Autodike (meris of Themistos)

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Documentation
Autodike is attested in some 37 documents (82 attestations) ranging from the 3rd century BC till the 3rd century AD. The first and last attestations of the village are in 246 BC (P.Petrie III 43) and AD 243-243 (BGU I 141) respectively.
The name has been restored in a very fragmentary papyrus of the 7th-8th century AD (Stud.Pal. X 26: [Αὐτ]οδίκη [cf. Dizionario I.2, p.277; 278; Timm 1984, p.268), but because Psenhyris is the only other toponym mentioned in this text, Grenfell and Hunt (P.Tebt. II, p.371) probably rightly reject the link with Autodike. Wessely 1904, p.36 and 44 [cf. Dizionario I.2, p.279] also identifies Autodike with the chorion Autodoto (Αὐτοδότω, but also read as Αὐτοδοτω, Αὐτοδ... or Αὐτ...; cf. the facsimile in the edition), found once in a village list of the 6th century AD between Eleusis and Kainou Chorion (Stud.Pal. X 250). Because none of the known villages in the list belongs to the meris of Themistos, P.Tebt. II p.371 reject this identification.

Name
Autodike (Αὐτοδίκη) is probably named after the Alexandrian deme Autodikeios (Αὐτοδίκειος). This deme, which is attested once in 236 BC, probably got its name from the mythical Autodike, one of the daughters of Danaos [cf. Fraser 1972 I p.45; II p.121-122 n.54; III p.153; P.Petrie2 1, p.186].

Location
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The village (kome) Autodike belongs to the meris of Themistos. It might have been situated near the meris of Polemon, since in 246 BC a new water channel (hydragogos) possibly ran east of Autodike and south of Tebetny (P.Petrie III 43), and in 57 BC the sitologos of Autodike measured out wheat for a kleros in Kerkeesis (P.Fay. 16). Autodike lay therefore possibly in the south of the meris of Themistos. It had close relations with the villages Pelousion, Theadelpheia, Andromachis, Theoxenis and Berenikis Aigialou, all in the meris of Themistos. Pelousion and Berenikis Aigialou were probably neighbouring villages. In the 3rd century BC the thesauros of Autodike measured out sesamos seed for a kleros in Pelousion (P.Rainer Cent. 47), and Autodike and Pelousion fell under the same subordinate of the oikonomos (P.Petrie III 117e). In the 2nd century AD land from Autodike was cultivated by people from Theadelpheia (P.Berl.Leihg. I 1; P.Berl.Leihg. I 3; P.Fay. 86), from Andromachis and from Theoxenis (P.Amh. II 69). Autodike is also mentioned in accounts from Theadelpheia, but since the amounts from Autodike are significantly smaller than that from other villages, it may have been at a certain distance (P.Col. V 1Vo; P.Strasb.Gr. VII 688). Inhabitants from Berenikis Aigialou made payments on behalf of Autodike (BGU III 802; BGU IX 1893).
In 218 BC a building plot in Autodike was leased for 99 years (P.Enteuxeis 66). In the 2nd-3rd centuries AD the plain (pedion or plural pedia) of Autodike is often referred to (P.Amh. II 69; P.Col. V 1Vo; P.Berl.Leihg. I 1).

Population
Both in the Ptolemaic and in the Roman period Graeco-Macedonian names are more frequent than Egyptian names. Four men from Autodike bear an ethnic: [ ], ...tos tes epigones (236 BC); Maron Argeios tes epigones; Theodosios Lykios tes epigones; Aristokrates Thraix (218 BC).

Land
Four documents probably attest klerouchoi in or near Autodike in the period 236-218 BC [[Uebel 1968, p. 129 and n. 1]. Two of them are hekatontarouroi, one belongs to the fourth, the other to the first hipparchy (PUG III 106; P.Enteux. 48).
In AD 12 two pigkeepers allowed their pigs to graze on public land around the village (BGU III 757). Public farmers (demosioi georgoi) occur in some documents of the 1st-2nd century AD; idiotikoi of the same village are mentioned in P.Col. II 1Ro (5).

Economy
Autodike produced lentils, wheat, barley, krithopyros, sesame, beans and vines. There were swine-herds (hyophorboi) (BGU III 757) and keepers of sheep and cattle (probatoktenotrophoi) (SB XX 14100). Donkeys were used for transport of the agricultural products (BGU III 802; P.Col. II 1Ro (5)).
For the late third century a brewer Pais is attested in P.Petrie III 87a, and a family of washermen, Pausis and his son Pais, pay the tax on nitron in (P.Petrie III 117a).
Taxes in the Ptolemaic period include the tetarte sitopoion (bakers tax), the tetarte taricheron (pickled fish), the nitrike tax (nitron), the thesaurophylakitikon (guard of granaries) and a tax for the hyperesia.

Administration
In an official account of 237 BC possibly a komogrammateus of Autodike is referred to (P.Tebt. III 866). In AD 218 Pythiades is epistates of the village (P.Enteux. 48; P.Enteuxeis 66). In AD 170 six presbyteroi of Autodike (who have Greek or Latin names, but only four names are preserved) write a receipt to some keepers of sheep and cattle (SB XX 14100).
The granary of Autodike is mentioned in the 3rd century BC and the 2nd century AD. In 57 BC Ptolemaios is sitologos of Autodike (P.Fay. 16) and in AD 154 the sitologoi of part of the plain of Autodike are mentioned (P.Amh. II 69). In AD 189 a sitoparalemptes or receiver of corn-dues and probably a grammateus of Autodike are mentioned (BGU I 81).

Bibliography

H. Verreth, Jan 16 2003