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Temples as Economic Agents in Early Roman Egypt: The Case of Tebtunis and Soknopaiou Nesos

Connor, Andrew J
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1430749580

Abstract Details

2015, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Classics.
Temples are at the heart of most attempts to understand Roman policy in Egypt after Octavian annexed the province in 30 BC. This dissertation examines the evidence for the temples as economic agents in the early Roman period. Through a close reading of a crucial text (P.Tebt. 2.302), I demonstrate that the current scholarly consensus, formed around the assumption that the Roman state aggressively targeted Egyptian religion through the confiscation of temple property, cannot be correct. A new examination, building on our understanding of the economic activities of the temples in the Pharaonic, Persian, and Ptolemaic periods, shows that the temples maintained sometimes substantial estates in the Roman period, and engaged in other economic activities, including agricultural industries and religious services (e.g., mummification). I take the temples of two Fayum villages, Tebtunis and Soknopaiou Nesos, as case studies. Through a careful study of these temples, I illustrate the role that their economic activities played in creating networks of overlapping religious, economic, social, and political interests. These networks allowed the temples to mediate between the Roman state and the people in these villages, especially after the development of a Roman administrative infrastructure to oversee the temples. The evidence for these temples shows in addition that their economic activities were often deliberately arranged. The temple of Soknopaios in Soknopaiou Nesos, for example, oversaw a network of smaller production centers and subsidiary religious structures elsewhere in the Fayum. Roman administration of Egyptian temples was less strict than that by the Ptolemies, and fits into recognizable patterns from elsewhere in the Roman Empire. The temple administrators, whose hierarchy is also described, focused on long-term, risk-averse activities, such as long-term leases and selling certain non-administrative priestly offices (and the associated shares of temple profits). In addition, the temples were directly supported by the Roman state through syntaxis payments. Despite the wide range of economic activities, temples could run into financial difficulties in the Roman period (as they did in earlier periods as well), and some of our clearest evidence for temples in trouble in the early Roman period probably relates to local disputes, such as one from Tebtunis that may stem from unpaid taxes on property. These conclusions have important implications for our understanding of Roman policy towards Egypt and religion in the eastern Mediterranean, and of social, religious, and economic history in the Roman Fayum.
Peter Van Minnen, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Arthur Verhoogt, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Getzel Cohen, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Holt Parker, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
392 p.
Ancient Civilizations
Egypt; temples; papyri; land tenure; economic history; Roman Empire

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Connor, A. J. (2015). Temples as Economic Agents in Early Roman Egypt: The Case of Tebtunis and Soknopaiou Nesos [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1430749580

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Connor, Andrew. Temples as Economic Agents in Early Roman Egypt: The Case of Tebtunis and Soknopaiou Nesos. 2015. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1430749580.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Connor, Andrew. "Temples as Economic Agents in Early Roman Egypt: The Case of Tebtunis and Soknopaiou Nesos." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1430749580

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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