Your Day in the Ancient Greek World
September 12
September 12 in ancient Greece is represented in our source-audited archive by 2 verified records spanning 105 BC to AD 439. 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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105 BC
Life on This Day
Someone Borrows Six Artabas of Salt
On September 12, 105 BC, a contract from Pathyris recorded a loan of six artabas of salt. The document set repayment terms and specified a penalty in wheat if the debt was not repaid on time. Preserved in the bilingual documentary world of Ptolemaic Egypt, the agreement shows that even an ordinary commodity such as salt could be the subject of carefully formalized credit.
Sources
Primary evidence
- P.Dryton 29 = TM 66
Modern scholarship
- British Library catalogue record for Papyrus 625
Public links
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AD 439
Event That Shaped History
Imperial Law Explicitly Permits Wills to Be Written in Greek
On September 12, AD 439, an imperial constitution issued at Constantinople explicitly stated that everyone was permitted to make a testament in Greek. The law, preserved in the Justinianic Code, shows how deeply Greek functioned within the legal life of the eastern empire. Rather than merely surviving as a cultural language, Greek was formally recognized as acceptable for one of the most important private legal acts: making a will.
Sources
Primary evidence
- Codex Justinianus 6.23
Modern scholarship
- Fred H. Blume, Annotated Justinian Code, University of Wyoming edition
Public links