Your Day in the Ancient Greek World

December 6

December 6 in ancient Greece is represented in our source-audited archive by 2 verified records spanning 257 BC to AD 15. 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

  1. 257 BC

    Life on This Day

    Ptolemaic Egypt Society & Daily Life High

    Nikias and Six Donkey Drivers Receive Wages

    On December 6, 257 BC, a Greek receipt records wages connected with Nikias and six donkey drivers. It preserves the mundane logistics of paid transport labor in the Ptolemaic economy.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • P.Col. III 20

    Modern scholarship

    • Columbia Egyptian Inscriptions database

    Public links

  2. AD 15

    Life on This Day

    Syene, Roman Egypt Economy & Trade High

    A Banker Records a Payment for Date Palms

    On December 6, AD 15, a Greek ostracon from Syene records Zmethis paying through the bank of Ammonios for date palms. A published chronological correction moved the document from the older December 5 dating to December 6.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • SB V 7584; Ostr. Cairo EM JdE 59222

    Modern scholarship

    • Maria Anna Söllner, Bemerkungen zur Datierung verschiedener Papyri, ZPE 107 (1995), 83
    • Texts & Scripts from Elephantine

    Public links