Your Day in the Ancient Greek World

October 27

October 27 in ancient Greece is represented in our source-audited archive by 2 verified records spanning AD 212 to AD 590. 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. AD 212

    Life on This Day

    Soknopaiou Nesos, Arsinoite nome, Roman Egypt Society & Daily Life High

    Five Men Apply to Lease 150 Arouras of Shore-Land

    On October 27, AD 212, five men from Soknopaiou Nesos applied to lease 150 arouras of shore-land for one year at two drachmas per aroura. The complete Greek papyrus preserves the applicants, scale, duration and rent. The size of the proposed holding makes this more than a bare lease formula.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • P.Lond. II 350 = TM 11731; British Library Papyrus 350

    Modern scholarship

    • British Library Archives and Manuscripts catalogue

    Public links

  2. AD 590

    Life on This Day

    Oxyrhynchus region, Byzantine Egypt Society & Daily Life High

    A Wine Steward Pays a Village Headman in Wine

    On October 27, AD 590, the wine steward Phoebammon recorded handing four and a half knidia of wine to the village headman Alexander. The wine covered nine days of expenses. The Greek receipt shows payment in kind operating inside local administration rather than through coin alone.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • P.Oxy. I 207 = TM 20807; British Library Papyrus 781

    Modern scholarship

    • British Library Archives and Manuscripts catalogue

    Public links