Triangular Landscapes: Environment, Society, and the State in the Nile Delta under Roman Rule by Katherine Blouin

Abstract

200 PHOENIX been given to the particular Roman understanding of jurisdiction and magistrate’s discretion . Another major theme of this chapter is the use of “‘signalling’ words” (151) to situate complaints within the legal system, which is central to an exemplary discussion of the development of a petition from draft to clear copy (P.Cair.Goodsp. 15). In Chapter Six he is concerned with the use of violence “to redefine and restructure . . . interpersonal relationships” (201), arguing that it was often used “in a symbolic, public, and communicative way” (176). Particular attention is paid to family relations, with a careful case study of the conflicts of Aurelia Taesis (P.Cair.Isid.). Bryen’s approach is influenced by Chris Wickham’s important study of Courts and Conflict in Twelfth-Century Tuscany (Oxford 2003), in which courts are conceived as “social drama” aimed at creating local consensus; another fruitful mediaevalist comparandum is now provided by the work of Hannah Skoda (Medieval Violence: Physical Brutality in Northern France 1270–1330 [Oxford 2013]) on “violence as communication.” The monograph is accompanied by two appendices. The first (209–212) is a brief but lucid introduction to papyrological practices for a lay person, aimed at emphasizing the uncertainties behind the printed text. The second (213–280) is a translation of 135 legal documents concerning violence, including all the extant petitions, and a few other related pieces, effectively a mini-sourcebook. It is arranged in roughly chronological order from BGU IV 1105 (11/10 b.c.) to SB VI 9239 (a.d. 548). This will no doubt be the part of the book most in use for the purposes of undergraduate teaching, and as far as this reviewer has been able to check, there are remarkably few slips; in 251, no. 83 (SB IV 7464), for Valerius Titianus read Valerius Titanianus, and the translation of \p’tropow with “procurator” seems misleading in English for a private estate manager. An important treatment of violence in the law of papyri by H.-A. Rupprecht (“Hybris: Anmerkungen zu einem Delikt in den Papyri der ptolemäischen und römischen Zeit,” in S. Buchholz et al. [eds.], Überlieferung, Bewahrung und Gestaltung in der rechtgeschichtlichen Forschung [Paderborn 1993] 269–275), and the analysis of SB XII 10929 (somewhat misleadingly discussed at 150–151) by A. Jördens (“Eine kaiserliche Konstitution zu den Rechtsprechungskompetenzen der Statthalter,” Chiron 41 [2011] 327–356) should have been added to the bibliography. General index and index locorum are lumped into one, with no great loss to convenience; less conveniently, it seems to exclude the papyri not in Appendix II (e.g., P.Lips. I 40, discussed on 136, where Keenan’s translation quoted misses “After he had been spared” at the beginning of the last sentence). Bryen has achieved an impressive combination of a sophisticated theoretical framework and close readings of the papyri. His book opens up a new field of study and it ought to be read and reflected upon by anyone who is interested in the place of law and justice in Roman social history. It is to be hoped that it will generate further fruitful debate. St John's College, Oxford Georgy Kantor Triangular Landscapes: Environment, Society, and the State in the Nile Delta under Roman Rule. By Katherine Blouin. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Oxford Studies on the Roman Economy). 2014. Pp. xxvi, 429. Although Egypt is the richest place in the ancient world for preserved papyri documents, papyri do not survive well in the damper conditions of the Nile Delta. An unusual concatenation of circumstances has resulted in the existence of ninety papyri for the city of Thmouis in the Mendesian nome (administrative district) of the eastern BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 201 Delta, covering the third century b.c. to the fourth century a.d. Most remarkable is the Carbonised Archive of Thmouis (CAT) consisting of around seventy fragments, but there are also fifteen documents of the Zenon archives dealing with this area during the second century b.c., the Revenue Laws papyrus and P. Oxy. XLIV 3205, a land sowing register from the early fourth century a.d. concerning the nome. Using this rare archive, Katherine Blouin has been able to construct...