Philagris (meris of Themistos)

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Documentation
Philagris occurs in 78 texts (129 references), ranging from 237 BC (P.Tebt. III 866) to the mid-fourth century AD (P.Abinn. 55, AD 351). It is frequent in four archives, viz. the cautionnements archive (23 references), the Heroninus archive (5 texts), the Sakaon archive (2 or 3 texts) and the archive of Abinnaeus (7 texts). In some of the surety documents the village name is lost, but they can be attributed to Philagris on the basis of persons and titles.
After AD 351 Philagris disappears, but the village probably lives on under the name of Perkethaut.

Name
The name Philagris is probably derived from an Alexandrine deme such as 'Philagreios' (Φιλάγρειος), referring to the hunting goddess Artemis. This deme is not attested with certainty, but cf. the doubtful Φιλαπρηος in BGU IV 1178. In the bilingual surety documents of the third cent. BC Philagris is the Greek counterpart to Demotic Pr-grg-DHwty, 'foundation of Thot'. The village apparently had a double name in the third cent. BC. The old Egyptian name, which seems to have disappeared in the Roman period, reemerges in Greek transcription as Περκεθαυτ in the sixth century AD. If this identification between Philagris and Perkethaut is accepted, the village can be localised near the monastery of Hamuli (see the localisation of Perkethaut and Clarysse-Van Beek 2002).
Philagris is called a 'kome' (κώμη) from the third century BC to the fourth century AD.

Location
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Both in the Ptolemaic and in the Roman period Philagris is located in the meris of Themistos. In PSI XII 1236 (AD 128) it is the center of the fourth toparchy, which included Andromachis, Theoxenis and Hermou Polis. These villages are often mentioned side by side in other texts as well. Philagris regularly occurs in papyri found at Theadelpheia and Euhemeria, e.g. P.Fayum 34, 86 (Harit), 230 and O.Fay. 36 (Kasr el-Banat), the Decian libelli P.Meyer 17 and SB I 4445, and the Theadelpheia archives of Heroninus and Sakaon. In AD 254-268 some inhabitants of Theadelpheia complained that inhabitants of Philagris had taken away stones from the mouth (στομίον) of their canal (P.Sakaon 32). The position of Philagris at an important juncture of the irrigation system to the north-west of the Fayum is confirmed by the sluices (ἀφέσει) in P.Strasb. VI 538 l.13. The main canal was navigable for a grain ship carrying 2700 artabas, which was loaded in the harbour (ὄρμος) of Philagris (SB XXII 15281; 219 BC).

Population
The inhabitants are called Philagriotes. Two Decian libelli, found in Theadelpheia, are written for immigrants from Philagris : to Aurelia E[...] and her daughter Atoudis (P.Meyer 17) and Aurelia Kamis. Other persons from Philagris are mentioned in the Abinnaeus archive (middle of the fourth century AD), among them a soldier Didymos (P.Abinn. 78).

Land
In 223/222 BC Kl..., a Samian hekatontarouros leased out his kleros near Philagris to the Cyrenaean Ameinobios (P.Tebt. III 825 (4)). According to Uebel 1968, p.145 the same Ameinobios is a lessee of Timokles in P.Tebt. III 815 (06) Ro II 7.
In the mid 3rd cent. BC the sowing schedule (διαγραφὴ τοῦ σπόρου), no doubt for royal land, dealt with 354 arouras, of which 156 were to be sown with wheat, 120 with safflower and 40 with poppies (SB I 4369a; cf. Vidal-Naquet 1967, pp.29-31). Royal land in Philagris is also mentioned in P.Petrie III 100 (a) (BC 250-200). In AD 141 a report of the village scribe of Philagris gives the total for royal land, dioecesis land, sacred land and prosodos land as 2,050 arouras (BGU I 20). This must be all public land in the village (cf. the 2,400 arouras of royal land on a total of 4,700 arouras in Ptolemaic Kerkeosiris, Crawford 1971a, p.103). It is unclear, however, if the royal land expanded between the early Ptolemaic and the Roman period, or if the first mentioned text deals only with part of the land. When in AD 104 two brothers from Theadelpheia leased no less than 300 arouras from the strategos (P.Jand. III 28), this must have been public land.
Sheep graze on catoecic land in AD 32 (PSI IX 1057; cf. P.Köln III, p.99). In AD 164, 85 artabas are paid for cleruchic land at Philagris to the sitologoi from Theadelpheia P.Berl.Leihg. I 1).
In AD 343 the veteran soldier Fl. Priscus and his wife Alia, the daughter of a soldier in the imperial comitatus, were land-owners in Philagris, where they were burglered in the night.
Inhabitants of Philagris cultivated some 411 arouras of land in Polydeukeia according to P.Fay. 34. In AD 161 an agreement was made between Heron, probably from Philagris, and two 'boethoi georgon' (βοηθοὶ γεωργῶν) of Polydeukeia to collect the monodesmia for hay and other taxes (P.Fay. 34). This land use in Polydeukeia was probably going on for some years, as another report about payments for Polydeukeia made by inhabitants of Philagris dates from AD 149 (BGU IX 1893).
The phrontis of the Appianus estate in Philagris was directed by a certain Serenus (Rathbone 1991a, p.75 no.21), but it remains very much in the background in the Heroninus archive. Perhaps the Titanianus estate also had a phrontis in the village (P.Mich. 11 620).

Economy
Two shepherds in the service of Thoth are found in the cautionnements archive in the third cent. BC (for the reading, see Clarysse-Van Beek 2002, p.197 n.7). In AD 32 catoecic land is sown with arakos for grazing sheep (PSI IX 1057; cf. P.Köln III, p.99). Between AD 75 and 125 Apollonios, a shepherd from Theadelpheia, leased land in Philagris for pasturage (P.Jand. III 26a). Pasture land is no doubt also mentioned in BGU IX 1900. A sheep-owner declares three sheep and some goats in AD 135 (P.Laur. IV 161). Donkey-drivers are mentioned in P.Tebt. III 793 (183 BC) and O.Fay. 36 (third century AD).
P.Petrie III 66a (230-224 BC) lists Petosiris son of Hareus as oil-seller in Philagris. The brewers Keltous son of Petosiris and Thoteus son of Pasis play a prominent role in the demotic surety documents. A wine-merchant Sabinus receives 100 oxyrynchitia of wine in AD 240 (P.Mich. IX 620; AD 240).
In AD 214 the public bath yielded a rent of about 100 drachmas a year (BGU II 362).

Religion
In the demotic surety documents of the third cent. BC Philagris is a "Souchos village", as were most Fayum villages. Much more typical, however, is the cult of Thoth, which is already suggested by the demotic name Pr-grg-DHwty . The title "servant of Thoth, lord of Hermou polis,the great god", which is found with at least three villagers. Moreover Thoth-names are also conspicuously frequent in the village; see e.g. SB XVI 12337, BC II.
Christianity breaks in with the Abinnaeus archive , where suddenly christian names such as Petros, Aron and Mouses come to the fore (P.Abinn. 12, 69 and 82; AD 325-374). Aron and his children attacked another person with clubs and swords. Two inhabitants of Philagris are tested as non-christians in the Decian persecution of AD 250 (P.Meyer 17) and SB I 4445.

Administration
In P.Tebt. III 866, probably to be dated in 237 BC, a subordinate of an unspecified komogrammateus in Philagris receives money; this suggests that Philagris did not have a proper komogrammateus at that time.
Before AD 128 Eirenaios son of Zosimos was praktor argyrikon in Philagris and the surrounding villages Andromachis, Theoxenis and Hermou Polis. Other praktores of the village occur in P.Mil.Vogl. IV 237 (AD 203-206). With some other villages in the neighbourhood, Philagris pays for limen Mempheos, epistateia and pempte (P.Lond. III 1107; third century AD).

Bibliography

W. Clarysse - B. Van Beek