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Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Vol. 1, Issue 2, December, 2016
- 214 -
The Soucheia of the Arsinoite Nome in Graeco-Roman
Egypt
Youssri Abdelwahed
Lecturer, Tourist Guidance Department, Minia University
Abstract
Scholars have highlighted religious diversity in the Arsinoite nome
(modern Fayum) in the Graeco-Roman period through consideration of
Egyptian and Graeco-Roman deities worshiped in the region.
1
The most
popular cult in the Fayum district was that of the crocodile god Sobek or
Souchos.
2
Some economic, administrative, and religious aspects of the
cult of Souchos and his local incarnations in the Fayum were points of
research interest.
3
Yet the festival of the god Souchos referred to in Greek
papyri as Soucheia has not been covered so far.
4
This paper attempts to
reconstruct the Soucheia in the light of Greek papyrological evidence.
The festival is only associated with the villages of Tebtynis and
Soknopaiou Nesos, and appears as a joyful celebration with a banquet.
The Soucheia reflects the complexity of religious life and practices in the
Arsinoite nome, a highly Hellenised part of Egypt in Graeco-Roman
times, being celebrated by Egyptian villagers, Greeks, and Persians of the
epigone.
Keywords: Sobek/Souchos, Soucheia, the Arsinoite, Graeco-Roman
Egypt
In Roman times, the region of Egypt which now forms the Fayum was
called in official documents the Arsinoite nome with Arsinoe as its
metropolis. It was under Ptolemy Philadelphos after his marriage to his
sister Arsinoe, therefore between 270 BC the date of his marriage and 246
BC when he died, that the names of the Arsinoite nome and Arsinoe
replaced the previous names of the Krokodilopolite nome and
Krokodilopolis.
5
The name of Krokodilopolis clearly indicates that the
divine animal especially worshiped in the prefecture and its metropolis
was the crocodile.
6
The cult of the crocodile god Sobek, who was
1
Rübsam 1974.
2
Toutain 1915.
3
Clarysse 2002; Monson 2006; Capron 2008.
4
Perpillou-Thomas 1993, 140.
5
Strabo 17.1.38. On the poorly preserved monuments of the ancient metropolis of
Krokodilopolis: Davoli 2011, 71-2.
6
Toutain 1915, 171.
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Vol. 1, Issue 2, December, 2016
- 215 -
depicted either as a man with a crocodile’s head or as a crocodile (figs. 1-
2), is also evident at Ombos and Akoris.
7
The deity also had temples at
Gebel el-Silsileh and Gebelein.
8
However, the Fayum remained the main
cult centre of the divinity.
9
Many theophoric names in these areas
belonged to the god Sobek, such as Petesouchos, Petesous, and
Tasouchis. There are also several people called Korkodilos.
10
This name,
apart from Egypt, was unknown in the ancient anthroponomy.
11
Figure 1. Relief of an anthropomorphic Sobek and a Ptolemy (?) (Crawford 1971,
frontispiece)
7
Kom Ombo: Wagner 1995, 124. Akoris: Kawanishi 1999; Holthoer and Ahlquist 1974.
8
Bunson 2002, 378-9.
9
Strabo 17.1.38; Diod. Sic. 1.89; Damascius, Vita Isidori 99.
10
Wagner 1995, 124.
11
On the possibility of an occurrence of the name in a document from Rome (CIL
VI.33968): Solin 1995, 77-80.
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Vol. 1, Issue 2, December, 2016
- 216 -
Figure 2. Bronze statuette of Sobek as a crocodile, c. 200 BC, British Museum (Hart
2005, 148)
Sobek kept his Egyptian names in Greek documents of the Fayum; he had
many local incarnations under diverse names, including Pnepheros and
Petesouchos at Karanis, Soknebtynis at Tebtynis, Soknopaios at
Soknopaiou Nesos, Soknokonnis at Bakchias, Souchos at Arsinoe, and
Sokmetis in Syron kome.
12
In the Graeco-Roman period, many Egyptian
deities had Greek or Roman counterparts. For instance, Thoth was
assimilated with Hermes, Amun with Jupiter, Horus with Apollo, Neith
with Athena, Hathor with Aphrodite, and so on.
13
Yet Sobek had no
Greek or Roman duplicate. The cult of the god Sobek in the Fayum
probably kept its indigenous character.
14
The Soucheia is the name of the festival of the crocodile god Souchos in
the Fayum. It occurs six times in papyrological documents dating from
the second century BC to the second century AD.
15
Surviving
papyrological references to the Soucheia come from the villages of
Tebtynis and Soknopaiou Nesos, suggesting that the festival was only
associated with the Fayum district, though the cult of the god is evident
elsewhere.
16
The earliest surviving mention of the Soucheia occurs in 173
BC in an account of an oil merchant from Tebtynis in relation with
expenditures on a number of festivals held in the village.
17
In AD 138, the
12
Burkhalter 1985, 123-8; Clarysse 2002, 201-2; Rübsam 1974, 174.
13
E.g. Quaegebeur, Clarysse, and Van Maele 1985; Fowden 1986.
14
Hart 2005, 148.
15
Perpillou-Thomas 1993, 140.
16
Wagner 1995; Kawanishi 1999; Holthoer and Ahlquist 1974.
17
P.Tebt. III.887.49.
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Vol. 1, Issue 2, December, 2016
- 217 -
Soucheia appears in a list of expenses by the priests of Soknopaios at
Soknopaiou Nesos as one celebration in a long list of festivals in honour
of the god Soknopaios (Table 1).
18
Date
Name of the
festival
Duration
Consumption
Reference
7 Athyr
Birthday of the
Great God
Soknopaios
19 days
76 artabas of
wheat
SPP
XXII.183.iii.6
8-9
8 Tybi
Foundation of
the Temple of
the God
Soknopaios
7 days
28 artabas of
wheat
SPP
XXII.183.iv.7
3-4
2 Phamenoth
Foundation of
the Enclosure
of the Great
God
Soknopaios
7 days
28 artabas of
wheat
SPP
XXII.183.iv.7
7-8
21 Pauni
Foundation of
the Temple of
the God
Soknopaios
7 days
28 artabas of
wheat
SPP
XXII.183.iv.8
3-4
20 Epeiph
Soucheia
7 days
28 artabas of
wheat
SPP
XXII.183.iv.8
5-6
(Table 1) List of the Festivals of the God Soknopaios in SPP XXII.183
The papyrus indicates that five festivals were assigned for different
occasions associated with the god Soknopaios. To these, one should add
the ‘festival of the foundation of the sanctuary of the great god
Soknopaios’ on 26 Mesore, which lasted for 8 days with the total
consumption of 32 artabas of wheat.
19
The series of festivals of
Soknopaios thus began with the birthday of the god on 7 Athyr (Julian: 4
November) and ended with the foundation of the sanctuary of the god on
26 Mesore (Julian: 20 August). The longest duration, 19 days, was
allocated for the festival of the birthday of Soknopaios. Next comes the 8-
day festival of the foundation of the sanctuary of Soknopaios. Each one of
the remaining festivities, including the Soucheia on 20 Epeiph (Julian: 14
July), lasted for 7 days. Four artabas of wheat were consumed in each day
of the festivals of Soknopaios, making 76 artabas of wheat for the whole
duration of the birthday of Soknopaios, 32 for the foundation of his
sanctuary, and 28 artabas of wheat for each of the remaining festivals.
18
SPP XXII.183; Capron 2008, 133-60.
19
P.Louvre I.4.iii.69-70.
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Vol. 1, Issue 2, December, 2016
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SPP.XXII.183 dates back to the first half of the second century AD, when
the median price of wheat in Roman Egypt was 12 drachmas per artaba,
10 drachmas as the minimum price, and 20 drachmas for the maximum
price.
20
Totally, this means that the minimum sum of the 28 artabas of
wheat consumed in the Soucheia was 280 drachmas, 336 drachmas for the
median price, and 560 drachmas for the maximum sum. The different
interpretation of papyrological, literary, and metrological documents
encouraged debate among scholars over the artaba as a dry measure in
Graeco-Roman Egypt. Richard Duncan-Jones argues that the artaba
equals 48 choenices with metric size of 38.78 liters.
21
John Shelton,
however, argues that the artaba equals 40 choenices with metric size of
38.80 liters.
22
Given that the weight of the Egyptian artaba of wheat is roughly
estimated as 30.29 kg, it follows that the 28 artabas of wheat mentioned in
SPP.XXII.183 would provide 848 kg of flour.
23
Many officiates and other
participants took part in the Soucheia, for which a banquet is confirmed in
papyri.
24
The inhabitants of the village probably played an important role
in the festival, yet visitors from nearby villages were expected to come to
Soknopaiou Nesos and leave the village at the end of the day. This may
suggest a large number of people with an interest in the Soucheia, though
the exact number of the participants cannot be determined.
25
The festival of the foundation of the temple of the god Soknopaios in 21
Pauni rather than 8 Tybi was an opportunity for the dedication of
crocodile images for the god Souchos and his local manifestations in the
Fayum. A crocodile statue from Arsinoe was dedicated to the god
Petesouchos in 18 Pauni (Julian: 21 June).
26
The base of a crocodile
statue similarly found at Arsinoe carries the following text: Petesou=xon
to\n me/gan to\n e0p’ au0tou= fane/nta Pau=ni ih ka e2touj A0pollw/nioj
20
Duncan-Jones 1990, 144.
21
Duncan-Jones 1976, 43-52.
22
Shelton 1977, 55-67.
23
Rathbone 1983, 266; Bagnall 2009, 187. In the mean, 250 g of flour would suffice one
person per day. In other words, 1 kg of flour would meet the daily nutritional
requirement of four persons. This simply means that the 28 artabas of wheat, or the 848
kg of flour, would be consumed by 3393 individuals during the 7-days of the Soucheia at
Soknopaiou Nesos.
24
P.Ross.Georg. II.41.89-96.
25
Herodotus, Histories 2.59, states that 700000 individuals participated in the
countrywide festival of the cat-goddess Bastet at Bubastis (modern Tell Basta in the
Egyptian Delta) during the fifth century BC. This festival survived into the Ptolemaic
and Roman period (P.Hib. I.27.x.145).
26
Mitteis and Wilcken 1912, 105. For a review of this work: Ferguson 1913.
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Vol. 1, Issue 2, December, 2016
- 219 -
A0pollwni/ou Tales(e)wj.
27
It should be noticed that the dedication date
of the statue is 16 Pauni (Julian: 19 June). Jean Toutain rightly suggested
that the word fane/nta indicates an epiphany of the god. The crocodile, in
his view, was not only the living incarnation of the god, but the god
himself.
28
The reason for the dedication of crocodile images in Pauni can be
explained by suggesting that the Soucheia probably marked the
reappearance of crocodiles after aestivation during the dry season period
and hence the announcement of the beginning of the flood.
29
This
symbolic connection should come as no surprise given the deeply rooted
association between the god Souchos and the Nile flood (Haapy) in the
cosmological myths of the Fayum.
30
It should also be remembered that
the Egyptian equivalent for the Greek Soknopai/oj in Demotic papyri of
the Fayum is Sbk=Hopy (Souchos as the Nile flood).
31
The name of the
god Sbk=Hopy written in hieroglyphs has been identified on an inscribed
block from the temple of Soknebtynis at Tebtynis.
32
The cache of papyri
uncovered from priests’ rooms along the western side of the enclosure
wall of the temple of Soknebtynis included a hieratic document, written in
AD 135, of the ‘Glorification of Sobek’, an account of the Fayum lake as
the epicentre of creation by the god Sobek.
33
Sobek is also associated with the creator mother-goddess Neith, whose
titles included ‘the nurse of the crocodile’.
34
The goddess Neith is shown
in traditional imagery suckling the twin crocodiles.
35
Since the Pyramid
Texts, Sobek was one of the beings that emerged from the watery chaos at
the moment of the creation of the world.
36
At Tebtynis, Sobek was closely
linked with Geb, the primeval creator god, whom Greeks identified with
their Kronos. Hence villagers of Tebtynis were often named Kronion (he
of Kronos), Pakebkis (he of Geb), or Petesouchos (gift of Souchos).
37
27
IG Fay. I.12 (58 BC).
28
Toutain 1915, 183-4.
29
Perpillou-Thomas 1993, 142.
30
Rondot 2004, 76 no. 30.
31
Monson 2006, 209.
32
Rondot 2004, 76.
33
Rathbone 2003, 11-12. This reference is available online at
http://tebtunis.berkeley.edu/lecture/townfull (last access on 13 December 2016).
34
Hart 2005, 148.
35
Maspero 1915, 475.
36
Bunson 2002, 378.
37
Rathbone 2003, 7.
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Vol. 1, Issue 2, December, 2016
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In aestivation, the inactive crocodiles used to go into a kind of burrow in
the banks of rivers.
38
When the crocodiles reappear after aestivation, one
of them replaced the sacred dead crocodile.
39
A painting relief uncovered
from Theadelphia shows a funeral procession, where a mummified
crocodile is being carried on a litter on the shoulders of priests (fig. 3).
40
There was a Demotic religious association of crocodile-mummy bearers
operating at Tebtynis from the second century BC.
41
The diet supplied to
Petesouchos and the crocodiles in the Fayum,
42
which consisted of a kind
of cookie and some roasted meat and a pitcher of wine mixed with
honey,
43
was, in Gilbert Bagnani’s view, ‘singularly unsuitable, and
therefore, presumably, the life expectancy of a sacred crocodile must have
been very low’.
44
Upon their death, the sacred animal was embalmed and
buried in sacred coffins,
45
which were placed in special cemeteries
sometimes in the vicinity of temples, such as those uncovered from
Theadelphia and Tebtynis.
46
Figure 3. A funeral procession of the crocodile-god Souchos
(Breccia 1922, 153)
38
Dufaure 1986, 905.
39
Strabo 17.38.
40
Breccia 1922, 153.
41
Muhs 2001, 3-4, 6-19.
42
P.Tebt. I.33.13. This papyrus deals with preparations made for the visit of a Roman
senator, Lucius Memmius, to the Arsinoite nome in 112 BC.
43
Strabo 17.1.38.
44
Bagnani 1952, 77.
45
Hdt. 2.69; Dils 1990.
46
Toutain 1915, 186; Bagnani 1952, 76-8; Merola, M. 2007. ‘Letters to the Crocodile
God’, Archaeology 60:6, 24. The burial places of the sacred mummies of the crocodiles
are known as ‘resting-places’ (Demotic: owy=Htp, Greek: ta/foj): Ray 1976, 139-40;
Pestman 1977, 76-8.
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Vol. 1, Issue 2, December, 2016
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The Egyptian character of the cult of the god Souchos is unquestionable;
however, one cannot assume that the participants in the festival are all
Egyptian-born inhabitants. In AD 75-6, one Chairemon sent a letter to
Apollonius:
God willing, I will visit you in all circumstances after the
Soucheia. I swear by the Dioskouri, which we worship
together [...], that I want to enjoy your change; however, it
is to be completely regarding our guild (?) when the fate
allows... Be so good, most esteemed, and send me by
Sabinus 20 drachmas, because I need them to necessary
expenses ... so I can borrow a donkey and a tricoros of wine
and pay for the imports that we may have for the Soucheia
so we can amuse us herein by your help.
47
Chairemon and Apollonius worshipped Greek deities, the Dioskouroi,
Castor and Polydeuces, but they also took preparations for participating in
the Soucheia and apparently the banquet of the god Souchos, which was
an occasion for amusement for both of them. This should come as no
surprise given that Greek and Egyptian cult cannot be separated in Egypt.
An oracle question to the Dioskouroi was found in the Egyptian temple of
the god Souchos in Bakchias.
48
Equally, the shrine of the Dioskouroi at
Kerkeosiris was under the control of individuals in the same way as the
Egyptian shrines.
49
The use of the donkey in relation to the festival is unclear, but they
probably used it as a ride during a procession of the god through the
village. Public processions (komasiai) were frequently associated with
religious festivals, such as that of Souchos Pnepheros at Theadelphia,
Serapis in Alexandria and the chora, and Thoth-Hermes at Hermopolis
Magna.
50
The sacred enclosure of the god Soknopaios at Soknopaiou
Nesos also had a paved processional way (dromos), 6 metres wide and
410 metres long, leading from the gateway of the temenos to the gate of
47
BGU I.248. 11-16, 22-24, 26-29.
48
Claryesse 2009, 579.
49
P.Tebt. I.14.17-18 (114 BC). This papyrus is an official letter from Menches, village
scribe of Kerkeosiris, to Horos, royal scribe of Kerkeosiris, informing him that he has
taken measures regarding a judicial inquiry for murder and seizure of property against
Heras, son of Petalos, inhabitant of Kerkeosiris, who owns the sixth part of the shrine of
the Dioskouroi in the village, of which the total value is one talent of copper.
50
Souchos Pnepheros: P.Berl.Leihg. II.44.10-11; Serapis: Ach. Tat. 5.2.1-2; SB
IV.7336.42; Abdelwahed 2016; Thoth-Hermes: P.Herm. 2.19-25 = Rees 1964, no. 2, 2-
5. On the Komasterion or procession-house at Hermopolis Magna: Bailey 1986.
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Vol. 1, Issue 2, December, 2016
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Soknopaios.
51
The gate of Soknopaios was ‘the regular entrance to the
village for merchants and their wares and possibly for religious
processions going to and from the lake share’ to the south of Soknopaiou
Nesos.
52
Since the dromos was built on top of a foundation structure more
than 3 metres higher than the two parallel streets, which ran on both sides
of it and were connected with the street network by means of tunnels
under the dromos and stairways, the dromos was used only as a
monumental processional way (figs. 4-5).
53
Similarly, the dromos of the
temple of Soknebtynis at Tebtynis, 210 metres long, was a centre for
communal festivals and private celebrations in the Graeco-Roman period.
The god regularly came out of his temple for a komasia along the dromos,
perhaps also through the village. The processions were mounted at major
festivals like the Soucheia each year, when the god was carried on a bier
by pastophoroi and is accompanied by priests in full regalia, with incense,
flowers, and hymns.
54
Figure 4. The dromos of the temple at Soknopaiou Nesos (Davoli
2011, 77, fig. 7)
51
Davoli 2005, 30.
52
Peterson 1935, 4.
53
Davoli 2011, 74.
54
Rathbone 2003, 8, 16.
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Vol. 1, Issue 2, December, 2016
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Figure 5. The dromos of the temple at Narmuthis (Davoli 2011, 79, fig.
10)
The nomenclature involved in the Soucheia shows a mixed cultural
milieu. In BGU I.248 Chairemon is a popular Egyptian name in the
Fayum, but the recipient of the letter, Apollonius, has a Greek name.
55
In
P.Tebt. III.887 Apollonius bears a Greek name, but his father, Kabathas,
has an Egyptian name.
56
In P.Mil.Vogl. III.145 the tenant of a goose farm
in the Fayum was called Gemenos Hormos, a Persian of the epigone who
lived in the metropolis and presented two geese as a gift for the Soucheia
at Tebtynis.
57
There has been much discussion as to the meaning of the
problematic term Persians of the epigone. Some argue that it signifies the
descendant of a non-Egyptian soldier, himself born in Egypt and liable to
military service. Members of the epigone were the sons of cleruchs,
colonist settlers who were imported to serve in the Ptolemaic army. On
the death of the father, the allotted land regularly passed to the son, who
thereby became obligated to military service.
58
While Persians of the epigone might have originally designated
descendants of Persian soldiers, they could be applied to the families of
all non-Hellenic mercenaries of the Ptolemaic kings, who were descended
not only from Persians of the Achaemenidic and Hellenistic time, but also
from Egyptian soldiers, Graeco-Egyptian half-breeds, Arabs, negroes,
Nubians, Libyans, and Jews.
59
The katoikoi of the second century BC in
the Fayum were merely successors to cleruchs or a sub-division of
55
Dornseiff and Hansen 1957, 116; Thomas 1977, 233-40.
56
P.Tebt. III.887.49.
57
P.Mil.Vogl. III.145.13 = SB VI.9465.
58
Mitteis and Wilcken 1912, 384-5.
59
Tscherikower and Heichelheim 1942, 26.
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Vol. 1, Issue 2, December, 2016
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them.
60
Persians of the epigone frequently appear in papyri of the Graeco-
Roman period, especially on legal documents. In Ptolemaic Egypt, the
term Persian of the epigone probably acquired juridical significance and
occurred in transactions, where the contracting party was answerable to
an obligation before the law.
61
In Roman Egypt, however, the title lost its
military and racial connotation, but the juridical force might still be
applicable.
62
In all cases, there is evidence of a Persian of the epigone
presenting geese for the Soucheia at Tebtynis, which was undoubtedly a
joyful event.
The importance of the Soucheia can be inferred from its long duration, 7
days at Soknopaiou Nesos in the second century AD,
63
and from the
relatively expensive budget of its banquet: 116 drachmas spent on wine
from Memphis, salted fish, pork, and cake.
64
The expensiveness of the
meal is clear when compared to those of the Demetria (104 drachmas),
the Serapia (124 drachmas), and the Amesysia (212 drachmas).
65
There is
nothing specific in the menu of the banquet of the Soucheia.
66
The
consumption of wine rather than beer in the banquet is insufficient in
itself to suppose the Hellenisation or Romanisation of the festival. Salted
fish was also a common diet in the Fayum and elsewhere in Graeco-
Roman Egypt.
67
Similarly, pigs were among the most common domesticated animals since
the Pharaonic period.
68
In Graeco-Roman Egypt, pig-breeding continued
to be a relatively important economic activity.
69
Pigs were reared
alongside other domesticated animals in the courtyards of houses in both
towns and villages.
70
This activity led to the emergence of a ‘pig tax’
60
Grenfell and Hunt 1902, appendix 1, 556-8.
61
Segré 1944, 384.
62
Westermann and Kraemer 1926, 47.
63
SPP III.183.iv.85.
64
P.Ross.Georg. II.41.89-96.
65
On the Serapia: Abdelwahed 2016. On the Demetria and Amesysia: Perpillou-Thomas
1993, 78-81 and 66-71 respectively.
66
Henne 1933.
67
Arsinoite: P.Ryl. II.229.11, 21 (AD 38). Oxyrhynchus: P.Oxy. VI.928.11 (the second
century AD); P.Oxy. VII.1067.28 (the third century AD); P.Oxy. XVII.2148.13 (the first
century AD); SB I.1974.1 (the third century AD). Perithebes: BGU IV.1095.17 (AD 75).
Cf. Plut. De Is. et Os. 7; Wegner 2008.
68
On textual, pictorial and zooarchaeological evidence for pigs in ancient Egypt: Hdt.
2.14; Newberry 1928; Houlihan 1996, 25-8.
69
P.Ryl. II.229.12, 19. Cf. BGU III.949.8 (AD 300, Herakleopolis).
70
Bowman 1986, 102.
Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research Vol. 1, Issue 2, December, 2016
- 225 -
levied from those breeding or trading on pigs
71
and even from those
sacrificing pigs.
72
Pigs played a role in the diet of the inhabitants
73
and
were consumed at least by the lower classes.
74
Pigs were closely
associated in ancient Egyptian religion and mythology with the god Seth,
lord of chaos.
75
Together with hippopotami and donkeys, pigs were only
associated with the god Seth.
76
No Egyptian god, however, took the form
of a pig.
77
Due to their connection with Seth, pigs had an ambiguous
status in ancient Egyptian religion and culture.
78
Pork was never used in
traditional temple offerings. Yet pigs were included in lists of temple
properties.
79
On the night of 15 Pachon, Egyptians sacrificed pigs before
the front door of their houses for the god Osiris.
80
Greek inhabitants undoubtedly showed interest in ancient Egyptian cult,
yet there is no evidence that the Soucheia was exclusively Hellenic or
Egyptian in character. Three stelae from the first century AD record the
consecration of a certain area of land in the Fayum to the god Souchos by
former ephebes.
81
Equally, the propylon of the temple of Pnepheros at
Theadelphia is a private initiative of an Alexandrian citizen.
82
Under
Commodus, the north propylon in the precinct of Petesouchos and
Pnepheros at Karanis was restored at the sole charge of the sitologos
Apollonius, who bore a Greek name.
83
Marsisouchos, a former high priest
of the temple of Hadrian in Arsinoe, left instructions in his will that if
certain terms were not executed properly his estate should go to the
temple of Serapis at Alexandria.
84
In AD 58, the temple of Souchos in Arsinoe could demand pious
contributions from Romans, Alexandrians, and other inhabitants of the
whole nome.
85
In AD 215, a festival of Souchos alias Kronos was held in
71
P.Oxy. IV.733 (171).
72
P.Giss.Bibl. I.2 (the second century BC).
73
Pedding 1991, 20-30.
74
Hecker 1982, 59-71.
75
Bonnet 1952, 112.
76
Dieleman 2005, 130-8.
77
Houlihan 1996, 26.
78
Helck 1984, 764.
79
Newberry 1928, 211.
80
Hdt. 2.47-48, Plut. De Is. et Os. 8; Ael. NA 10.16. For a full discussion of this festival:
Abdelwahed 2015, 88-91.
81
IG Fay. III.200 (AD 98); IG Fay. III.201 (AD 95); IG Fay. III.202 (AD 94).
82
IG Fay. II.107 (AD 137).
83
Grenfell, Hunt, and Hogarth 1900, 34.
84
P.Tebt. II.407.10-11 (AD 199).
85
P.Mert. II.63.7-10.
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the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus at Ptolemais Euergetis and was called
for by the gymnasial and bouleutic elites, reflecting the incorporation of
traditional festivals into imperial civic temples.
86
This melting-pot
cultural milieu such as the Arsinoite suggests that the Soucheia, like many
other religious festivals, was not associated with a certain group in the
Fayum in Graeco-Roman times. In AD 157, the inhabitants of the village
of Theadelphia, regardless of their ethnic origin or legal status, could
celebrate an annual festival of the god Souchos Pnepheros, which
included a public procession, where the sacred images of the god were
carried by bearers.
87
The god Souchos and his local incarnations in the Fayum received
financial support from different guilds operating in the district. In the
second century BC, the corporation of gooseherd (xhno/boskoi) dedicated
a column in the open court of the temple of the god Souchos Pnepheros at
Theadelphia.
88
This reminds of the dedication of the peribolos of the
temple of Soknopaios by the sheep farmers (probatokthnotro/foi) of
the village of Nilopolis in the Fayum in AD 24.
89
Similarly, in a papyrus
of AD 152 that concerns the lease of a chenoboscion by Gemenos
Hormos, a Persian of the epigone, two fine geese are given as gift for the
Soucheia at Tebtynis.
90
It is a reasonable assumption that the geese were
consumed at the banquet of the Soucheia.
91
Individuals and members of various guilds engaged in banquets and
drinking assemblies held in association with religious festivals. Many
invitations to dine at Oxyrhynchus, for example, are connected with the
kline of Serapis in the Serapeion
92
or in the oikos of the Serapeion.
93
Some of the regular monthly banquets of corporations (sunodoi) appear to
have been organised in dining rooms owned by temples (fig. 6).
94
Temple
dining rooms were probably hired out to families, holding dinners to mark
social occasions like the coming of age (mallokouria), marriage, and
86
BGU II.362.vi.22-4 = Sel.Pap. II.404.
87
P.Berl.Leihg. II.44.10-11: kwmastikai=j h9me/raij.
88
IG Fay. II.107/108 (116 BC).
89
Toutain 1915, 177.
90
P.Mil.Vogl. III.145.13-14: Souxi/oij xh=n[aj] a0r[estou\]j du/[o].
91
Pork and fish: P.Ross.Georg. II.41.89-96.
92
P.Oxy. I.181 (the third century); P.Coll.Youtie I.51 (the second or third century).
93
P.Oxy. XIV.1755 (the second or third century); P.Coll.Youtie I.52; SB XX.14503 (the
third century).
94
P.Mich. V.243.1; P.Mich. V.244.14-5; P.Mich. V.245.34-5; Boak 1937, 216; Alston
2001, 208-9, 212.
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birthdays.
95
Based on the presence of a stone altar in front of each room
and architectural similarities to dining rooms in other sanctuaries of the
Fayum, four dining rooms (deipneteria) have been identified along the
dromos of the temple of Soknebtynis at Tebtynis.
96
Figure 6. Peristyle building above dromos of the temple at Tebtynis,
perhaps clubhouse of a sunodos (Rathbone 2009, 19)
Under Vespasian, a mud-brick deipneterion with a stone portal carrying a
Greek dedicatory inscription is built within the sacred precinct of the
south temple of Petesouchos and Pnepheros at Karanis.
97
Seats and tables
were essential physical features of such deipneteria. The deipneterion in
the temple at Karanis apparently had thirteen tables
98
and a social club at
Tebtynis could meet in a dining hall that accommodated 22 persons, of
whom 18 were members and 4 were guests.
99
Banquets were sometimes
organised by religious as well as trade clubs. Although dinner invitations
organised by clubs were nominally held for sacrifices, drinking remained
a distinctive feature of the gathering, as is the case of the banquet of the
Soucheia.
100
SPP XXII.117 records payments made to the praktores of Soknopaiou
Nesos by Panephremmis, presumably the village scribe, for the merismos
of the Soucheion in AD 148/9: meris[mou=] Souxie[i/ou].
101
It appears that
the merismos was a head tax paid equally by all members of the rural
95
Rathbone 2003, 18.
96
Anti 1931, 389; Rondot 2004.
97
SB VIII.10167. On the north temple at Karanis: Yeivin 1934.
98
IGRR I.1120.
99
P.Tebt. I.118.3-4 (112/111 BC).
100
P.Ross.Georg. II.41.89-96. Cf. P.Tebt. I.118.
101
SPP XXII.117.23.
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community to pay for the expenses of the temple of the local crocodile
god.
102
At Soknopaiou Nesos, the merismos would help to cover the costs
of the temple of the god Soknopaios and probably his festivals, including
the Soucheia.
103
This recalls the tax contributions (epimerismos) of calves
and young pigs provided by each village in the division of Herakleides in
the Fayum for the festival of the god Serapis in the late second century
AD.
104
In AD 177/8, villagers of Theadelphia similarly paid one drachma
and three obols to the praktores for the meris[mou=] Souxie[i/ou].
105
This
may indicate a similar amount for the merismos collected for the
Soucheion at Soknopaiou Nesos.
106
In the Ptolemaic period, it is unclear whether the merismos had direct
connection with the cult of the god Souchos in the Arsinoite. In an official
letter of 111 BC, the sender informs the addressee about official business
regarding village scribes, where ‘the merismos of the 1600 artabas has
been drawn up and given to Malas’.
107
Similarly, in 110 BC Petesouchos,
a komogrammateus of Kerkeosiris, petitions the chrematistai for
postponement of a trial against him, because he has impending ‘the
payment of the merismos and items of grain-dues for which his office is
responsible’.
108
In the Roman period, the merismou Soucheiou was intended to pay
expenses related to the temple of the god Souchos.
109
Similarly in AD
148, the merismou= Kaisarei/ou designates taxations of 25 drachmas and 3
obols imposed in Arsinoite possessions of land to cover the costs of the
temple consecrated to the imperial cult.
110
Since the Soucheion may also
designate the funerary temple and burial place of the sacred crocodile of
Souchos,
111
it is possible that the merismos for the Soucheion was also
meant to cover the costs of the embalmment and interment of these sacred
animals, which were presumably left by pilgrims as offerings to Sobek.
112
At Tebtynis, the Soucheion and burial place of crocodiles (Souxiei/ou kai\
102
Perpillou-Thomas 1993, 143. The temple of Souchos (Soucheion) is mentioned in
field-by-field register of land in Arsinoe in the second century BC (P.Tebt. I.86.35).
103
SPP XXII.183.
104
P.Petaus 40 (AD 183/4).
105
P.Lond. III.1235.15.
106
SPP XXII.117.23.
107
P.Tebt. I.58.38-40.
108
P.Tebt. I.29.15-16.
109
Gallazzi 1980, 49-50.
110
P.Mil.Vogl. III.183.7 = P.Kronion 34; Hagedorn and Shelton 1974, 41-3.
111
Bagnani 1952, 77.
112
Merola 2007, 24.
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korkodilotafei/ou) came under the heading of second-class temples.
113
In the same village, another dromos led off west from the main dromos of
the temple of Soknebtynis into the desert to the Soucheion, the funerary
temple for Sobek.
114
A couple of thousand crocodiles had been buried in
the necropolis at Tebtynis, where the bodies were ‘elaborately
mummified, with hundreds of yards of linen bandages wound round and
round so as to form at times an intricate yet attractive pattern’ (fig. 7).
115
Figure 7. Two crocodile mummies uncovered from Tebtynis
(Bagnani 1952, 76)
Although the last documentary reference to the Soucheia from Tebtynis is
of 152 AD, it seems untenable that the festival ceased by the mid-second
century AD for many reasons. First, the priests of the temple of
Soknebtynis are last mentioned in a document of AD 211, and
archaeological evidence confirms that the village was occupied until the
eleventh century AD, when it was abandoned during the Fatimid
period.
116
Second, the merismos associated with the temple and cult of the
god Souchos in the Arsinoite is confirmed in AD 177/8, that is 25 years
after the festival was last mentioned.
117
Thirdly, datable papyri and coins
from Soknopaiou Nesos confirm that the village continued in use from the
mid-second century BC to the mid-third century AD.
118
From the first
century BC to the first half of the third century AD, the village reached
113
P.Tebt. I.88.4 = W.Chrest. 67 (115 BC).
114
Rathbone 2003, 8.
115
Bagnani 1952, 78.
116
P.Mil.Vogl. III.145.13 = SB VI.9465; Rathbone 2003, 1, 24.
117
P.Lond. III.1235.15.
118
Peterson 1935, 14, 19. Soknopaiou Nesos began as a Ptolemaic settlement under
Ptolemy Philadelphos in 241 BC (P.Lille 3.20). The last datable papyrus comes from the
site dates back to Caracalla in AD 215, and there was no numismatic evidence of such
late date (Peterson 1935, 14).
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the height of its material prosperity, which was reflected in an extension
of the area occupied by dwelling houses
119
and the enlargement of the
sacred precinct of the god Soknopaios with a new Egyptian-style temple
at the back of the earlier Ptolemaic temple.
120
The development of the
local community and the religious complex of Soknopaios would
guarantee the continuity of the Soucheia in the village, probably until the
mid-third century AD when the village was finally abandoned. Similarly,
the entirely lacking of Christian material evidence in the village means
that Soknopaiou Nesos remained a pagan community until the close of its
history around AD 250.
121
Conclusion
The Soucheia is the name given in papyri for the festival of the crocodile
god Sobek and his local incarnations in the Arsinoite. The celebration
began in 20 Epeiph and lasted for seven days with the total consumption
of 28 artabas of wheat. It symbolically commemorates the reappearance
of crocodiles after aestivation as well as the rise of the Nile flood. The
Soucheia was associated with the villages of Tebtynis and Soknopaiou
Nesos from the second century BC to the second century AD. Yet it is
possible that the festival survived into the mid-third century AD, when
the village of Soknopaiou Nesos was finally abandoned. The merismos
collected by the praktores from villagers at Soknopaiou Nesos and
Theadelphia in the second century AD probably covered the costs of the
temple of Souchos and the embalmment and interment of the sacred
crocodiles. The Soucheia was an occasion for social gathering and
amusement for the rural inhabitants as well as members of corporations,
including gooseherds, who found it an opportunity for dining and
drinking together. The temple dining-halls at Tebtynis and elsewhere in
the Fayum probably provided fitting arenas for such religious and social
banquets. Egyptian villagers, Greek inhabitants, and the controversial
Persians of the epigone took part in the Soucheia, reflecting the
malleability of religious practices in the Arsinoite during the Graeco-
Roman period.
119
Peterson 1935, 21.
120
Davoli 2005, 35.
121
Peterson 1935, 21.
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