Ptolemais Arabon - Arabon Kome (meris of Herakleides)

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Documentation
Arabon Kome appears ( 83 times in 64 papyri between 258 BC (P.L.Bat. 20 A) and the 8th century AD (P.Ross.-Georg. V 72; Stud.Pal. X 117; Stud.Pal. X 272). No evidence is available, however, for the period between 150 BC till the 1st century AD, whereas the 4th and 5th century AD are represented by a single text each.

Name
Ptolemais Arabon (Πτολεμαὶς ᾿Αράβων) is the official version of the common village name Arabon Kome (᾿Αράβων Κώμη). The high-flown Πτολεμαὶς ἡ τῶν ᾿Αράβων is attested in two petitions of the 3rd century BC (P.Ent. 3 and 47). In the Ptolemaic texts the word order is Arabon Kome; in the later texts it is invariably Kome Arabon. In the Roman and Byzantine periods the name is sometimes shortened to Arabon (earliest example is P.Strasb. VII 608, AD 116/117, 135/136 or 156/157). The identification of Ptolemais Arabon and Arabon Kome is clear from their links with the same villages (Letous polis, Neilou polis, Aphrodites polis, Boubastos). The name refers to an original Arab settlement of the early Ptolemaic or perhaps the late pharaonic period. Perhaps sometimes simple Ptolemais refers to this village, but this is difficult to prove because Ptolemais is a common name for Arsinoite villages and the greater Ptolemais Hormou was in the vicinity. There is a good chance, however, that the village in SB XVIII 14013 is indeed Ptolemais Arabon (see infra, sub Population).
The same toponym is attested for settlements in the Panopolite (Kome Arabon), the Hermopolite (Arabon) and Lycopolite nomes (Arabon kome; see Archiv 48, 2002, p.45).

Location
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From the 3rd century BC to the Arab period the village is called a kome (kwvmh), as is already apparent in its name. From the beginning of the 4th century AD onwards, some late sources refer to it as a chorion.
In BGU XIII 2279 and 2281 Ptolemais Arabon is explicitely assigned to the meris of Herakleides. The village is often mentioned in lists with villages of the northern part of that meris, e.g. Aphrodites polis, Boubastos, Letous polis, Neilou polis, Sebennytos, Psenhyris. The link with Letous polis is especially close (18 references). That the two had a common granary in the 3rd cent. BC is suggested by P.Tebt. III 848 and by SB XIV 11307, a payment of wheat for Arabon Kome, made to the thesauros of Letous polis (BC 234 or 209).

Population
On the basis of the village name one expects at least some inhabitants of Arab origin. This is confirmed by P.Tebt. III 736 (BC 143), where a contingent of Arabs from Ptolemais Arabon functions as desert guards from a camp in the Labyrinth. The Arab origin left a few traces in the anthroponymy of some early texts, e.g. in P.Enteuxis 47 (221 BC), where Malichos son of [..]sazaios has a typically Nabataean name [cf. Pap. Lugd.-Bat. 21, p.363 and F. Vattioni 1987, 536.]. But already in the third century Malichos' opponent, the Arab barber Parates has an Egyptian name and the Arabs in SB XVIII 14013 (222 BC) seem thoroughly egyptianised.

Economy
In P.Tebt. III 848 the usual granary taxes for cleaning, sifting, guarding and transporting grain are paid. In SB XIV 11307 payment for a vineyard is unexpectedly made in wheat. The 40 sheepskins mentioned in P.Ent. 3 may illustrate the traditional pastoral activities of the Arabs at this early period.

The seed allowance for the temple of Souchos in P.Tebt. III 1029 amounts to 1640 artabae of wheat, lentils, barley, arakos and olyra, enough to sow an area of 1640 arourae. Probably the temple granary functioned as a depot for the seed corn of royal land.

In the mid-third cent. AD the Appianus estate had a phrontis in Arabon kome, directed by Kopres [Rathbone 1991, 74 no.15]. The interchange between different parts of the estate explains the regular appearance of Arabon in the papers of Heroninus [Rathbone 1991, pp.280-281] and perhaps also the presence of a woman from Arabon in Theadelpheia at the time of the Decian persecution (SB I 4451; 250 AD).

The appearance of a chorion Arabon among villages of the meris of Polemon in Stud.Pal. X 250, 272 and 278 may be due to a similar link between villages within a single large estate in the 7th cent. AD.

Religion
The temple of Athena in Arabon kome in the third century BC may have been dedicated to the Arab goddess Allat [cf. Honigman 2002, pp.64-65]. The egyptianisation of the village is illustrated by the Soucheion, a temple for the crocodile god, in P.Tebt. III 852 l.96 and 1029. For the end of the 2nd cent. AD Arabon Kome and Aphrodites Polis jointly present one calf and two pigs for a Sarapis festival (P.Petaus 40 of 184-187 AD).

Administration
In 229/230 Ptolemais Arabon functions as a center for neighbouring villages (BGU XIII 2282). Komarchai of the village are found in AD 255 (SB VI 09409 (1 and 2)), candidates for the function of village scribe in AD 229/230 (BGU XIII 2282).
A payment for Arabon Kome is made to the thesauros of Letous Polis (SB XIV 11307, 234 or 209 BC). In the second cent. BC the village has its own granary (P.Tebt. III 848, 850 and 853), where payments are also made for Neilou polis (P.Tebt. III 850). Sitologoi are attested in BGU VII 1626 (third cent. AD).
The village had its own grapheion in AD 209 (P.Col. X 274).

Prosopography
For a prosopography of inhabitants of Arabon kome, click here.

Bibliography

I. Uytterhoeven - W. Clarysse, Feb 14 2003