1 This discussion excludes the following documents, too fragmentary to provide any useful information: BGU III 737 (a plērōtikē apodeixis, “receipt for full payment” to the pagarch Johannes) of 662/3 and the following which, even though precisely dated, consist of headings only: SB I 4665 (9.ii.663), SB I 4797 (663/673); CPR X 134 (4.xii.671); SB I 4716 (17.iv.677).

2 For his documents and their dating, see B. Palme in CPR XXIV 199 f.

3 P. Lond XXXI, 1335 &c, P. Prag. II. 2, p. 82.

4 For the meizōn in the Byzantine period, see Rouillard, Germaine, L'administration civile de l'Egypte byzantine (Paris 1928Google Scholar; henceforth Rouillard), 69 f. and CPR XXIV p. 150, and for its continuation after the conquest, Grohmann, Adolf, “Der Beamtenstab der arabischen Finanzverwaltung in Ägypten in frühislamischer Zeit”, Studien zur Papyrologie und antiken Wirtschaftsgeschichte; Friedrich Oertel zum achtzigsten Geburtstag gewidmet (Bonn, 1964)Google Scholar, 129 f. The present text was written by a notarios; the editor suggests that it may be the earliest attestation of the term in the meaning of “notary”.

5 This was a regular item of the Byzantine tax system: Rouillard 143–8.

6 Strictly speaking, this document dates to the reign of the caliph ʿUthmān (644–656), but is included here since it forms part of the dossier of Fl. Johannes.

7 For the rupara nomismata, a term peculiar to Arsinoe and denoting nomismata of 23 (rather than 24) carats or their equivalent in copper, see B. Palme's discussion of P. Harrauer 60, p. 238. Another receipt, BGU III 737 of 663, is too fragmentary to provide any useful information.

8 See Gonis, Nikolaos, “Five tax receipts from early Islamic Egypt”, ZPE 143, 2003 149–57Google Scholar at 150, and for the meaning of pittakion, Sarris, Peter, Economy and Society in the Age of Justinian (Cambridge, 2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 92 f.

9 Compare the fragmentary BGU II 403 which employs the same language about the fine for failure to produce the goods (in this case by the meizōn Menas son of Nepheras): see the discussion of Morelli, Federico, “Gonachia e kaunakai nei papiri”, JPP 32, 2002, 68–71Google Scholar.

10 Rouillard 163 f.; cf. P. Harrauer 58, with further discussion and bibliography. The same riparios appears in CPR XIV 32 of 653, which is addressed to Flavius Iohannes eukleestatos doux of Arcadia. It was tempting to identify him with the pagarch Johannes, but chronology poses an insuperable obstacle: see the discussion in CPR XXIV, p. 205.

11 For Menas' estate, see below, 263 f.

12 See the numerous references in Sarris, Economy and Society, index, s.v. especially 38 f., 48, 115.

13 Listed and discussed by Worp in CPR X, p. 153.

14 Ibid., 154.

15 For his chronology and career, with discussion of the relevant papyri, see B. Palme, “Excurs V: Der Pagarch Flavius Menas” in CPR XXIV 177–81.

16 Published by Sijpesteijn, P. J., “Der Pagarch Petterios”, JÖB 30, 1981, 57–61Google Scholar (= SB XVI 12481); note the corrections of N. Gonis in Tyche 19, 2004, 257.

17 P. Mert. II.100, first published by Bell, H. I., “A requisitioning order for taxes in kind”, Aegyptus 31, 1951, 307–12Google Scholar, with the correction of Keenan, J. G., “Two notes on P. Merton II 100”, ZPE 16, 1975, 43–6Google Scholar.

18 There has been much discussion about the dukes of Arcadia: see most recently CPR XXIV pp. 203–05, with reference to earlier literature, and the list of the dukes of the Thebaid in Gascou, J. and Worp, K. A., “Problèmes de documentation apollinopolite”, ZPE 49, 1982, 89–91Google Scholar. The title seems to disappear from the record for about a century until 636 when Theodosius is named with the titles stratelates, dux and Augustalius – i.e. a combination of civil and military powers, a change perhaps introduced with the Byzantine reoccupation of 630. Theodosius was killed fighting the Arabs in 640; his successor, Philoxenos, installed by the conquerors, is only doux in 642 – that is, the post was now purely civilian, as it remained. His colleague Senouthios in the Thebaid is likewise doux. Damianos (649) and Fl. Johannes (655) are also only doukes (of Thebais and Arcadia respectively), but Jordanes appears both as doux of Thebais and of Arcadia (though the present document does not give his title). This has been taken to indicate that the two provinces were then united but, strictly speaking, Jordanes could have held these posts in succession, as perhaps suggested by P. Apoll. 9, where he addresses the pagarchs of Thebais (not Arcadia). Joseph (683) is also attested as doux in Arsinoe, without his jurisdiction being specified. The first certain evidence of Arcadia and the Thebaid being united comes from 699, when Fl. Atias (an Arab) is attested as doux of both provinces. Just to complicate matters, an anonymous doux of Arcadia was at the same time pagarch of Arsinoe in 653: CPR XXIV 33.

19 See Sijpsteijn, Petra, “New rule over old structures: Egypt after the Muslim Conquest”, in Crawford, Harriet (ed.), Regime Change in the Ancient Near East and Egypt: from Sargon of Agade to Saddam Hussein (Oxford, 2007), 183Google Scholar. In 643, soon after the conquest, the post was still manned by Christians: see P. Ross. Georg. III 50, a receipt for fodder from Aur. Kosmas, stabilitiēs of an allagē in a suburb of Arsinoe. The system for rapid communication, however, is so important that it would normally be put in trusted hands very soon after any change of regime: note the case of the Persian occupation where Persians seem to have been in charge of the post, at least at the highest levels: see Foss, C., “The Sellarioi and other officers of Persian Egypt”, ZPE 138, 2002, 169–72Google Scholar.

20 His subscription was corrected by Keenan, “Two notes”, 44.

21 SPP VIII 1190, which names the pagarch Fl. Petterios, is even more fragmentary; it appears to belong to this group. Of SB XVI 12482 only the address to the endoxotatos Fl. Petterios survives: see Sijpesteijn, “Der Pagarch Petterios”, 60 f.

22 For another example of a ktētōr issuing a requisition, see SPP VIII 1191 of Heracleopolis. On autopract domains, see above, Part I, p. 15.

23 The fragmentary SPP VIII 877 mentions the same couple. In both cases, the taxes were to be paid to the priest Phoibammon.

24 For his chronology and career, with discussion of the relevant papyri, see B. Palme, in CPR XXIV 177–81.

25 SPP III 247, 246, 250. Kalomenas also appears in SPP III 252. SPP III 248 bears only Marous' name without context.

26 SPP III 251 and 249, both fragmentary and undated. For the post as a liturgy on large landowners in the Byzantine period (a situation perhaps represented here), see Gascou, Jean, “Les grands domaines, la cité et l'état en Egypte byzantine”, Travaux et mémoires 9, 1985, 1–90Google Scholar at 52–9.

27 SPP III 324, with the corrections of K. A. Worp in ZPE 28, 1978, 238. The date, 672 rather than 687, is suggested by the presence of Apa Ioulios, possibly the same man who delivered the governor's epistalma in 667.

28 The inner workings of the barīd are poorly known: see Silverstein, Adam, Postal Systems in the Pre-Modern Islamic World (Cambridge, 2007), 50–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

29 See Gonis, Nikolaos and Worp, K. A., “P. Bodl. I 77: The King of Kings in Arsinoe under Arab Rule”, ZPE 141, 2002, 173–6Google Scholar.

30 See the discussion of the editor, p. 228.

31 For the “bundles” of fish (opsaria hormathia) note that the Greek term can denote things hanging together, like beads on a necklace. It presumably means here dried fish strung together into bundles.

32 For nosokomia and similar institutions (like the hospition of P. Apoll. 46), usually run by the church.

33 P. Eirene II 10, with extensive commentary and reference to related texts.

34 Other documents, mostly fragmentary, that bear the name of Kallinikos, probably also belong to this period: see the list in P. Eirene II 10, p. 83 f.

35 This is probably the Paul mentioned in undated documents as pagarch of Arsinoe: see CPR X p. 155, with note 23. If so, the present papyrus may reflect a time when he had not yet assumed office.

36 This does not reflect a lack of documents from these places, only that very few can be dated specifically to this period.

37 See Harrauer, H. and Sijpesteijn, P. J., “Verkauf von Wein gegen Vorauszahlung”, CE 57, 1982, 296–302Google Scholar; cf. Kruit, Niko, “Three Byzantine sales for future delivery”, Tyche 9, 1994, 67–88Google Scholar.

38 SB XVIII 13771; see the discussion of Stoetzer, W. F. G. J. and Worp, K. A. in “Zwei Steuerquittungen aus London und Wien”, Tyche 1, 1986, 197–202Google Scholar; for the date, Kruit “Three Byzantine sales”, 72 n. 32. ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Abi Awf also issued SPP VIII 1198, perhaps of 664 or 679 (though, like the main text, it could also be of the early eighth century).

39 See the new edition of SPP III: Griechische Papyrusurkunden kleinerer Formats Neuedition, ed. Fritz Mitthof (Vienna, 2007), 209–36, with the introduction xxxi–xxxvi.

40 The editors restored the recipient's office as priest, but the honorific terms by which he is addressed (tē hymetera hagiosynē) and the respectful tone suggest rather that he was the bishop.

41 See the discussion of Donner, Fred, “The formation of the Islamic state”, Journal of the American Oriental Society 106, 1986, 283–96CrossRefGoogle Scholar at 286.

42 For what follows, see Kubiak, Wladyslaw, Al-Fusṭāṭ, Its Foundation and Early Urban Development (Cairo, 1987, henceforth “Kubiak”)Google Scholar, especially 58–131.

43 Kubiak, 51–7, 106–08.

44 Baladhuri, , Kitāb Futūh al-Buldān, ed. de Goeje, M. J. (Leiden, 1866), 216Google Scholar, translated as The Origins of the Islamic State by P. K. Hitti (New York, 1916), 341.

45 Maqrizi, Kitāb al-mawāʿiz wa-l-iʿtibar fi dhikr al-khitat wa-l-āthār (Bulaq, ah 1270=1853), 178. This was a frequent policy of Muʿāwiya: see Baladhuri, Kitāb Futūh al-Buldān, 119 (translation 180) where he transplants Persian troops who had joined Islam from Iraq and inland Syria to the Mediterranean coast, and 280 (trans. 441) where he orders Ziyad to move Persians to Syria.

46 ʿAbd al-Ḥakam, Ibn, Futūḥ Miṣr, ed. Torrey, Charles (New Haven, 1922), 102.Google Scholar

47 Ibid.

48 Ibid., 132.

49 Houses: Kubiak, 123–8.

50 Mosque, enlargement and minaret: Creswell, K. A., Early Muslim Architecture I (Oxford, 1969)Google Scholar, 36 ff., 58 f. See also al-Kindi, , Kitāb al-wulāh wa kitāb al-qudāh, ed. Guest, R. (Leiden, 1912)Google Scholar, 38 f.; cf. van Berchem, M. (ed.), Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum. Première partie, Egypte II (Cairo, 1930), 1–5Google Scholar and Eutychius, Gli annali, tr. Bartolomeo Pirone (Cairo, 1987), 358. Prayer time: Kubiak, 92.

51 For the island see Kubiak, 104–06, and for the arsenal Fahmy, Aly Mohamed, Muslim Naval Organisation in the Eastern Mediterranean (Cairo, 1966), 35–42Google Scholar with further references. The prime source seems to be the laconic statement of Maqrizi, Kitāb al-mawāʿiz, 178 who gives the date but not the circumstances.

52 For the following accounts, see Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam, Futūḥ Miṣr, 101 f.

53 If this sum represents the fifth of revenues traditionally due to the caliph, it would imply a total tax income of three million dinars, consonant with the attested taxes of two million under ʿAmr at the beginning of the occupation and the four million raised by his successor ʿAbd Allah ibn Sa'd (648–658), a sum considered excessive: see Baladhuri, Kitāb Futūh al-Buldān, 216, 218 (trans. 340, 342).

54 See Scanlon, George “Al-Fustat: the riddle of the earliest settlement”, The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East: III Land Use and Settlement Patterns (Princeton, 1994), 171–9Google Scholar, where he dates this activity to c. 700 on the basis of coin finds. Elsewhere, he and his colleagues specify that the excavators found more than forty relevant coins, which they describe as imitations of Byzantine dodecanummia: see Bianquis, Th., Scanlon, G. T. and Watson, A., “Numismatics and the dating of early Islamic pottery in Egypt”, in Kouymjian, Dikran (ed.), Studies in Honour of G. C. Miles (Beirut, 1974), 163–73Google Scholar. Unfortunately, their one illustration of these coins, plate 3 p. 167, actually shows two reverses (one printed upside-down) of a type struck by Heraclius in 629–641 (DOC 193–196). If most of the coins were in fact imitations of Byzantine issues, they could have been struck at any time in the first twenty years or so of the life of the city, perhaps indicating a mid-seventh century date for the streets.

55 Gayraud, R.-P., “Istabl Antar (Fostat) 1987–1989. Rapport des fouilles”, Annales islamologiques 25, 1991, 57–87Google Scholar at 63–66; cf. Mathieu, B., “Travaux de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale en 1999–2000”, BIFAO 100, 2000, 443–575Google Scholar at 524–6.

56 See Vogt, Christine, “Les céramiques omeyyades et abbasides d'Istabl' Antar–Fostat: traditions méditerranéenes et influences orientales”, in La céramique médiévale en Méditerranée, Actes du VIe congrès de l'AIECEM (Aix-en-Provence, 1997), 243–60Google Scholar.

57 For what follows, see Haas, Christopher, Alexandria in Late Antiquity (Baltimore, 1997), 337–51Google Scholar and Fraser, P. M., “Alexandria, Christian and medieval”, in Coptic Encyclopedia I, 88–92Google Scholar.

58 See the passages quoted in Butler, Alfred J., The Arab Conquest of Egypt, 2nd edition, ed. Fraser, Peter (Oxford, 1978)Google Scholar, 368 f., and the whole chapter (368–400) for the remains of ancient Alexandria.

59 See Adamnan's De Locis Sanctis, ed. Denis Meehan (Dublin, 1958), II, 30, pp. 98–105. Note that most of the description of Alexandria was lifted from an earlier writer, pseudo-Hegesippus, but the section about the walls and church was by Arculf himself. For the dates of his visit, see ibid., 9–11. Note, though, that Pseudo-Severus, History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church, Patrologia orientalis V, 18, recounts that Saint Mark's was rebuilt by the patriarch John (681–689) in a work that took three years.

60 Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam, Futūḥ Miṣr, 42, Procopius, Buildings. VI, i, 1–6.

61 See especially Fraser, P. M., “Byzantine Alexandria: decline and fall”, Bulletin de la Société archéologique d'Alexandrie 45, 1993, 91–106Google Scholar.

62 See Rodziewicz, M., Alexandrie III, Les habitations romaines tardives d'Alexandrie (Warsaw, 1984), 336–47Google Scholar.

63 See Rodziewicz, M., Alexandrie I, La céramique romaine tardive d'Alexandrie (Warsaw, 1975)Google Scholar, and the convenient summary of the Egyptian material in Wickham, Framing the Early Middle Ages, Oxford, 2005, 759–65.

64 History of the Patriarchs, PO V, 13.

65 There are varying traditions about the origin of the troops and the length of their posting: see Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam, Futūḥ Miṣr, 191 f. Increased garrison: according to another version, Muʿāwiya sent 4,000 men from Medina and ordered another 4,000 to remain on alert in Palestine, ready to be sent to Egypt: ibid., 192.

66 Augustal prefect: for the Byzantine period, see Rouillard 27–36, and for later survivals, Kahle, Paul, “Zur Geschichte des mittelalterlichen Alexandria”, Der Islam 12, 1922, 29–83Google Scholar at 30 f.

67 For this and the following events, see Agathon's biography in History of the Patriarchs, PO V, 3–10. Note the correct dates of Agathon as established by Jülicher, Adolf, “Die Liste der alexandrinischen Patriarchen im 6. und 7. Jahrhundert”, Festgabe Karl Müller (Tübingen, 1922), 7–23Google Scholar.

68 This attack apparently took place in 669: see Beihammer, Alexander, Nachrichten zum byzantinischen Urkundenwesen in arabischen Quellen (565–811) (Bonn, 2000), 325Google Scholar.

69 This was apparently an extraordinary command, for Mareotis, on the edge of the desert west of Alexandria, had been assigned to Libya in the reforms of Justinian and shortly after Agathon's time, had a governor (ra'is) of its own (History of the Patriarchs, PO V, 18).

70 Ibid., X, 372 f.

71 Ibid., V. 10; it is hard to reconcile the two versions of Theodore's fate or of the name of his successor.

72 In addition to Silverstein, Postal Systems, see Lammens, Henri, Etudes sur le règne du Calife Omaiyade Moʿawiya Ier (Paris, 1908), 33Google Scholar, cf. 64, the fear of even the most powerful of Muʿāwiya's governors, Ziyad of Iraq, on hearing the arrival of the caliph's courier.

73 The Armenian History Attributed to Sebeos, tr. R. W. Thomson (Liverpool, 1999), sec. 169.