Counting the People in Hellenistic Egypt: Volume 2, Historical Studies

Important study of the economic and social history of Ptolemaic Egypt, based on the salt-tax registers of P. Count.

Willy Clarysse (Author), Dorothy J. Thompson (Author)

9780521838399, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 June 2006

418 pages
25.2 x 18.2 x 3.3 cm, 1.032 kg

Review of the hardback: 'What we have here is an enormous and well-written body of scholarship by two leading scholars in the field of many aspects of the population of (early) Ptolemaic Egypt. Discussion ranges from the tiniest detail in straightening fibers in a papyrus document to an overall comparison of the Ptolemaic situation with that in other pre-modern societies, and everything in between. These volumes are a must-read for anybody interested in Ptolemaic Egypt, or the Hellenistic world at large. … This is, indeed, a wonderful piece of scholarship, setting the framework of Ptolemaic society, and providing future studies with a strong foundation to keep adding new material.' Arthur Verhoogt, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

The historical studies of this second volume provide an examination of the economic and social history of Ptolemaic Egypt. The salt-tax registers of P. Count not only throw light on key aspects of the fiscal policy of the Greek pharaohs but also provide the best information for family and household structure for the Western world before the fifteenth century AD. The makeup of the population is thoroughly analysed here in both demographic and occupational terms. A constant theme running throughout is the impact of the Greeks on the indigenous population of Egypt. This is traced in cultural policies, in administrative geography, in the realm of stock-rearing and in the changing religious affiliations traceable through the names that parents gave their children. The extent to which Egypt is typical of the Hellenistic world more widely is the final topic addressed.

1. Ptolemies, taxes and papyri
2. The census
3. The salt-tax and other taxes
4. Settlement in the Fayum
5. The people counted
6. Counting the animals
7. Family matters
8. Naming the people
9. Conclusion
Appendix
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB]