Your Day in the Ancient Greek World
September 13
September 13 in ancient Greece is represented in our source-audited archive by 3 verified records spanning AD 145 to AD 552. 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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AD 145
Life on This Day
A Priest Lends 200 Drachmas and 15 Artabas of Wheat
On September 13, AD 145, the priest Stotoetis lent Apollonius 200 drachmas and 15 artabas of fine wheat. The Greek contract gave the borrower nine months to repay the loan with interest. The mixture of cash and grain in a single agreement offers a compact glimpse of credit, agricultural wealth and temple-linked economic life in Roman Egypt.
Sources
Primary evidence
- P.Lond. II 308 = TM 11687
Modern scholarship
- British Library catalogue record for Papyrus 308
Public links
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AD 288
Life on This Day
An Imperial Official Orders Treasury Estates to Use Fewer Administrators
On September 13, AD 288, a high official known as Africanus sent a Greek circular to the strategi of the Heptanomia and Arsinoite nome complaining about the expense caused by too many officials attached to treasury estates. He ordered that each estate have only one superintendent assisted by two or three people. The document preserves a sharply practical attempt to cut administrative overhead in Roman Egypt.
Sources
Primary evidence
- P.Oxy. I 58 = P.Lond. III 752 descr. = Chrest.Wilck. 378 = Sel.Pap. II 226 = TM 20720
Modern scholarship
- British Library Archives and Manuscripts catalogue record for Papyrus 752
Public links
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AD 552
Life on This Day
An Estate Worker Receives Two Windlasses and an Irrigation Machine
On September 13, AD 552, Aurelius Sourus acknowledged to Flavius Apion that he had received two windlasses and a machine for irrigation. The Greek receipt, preserved from the Apion archive, offers a concrete glimpse of the equipment and paperwork behind water management on a major late-antique Egyptian estate.
Sources
Primary evidence
- P.Lond. III 776 = P.Oxy. I 197 = TM 22683; British Library Papyrus 776
Modern scholarship
- British Library Archives and Manuscripts catalogue record for Papyrus 776
Public links