LOCATIO REI
   
Lease of land
     
( AD 259-260 )
 

 
P. Wisc. I, 7 = Pap. Choix 21 (
Duke Data Bank of Documentary Papyri ).
  

 
ἐμίσθωσεν Αὐρήλιος Θέω[ν] | ὁ καὶ Νεικάμμων ἱερονίκης | ἐξ ἐφηβείας τῆς Ὀξυρυγχειτ[ῶν] | πόλεως Α̣ὐρηλίῳ Φιλώ[τᾳ] | Μέλανος μητρὸς Φιλωτέρ[ας] | ἀπὸ Σενοκώμεως εἰς ἔτη [δύο ] | ἀπὸ τ̣ο̣ῦ  ἐνεστῶτος  ζ  (ἔτους)  τὰς  [ὑπαρ]-|χούσας  τῇ  θυγατρὶ  αὐτοῦ  Αὐρ[ηλίᾳ]  |  Ἀθηνοδώρᾳ  τῇ  καὶ Ὡριγ̣[ενείᾳ] | προγεωργο̣υμένας ὑπὸ τοῦ̣ [με]-|μισθωμένου̣ π̣ε̣ρὶ Σε̣ν̣ό̣κ̣ω̣-|μιν ἀρούρας δύο τῷ̣ ἐ̣ν̣ε̣στῶτ[ι] | ζ (ἔτει) ξυλαμῆσαι χλωροῖς | φόρου ἀποτάκτου δραχ[μῶν] | ἑκατὸν , τῷ δὲ εἰσιόντι η̣ [(ἔτει)] | σπεῖραι πυρῷ ἐκφορίου ἀπ̣[οτά]-|κτου πυροῦ ἀρταβῶν δώδεκ̣α̣ | [ἀκί]ν̣δυνα̣ πά̣[ντα παντὸς] κ̣ι̣ν̣δ̣ύ̣-|νου τῶν τῆς γῆς δημοσίων ὄν-|των πρὸς τὸν γεοῦχον κυριεύ-|οντα τῶν καρπῶν ἕως τὰ κατ [ἔ]-|τος [ὀ]φειλόμενα ἀπολάβη[ται]. | ἐὰν δέ τις, ὃ μὴ εἴη, τῷ ἑξῆς χ[ρόνῳ] | ἄβροχος γένηται, ἐπαντλ[ήσει ὁ] | μ̣ε̣μισθωμέν̣[ο]ς̣ ἐπάναγκ̣[ες] | [ἰδίαις] ἑαυτοῦ δαπάναις καὶ τέλεσι δί-|μ̣ο̣ι̣ρον μέρος τῶν ἐπὶνιλοβρό-|χου ἐκφορίων καὶ φόρων. βεβ̣[αιου]-|μέν̣η̣ς̣ δὲ τῆς μισθώσεως ἀποδότω | ὁ μεμισθωμένος τὰ ὀφειλόμενα | κ[ατ ἔτο]ς μηνὶ Παῦνι, τὸν δὲ πυρὸν | [ἐφ ἅλ]ω̣ Σενοκώμεως νέον καθα-|[ρὸν] ἄ̣δολον ἄβω[λο]ν ἄκριθον κε-|[κοσκι]ν̣ευμένον μέτρ̣ῳ̣ ἕ̣κ̣τῳ | [τοῦ γ]εούχου τῶν παρ αὐτοῦ  μετρου̣-|[μέν]ω̣ν̣,  γεινομένης  τῆς  πράξεως  ἐ[κ]  |  [τε  τ]ο̣ῦ̣  μεμισθωμένου  καὶ  ἐκ  τ[ῶν] | [ὑπ]α̣ρχόντ̣[ων] α̣ὐ̣τῷ πάντων. κ̣υ̣ρ̣ί̣α̣ | [ἡ μ]ίσθωσις καὶ ἐπερωτηθεὶς | [ὡμ]ολόγησα. (ἔτους) ζ Αὐτοκρατόρων | [Καισά]ρ̣ων Πουπλ̣ίου Λικιννίου | [Οὐαλερ]ι̣α̣νοῦ κα̣ὶ̣ Π̣ο̣υ̣πλίου Λικιννίου | [Οὐαλεριανοῦ Γα]λ̣λιηνοῦ Γερμανικῶν | [μεγίστων Εὐσ]εβῶν Εὐτυχῶν καὶ | [Πουπλίου] Λικ̣[ιν]νίου Κορνηλίου | [Σαλωνίνου Οὐα]λ̣[ε]ριανοῦ τοῦ | [ἐπιφανεστάτου] Κ̣α̣[ίσ]α̣ρος Σεβαστῶν | [ - ca. 9 - Αὐρ]ήλιος Φιλώτας | [μεμίσθωμαι κ]αὶ ἀποδώσω ὡς | [πρόκειται ...]ί̣ων ἔγρ(αψα) ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ | [ὄντος ἀγραμμ]ά̣τ̣ο̣υ̣.

 
English translation ( Advanced Papyrological Information System ).
  

 
Aurelius Theodous, son of Neikammonios, grandson of Neikammonios, [ ] ; From the town of Oxyrhynchos has leased to Aurelius Philotas, son of Melas, his mother being Phicholia, from Senokomis, for two years fro the present 7th year the two arouras, which belong to his daughter Aurelia Athenodora alias Horigeneia, in the neighborhood of Senokomis, already previously cultivated by the lease-holder, to sow them for the present 7th year with green-stuffs at an agreed rent of a hundred drachmas, to sow them for the coming 8th year with wheat at an agreed rent of twelve artabas of wheat, everything free of any risk, while the taxes for the land are paid by the owner, who remains in possession of the produce, until he has received the annual rent due to him. If, which God forbid, in the following period of time the land is not reached by the flooding of the Nile, the lease-holder must needs irrigate at his own cost and expense two-thirds of the land which he would have had to cultivate in case of inundation by the flooding of the Nile, as well as (pay two-thirds) of the rent (which he would have had to pay in case of inundation by the flooding of the Nile). When the lease has been ratified, the lease-holder must pay the money due, the rental in the month of Payni, the wheat on the threshing-floor of Senokomis, new pure, unadulterated, not mixed with clods of earth or barley, sieved with the sixth measure of the landowner, while his people perform the measuring. He will have the right execution of the lease-holder and all his possessions. The lease is valid and when asked he has consented. The year 7 of the Imperatores caesares Publius Licinnius Valerianus and publius Licinnius Valerianus Gallienus Germanici Maximi PII Felices and Publius Licinnius Cornelius Valerius the most illustrious Caesar Sebasti. I, Aurelius Philotas, have leased it and shall pay as written above. [I, N.N] have written it for him because he cannot write.
 

 
►  Bibliography
 
 
Sijpesteijn, The Wisconsin Papyri, I, Leiden, 1967, n. 7 ; Bingen et al., Choix de papyrus grecs : Essai de traitement automatique, Liège, 1968, n. 21 ;
Boswinkel & Sijpesteijn, Greek papyri, ostraca and mummy labels, Amsterdam, 1968, n. 31 ; Cowey, ZPE, 75, 1988, p. 168 ; Haslam, El-Maghrabi & Thomas, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, LVII, London, 1990, p. 131 ; Peachin, Roman imperial titulature and chronology, A.D. 235-284, Amsterdam, 1990, p. 360 and 511 ; Pestman & Rupprecht, Berichtigungsliste der griechischen Papyrusurkunden aus Aegypten, VIII, Leiden, 1992, p. 201 / X, p. 114 ; Maresch & Sijpesteijn, ZPE, 99, 1993, p. 66 ; Rowlandson, Landowners and tenants in Roman Egypt : The social relations of agriculture in the Oxyrhynchite Nome, Oxford, 1996, pp. 251 and 254 ; Hagedorn,  ZPE, 142, 2003, p. 145.
 
 
►  Source : Papyrus from Oxyrhynchus.