The Auction of Pharaoh Revisited
-
Andrew Hogan
Abstract
The Ptolemaic state auction was an institutional instrument employed by the Ptolemies from relatively early in their hegemony over Egypt. Though, in practice, more akin to a modern silent auction, it served at the state and local level to allocate tax farming, state monopolies, certain priestly offices, and land/property that was abandoned or ceded in legal decisions. In 1999, Manning stated that the study of the demotic material was not the final word on the topic of the auction of pharaoh.1 In what follows, I intend to address this very issue. First, I present the demotic evidence for the state auction (the auction of pharaoh, ʿyš n pr-ʿȝ) and situate it in conjunction with the parallel contemporary Greek evidence, particularly with respect to documentary typology and the conclusions that may be drawn from this comparison. After this establishment of the textual evidence, the auction is operationalized as a pragmatic adaptation of a Greek financial institution that the Ptolemies employed as part of a broader series of reforms with the aims of increasing revenue for the royal state and creating intra-elite competition. Its subsequent use for a similar purpose in the elite temple sphere testifies to the depth of its adoption. Finally, I suggest further ways in which the institution of the auction can be situated within the broader context of institutional development in the eastern Mediterranean in the 1st millennium BC.
Abstract
The Ptolemaic state auction was an institutional instrument employed by the Ptolemies from relatively early in their hegemony over Egypt. Though, in practice, more akin to a modern silent auction, it served at the state and local level to allocate tax farming, state monopolies, certain priestly offices, and land/property that was abandoned or ceded in legal decisions. In 1999, Manning stated that the study of the demotic material was not the final word on the topic of the auction of pharaoh.1 In what follows, I intend to address this very issue. First, I present the demotic evidence for the state auction (the auction of pharaoh, ʿyš n pr-ʿȝ) and situate it in conjunction with the parallel contemporary Greek evidence, particularly with respect to documentary typology and the conclusions that may be drawn from this comparison. After this establishment of the textual evidence, the auction is operationalized as a pragmatic adaptation of a Greek financial institution that the Ptolemies employed as part of a broader series of reforms with the aims of increasing revenue for the royal state and creating intra-elite competition. Its subsequent use for a similar purpose in the elite temple sphere testifies to the depth of its adoption. Finally, I suggest further ways in which the institution of the auction can be situated within the broader context of institutional development in the eastern Mediterranean in the 1st millennium BC.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents vii
- Preface ix
- Abstracts xi
- Further Abstracts xix
- Poster Presentations / Posterpräsentationen xxvii
- Overview of the Program / Programmübersicht xxix
- List of Participants / Teilnehmerliste xxxv
- Eugene “Gene” Cruz-Uribe xxxvii
- A Glimpse on the Site of Nagʿ El-Mashaykh through two Demotic Texts 1
- Some Remarks on Bilingual Mummy Labels in the Louvre 15
- Tituli ptolémaïques du désert oriental égyptien 39
- Miscellanies from the Archive of the Theban Choachytes 93
- The Auction of Pharaoh Revisited 107
- “This oath is a true oath”: Family Involvement in the Demotic Temple Oaths 123
- A Re-examination of P. Tor. Botti 34 A 135
- Of Pots, Sherds, and Drachmas 151
- A Persian Estate in Egypt 175
- Did Steindorff know Demotic? 197
- Voices from Late and Graeco-Roman Period Elkab 211
- The “Fayum Library” 249
- Inaros in Iceland and Elsewhere 271
- Donation Stelae 281
- Issues in the Dating of Saqqara Papyri 295
- Der verborgene Name des Gottes Amun in demotischen Texten 303
- Index 311
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents vii
- Preface ix
- Abstracts xi
- Further Abstracts xix
- Poster Presentations / Posterpräsentationen xxvii
- Overview of the Program / Programmübersicht xxix
- List of Participants / Teilnehmerliste xxxv
- Eugene “Gene” Cruz-Uribe xxxvii
- A Glimpse on the Site of Nagʿ El-Mashaykh through two Demotic Texts 1
- Some Remarks on Bilingual Mummy Labels in the Louvre 15
- Tituli ptolémaïques du désert oriental égyptien 39
- Miscellanies from the Archive of the Theban Choachytes 93
- The Auction of Pharaoh Revisited 107
- “This oath is a true oath”: Family Involvement in the Demotic Temple Oaths 123
- A Re-examination of P. Tor. Botti 34 A 135
- Of Pots, Sherds, and Drachmas 151
- A Persian Estate in Egypt 175
- Did Steindorff know Demotic? 197
- Voices from Late and Graeco-Roman Period Elkab 211
- The “Fayum Library” 249
- Inaros in Iceland and Elsewhere 271
- Donation Stelae 281
- Issues in the Dating of Saqqara Papyri 295
- Der verborgene Name des Gottes Amun in demotischen Texten 303
- Index 311
