Your Day in the Ancient Greek World

September 20

September 20 in ancient Greece is represented in our source-audited archive by 2 verified records spanning AD 69 to AD 585. 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 69

    Life on This Day

    Roman Egypt Society & Daily Life High

    A Mouse-Coloured Female Donkey Changes Hands

    On September 20, AD 69, Satabous son of Stotoetis, aged 45, bought a mouse-coloured female donkey from Dionysius son of Eudaemon, aged 57. The Greek contract preserves both men’s identities and the animal’s colour, turning an ordinary livestock sale into a remarkably personal snapshot of commerce in Roman Egypt.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • P.Lond. II 282 = TM 11667

    Modern scholarship

    • British Library catalogue record for Papyrus 282

    Public links

  2. AD 585

    Life on This Day

    Syene, Byzantine Egypt Law & Civic Life High

    A Mother and Daughter Resolve a Long-Running Maintenance Dispute

    On September 20, AD 585, a Greek document from Syene recorded the resolution of a monetary dispute between Aurelia Tsone and her mother Aurelia Tapia. The dispute grew out of four solidi that Tsone’s father had earlier given for her maintenance after her parents’ divorce. The surviving agreement turns a private family conflict into a precisely dated record of support, inheritance and legal settlement in late-antique Egypt.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • P.Lond. V 1731 = TM 19746; British Library Papyrus 1800

    Modern scholarship

    • British Library Archives and Manuscripts catalogue record for Papyrus 1800
    • María Jesús Albarrán Martínez, 'A Nun's Dispute with Her Mother in P.Lond. V 1731'

    Public links