A Dossier of Seed Orders and Farmers’ Oaths from Karanis

Abstract

This article contains editions of five documents from Karanis (Fayum, Egypt) that shed light on the procedures for the distribution of state seed grain and the mechanics of cooperative farming in the early Roman Fayum. The four in the Vienna collection date to 26 CE and form an archive related to the estate of Livia, while the fifth was found during the Michigan excavations and dates to early in the reign of Domitian. The article highlights the importance of cooperative farming in the Fayum with a focus on the farmers’ representative known as “epiteretes and dekanos” and includes discussion of the archive, administrations procedures, and the diplomatics and formulae of the documents. The appendix gathers corrections to published texts and notes on inedita.