Your Day in the Ancient Greek World

January 21

January 21 in ancient Greece is represented in our source-audited archive by 2 verified records spanning 245 BC to AD 384. 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. 245 BC

    Life on This Day

    Ankyropolis, Ptolemaic Egypt Economy & Trade High

    A Receipt Records Payment of a Beer Tax

    On January 21, 245 BC, a Greek receipt acknowledged payment of a beer tax on behalf of a woman named Taembes. The tiny fiscal record preserves both an everyday commodity and the tax machinery surrounding it.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • P.Hib. I 106

    Modern scholarship

    • British Library Archives and Manuscripts catalogue
    • Modern edition of the Hibeh papyri

    Public links

  2. AD 384

    Event That Shaped History

    Constantinople, Eastern Roman Empire Religion & Ideas High

    Theodosius Orders Non-Nicene Clergy Expelled from Constantinople

    On January 21, AD 384, an imperial law ordered Eunomian, Macedonian, Arian and Apollinarian clergy driven from Constantinople. Issued to the praetorian prefect Cynegius, the measure intensified the Theodosian government’s effort to enforce Nicene religious policy in the imperial capital.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • Codex Theodosianus 16.5.13

    Modern scholarship

    • Modern studies of Theodosian legislation against Christian dissent
    • Presbyters Project source record ER 2277

    Public links