Menches

Menches was an ancient Egyptian official who served as the village scribe of Kerkeosiris from 119 until 110 BCE. As scribe, he recorded land use and agricultural activities in Kerkeosiris and assessed the taxes owed to the pharaoh. Menches lived during the Ptolemaic period, when a Greek dynasty ruled Egypt. He was also known by the Greek name Asclepiades and may have been descended from Greek settlers.

During his lifetime, Egypt experienced a civil war fought by Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III against Cleopatra II from 132–124 BCE. Civil unrest continued for years after the war ended, and several of Menches's colleagues went on strike in 118–117 BCE, which made it difficult for him to continue his duties. He was arrested and accused of attempted murder in late 118 BCE, though he was later acquitted. He continued to serve as scribe until 110 BCE, when he was succeeded by Petesouchos, who was likely his relative.

The location of Kerkeosiris is unknown, and the details of Menches's life are only known through a collection of preserved papyrus documents from his scribal office. These papyri were reused to wrap mummified crocodiles at a temple in the city of Tebtunis in the 1st century BCE. English archaeologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt discovered the papyri in 1900 when they excavated the crocodile necropolis at Tebtunis. Over the next 38 years, the papyri were translated into English by Hunt, Grenfell, and other scholars. The collected papyri are commonly known as the 'archive of Menches'. They are an important source of information about life in Egypt during the Ptolemaic period, including agricultural practices and local government.

Menches lived during the Ptolemaic period, which began after Egypt was conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE. After the death of Alexander in 323 BCE, Egypt was ruled by Alexander's Greek general Ptolemy I Soter (r. 323–282 BCE), who established the Ptolemaic dynasty.^[1]

Menches resided and worked in the village of Kerkeosiris, the exact location of which is not known. The village was founded in the Faiyum Oasis in the early Ptolemaic period, when the Ptolemies began large-scale land reclamation projects in the region. During this period, the Ptolemies granted allotments of farmland to Ptolemaic soldiers who settled in Egyptian villages.^[2] This policy resulted in the settlement of large numbers of Greek immigrants throughout the Egyptian countryside.^[3]

The circumstances of Menches's life have been reconstructed based on papyrus letters that he wrote or received in his occupation as a scribe. Few personal details about Menches are preserved in these documents, and his birth date is unknown.^[4] Menches was one of several sons born to Petesouchos and Thasis.^[5] His brothers included Polemon, who is mentioned in preserved letters from Menches's office.^[6] Polemon was the epistates , or chief administrator, of the village.^[7]

Another man named Mestasutmis has been identified as a possible brother of Menches, as they were business partners and both had a father named Petesouchos. However, papyrologist Arthur Verhoogt stated that it was uncertain whether Mestasutmis was Menches's brother, because Petesouchos was a common name.^[6]

The name 'Menches' means 'He who is perfect' in Egyptian.^[4] He was also known by the Greek name 'Asclepiades'. It was common for people in Ptolemaic Egypt to have a double name; they would use either their Greek or Egyptian name depending on the situation.^[8] Village scribes typically used their Egyptian names, and Menches used his Egyptian name primarily.^[5] Other male members of his family also used their Egyptian names more often than their Greek ones.^[9]

Menches and his father are both described in surviving papyri as a 'Greek of the country', which appears to be derived from an Egyptian term for Greeks born in Egypt. Because of this, the family is believed to be descended from Greek immigrants.^[10] However, the designation of Menches and his father as 'Greeks' might have described their tax status instead of their ancestry.^[11] After the 3rd century BCE, ethnic labels in Ptolemaic Egypt were sometimes used to describe a person's legal status and occupation instead of their ethnicity. Individuals designated as 'Greeks' held a privileged tax status.^[12] Historian Christelle Fischer-Bovet suggested that the family were Egyptians who assimilated to Greek culture, and may have had a single Greek ancestor.^[7]

Menches held the office of komogrammateus or 'village scribe' (Ancient Greek: κομογραμματεύς). This was a prestigious position that gave him influence in his community.^[13] A scribal administration had existed in Egypt since the Old Kingdom (c. 2700 – c. 2200 BCE) and continued into the Ptolemaic period.^[14] Scribes were responsible for managing the agricultural land in Egypt on behalf of the pharaoh. Village scribes like Menches answered to a network of superiors, including the toparchy scribes (topogrammateus) and the royal scribe (basilikos grammateus).^[15] Most scribes were native Egyptians who were required to be bilingual in Egyptian and Greek,^[13] although the highest levels of the Ptolemaic government were under Greek control.^[16]

Menches was first appointed to the position of village scribe sometime before 119 BCE.^[17] A document written by Menches mentions the appointment of a new scribe for an unnamed village in 123 or 122 BCE, which may refer to the date that he first became a scribe.^[18] Menches applied to be reappointed as village scribe on May 25, 119 BCE. In the document,^[19] Menches pledged to rent 10 arouras (6.7 acres (2.7 ha)) of farmland from the royal government.^[20] Cultivating and reclaiming unproductive land is thought to have been a prerequisite for being appointed as a scribe.^[21] He also pledged to deliver a large payment of grain upon his reappointment,^[19] which may have been intended as a bribe.^[22] Menches promised that he would pay a portion of this payment, and the rest would be provided by Dorion, a wealthy politician from Egypt's capital city Alexandria.^[23] It is unknown what Dorion's relationship to Menches was, and why he financially supported his bid for reappointment.^{[22] [24]} On August 20, 119 BCE, the royal scribe renewed Menches for another term as village scribe.^[25]

Menches's primary responsibilities were recording the village's land and inhabitants, and assessing the taxes and rents that were owed to the royal government.^[26] He conducted detailed land surveys,^[27] and maintained a complete registry of agricultural land in the village, including records of what crops were grown and the outcome of each harvest. He supervised sowing, harvesting,^[28] irrigation projects, and other public works.^[29] Menches travelled to Alexandria at least three times to attend meetings held by the dioiketes , the chief finance minister of Egypt. He also visited Krokodilopolis, a city in the Faiyum Oasis, to discuss agricultural surveys with the royal scribe.^[26]

Menches lived during a period of civil unrest stemming from an Egyptian civil war fought by Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III against Cleopatra II.^[30] The war lasted from 132 until 124 BCE, although the civil unrest continued for several years after the war's conclusion. Local officials exploited the peasantry and many farmers abandoned their land to become brigands. As the economy worsened, the price of basic items increased due to inflation.^[31] The flight of tenant farmers in Kerkeosiris resulted in a loss of tax revenue, and 12 of Menches's fellow scribes went on strike between 118 and 117 BCE. These circumstances made it difficult for Menches to perform his duties as scribe.^[30]

On December 7, 118 BCE, Menches, his brother Polemon, and a group of other people were arrested for attempted murder.^[32] They were charged with attempting to poison a man named Haryotes,^[33] who was a citizen of Krokodilopolis. The group were put on trial and acquitted on December 9. After his acquittal, Menches continued to fear slander and reprisal over the incident. In May 117 BCE,^[34] he sent a petition to Ptolemy VIII, Cleopatra II and Cleopatra III, asking them to protect him from harassment.^[35] Menches may have wanted to clear his name before an investigation of village scribes that was scheduled to take place in the summer of 117 BCE. During the investigation, royal officials arrested several scribes for misconduct to set an example of proper behavior.^[34]

In 114 BCE, Menches informed the government that farmers who cultivated royal land in his village were conducting a strike, and the strike was quickly ended.^[33] In 113 or 112 BCE, he received 20 arouras (13.4 acres (5.4 ha)) of waterlogged farmland from the state. The land was granted to him through the cleruchy,^[36] a system where the state distributed plots of farmland to soldiers as compensation for their service.^[37] It was unusual for a civilian official like Menches to receive cleruchic land, which was generally only granted to members of the Ptolemaic army or police. Historian Dorothy J. Crawford suggested that Menches might have received cleruchic land through a new royal policy introduced to increase tax revenue by encouraging the cultivation of previously unproductive farmland.^[36]

Beginning in 111 BCE, Menches shared the position of scribe with a man named Petesouchos. This shared tenure was likely a training period for Petesouchos,^[38] who succeeded Menches as the village scribe in 110 BCE.^[39] He had the same name as Menches's father,^[6] and they may have been family members.^[39]

The collection of papyri commonly called the 'archive of Menches'^[40] contains roughly 200 documents that were written or received by the village scribe of Kerkeosiris. Most of these documents were created during the tenure of Menches, although the collection also includes documents from his predecessor and his successor.^[41] These papyri were discarded by the scribe's office and were taken by other people and reused as writing material between 105 and 99 BCE.^[42]

The reused papyri were recycled again after 91 BCE,^[42] when they were used to stuff and wrap mummified crocodiles at the temple of the crocodile god Soknebtunis in the city of Tebtunis.^[43] While crocodiles were hunted and held negative cultural associations in many parts of Egypt, in some regions they were worshipped as divine animals associated with the Egyptian deity Sobek. Cults centered around the worship of crocodiles were established in cities such as Krokodilopolis, Kom Ombo, and Thebes.^[44] Some temples kept live crocodiles and considered them to be living manifestations of a god. A small basin at the temple in Tebtunis is believed to have been used as a crocodile habitat.^[45]

After their death, the crocodiles at the temple of Soknebtunis were mummified by the priests and buried in a necropolis southwest of Tebtunis.^[46] Most of the crocodiles were stuffed with sticks and reeds before being wrapped in linen, while a small number were wrapped in papyrus. At least 10,000 mummified crocodile specimens have been found at the cemetery, including complete and partial animals.^[47]

The discarded documents were discovered by English archaeologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt during their excavation of the Tebtunis archive between 1899 and 1900.^[43] Grenfell and Hunt had been hired by American archaeologist George Andrew Reisner to excavate the site on behalf of the University of California, Berkeley. Their excavation began at Umm el-Baragat, the location of Tebtunis.^[48] They were focused on discovering papyri, and chose Umm el-Baragat for their excavation because it had not been disturbed by farmers and was dry enough to prevent papyri from decaying.^[49]

Grenfell and Hunt excavated houses, the temple of Soknebtunis, and a necropolis of human mummies south of Tebtunis. Many of the mummified humans in the cemetery were encased in cartonnage,^[48] a hard material made by layering damp sheets of linen or papyrus together with plaster.^[50] Grenfell and Hunt both initially considered the necropolis of mummified crocodiles at the temple to be unimportant.^[48] On January 16, 1900, one of the workmen at the site became frustrated that he was only finding mummified crocodiles instead of human sarcophagi. He kicked one of the crocodiles and broke it open, subsequently discovering that it was wrapped in reused papyri.^[28] Before this accidental discovery, archaeologists did not know that the ancient Egyptians occasionally wrapped mummies in rolls of papyrus instead of the more common linen wrappings.^[51]

Grenfell and Hunt found 31 crocodiles that were wrapped in papyri, and Italian archaeologist Achille Vogliano found 5 more during a separate expedition in 1934.^[51] At least 21 crocodiles containing papyri from the Menches archive were found.^[9] The papyri from Menches's office were found alongside a smaller number of unrelated papyri from the 2nd and 1st century BCE.^[52] As Grenfell and Hunt expanded their excavations of cemeteries around Tebtunis, they found additional human mummies with recycled papyri. In total, they found approximately 30,000 papyrus fragments at the site.^[49]

Grenfell and Hunt presented the results of their excavations to Reisner in mid-1900, and shipped the majority of the artifacts that they found to the University of California. The papyri were shipped to Oxford, England where Grenfell and Hunt could translate and publish them. The first volume of the Tebtunis Papyri, containing many documents from the Menches archive, was published in 1902.^[53] The second volume, published in 1907, contained documents from the priests of Soknebtunis, and mostly dated to the Roman period. The remaining papyri were not published until nearly 30 years later, owing to Grenfell's chronic illness.^[54]

Grenfell experienced a mental breakdown in 1906–1907,^[55] and was unable to assist Hunt, who continued editing the volumes of papyri by himself. Grenfell recovered enough to work in 1914 and resumed editing the papyri.^[56] Grenfell's mental health issues resulted in him being hospitalized at St. Andrew's sanatorium in 1920 and then at Murray Royal Hospital in Perth, Scotland. He died in 1926.^[55] The third volume of the papyri was published in two parts; the first in 1933 and the second in 1938. The second part had to be finished by J. G. Smyly and Campbell Cowan Edgar,^[54] as Hunt had died in 1934.^[57] The Tebtunis papyri were moved from London to the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1938.^[58]

The papyri are an important source for modern historians because they preserve information about daily life in villages during the late Ptolemaic period.^[28] They also provide general information about government, land ownership, agriculture, and populations in Egypt in the late 2nd century BCE.^[59] The majority of documents in the archive are related to land registries and agricultural reports. These papyri provide information about every stage of agricultural production in the village, including planting, irrigation management, and harvesting.^[33]

The extensive size of the Menches archive and its focus on scribal activities makes it an important source of information on how data was collected and used by the Ptolemaic Egyptian government.^[60] The archive contains detailed information about the daily functioning of the scribal office in Kerkeosiris, including records of its revenues, expenses, and administrative responsibilities.^[33] These records include information about tax assessment and tax payments in Ptolemaic Egypt.^[61]

The archive contains correspondences sent and received by Menches. These include correspondences between Menches and his superiors, such as instructions that he received from the royal scribe.^[30] The papyrus P. Tebt. I 33 is a well-known correspondence from the archive; written by the chief finance minister in 112 BCE, it announces that the Roman senator Lucius Memmius would be visiting the Faiyum Oasis.^[62] The correspondences also include reports of crimes that Menches received from civilians,^[30] such as allegations that oil smugglers were circumventing the government-granted monopoly on the vegetable oil industry.^{[63] [64]} These villagers requested his assistance in forwarding their complaints to the appropriate government officials so that justice could be delivered.^[30]

• Zenon of Kaunos, scribe who flourished in 3rd century BCE Egypt

• Menches entry on attalus.org

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• Archaeological discoveries in Egypt
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