Your Day in the Ancient Greek World
September 6
September 6 in ancient Greece is represented in our source-audited archive by 2 verified records spanning 88 BC to AD 298. Together, the entries below connect this calendar date with different moments in the ancient Greek world through historical and documentary evidence.
Across the centuries
On This Day
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88 BC
Life on This Day
A House Changes Hands in Pathyris
On September 6, 88 BC, Peteesis son of Pates sold a house in the eastern part of Pathyris to Pelaias son of Eunous. The Greek contract P.Amh. II 51 describes the property and its neighboring buildings and records a price of one talent of bronze. Rather than a royal decree or battle, the document preserves something immediately recognizable: two people completing a property sale more than two thousand years ago.
Sources
Primary evidence
- P.Amh. II 51 = Sel.Pap. I 28
Modern scholarship
- Duke Data Bank of Documentary Papyri tradition
- University of Grenoble Roman-law papyrus edition
Public links
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AD 298
Life on This Day
A Small Black Donkey Foal Is Sold
On September 6, AD 298, Aurelios Heliodoros acknowledged selling Aurelios Hatres a small black donkey foal. The Greek contract BGU II 373 says the agreed price had been received in full and records the animal as sold in its present condition. Another man wrote the final acknowledgement for the seller because he was unable to write. The document turns an ordinary livestock sale into a precisely dated snapshot of commerce, literacy and legal practice in Roman Egypt.
Sources
Primary evidence
- BGU II 373 = TM/HGV 9140
Modern scholarship
- Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis der griechischen Papyrusurkunden Ägyptens
- Modern juristic papyrology on late-third-century contracts
Public links