Pelousion (meris of Themistos)

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Documentation
Pelousion is attested from the third century BC till the third century AD in some 49 documents (100 attestations). The earliest certain date is 231 BC (P.Alex. 409 p.13), the latest is AD 242/243 (BGU I 84). There are no sources available for the second half of the second nor for the first century BC.

Name
Pelousion (Πηλούσιον) is apparently named after the Delta city Pelousion, situated at the mouth of the most eastern branch of the Nile, but there are no further known links between the Fayum village and the Delta city, though Kees in RE 1937 XIX col.415 (2) suggests that the village was perhaps settled with people from the Delta city. Some documents have occasionally incorrectly been ascribed to the village instead of to the city (BGU I 0093; BGU III 0827; P.Köln Gr. IV 186; P.Oxy. IV 0709; P.Oxy. XII 1425; P.Sakaon 75; SB I 05217; SEG 38 1840; cf. Verreth 1998, pp.198, 202-203 [ined.]).
The irregular spelling Πηλὺσιον is a mere scribal (or printing?) mistake. Zauzich tentatively identifies Pelousion with Per-hed Pr-hd because the cult of Isis Nephremmeis is attested in both places [Zauzich 1977b, pp.171-172], but this argument is hardly conclusive. In P.Lille dem. II 54 (cf. P.Lille Gr. IV 54 ined.) the Demotic 'the bleachers of the warehouse (pr-h‡d) of Apias and P-a-n-Imouthes (P3-ª-n-Iy-m-htp)' is possibly rendered in Greek as νι(τρ ) Πη[λουσ]ίου, but the identification of Pelousion and P-a-n-Imouthes remains very uncertain. In two texts Plousios is considered a toponym in the Arsinoites [Dizionario IV p.160], but more likely the personal name is meant; anyway there are no certain links with the village Pelousion.

Location
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The village (kome) of Pelousion belongs to the meris of Themistos, as is clear from some fourteen documents. It is often mentioned in village lists, but it is difficult to determine any geographical clusters. Pelousion is mentioned together with Apias and Athenas Kome (P.Alex. 409 p.13; for Apias, cf. P.Tebt. III 774), and there is a link with the thesauros of Autodike (P.Rainer Cent. 47; cf. P.Petrie III 117e). In AD 214/215 the same phrontistes is apparently involved with Pelousion, Kleopatra and Sentrempais, which might imply a geographical proximity (P.Med. I(2) 63; for Sentrempais, see also P.Berl.Leihg. I 4Ro). There are also relations with Theadelpheia (P.Berl.Leihg. I 16c; duplicate: SB XVIII 13289), and occasionally with Taurinou Kome (P.Laur. I 17), all in the same meris. A person from Herakleia in the meris of Themistos (P.Lond. II 310 p.208) and another person from Narmouthis in the meris of Polemon (P.Strasb.Gr. VI 506) make an agreement in Pelousion.
About 224-217 BC the village belonged to the toparchy of Tesenouphis, which was in the meris of Themistos and Polemon (P.Sorb. I 51). The cult of Soknopaios and Isis Nephremmis in the village originates from Soknopaiou Nesos in the meris of Herakleides. Most of the documents apparently originating from Pelousion derive from the cartonnage papyri from Medinet Nehas (Magdola) and Ghoran; only P.Fay. 89 comes from Qasr el-Banat (ancient Euhemereia, in the meris of Themistos). The links with the meris of Polemon suggest that Pelousion was located in the southern part of the meris of Themistos [cf. Kees in RE 1937 XIX col.415 (2): 'in the southwestern Arsinoites'].

Population
As far as can be judged from onomastics, there was both in the Ptolemaic and in the Roman period a mixed population of both Greco-Macedonian and Egyptian origin. One of the cleruchs has a Thracian name (Dendouzelmis), and another one is possibly married with a woman from Asia Minor (Asia).

Land
Five documents attest the presence of Greek military setllers (klerouchoi) in or near Pelousion in 231-213 BC [Uebel 1968 p.141]. Two of them own a kleros of 70 arouras, one a kleros of 36 arouras.
In AD 242/243 a tax of ca. 29.300 art. of wheat, ca. 302 art. of barley and ca. 1261 art. of lentils is due for [5]517 arourai of public land, but the tax of ca. 4437 not inundated arouras, ca. 80 % of the land, remains unpaid (BGU I 84). This might indicate the decline of the village [van Minnen 1989, pp.199-200]. In AD 214/215 the phrontistes Lucius Valerius Ammonios heads the estate of the Alexandrian Aurelius Poseidonios (P.Med. I(2) 63).

Economy
In Pelousion there was an agricultural production of wheat, lentils, barley, sesame and vegetables (lachanon), and there were palm-groves (at least eight), vineyards and gardens.
For the 3rd-2nd century BC two brewers, one or two goldsmiths and a leather worker (skyteus) are known, and some people were involved with nitron and fish.
In the Ptolemaic period taxes are paid for palm-groves, vineyards and garden land (paradeisoi); the tetarte sitopoion (grain); the tetarte taricheron (fish); the zytera tax (beer); the chrysochoike tax (for goldsmiths); the nitrike tax (nitron); the oil tax; the phylakitikon hiereion (police-tax).
Taxes in the Roman period are on land (with a correction for uninundated land in AD 163/164 and 242/243) and on the production of lentils and wine.

Religion
Some time before 222 BC the cleruch Machatas dedicated a private temple to the Syrian goddess (i.e. Atargatis) and to Aphrodite Berenike (P.Ent. 13). About 186-181 BC the priests Apollonios and Machatas son of Machatas made a dedication to Zeus Soter (Hadad?), the Syrian goddess and their synnaoi gods (I.Fayoum III 150); no place is mentioned in the inscription, but the men most likely belong to the same family as the Machatas of 222 BC, whose private cult may have been extended in the next generation [Bottigelli 1942, pp.216-217; Rübsam 1974, pp.134-138]. The origin of the cult may be due to the wife and mother Asia [Wilcken 1927, pp.3-4].
Although Zeus Kasios was worshipped in the Fayum in the Ptolemaic period (P.Heid. VI 378; P.Trier S 77-28 ined.), there is no proof that this god so well known in the Delta city, also had a cult in the Fayum village (Verreth 1998, pp.197-203 [ined.]). Rübsam 1974, p.135) incorrectly ascribes a cult of Sarapis to the village.
In the 1st-2nd century AD a temple of Soknopaios is attested (P.Lond. II 363 p.170), and a temple of Isis Nephremmis, depending from the temple of Soknopaios in Soknopaiou Nesos, is mentioned in (SB XVI 12685 and Stud.Pal. XXII 157; Wessely incorrectly read the name Pelousion in P.Rainer SN 8 = P.L.Bat. XVII 1,col. IV, l. 2) [Wessely 1902 p.58; Rübsam 1974, pp.134-135].

Administration
A komogrammateus of Pelousion is mentioned in 231 BC (P.Alex. 409 p.13) and in AD 139 (SB XVI 12685). Ca. 209/208 BC there was a (sitikon) ergasterion, an administrative center for storage of tax grain, near the village (P.Tebt. III 774). The epistates of the village is known for the period 222-218 BC. In AD 9 loans were registered (P.Fay. 89) in a local notaries' office. Works carried out in Pelousion in the 3rd century AD apparently involved the attention of the strategos, the eirenarchos, the komarchai and the kephalaiotai pittakion of the village (SB I 4422).

Prosopography
All persons living in Pelousion are entered into the prosopographical database.

Bibliography

H. Verreth