Jenny Cromwell “I did not murder anyone, and I also prove it.” So states the soldier Flavius Menas in a report of legal proceedings dated 558/9 CE from Aphrodito (modern Kom Ishgau). He stands accused of murdering two men: Victor and Herakleios. The report records the testimony against Menas by people representing each of theContinue reading “Murder on the Nile”
Tag Archives: law
Death of a Slave Boy
Jennifer Cromwell Cymbals struck as festival performers wound their way through the village’s streets . But then tragedy struck. Leaning over the balcony to view the players below, a young slave boy Epaphroditos fell and died. Was it an accident? Was it murder?This tragic event took place in year 23 of the reign of the emperor CommodusContinue reading “Death of a Slave Boy”
Kittens for Bastet
Jennifer Cromwell and Luigi Prada On 20th April, either 202 or 178 BCE, an embalmer named Onnophris wrote to Machatas, an official (epistates) in the village of Tanis in the Fayum semi-oasis, concerning kittens he had donated to the cat-goddess Bastet (also known by her Greek name of Boubastis), or at least had intended toContinue reading “Kittens for Bastet”
Law and the Art of Bookroll Maintenance
Mark de Kreij In 133 CE Herakleides-Valerius, inhabitant of Antinoupolis, which had only recently been founded, put his signature to a brief document renouncing his father Herakleides’ inheritance. He came to his decision because his father had become embroiled in a protracted dispute over the state of the public archives of the Fayum. By thisContinue reading “Law and the Art of Bookroll Maintenance”
Papyrus Stories 