Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Calendars
- List of abbreviations
- Maps
- Chapter 1 Introduction and historical framework
- Chapter 2 The historical development of the form, content, and administration of legal documents
- Chapter 3 The languages of law
- Chapter 4 The family
- Chapter 5 Capital
- Chapter 6 Sale
- Chapter 7 Leases
- Chapter 8 Labor
- Chapter 9 Slavery in Greco-Roman Egypt
- Chapter 10 The judicial system in theory and practice
- Concordance
- Suggested reading for introductions to papyrology in English
- Glossary of technical terms
- Works cited
Chapter 5 - Capital
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Calendars
- List of abbreviations
- Maps
- Chapter 1 Introduction and historical framework
- Chapter 2 The historical development of the form, content, and administration of legal documents
- Chapter 3 The languages of law
- Chapter 4 The family
- Chapter 5 Capital
- Chapter 6 Sale
- Chapter 7 Leases
- Chapter 8 Labor
- Chapter 9 Slavery in Greco-Roman Egypt
- Chapter 10 The judicial system in theory and practice
- Concordance
- Suggested reading for introductions to papyrology in English
- Glossary of technical terms
- Works cited
Summary
Introduction
The loan is among the most common types of Egyptian contracts recorded in Greek (Palme 2009: 368). It is also well represented in the Demotic legal tradition. The present chapter explores the types of loans represented in Demotic, and the variety of Greek loans from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, as well as one (5.5.3) from the Byzantine. We begin with three examples of Demotic loans of the Ptolemaic period and a text dealing with the litigation concerning a loan (5.1). These are followed by: selected Greek loans of the Ptolemaic (5.2) and Roman (5.3) periods; examples of the use of real security in the Greek papyri (5.4); and Greek loans that were components of other transactions (5.5).
In classical Athens, the credit market was populated by professional bankers and private lenders who provided large maritime loans as well as smaller amounts of credit. Recent research has pointed to the segmented image of the private credit market in Athens: the rich preferred to lend to the rich, citizens to citizens, foreigners to foreigners, whereas bank credit circulated more between social groups. In Ptolemaic Egypt, however, the credit market was dominated by private lenders, who tended to lend out to relatives, fellow villagers, or colleagues. Because of the nature of the documentation, mainly small-scale loans are attested.
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- Law and Legal Practice in Egypt from Alexander to the Arab ConquestA Selection of Papyrological Sources in Translation, with Introductions and Commentary, pp. 226 - 275Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014