staircase, probably a large outside one descending from the upper storey to the courtyard (Spiegelb. Terrasse (?)"). usually a detached garden-house (Spiegelb. „Kiosk“). ro = 9ga, door of the house, as opposed to the лvior."

syh

=

Spiegelberg translates hrr Frauenabteilung“, „evidently because he identifies it with a well-known hieroglyphic word; but I doubt very much if he is justified in doing so on philological grounds; and I see no reason in the text for suggesting such a meaning" (H. T.).

πεσσός.

The evidence of Inv. 1802 makes it clear that Spiegelberg's rendering must be given up; for there cannot, I think, be a doubt that zonoɛ and hrr χρήσε are to be identified. The лɛбoós is shown by abundant evidence to have been part of, or in close connexion with, the vλor; and the vлолÉGŐιоν was obviously the space under the 78000s. Since then hrr goes along with hytлv2ov and trt = staircase or „Terrasse", the meaning лолÉббiоν πυλών suits it perfectly. That a rare Demotic word occurring in a papyrus of the reign of Alexander should thus be elucidated from a Greek document of the reign of Justin is a striking instance of the inter-connexion of papyrological studies.

7. Topography of Syene.

As already remarked, some light is thrown by the contracts of sale on the topography of Syene. There is not sufficient material to give any detailed idea of the plan of the town perhaps the Munich texts will in this respect supplement the London collection, but the scanty data of the latter may here be set down.

Two houses are described as situated in the νοτινὸν μέρος τοῦ goovolov1). It may be inferred from this that Syene was divided, like Hermopolis, into quarters, one of which was called to Poovoiov; and on

1) Cf. Zeitschr. d. Sav.-Stift. XXXII, 327.

the analogy of Hermopolis we may conjecture that the other was known as Пós. As at Hermopolis again, these quarters were subdivided into at least two portions called after points of the compass. At Hermopolis they were known as East and West. Since at Syene the South division of the Poovotor is mentioned there must presumably have been another known as North; but there may of course have been East and West as well, though at Hermopolis there were only two divisions. In this vottòr μέρος του Φρουρίου the names of two streets are recorded. A house is situated περὶ λαύραν τοῦ ἁγίου ἀθλοφόρου Απα Βίκτορος μάρτυρος, and in the specification of its boundaries mention is made of τοῦ ἁγίου τόπου Απα Βίκτορος μάρτυρος. Again, another house is περὶ λαύραν τῆς Пageuẞoins). This recalls the street of the same name at Arsinoe. In the same context mention is made of τοῦ καμηλόνος τῆς βασταγῆς τῶν Þɩør, apparently a stable for camels engaged in transport to and from Philae. Lastly, reference may be made to the church of St. Mary already mentioned above (p. 168). There is nothing to show in what part of

the town it stood.

Postscript. One of the documents from Hermonthis several times referred to in this article (Inv. 1793) has on the verso a Coptic text, which Mr. H. R. Hall has kindly copied and translated for me. Like the other documents of this Hermonthite collection, it refers to articles deposited (apparently) as security, and gives further support to the conjecture made on p. 163 that these documents are the papers of a family or families of pawnbrokers. For this reason and because the Coptic text contains one or two interesting words, I give Mr. Hall's transcript here, with his consent. He states that he could perhaps make more out of it on further study, but has had very little time to give to it.

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2. Petemout was a Theban village (Hall, Copt. Texts fr. Ostraka in Brit. Mus., pp. 47, 84, 114).

5. A WWП is perhaps a purse.

6. XIN?OMĪT, „objects of bronze“, „bronzes“.

1) Cf. the reference in the preceding note.

174

H. I. Bell, Syene Papyri in the British Museum.

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14. KNXOY. Several reff. in Crum, Copt. Ostr. p. 43. It was a copper article of some kind. I do not know what a KEPAПTHC was; ?youлriç.

H. H.

175

Zur Geschichte Ioniens.

Von Thomas Lenschau.

1. Die Ursachen des ionischen Aufstandes.

Die Geschichte des ionischen Aufstandes, wie sie Herodot im 5. und 6. Buch erzählt, enthält sowohl im Verlauf der Ereignisse wie in den Beweggründen der leitenden Personen eine Reihe von Unklarheiten, deren Beseitigung bisher noch nicht völlig gelungen ist. Der Hauptmangel ist der, daß wir über die eigentlichen Ursachen fast gar nichts erfahren: so wie Herodot die Sache darstellt, entspringt die ganze Bewegung aus einer augenblicklichen Verlegenheit der beiden Anstifter und niemand begreift die Einmütigkeit, mit der sämtliche Städte dem Ruf des Histiaios folgten. Freilich für Herodot, den loyalen Untertan der attischen Demokratie, lag die Sache einfach genug: der Sturz der Tyrannis und die Wiederherstellung der Volksherrschaft rechtfertigten in seinen Augen völlig die Begeisterung mit der sich Ionien gegen den Perserkönig erhob. Wer aber an die Wunderkraft der alleinseligmachenden Demokratie nicht glaubt und außerdem weiß, wie schwer sich Handelsstaaten zum Kriege entschließen, der für sie unter allen Umständen ein Übel ist, der wird sich nicht so leichten Kaufes zufrieden geben, sondern nach den eigentlichen wirkenden Ursachen forschen: tatsächlich ist es die Gefährdung ihrer wichtigsten Lebensinteressen gewesen, die den Städten die Waffen in die Hand drückte. Um das zu erkennen, muß man freilich einen kurzen Rückblick auf die Entwickelung Ioniens werfen.

I.

Wer immer die Griechenstämme waren, die nach den Stürmen der Völkerwanderung die ionischen Städte besiedelten, eins ist sicher, daß ihr Hauptinteresse dem Ackerbau zugewandt war: das bezeugen die homerischen Dichtungen auf Schritt und Tritt. Manche Städte, wie Kolophon, Priene, Myus, haben diesen Charakter immer bewahrt, aber gerade sie sind zuerst dem Ansturm der binnenländischen Völker erlegen und in den übrigen begann sich bald immer stärker der Handel zu entfalten, auf den sie durch die Gunst ihrer Lage hingewiesen waren. Zwei große Handelsstraßen

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