Return of Unwatered Land (P.Oxy. 1459)
Return of Unwatered Land (P.Oxy. 1459)
By: Julius Horon
PAP.000441
Papyrus
March 6, 226 AD
Oxyrhynchus, now al-Bahnasā, (Egypt)
Greek
Ink on Papyrus
14 × 4.4 in. (35.5 × 11.2 cm)
Not on View
Julius Horion, an honorably discharged veteran, submitted this tax document on March 6, 226 AD, during the reign of Severus Alexander. In it, he lists land that was dry, and land that had been irrigated. He gave a long list of tenants on the land and how much tax was due on each parcel, at the rate of one or one and a half artabae of grain (1 artaba is approximately 3/4 bushel) per arura of land (1 arura is approximately 2/3 acre). Grenfell and Hunt suggested that this type of tax was only paid in years of a low Nile.
Created on March 6, 226 AD, in Egypt. Excavated in the early 1900s by Bernard Grenfell (1869–1926) and Arthur Hunt (1871–1934);[1] Acquired by the Egypt Exploration Fund until 1915–1922; Ownership assumed between 1915 and 1922 by Bonebrake Theological Seminary, later renamed United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio;[2] Acquired in 2009–2010 by Dirk Obbink, Oxford, England; Privately purchased in 2010 by Green Collection, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Gifted in 2013 to Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC.
Notes: [1] Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, v. XII (Egypt Exploration Society, 1916), 179–181. [2] Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, v. XVI (Egypt Exploration Society, 1924), 277. The Egypt Exploration Fund, which sponsored Grenfell and Hunt’s work, began distributing papyri as gifts to supporting institutions in 1900. By 1922, it had gifted approximately three thousand items to 103 institutions, including United Theological Seminary. See Roberta Mazza, “Papyri Ethics, and Economics: A Biography of P.Oxy. 15.1780 (P39),” Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 52 (2015): 113–142.
Selected References:
Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, v. XII (Egypt Exploration Society, 1916).
Questions about our Collections?
To acquire permission to use this image, please visit our Rights and Reproduction page .
More From The Collections
Gospel of John (P39; P.Oxy. 1780)
Letter from Plutarchos to Theoninos. (P.Oxy. 1775)
Letter from Theon to His Mother (P.Oxy. 1678)