A certificate for the sacrifice of a calf

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A certificate for the sacrifice of a calf

SCHUBERT, Paul

Abstract Publication d'un certificat de sacrifice pour un veau.

SCHUBERT, Paul. A certificate for the sacrifice of a calf. Archiv für Papyrusforschung und Verwandte Gebiete, 2003, vol. 49, p. 190-192

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A Certificate for the Sacrifice of a Calf

With Plate XXIV

Paul Schubert (Neuchâtel)

ln memoriam Sarah J. Clackson

In his description of Egyptian customs, Herodotus (2, 38) explains how calves were examined by a priest before being sacrificed: when absolute purity had been established, a seal was placed around the homs of the animal. Whoever neglected this procedure incurred the death penalty.! This practice was maintained through- out the Ptolemaic period, and then under Roman rule. Severa) certificates for the sactifice of a calf in Egyptian temples- dating from the second and third century A.D. - have already been published.2 Since A.D. 122/3, such sacrifices were subject to a tax.3 Moreover, the death penalty for failing to produce a pure animal was converted into a heavy fine of 500 drachmas.4 Most of our documents pertaining to those sacrifices come from the village of Socnopaiou Nesos, on the northem shore of Lake Moeris; there are however a few exceptions. 5

The following papyrus is another instance in which an Egyptian priest certifies the purity of a calf before sacrifice. It belongs to the collection of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.6 It was described by Arthur S. Hunt in a brief handwritten

1 For a commentary on this well-known passage, see A.B. Lloyd, Herodotus, Book Il.

Commentary 1-98 (Leiden 1976) 171-173.

2 See P.Gen. J2 32 (Socnopaiou Nesos, A.D. 148); P.Biling. 14 (= W.Chr. 89; Socn. Nes., A.D. 149); Stud. Pal. XXII 138 (Socn. Nes., A.D. 184 [?]); BGU 1 356 (= W.Chr. 88; Philadelphia, A.D. 213); P.Grenf. II 64 (Socn. Nes., III A. O.).

3 See BGU 1 250 (= W.Chr. 87; Socn. Nes., A.D. 135/6). For examples of the actual tax re- ceipts, see BGU Il 463, which was produced in Socnopaiou Nesos on the same day as P.Gen. 12 32 (March 22nct, A.D. 148), and also P.Louvre 1 39, introduction.

4 See BGU V 1210, § 72 (=Gnomon of the ldios Logos; Theadelphia, after A.D. 149).

5 See BGU 1 356 (= W.Chr. 88; Philadelphia, A.D. 213). Mention of j.l.ooxoocppa:yu:m~i is to be found in Oxyrhynchus; see P.Oxy. 146, Il and 16-17 (A.D. 100); P.Oxy. LXI 4116,4 (late III or earl y IV A. O.); PSI V 454 (A.D. 320). On the place of the whole procedure within the frame of Egyptian cuits in Roman Egypt, see P. Schubert, ,Continuité et changement des cultes locaux en Égypte romaine à travers trois documents de la collection papyrologique de Genève", in G. Labarre (ed.), Les cultes Locaux dans le monde grec et romain: diversité, richesse, influences (Colloque Lyon, 7-8 juin 2001) [forthcoming].

6 It was Dr. Sarah Clackson (Christ's College, Cambridge) who called my attention to the existence of this papyrus. Her untimely death has prevented her from seeing this article in print. 1

P. Schubert, A Certificate for the Sacrifice of a Calf 191

note drafted when he examined the collection. 7 The interest of this certificate lies in the fact that it was not established in Socnopaiou Nesos, as in many of the cases heretofore known, but in the village of Dionysias, at the western tip of Lake Moeris.

Among the Egyptian priests who examined calves in Socnopaiou Nesos in the mid-second century was a man called Petosiris, son of Marres.⁸ It seems quite probable that the same man appears again in this papyrus, although the name is mutilated. If one accepts the identification, one can assume that the document was found among Petosiris' papers in Socnopaiou Nesos. It also suggests that Petosiris would occasionally go to a neighbouring village to perform his duties.

Corpus Christi College Cambridge, MS 541, n° 23

Socnopaiou Nesos 8.7 x 9.5 cm

[Ëtouç .. AùtoJCpahopoç Ka{aa.poç [TttO'U Ai~\.tou 'Aùpt]~voû 'Avtrov{vou [re~aa1:oû] ~ùae~oûç, 'A8ùp JCÇ. Ile'to- [ aîptç Ma.ppe

H[

[J.tevov É1tt K]Û?I·PlS L1tavi?a~~ùoç t)1to

[. . . ... l.

[ à1to tflç a(ùtflç) KroJ.l('llç) Kat ùoKhJ.laaa.ç [ Éacppaytaa cbç Ëattv JCa8ap6ç.]

ca. A.D. 148-9 Pl. XXIV

wou ld 1 ike to thank Ms. Gill Cannell, sub-librarian of the Parker Library at Corpus Christi Co liege, Cambridge, for providing me with a photograph of the papyrus and for allowing me to publish it.

7 ,541 23. Certificate from a ,sealer of sacred calves' that he had inspected a calf which was being sacrificed. lncomplete. A.D. 138-161." The Leuven Homepage of Papyrus Collections Worldwide (http://lhpc.arts.kuleuven.ac.be) states that ,the Library acquired a collection of MSS (known collectively as MS. 541) from the Revd Canon Sir Edwyn Clement Hoskyns, Librarian and Fellow of Corpus Christi College, who purchased them in Egypt in 1916 (1915 according to [A.S.] Hunt, JEA 12 [1926] 113; 1916 according to [H.] Munier, ASAE 19 [1920] 225 n. 1)." It seems probable that this papyrus belongs to the huge find from Socnopaiou Nesos (mod. Dimai) of

1887, for which see E.G. Turner, Greek Papyri (Oxford 19802) 22; P.Louvre I, introd., VI-VII.

Many papyri from this place found their way into the collections of Berlin, Paris, London and Vienna, but smaller lots were acquired by minor purchasers, e.g. Bernard Grenfell (who published severa! texts from Socnopaiou Nesos in P.Grenf. I and Il), Édouard Naville (on behalf of Jules Nicole, the first editor of P.Gen. 1) or Lord Crawford, who acquired his papyri in 1902 with the help of Arthur Hunt, and whose collection later became the John Rylands Library in Manchester (see K. Preisendanz, Papyrusfunde und Papyrusforschung [Leipzig 1933] 289; P.Ryl. J, introd., vii).

8 See P.Gen. J2 32 (A.D. 148) and W.Chr. 89 (A.D. 149).

192 Archi v für Papyrusforschung 49/2, 2003

The ( ... ) year of Emperor Caesar Titus Aetius Hadrian us Antoninus, Augustus, Pius, Hathyr 26th. I, Petosiris son of Marres (?), sealer of sacred calves, have examined one calf, sacrificed at the village of Dionysias by ( ... ) son of Eudemus, grandson of( ... ), from lh~ same village, and having examined it 1 have placed a seal showing that it is pure.

1 [ihouç .. ] . The year is lost, and this is one of the most common titulatures of Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-161). Since the name of the priest performing the sacri- fice, Petosiris son of Marres, is attested in A.D. 148 and 149 (see above, note 8), it seems reasonable to date the present document approximately to those years.

3 "A8ùp KÇ. This date corresponds to November 22nd (or 23rd in the case of a leap-year).

3-4 lle'tol[crîptç Mappe]Ho]'?ç. Only the beginning of the priest's name is clearly legible, the end of his name being lost in the gap at the beginning of the following line. The patronymic is also badly mutilated. The mention of a Petosiris son of Marres in other documents of the same type make it likely, however, that we are dealing here with the same person.

6 [ È1tt K]Û?IJ.flÇ Lhov'?cr~4ôoç. For a parallel to the wording, see BGU II 468, 13- 14 (Dionysias, A.D. 1 50): È1tt KCÛIJlflÇ ôtovucrt[a]ôoç.

7 [ ... ] . Eùô1m.[ ou 'tO ]'! A ... The name of the person performing the sacrifice is !ost. His father's name, although clearly legible, does not lead to any identification in parallel documents.

TAFELXXIV

A Certificate for the Sacrifice of a Calf (Corpus Christi College Cambridge, MS 541, no 23);

zu: P. Schubert, S. 190 ff.