Helioupolis (meris uncertain)
Documentation
Helioupolis only occurs in three Petrie papyri from the third century BC. One is a long list of payments for the oil monopoly (P.Petrie III 66a). Pasis, the oil merchant, is at the same time komarches of the village. The other two texts, P.Count 12 and an unpublished Petrie papyrus in Trinity College Dublin, contain lists of villages in the meris of Herakleides.
Name
Heliou polis is no doubt named after the ancient city north of Cairo, called Iwnw in ancient Egyptian.Iwnw was read in two demotic texts with the village Helioupolis (P.Loeb dem. 63). However, the reading was corrected by K.-Th. Zauzich into Pr-Itm and as this village was in the meris of Themistos, it has nothing to do with Heliopolis (see Clarysse 2007).
Location
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In P.Count 12 and in P.Petrie ined. Helioupolis is mentioned among villages of the meris of Herakleides.
Population
P.Count 12 lists 53 male and 43 female payers of the salt-tax in 243-217 BC. The number of adult tax payers shows that the village was small, not more than 150 persons.
Administration
Pasis, the oil-merchant of the village, is at the same time komarch. The presence of a komarch shows that the village had the status of a kome.
Bibliography
- Dizionario II, p.205;
- P.Tebt. II, p.377
W. Clarysse, Aug 23 2007