Localized law: the Babatha and Salome Komaise archives

253 Pages·2017·1.28 MB·English

by  Czajkowski

OXFORD STUDIES IN ROMAN SOCIETY
AND LAW
GeneralEditors
PaulduPlessis ThomasA.J.McGinn
OXFORD STUDIES IN ROMAN SOCIETY AND LAW
The aim of this monograph series is to create an interdisciplinary
forum devoted to the interaction between legal history and ancient
history, in the context of the study of Roman law. Focusing on the
relationship of law to society, the volumes will cover the most
significant periods of Roman law (up to the death of Justinian in
565) so as to provide a balanced view of growth, decline, and
resurgence. Most importantly, the series will provoke general debate
overtheextenttowhichlegalrulesshouldbeexaminedinlightofthe
society which produced them in order to understand their purpose
andefficacy.
Localized Law
The Babatha and Salome Komaise Archives
KIMBERLEY CZAJKOWSKI
1
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Acknowledgements
This book is a revised version of my doctoral thesis and as such the
list of people to thank for their help and support in the course of
writing both the thesis and then the subsequent book version could
run into very, very many pages. More and more names are always
added to the list the longer the process continues. There will inevit-
ablybethosewhomIfailtomention,despitetheirmeritingcopious
thanks.
Firstofall,IamofcoursegratefulfortheAHRC/MertonStudent-
ship which made undertaking my DPhil possible; additional thanks
are due to the Polonsky Foundation for funding a research trip to
JerusaleminDecember2013throughtheGraduateWorkshoponthe
AbrahamicReligions.Thanksarealsoduetomyassessorsatvarious
points in the DPhil process—Amin Benaissa, Teresa Morgan and
Georgy Kantor—and to my internal and external examiners, Alison
SalvesenandJillHarries,bothformakingthevivaastimulatingand
thoroughly enjoyable occasion, and for their invaluable comments
and advice on how to turn the thesis into a monograph. Further
thanks to Jill for her subsequent help with getting to that stage and
seeminglyunendingsupportandencouragement.Anyfailuretoheed
theiradvicefallsentirelyonmyownhead.
ThanksalsogotoCarolineHumfressforbeingextremelygenerous
with her forthcoming work and drafts of works-in-progress, and for
her comments on the thesis and book proposal stages of this work.
IamalsogratefultoPhilipEslerforlettingmeseeanearlyversionof
hisforthcomingbookonBabatha.
IamofcourseendlesslygratefultomysupervisorMartinGoodman
forallhissupport,patience,encouragementandfeedbackduringthe
course of my MSt and DPhil years, and the continuance of that
support subsequently. I must also express my gratitude to Lutz
Doering, my project leader at Münster, for being extremely patient
withmyattemptstogetthebookrevisionsdonewhilesimultaneously
working on the new project. A huge thank you too to Benedikt
Eckhardt for critically reading an almost-but-not-quite-final version
of the book manuscript, and for his general encouragement in the
ensuingpanictogettotheyes-actually-finalstage.
vi Acknowledgements
Finally, I cannot recommend Tom McGinn and Paul du Plessis
highly enough as series editors. If writing a book can be a stressful
process, they made it a pleasurable one, always giving timely, inter-
estingandilluminatingfeedbacktothevariousversionsofthemanu-
scripttheyreceived,andgenerallygoingaboveandbeyondthecallof
dutyinalltheireffortsandattention.Allerrorsetc.areofcoursemy
ownbutTomandPaul:truly,thankyouboth.
Contents
ListofTables ix
ListofAbbreviations xi
Introduction 1
TheArchives 3
‘Provincialization’andRomanLaw 14
Multi-Legalisms,‘LegalCulture’,anda‘Ground-Up’
Approach 17
TheArchiveswithinthisMulti-LegalApproach 22
1. BeginningtoReinterprettheArchives 25
TheTalesToldintheArchives 26
CaseStudies 38
ConcludingRemarks 59
2. TheScribes 60
ReasonsforHiringaScribe 62
TheIdentityoftheScribes 72
3. LegalAdvisors 88
LegalAdvisorsintheAncientWorld 89
TheArchives 93
ScribesandAdvisors:APurelyTerminological
Distinction? 105
4. TheParties 107
TheNon-GreekDocuments 109
ThePointofChange 113
TheGreekDocuments 115
5. TheAlternativestotheAssizes? 133
LocalTribunals:ASocio-AnthropologicalPerspective 133
ThePossibleVenuesandAuthoritiesforAlternative
LegalFora 137
LocalTribunalsandRomanImperialPower:Effects
andInteraction 162
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,17/10/2016,SPi
viii Contents
6. TheRomanOfficials 166
TheRomanGovernorintheProvinces 167
TheRomanGovernorintheArchives 187
TheSpectreoftheRomanCourt 197
Conclusion 199
Bibliography 207
GeneralIndex 233
IndexofSources 237
List of Tables
2.1. Identifiedscribesofdocumentswrittenbefore106CE 73
2.2. Identifiedscribesofnon-Greekdocumentswrittenafter
106CEintheBabathaarchive 75
2.3. IdentifiedscribesofGreekdocumentswrittenafter
106CEintheBabathaarchive 84
4.1. Thenon-GreekdocumentsintheBabathaandSalome
Komaisearchiveswrittenafter106CE 110