"Bradeos graphon" [Greek]: Between Literacy and Illiteracy Youtie, Herbert C Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1971; 12, 2; ProQuest pg. 239 Bpa8'wc yp&.c/>wv: Between Literacy and Illiteracy Herbert C. Youtie SOUTH of the old Egyptian city of Memphis, and separated from it by some thirty-five miles of desert, lies the great depression known to the ancient Greeks as the Lake CA{fLV7J), or administra­ tively since the Ptolemies as the Arsinoite nome, and now called the Fayum. Along its northern edge were the flourishing towns of Bacchias and Karanis. The desert road entered the Fayum at Bacchias, and some seven miles to the west the traveler came to Karanis. If he then turned south again and moved gradually eastward for another four miles, he reached a village which had the Egyptian name of Tamais.1 This was a place in no way remarkable, simply another rural community which one might pass on the way to the metropolis. It happens, however, that during the reign of Commodus a certain Ischyrion served at Tamais in the capacity of town clerk (KwfLo­ YPCt.fLfLCt.TEJC).2 He had been sent there from his home in Ptolemais Hormou, a harbor town at the southern entrance to the Fayum, where ships came in from the Nile.3 At some time before May 184, Ischyrion had the embarrassing experience of being denounced to the chief finance officer of Egypt (OtOLK7JT~C),4 either by a professional informer or a disgruntled villager, as being a man encumbered with debt, not meeting the property qualification, and illiterate (aYPdfLfLaToc).5These charges were transmitted for investigation to the governor of the 1 Or Tamauis; cf PTebt. II, p.403. For the relative pOSitions of Memphis, Bacchias, Karanis and Tamauis, see the map at the back of PTebt. II; cf the brief remarks in HThR 41 (1948) 15 n.36; PMich. VIII 496, 22-23 n. 2 For the qualifications and duties of this functionary, see F. Oertel, Die Liturgie (Leipzig 1917) 157ff; cf Cd'E 81 (1966) 132. 3 Cf PPetaus pp.22f; PFayum pp.12-14. 4 For a brief summary of his functions see J. Lallemand, L'administration civile de I'Egypte (MtmAcadBelg 57.2, 1964) 81f; cf Wilcken, Grundz. 156. 6 On the aypap.p.aTo, see E. Majer-Leonhard, ArPAMMATOI (Frankfurt 1913); R. Cal­ derini, uGli aypap.p.aTo£ nell' Egitto greco-romano," Aegyptus 30 (1950) 14-41; H. C. Youtic, uArPAMMATOE: An Aspect of Greek Society in Egypt," HSCP 75 (1971) 161-76. 239 240 BPALJEQ~ rPAcfJQN: BETWEEN LITERACY AND ILLITERACY Fayum (cTpa:rTJyoc),6 who in turn sent them on to Petaus, at that time town clerk of Ptolemais Hormou.7 When Petaus reported back to the governor, he stated categorically that Ischyrion was not illiterate but in fact signed all papers which were sent from his bureau to the governor and other officials.8 The signatures written by Ischyrion were thus proffered as conclu­ sive evidence that he was literate. What lends a special tang to Petaus's refutation of the charge of illiteracy brought against Ischy­ rion is that it describes perfectly the practice followed by Petaus himself. He was in effect offering a defence not only of Ischyrion. against whom the accusation had been directed, but also of himself and his own procedure. We have from his hand seven signatures appended to documents which contain nominations to village liturgies. In four of them he writes llETa:vc KWJLoypa(p,JLaTEvc) €1TtOEOWKa, i.e. eel, Petaus, town clerk, have submitted (this nomination)." The other three have the same form but lack the title.9 The writing in all of them is stiff, awkward, uneven, kept on the line with obvious effort. Petaus is totally without skill as a writer. He is indeed not a writer at all in any proper sense, but a man copying a model or repeating it from memory. The proof of this curious situation is a sheet of papyrus which he used for learn­ ing to write his signature. Starting with a form prepared by someone for his guidance, he produced in four successive lines reasonably cor­ rect if rough copies. In the fifth line he overlooked the initial vowel of the verb, and from that point through seven more copies of the signature he invariably omitted the vowel.1° The error was repeated so often because from line 5 on he was using his own copy as a model. 6 N. Hohlwein, Le stratege du nome (Papyrologica Bruxellensia 9, 1969); cf Wilcken, Grundz. 37f. 7 PPetaus pp.22-30. 8 P Petaus II, 35-37 (pl.IV) ; cf the note to line 35. The edition wavers between acceptance and rejection of JL~ with aypaJLJLa'Tov. After repeated palaeographic and logical examination of the text, I have settled on the folloWing as inescapable: w? €lva£ 8~ Ka~ ayp&'JLJLa'Tov a~T6v. For postponement of 8' after a negative, see J. D. Denniston, The Greek Particles2 (Oxford 1954) 186f; on the force of MA&' in the concluding clause, pp.16ff, or more briefly H. W. Smyth, Greek Grammar (New York 1920) § 2776. The passage has been correctly interpreted by E. G. Turner, Greek Papyri, An Introduction (Princeton 1968) 83: " ... when he (Le. Petaus) was asked whether a colleague, another village secretary, was illiterate, he reported 'No, since he can countersign'." 9 For a list of these texts see PPetaus p.36. 10 PPetaus 121. The papyrus is reproduced on pl.XIX (a) at the end of the volume. HERBERT C. YOUTIE 241 He was unable to introduce a correction at any point because he could not read what he wrote, and we understand in consequence why his papers have nothing from his hand except the one formula,u But there is more to be said about Petaus and his attempt to pass himself off as literate. Sometime in the 24th year of the reign of Com­ modus, i.e. the year 183(4, he and his brother Theon borrowed a hundred drachmas from a certain Heron. The acknowledgement of debt was written by Theon, who at the end of the chirograph, just before the date, made the following statement: ClI " ,f, \. \ - n - \,~ 12 It:'IEWV Eypa'f'a Kat V7TEp rov Eravroc ra 7TI\LCra, i.e. HI, Theon, wrote the greater part (of this document) also on behalf of Petaus." This is a formula which recurs in a number of other texts where a common obligation undertaken by two or more persons is recorded,13 One example will be enough to give us the pattern of its use. A papy­ rus at Berlin preserves three subscriptions which were appended to a loan of money sometime in the second century. The recipients of the loan were four in number and bore the Egyptian names Pammes, Apynchis, Satabous and Pakysis. Pammes wrote the principal sub­ scription in the names of all four, with a final statement describing his contribution to the document: n -" ,f, • \ 'A I \ n I " ~ app.:TJC Eypa'f'a V7TEp 7TVYXEWC Kat aKVCEWC ra 7TI\ELCra, • , ~ , - ~ R - 14' [] 'e' I V7TEp OE rov ..:."arafJovc ayp a pp,arov Ka. C!Jt; 7TpOKELraL. HI, Pammes, wrote the greater part (of the subscription also) on behalf of Apynchis and Pakysis, and I wrote on behalf of Satabous because he is illiterate, as aforesaid." Apynchis and Pakysis then added briefer subscriptions of their own, so validating the longer subscription written by Pammes. Satabous of course wrote nothing since he was illiterate.15 This is substantially the pattern of all the documents which contain the expression Eypa!fa ru 7TAELcra, "I wrote the greater part," or, in its 11 cf PPetaus p.36. For more detailed description and discussion see Cd'E 81 (1966) 133-37; cf Youtie, op.cit. (supra n.5) 171f. 12 Read 11,\€tCTa. 13 E.g. BGU XI 2032 (A.D. 113); PSI X 1143 (A.D. 164); Sammelbuch VI 9618 (A.D. 192); BGU III 853 recto (2nd cent.); PAbinn. 64 (=PLond. II 251, p.317=Mitteis Chrest. 270; ca. A.D. 350). 14 Read l:aTafJofYroc. 16 BGU III 853 recto; cf BL I p.73. 242 BPAJEQ~ rPAtPQN: BETWEEN LITERACY AND ILLITERACY longer form, Eypropa Kat trTTEp TOU DELva Tee ?TAELCTa, HI wrote the greater part also on behalf of so-and-so." When the body of the agreement was the work of a professional scribe, one of the parties produced a standard subscription including the clause in question, his colleague or colleagues added each a few words.16 Variants of this situation also occur, but the pattern remains the same. For example, a papyrus in Berlin preserves a document sub­ mitted to a governor of the Fayum in A.D. 144 by Menekleia, daughter of Kallias. The first twenty-five lines, written by a professional scribe, present a sworn undertaking by Menekleia to sail down to Alexandria and attend the court of the prefect of Egypt. Immediately below, in lines 26-32, Philadelphos, son of Menekleia, acting as his mother's kyrios, or officially approved adviser in legal actions, but not strictly a party to the undertaking, wrote a subscription in his mother's name. He used the formula which now concerns us: Eypmpa Kat iJ?TEP TfjC P:'1Tp6C [Ta] 'V~fCTap HI wrote the greater part (of the subscription) also on behalf of my mother." At the end Menekleia wrote her name and a few words intended to summarize her obligation.1s Just so, in the acknowledgement of loan written by Theon for him­ self and his brother Petaus, Theon wrote the body of the document, added the statement that he Hwrote the greater part (of the text) also on behalf of Petaus," and concluded with the date of the loan. There should have come next, following the pattern seen in the undertaking of Menekleia, a subscription from the hand of Petaus, but no sub­ scription is given in the edition. The editors have, however, made a pertinent comment on the condition of the papyrus below the Greek 18 PFay. 35 is an exception. Two deputy tax-collectors, Mystes and Harpalos, acknowl­ edge receipt of wages and undertake to fulfil certain duties. The entire document of 12 lines was written by Mystes (cf the editors' note to line 1). At the end (11-12) he writes Mvc'T7Jc €ypa.pa T,x 1TA"LcTa. This clause implies that Harpalos was expected to add his sub­ scription, but the subSCription was never written. 17 Read 1TA"tCTa. 18 BGUIII 891 recto (A.D. 144); see BLI p.78. BGUI 300 recto (=Mitteis, Chrest. 345; A.D. 148) is an JmTpomK7J cvcTanc, by which one veteran authorizes another to undertake the man­ agement of his properties in the Fayum. The body of the document was written by a third veteran, who states: €ypa.pa T,x 1TA[€Lc]Ta. Both parties sign at the bottom. In PThead. 2 (A.D. 305) Aurelius Sarapion sells a house which he owns in Arsinoe. A subscription is written for him by Aurelius Ploutammon, who asserts in the usual form: €YPatPa Imtp aVT01JT,x 1T[Atc]T[a] (=1TA"tCm; 1T[al'}r[a] ed.). Sarapion adds his name and a few appropriate words. In BGU IV 1049 (A.D. 342) Hesychion, with her husband Athanasios as ,ropwc, sells land which she has at Philadelphia. Her subscription is written for her by Athanasios, who adds eypa.pa Im~P TijC cup.f3lw (=-f3{ou) P.OU TCI1TALcTa (=1TA"tCm). and Hesychion writes a brief confirmation. HERBERT C. YOUTIE 243 text: H ••• the surface of the papyrus is almost entirely stripped away. Nevertheless, scattered traces of several lines are visible, but these are wholly illegible and in no case can individual letters be recognized."19 Still, in view of what we have learned about the phrase TQN: BETWEEN LITERACY AND ILLITERACY concluded the chirograph of loan that he wrote for himself and Petaus. What Petaus may have written at the bottom of the loan is now lost, but in the cession of catoecic land two lines survive from the hand of Apollodoros, written below the subscription appended by his partner Ptolemaios for them both. The editor of the document has noted that Apollodoros has a clumsy hand, almost like a school­ boy's.22 This description suggests some resemblance to the signatures produced by Petaus both on his practice-sheets and below the lists of nominations intended for the governor. The chances are small that Apollodoros was to any degree more accomplished than Petaus, and we know that Petaus was in no real sense literate since he could not even read what he himself wrote. Apollodoros may also have drawn his letters after a model, but to all appearances he passed as literate. Apollodorus has a counterpart in a certain Panesis, who joined his brother Psyphis in a lease of land at Tebtunis in A.D. 164. The brothers were priests in the temple of the god Soknebtunis, which held in per­ manent lease from the Roman government extensive areas of royal land. This concession went back to the time of Augustus, and the priests of the temple are found leasing this land back and forth among themselves. On this occasion the brothers gave in. lease to two other priests 3i- arouras of royal land. The agreement to lease, written by a professional scribe, occupies the first twenty-five lines of the docu­ ment. Below it, in lines 26-30, is a subscription written by Psyphis for himself and his brother Panesis. His concluding words are 1j'fjgJtc eypalpa -reX 7TALc-ra,23 i.e. "I, Psyphis, wrote the greater part (of the sub­ scription)." Then Panesis added two lines as his contribution. He wrote in large capitals, and his hand may also be likened to that of a still unformed schoolboy.24 It is true that the formula eypatpa -reX 7TA€Lc-ra, "I wrote the greater part," does not necessarily imply that the subscription which follows is from an unpractised hand. When two or more persons participated in a contract as joint lessors or lessees, joint sellers or buyers, it was entirely natural that one of them compose a detailed subscription for 22 H. Gerstinger, in Studi Calderini e Paribeni II (Milan 1956-57) 287: "Apollodoros, dessen ungelenke Hand fast schiilerhaft anmutet." 23 Read 1TA£LCTa. 24 PSI X 1143. Manfredo Manfredi (letter of 27 Nov. 1970, in reply to a query of mine): "La scrittura delle righe 31-32 e del tipo 'large capitals' piuttosto 'schiilerhaft', rna non direi 'stentata' veramente." HERBERT C. YOUTIE 245 all, then each of the others briefly indicate his agreement.25 They might all be fully literate. Nevertheless, as we have seen, this pro­ cedure suited very well those whose capacity to write might be severely limited.26 The same may be said for the alternative formula Eypa¢;a 'TO cwf-ta "I wrote the body (of the document)." This expression is synonymous with Eypa~a 'Ta 7T'\ElC'Ta, and it is brought into play in equally varied circumstances. Out of twenty-two texts in which it is found, sixteen are not useful for our purpose.27 For most of the remaining six, 2. See n.13 supra. For PAbinn. 64 we are fortunate enough to have the assessment ofE. G. Turner (letter of 24 Nov. 1970): "In PAbinn. 64 I should say the subscription of Aurelius Zenon was that of a very practised and quick writer indeed, and the places where it appears otherwise are due to the fact that he has not lifted his pen from the papyrus and some extra strokes appear." Irrelevant to our problem is BGU XI 2032 (cf pl.m in that volume), which is written by a single hand throughout. 26 For Sammelbuch VI 9618 and PSI X 1143 we have the palaeographic comments of Ger­ stinger and Manfredi (see nn.22 and 24 supra). I am now able, thanks to the kindness of Wolfgang M liller (letter of 2 Dec. 1970) to add his descriptions of the hands in two of the Berlin texts. BGU III 891 recto (see above, p.242): "Die Unterschrift der Menekleia (Z.32f) ist von dem Text ihres Sohnes (Z.26-32) nur wenig verschieden. Menekleia schreibt etwas un­ gelenk, ohne Ligaturen, vielleicht sagar etwas zittrig; so gelingt es ihr z.B. nicht im 'TT von 'TTp6KLTaL die obere Querhasta in einem geraden Strich durchzuziehen. Ihr Sohn Philadel­ ph as schreibt fllissiger und zuweilen mit Ligaturen. Beide haben denselben Stilus und die· selbe Tinte verwendet. Der Vert rag selbst (Z.I-25) ist viel dlinner und fllichtiger geschrieben." BGU IV 1049 (see n.18 supra): "Aurelia Hesychion setzt in ihrer Unterschrift ebenfalls die Buchstaben gleichmassig, aber unverbunden, zuweilen mit deutlichen Spatien nebeneinander. Ihre Schrift is nicht schlilerhaft und entspricht dem Duktus der Zeit, was bei einem Vergleich mit den anderen Handen ganz deutlich wird. Aurelius Athanasios, ihr Mann, schreibt flilssig, etwas nach rechts geneigt. Falls er auch den Ver­ tragstext geschrieben haben sollte, dann hat er sich bemliht, sehr leserlich und deutlich zu schreiben, und das gibt dem Schriftbild einen uneleganten Zug." 27 PRy!. II 153 (A.D. 138-161) is a will; the testator appoints a friend to write Ti]C Il7Toypacpi]c TO cW/La because he himself is ill; but in the will as we have it, the subscription was not in­ cluded. Each of the following texts was written by a Single hand throughout; in each the writer indicates that he is responsible for the cW/La, and he also writes the subscription, either for himself or for others: PTebt. II 375 (A.D. 140); PSI IX 1030 (A.D. 109); 1065 (A.D. 156/7); PStrasb. 137 (=SB V 8019; A.D. 325); 256 (A.D. 132); PFay. 34 (A.D. 161); BGU XI 2048 (pl.m; A.D. 217); POxy. XVII 2120 (A.D. 221). In PLips. 10 (A.D. 240) and PGrenf II 71 (A.D. 244- 248), both of which contain copies of earlier documents, cW/La again deSignates the body of the text as opposed to the subscriptions. For POslo. II 45 (A.D. 135) I am able to quote a comment from Leiv Amundsen (letter of 5 Jan. 1971): "The writing of lines 1-6 is of an ex­ tremely common character, very fluent and 'ausgeschrieben'. The hand of lines 6ff is by no means unskilled. It reminds me-which is natural enough-of the type used by so many private letter writers, combining elements from majuscules with cursive forms and con­ venient ligatures. The writer must have had a good deal of practice since he learnt to write." In PHamb. I 69 (A.D. 146) one party wrote TO cW/La, and his statement to this effect serves also as his subscription; a second party indicated his approval with cEc'fJ/L£iw/LaL. The 246 BPALJEQ~ rPAf/>QN: BETWEEN LITERACY AND ILLITERACY editors have supplied palaeographic notices which make it evident that this formula also provided an effective shield for barely literate writers. The tone of editorial comment is remarkably uniform. One subscription is said to be written in "upright capitals," not the more or less rapid cursive one might expect of a normal documentary hand ;28 another is described as "very clumsy" ;29 a third is said to re­ flect very little experience in the art of writing.3o For the remaining three texts somewhat fuller illustration is needed because they are linked to a considerably larger dossier of pertinent materials. One of them records the sale of a camel by Kasios, son of Kasios ;31 it was written by Philadelphos, perhaps the brother of Kasios.32 His personal statement comes at the end, just before the date: " ],1. \ A [A \"] • I ,I.. Eypa 'f'a TO cWJLa. ~O v TO 0 vOJLa V1TOypa'f'0VTOC. "I wrote the body (of the sale) and you wrote your name below."33 After the date Kasios did write his name, the verb 1T€1TpaKa, "I have sold," and the standard clause Ka()c1c 1TpOKEtTat, "as stated above." Eric Turner has said that Kasios is "a slow writer and not at ease in forming his letters ... "34 The words chosen by Turner for his estimate ofKasios merit close attention. They correspond precisely to an obser­ vation made by Girolamo Vitelli more than sixty years ago about another subscriber, who was writing on behalf of his illiterate daugh­ ter.35 situation is much the same in PGen. 42 (A.D. 224); PRoss. Georg. III 26 (A.D. 233/4). BGU I 187 (A.D. 159) is a short text written for a woman by her /eyrios because she is illiterate. At the end he writes, according to the published text: M€.\avac 6 7rPOKtP.€VOC [",..[7r]paxa 'TO cwp.a. 28 H. Maehler BGU XI 2085 (A.D. 119): "Die 2. Hand schreibt aufrechte Majuskeln." The subscriber is one of three 7TP€C{3V-r€POL, who writes also for the others because they are illiterate. 29 J. Schwartz, PSarap. 1Z (A.D. 131): "La seconde main est tres maladroite." 30 P. M. Meyer, PHamb. 139, no.34 (pp.161, 163; A.D. 179): "die eigenhandige Subscriptio des Schreibungewandten." 31 PLond. III 1132b (pp.141f; A.D. 14Z). 32 The name of Philadelphos' father was given in line 11 ; only K[ now remains. 33 See BL I p.Z82. 34 Letter of 24 Nov. 1970. Turner adds what I have omitted above: "but I have seen far less well formed hands." 35 PFior. I 1 (=Meyer, fur.Pap. 68; A.D. 153). This papyrus preserves two documents, which the editor labels A and B. A is a loan of money, for which land is offered as security; B is a bank 8Laypa.p1} by which the loan is made operative. The papyrus is reproduced on pl.J in the edition (opp. p.64). Since the same hands appear in both A and B, I shall confine my remarks to A. HERBERT C. YOUTIE 247 The daughter's name was Ptolema alias Tbesis, and she was borrow­ ing money from a woman named Hermione. She was assisted in this transaction by her father Horion, who acted as her kyrios. The text of the loan was produced by a professional scribe, and a second profes­ sional added signalments of the parties. A subscription was written for the borrower, Ptolema alias Tbesis, by a certain Hermeinos, who marked his contribution with the words Eypmpa T() ceV/La TfjC imoypacpfjc, HI wrote the body of the subscription." Ordinarily Ptolema would have added a few words of her own, but since she was illiterate, her father wrote them for her. It is his hand that drew from Vitelli a com­ ment practically identical with Turner's remark about Kasios in the London papyrus. Kasios, we were told, was a Hslow writer," and ac­ cording to Vitelli, Horion was a {3pa8l.wc yp&.cpwv, a man who wrote Hslowly."36 In order to place Horion as an unpractised writer, Vitelli borrowed from other Greek papyri a technical term which was used to describe an entire class of writers. It is therefore of more than casual interest that the next and last item in our list of documents with the cwwx formula concerns a subscriber whom the Greek text specifically puts among the Hslow writers." This is an agreement by which Philantinoos cedes to Hermias a share of a house inherited by him from a paternal cousin, in order to cover a debt incurred by the latter.37 A subscription was added by Apollonios, son of Barbillos, in the name of Philantinoos. Apollonios ends with the cWJLa formula: €ypmpa lJ7TEP aVTov TO cW/La TfjC lmoypacpfjc, aVTov VCTfEpOV V1ToYP&'CPOVTOC {3pa8I.wc, HI wrote for him the body of the subscription, and he then wrote slowly below." The editor of this text, Frederic Kenyon, did not com­ ment on the hand, but he printed the words written by Philantinoos in capitals. What the capitals were likely to mean to Kenyon is re­ vealed in his appraisal of the hand of a certain Cornelius in another document on the same papyrus.3S Cornelius is not described in the 38 G. Vitelli, note to line 14: "Ora il padre Horion, che la assiste come kyrios, era bensi in grado di apporre una semplice firma, rna, come si vede dagli stentati suoi caratteri, era un {3paaewc yp&cpwvevidentemente incapace di scrivere lunghe proposizioni, percio fa scrivere il testo della dichiarazione, TO cWJ.La •.. , da persona del mestiere, ed egli aggiunge di propria mano la sola indispensabile sottoscrizione vera e propria." 37 PLend. III 1164k (p.167; A.D. 212). 38 PLond. III 1164f (p.162; A.D. 212). Cf Facs. III, p1.48. 248 BPAL1EfJJ: rPAtJ>fJN: BETWEEN LITERACY AND ILLITERACY text as a "slow writer," but he was nevertheless not up to writing a full subscription for himself. The document is a bank St(typarp~, and this was written by a certain Harpalos, son of Nemesion, who also wrote a subscription for Cornelius. Directly after the subscription, Cornelius wrote his name and three more words. Kenyon printed these in capitals also and added a terse comment: "The hand of Cor­ nelius is a most illiterate scrawl."39 Our survey of the formulas ;ypwpa 'TO: 1TA.€ic'Ta and ;ypmpa 'T6 cWfLC!. has now brought us to a third and much more widely used formula­ {3paSlwc yparpwv. This appears to be a device for maintaining status as a literate person while openly admitting that one writes "slowly." We shall soon see how much or how little is implied by this tag.40 The entire corpus of papyri as it now stands presents us with forty­ eight texts in which forty-six persons are described as slow writers. 41 Only two of these belong to the Ptolemaic period; the others range from the time of Augustus to the seventh century. For as many as twenty-eight of the total number we unfortunately lack the palaeo­ graphic information that would make them useful to our purpose. Sometimes the editors of these documents did not describe the hands, and facsimiles are not available. In other cases, subscriptions were for one reason or another not written, or they have been lost in damage suffered by the papyrus.42 But we are not too badly off on that ac- 39 J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan, who register PLond. III 1164k for &rr0YP&.q,wv {3paSlwc in The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (London 1914-29) s.v. {3pa36c, speak of "the painful un­ cials of Philantinous." (Since no facsimile of this part of the roll was published, they may themselves have seen the papyrus in the British Museum.) Certainly the uncials set down by Cornelius are painfully drawn. 40 The variants of the formula are not significant: {3pa3lwc (-la) yp&.q,wv, {3pa3lwc &rr0YP&.­ q,wv, 3ta 'T6 {3pa36-r€pov (-pa, -3la) yp&,q,€w. 41 Majer-Leonhard, writing in 1913 (supra n.5), listed 30 persons under the rubric "qui homines in Aegypto aegre tantum scripserint." R. Calderini in 1950 (supra n.5), starting with Majer-Leonhard's list, raised the number to 51. But not all of these are called "slow writers" in the texts. BGU III 891 recto and PThead. 2 have the 'Ta 1T'\€rC'Ta formula; see above, pp. 241-42 and n.18. PHamb. 39, no. 34 has the 'T6 cW/La formula; see n.30. The soldier for whom PHamb. 39, no.n was written is described by the editor as "Schreibungewandt," but the text is not given. Two men in PLond. III 1164f (p.162) [see above, pp.247f and n.38] wrote in large, extremely unskilled capitals, and another in POxy. I 138 wrote only his name. None of these is specifically stated to be a "slow writer," although their hands may well justify such an inference. The description, however, is not justified when applied to the persons in POxy. VI 911 and Stud.Pal. XX 128; see below, pp.251f. 42 Wilcken, Ostr. 1027 (Pto!.); PRy!. II 173 (A.D. 34); PSI VII 802 (A.D. 85/6); PTebt. II 316 (= Wilcken, Chrest. 148; A.D. 99); PRyl. II 156 (1st cent.); POxy. III 497 (early 2nd cent.); BGU I 69 (= Mitteis, Chrest. 142; A.D. 120); PLond. II 298 (p.206; A.D. 124); PTebt. II 311 (A.D. 134); HERBERT C. YOUTIE 249 count. We are left with twenty pieces of writing as a guide to judge­ ment. For many of these we have the comments of the editors, and luckily these are aimed directly at the point that interests us. A few can be inspected on published facsimiles, and I have myself seen the seven that are in the Michigan collection.43 The participation of slow writers in the documents follows closely the pattern we have already observed in texts which use the 'TO: 7T'\E~C'Ta and 'TO cWfLa formulas. One example will suffice. In a text from Euhemeria, a village in the west of the Fayum, a certain Maron acknowledges to his brother Onnophris that he has received 20 drachmas as his share of an inheritance from their father. Since Maron is a slow writer, someone named Pappion writes for him a subscrip­ tion of ten lines; Maron himself adds three lines.44 Grenfell and Hunt, who published this text, observe that the slow writer Maron produced his three lines in Hrude uncials." In another text, also edited by Grenfell and Hunt, a woman named Thases sells a camel and her husband acts as her kyrios. Since she does not know how to write and he is a slow writer, a third person writes the sub­ scription (lines 19-24) for her. Just before the subscription, however, the husband has identified himself in his own hand (line 18): E'To'Tofj'TtC E[my]€ypafLfLE KVPLC,45 HI, Stotoetis, am authorized to act as her kyrios." He employs "rough uncials," as the editors say on this occasion.46 Grenfell and Hunt did not use these phrases lightly. They again resort to "rude uncials" to describe the hand of another slow writer, who PGiss. 29 (A.D. 150); BGU II 446 (A.D. 158/9); XI 2055 (2nd cent.); PHamb. I 39, nO.33 (p.164; A.D. 179); Wilcken, Chrest. 434 (A.D. 390); Stud.Pal. I p.7 (A.D. 454); PLond. III 1023 (p.267; 5th-6th cent.); PCair.Masp. III 67306 (A.D. 515); 67297 (A.D. 535); PEr!' 75 (p.84; A.D. 535- 537); PFlor. III 283 (A.D. 536); SB V 8029 (A.D. 538); PLond. III 1006 (p.261 ; A.D. 556); 1007b+c (p.264; A.D. 558); SB I 6000 (6th cent.); PRoss.Georg. V 34 (ca. A.D. 600); SB I 4669 (A.D. 614); VI 9595 (7th cent.). 43 Wilcken, Ostr. 757 (106/5 B.C.); BGU II 543 (27 B.C.); PRy!. II 183a (pI.4; A.D. 16); BGU XI 2116 (pl.VIII; A.D. 25/6); SB VI 9110 (A.D. 26); PMich. V 252 (=PSI VIII 905; A.D. 26/7); 336 (A.D. 27); 278 (ca. A.D. 30); 273 (=PSI VIII 906; A.D. 46); 305 (1st cent.); PMich. inv. 90 (un­ publ., transcr. by P. J. Parsons; A.D. 74); PFay. 97 (A.D. 78); CPR 1 (= Stud.Pal. XX 1; Fuhrer durch d. Ausstellung pbx; A.D. 83/4); PRoss.Georg. II 15 (A.D. 98-102); PRein. 44 (pl.vn= Mitteis, Chrest. 82; Hadrian); PStrassb. 19 (pl.IV; A.D. 105); PMich. VI 428 (A.D. 154); PAmh. II 102 (A.D. 180); PLond. III 1164k (p.167; A.D. 212); PSIIX 1037 (A.D. 301); PMichae!' 43 (pl.rr; A.D. 526). HPFay.97. 45 Read E7rtylypa/L/Lat KVPWC, 46 P Amh. II 102. 250 BPAJEQ}; rPA(/)QN: BETWEEN LITERACY AND ILLITERACY put his name and the appropriate verb at the bottom of a receipt for hay. His letters can be seen on the published facsimile; they are broad, squat, and altogether ugly.47 A papyrus in the Michigan collection presents Valeria Diodora, who is assisted by her husband in the sale of a house at Karanis. Diodora is a slow writer, and her husband writes the subSCription for her. To this Diodora adds one sentence of respectable length in her own hand; but, in the words of the editors, "each letter was laboriously formed, and the writer was unable to maintain a straight line; ... the alphabet is largely majuscule."48 Another Michigan papyrus documents the re­ payment of a loan. The acknowledgement was written for Dieuches, son of Kephalon, by a professional scribe. A subscription was added by Sarapion, another son of Kephalon, in the name of his brother Dieu­ ches, because the latter "writes slowly." Dieuches then wrote his name and the verb a:1TEXw, "I have received (the money)." His hand has been described by P. J. Parsons as "a spindly, tottering capital script."49 The reaction of editors to slow writing is virtually predictable. Ul­ rich Wilcken speaks of "large letters unskilfully made" ;50 Girolamo Vitelli, of "big, clumsy letters."51 Preisigke says of one slow writer that he draws the letters one by one as if for an inscription on stone.52 Kruger notes that the lines of a certain Mareinos look" drawn" rather than written, the letters are "uncouth, stiff, each isolated from its fel­ lows, like those of a schoolboy" who has only begun to learn.53 When I myself looked at the Michigan examples, the descriptive terms that came most often to mind were "large, awkward, uneven." My notes show that in one instance I supplemented "awkward" with "very un­ pretty"; in another, with the remark that the "Writing goes up and down hill." It is evident that the people called slow writers did in fact write 47 PRyl. II 183a (piA). '8 PMich. VI 428. " PMich.inv. 90 (unpubl.). 500str. 757, note to 10-11: "in grossen, ungeschickten Buchstaben geschrieben"; cf. Fr. Krebs, BGU 11543, note to 19-22: "mit Uncialbuchstaben ungeschickt geschrieben." 51 PSI IX 1037 (p.67): "grossi e rozzi caratteri." 52 PStrassb. 19 (p.65): "Die 3. Hand malt Buchstaben fUr Buchstaben in der Form der Steininschriften; man nannte das {3pa8lwc yp&q,wv (Z.19)." 63 PRoss.Georg. 1115, introd.: "Die yom {3pa8lwc yp&q,wv Map€'ivoc hingemalten Zeilen sind ungeschlachte isoliert stehende steife Schulbuchstaben." HERBERT C. YOUTIE 251 slowly, but they also wrote badly,54 ITlany incoITlpetently.55 They all wrote with difficulty;56 they concentrated with painful intensity as they put down their names and a few words. In these conditions legi­ bility was a high goaL57 Vitelli gave a perfectly accurate account of the slow writer as long ago as 1906, when he said of a father who wrote for his daughter, that he «was indeed able to append a simple signature, but as may be seen from his labored script, he was a (3paol.wc yp&c/>wv clearly incapable of writing long sentences; he therefore has the text of the declaration, 'TO cwp.a ... , written by a professional scribe, and he adds in his own hand the one indispensable subscription ... "58 This is a familiar picture, but it must still occasionally be defended against accretions which are not justified by the sources. It is tempt­ ing, but not permissible to confuse the slow writer, as has been done recently, with the schoolboy,59 just because the stumbling and some­ times messy writing of youngsters furnishes an illuminating standard of comparison. Slow writers are not school children, still in process of learning to write. Slow writers are grown men, sometimes women, who are using their meager attainments to carry out the business transactions which provide their livelihood. Some progress is expected of children still at school. The slow writer will not improve; he will always be a slow writer. Equally unsustained by the evidence is the view that places among the slow writers those who are prevented by some physical defect or illness from writing at their usual speed and with their normal com- 54 Cf F. von Woess, Untersuchungen uberd. Urkundenwesen(Munch.Beitr. 6,1924) 299: "Nun konnen die Leute haufig nicht schreihen (u:ypaJ.Ll-ux'Tot) oder sie schreiben schlecht (fJpa'Mwc) und miissen sich eines anderen ais iJ1Toypacp€vc bedienen ... "; W. Schubart, PErl. 75 (p.85): "dem schwerfallig unterschreihenden Bauern." 65 Some of these slow writers do not deserve so severe a judgement. One might feel, for example, that an exception ought to be made of Didymos in PMich. V 252 (=PSI VIII 905) line 9, but a careful study of his hand reveals constant awkwardness in his formation of letters. It is not hard to guess how closely he applied himself to the task before him in order to achieve a result which is truly superior among slow hands. 56 Cf Turner, op.cit. (supra n.8) 88: " ... 'slow writers', who form their letters with diffi­ culty." 57 And not always achieved, as witness Zenon in PMich. V 252 (= PSI VIII 905) lines 9f. He is not called a slow writer, although his hand is undeniably inferior to that of Didymos, of whom it is stated that he writes fJpa'8VrEpov. According to the editor of the Michigan copy, Zenon's "letters are so curiously made that it is impossible to read them with certainty." One need not be clever to guess that Zenon was a brash individual, convinced that he wrote as well as the best. 58 See above. pp. 246f and n.36. 59 So Turner, op.cit. (supra n.8) 88f. 252 BPAJEQ}; rPAf[>QN: BETWEEN LITERACY AND ILLITERACY petence. This is the interpretation that was put on two texts by Majer­ Leonhard in his list of slow writers,60 and it was borrowed and re­ peated as recently as 1950.61 These texts are worth another look. One is the lease of a house drawn up in the third century. The lessee is Aurelius Theogenes, who suffers from an eye ailment and conse­ quently has a hypographeus assigned to him by the governor. Theo­ genes is not described as {3paSlwc yp&cpwv, or "slow writer," and since the papyrus is torn away at the bottom, no subscriptions have been preserved. Theogenes could have been an ordinarily literate person, but so inconvenienced by his eye troubles that writing had become impossible for him.62 In the other text, dated in A.D. 487, Aurelius Sambas offers himself as surety for Aurelius Petrus, who will be in­ volved in the collection of the grain taxes of the following year. Since Sambas is afflicted with a painful arm, he has a subscription written for him by his nephew Nilus, but not before he has read the document and approved it. His own words, even though they are written for him by Nilus, are decisive: avayvovc €g WAWKA~pov Kat ap€Ce~C, "having read (the document) clear through and having found it satisfactory."63 There is no question that he is literate even though he writes nothing because he is hindered by the condition of his arm, and he is nowhere described as {3paS€wc yp&4>wv, a slow writer. The slow writers are persons of very limited education. They may as children have spent a year or two with a teacher. Some of them may have learned to read, but most would have lost this acquisition through the many subsequent years in which they read nothing. None stayed at school long enough to develop firm habits of writing, and what little progress they may have made was dimmed through lack of use.64 They write slowly and they write poorlyG5 because they 60 Majer.Leonhard. op.at. (supra n.5) 68. nos. 513 and 514. 61 Calderini. op.at. (supra n.5) 36: " ... oppure anche. come vedemmo. impediti a scribere speditamente da qualque difetto fisico." ea POxy. VI 91l. 63 Stud.Pal. XX 128. 18. Read OAOKA1JPOV, &p~c8t:lc. 64 Cf Youtie, op.cit. (supra n.5) 173. 86 Interesting in this connection is the use made of {lpaSvypaq,oc by George of Pisidia (7th cent.) in his Heraclias 2.153 (Migne. PG 92, 1327A; Pertusi, StPatrByz 7 [1959] 258): J{lOVAOI-'TJV 8', Kal1T~p U;V {1paSvyp&cpoc, I -r7]v cvMoy1Jv cov 'TWV c'Tpa'T~vl-'a'Twv 'Yp&cp~,v, "I wish I could, poor (inadequate) writer that I am, describe your levy of the armies." The compound {lpaSv­ 'Ypacpoc occurs only here (cj Pertusi, p.314). Pertusi's translation: 'benche io ami indugiare', and Lampe, PGL s. v. : 'slow at writing', miss the point. The true bearing of the word is con­ veyed by the Latin translation in Migne: 'rudis scriptor'. George is self-deprecating: he is not equal to the task. HERBERT C. YOUTIE 253 lack both training and practice. They were, as we might say, under­ educated. And this is ho)-\' they are described in a constitution issued in the sixth century by Justinian, who links the ayprXfLfuxToC, the totally un­ lettered, with the oluyoypa/L/LaToc, who can manage a few words. Justinian presents them as two types of the illiterate (ol yprXfLfLaTa OUK E7HCT&:fL€VOt): the ayprXfLfLaToc can write nothing at all, the OAtyoYPrXfL­ fLaTOC can generally write his name and perhaps something more. They both need someone to write for them, and Justinian makes this need the basis of a requirement. Five witnesses must be present when contracts are prepared for such persons, so that the genuineness of the contract may be guaranteed. Among them must be one who writes a complete subscription for the ayprXfLfLaToc, who himself writes nothing, and supplements the few words of the OAtyoyprXfLfLaToc with a fuller statement of his obligations. This is precisely the situation of the {3paoEwc yprXcpwv, the slow writer of the papyri. Neither his early training nor his later experience took him out beyond the limits of an OALYOyprXfLfLaToe. The slow writer, who has become familiar to us from the papyri, is Justinian's oAtyoyprXfL­ fLaToe. He also has only a few words, and he lacks the capacity to write easily or at length.66 Justinian's novella was aimed at controlling the reliability of con­ tracts. His feeling that official supervision was needed is confirmed by a number of papyrus texts. We have several in which the slow writer has a subscription written for him but himself writes nothing. One of these is a receipt for rent issued in the Ptolemaic period; two others belong to the second century of the present era.67 From the fourth century on, and especially in the sixth, we find slow writers who write their own subscriptions as best they can, but dispense with the ser­ vices of a hypographeus.68 They call themselves slow writers, but they do not follow the convention that Justinian reasserts in his novella. When the slow writer writes nothing, he assimilates himself to the ayprXfLfLaToc, the wholly illiterate, of whom no writing is expected. 66 Nov. 73, 8. Cf Lampe, PGL S.V. dAtyoypap.p.uToc: 'of little education'; the word is cited from Nov. 73 as transmitted by Athanasius Scholasticus, Col/eetio novel/arum eonstitutionum 14.3 (Heimbach, p.lSl). The eqUivalence of {Jpa'Mwc yparpwv and dAtyoypap.p.aToc was noted by E. Rabel, PBas. 2, introd. (pp.19f). 67 Wilcken, Ostr. 1027 (Ptal.); PLond. II 298 (p.206; A.D. 124); PGiss. 29 (A.D. 150). 68 PSIIX 1037 (A.D. 301); Stud.Pal. I p.7 (A.D. 454); PLond. III 1023 (p.267; 5th-6th cent.); PCair.Masp. III 67306 (A.D. 515); PMiehael. 43 (A.D. 526); SB V 8029 (A.D. 538). 254 BPALJEQE rPA(/)QN: BETWEEN LITERACY AND ILLITERACY Justinian was aware of this resemblance and thought of the non­ writer (&yp&fL/-UX:TOC) and the writer of a few words (d>..tYOyp&fLfLu:roc) as merely occupying two levels of illiteracy: the complete illiterate and the almost illiterate. And all that we have said up to this point tends in the same direction. The slow writer must frequently have been on the verge of illiteracy, and only nominally literate. In a long roll of bank documents compiled at Antinoopolis in A.D. 212, there are two which show that the slow writer not only could write very little but also generally could not read. In a cession of a share of a house, a sub­ scription was written for the slow writer Philantinoos, who himself added a brief subscription in large capitals. A certain Harpalos then appended the statement that he had read out the text of the cession to Philantinoos. He did this simply because Philantinoos was unable to read.69 In another transaction in the same roll, the contract is read out in the same way to a man who has declared that he "does not know letters," that is, he is &yp&fLfLa:roc and he neither reads nor writes.70 Most striking is a lease of land drawn up at Oxyrhynchus in the middle of the second century. Toward the end of the document, the lessee, Amoitas, son of Dionysios, wrote "in messy and uncertain letters," first his name, then the significant verb Jm8lxofLCY.t, which in­ dicated his willingness to undertake the lease. From this point, his hypographeus took up the subscription, not even breaking the con­ struction, and concluded: HI wrote for him because he is illiterate."71 When the lessee wrote his few words, was he attempting to function after the manner of a slow writer? If so, his hypographeus brushed the effort aside. For him, Amoitas was illiterate. So thin could be the line between the slow writer and the man who could not write at all. On the other hand, when the slow writer is content with his own short subscription and sees no reason to have it expanded into a full­ bodied statement by someone writing in his name, he is imitating writers whose literacy is obvious. Justinian regarded this practice as a grave abuse because it endangered the status of contracts as reliable evidence of the transactions embodied in them. But this abuse could be carried far beyond the limits implied in Justinian's regulation. 89 PLond. III 1164k (pp.l66f); if. above. p.247. 70 PLoM. III 1164i (pp.165f). For formulas marking illiteracy. see Calderini, op.cit. (supra n.5) 17f. 71 POxy. XXXIII 2676. HERBERT C. YOUTIE 255 Slow writers are not always so described, and they appear sometimes to act as if the designation were not obligatory. A somewhat startling compromise was reached in another papyrus from Oxyrhynchus, a contract of apprenticeship executed in A.D. 253. By its terms Aurelius Hermias entrusts his son to the master weaver Aurelius Dioscorus for a training period of five years. At the close of the agreement is a subscription of almost four lines composed in the name of the master. The first two lines were written by someone act­ ing on behalf of Dioscorus, the last two by Dioscorus himself, who takes up the sentence in the middle of a clause and brings it to an end with four words. Peter Parsons, who has edited the text, guides us to the meaning of this astounding performance. He calls it "a signature written half by proxy before Dioscorus plucked up courage to exer­ cise his spindly capitals." If anyone ever deserved to be called a slow writer, that man was surely Dioscorus. But nothing is said of his ability to write, and no one is named as assisting him.72 Perhaps even more interesting are texts which exhibit the slow writer sometimes creating a suspicion that he cannot write at all, sometimes playing at total literacy. In A.D. 150 a woman living in the Fayum, Didyme alias Matrona, acting with her maternal cousin Heron as her kyrios, issued a receipt for rent to one of the tenants who cultivated her land at Philadelphia. The receipt was written by Heron in her name. At the end of the text he set out the usual formula: "I wrote for Didyme alias Matrona because she writes slowly." Didyme wrote nothing in her own hand, as if she were ayp&fLfLaToc and had not learned how to write.73 Nine years later she issued a receipt to another of her tenants. It is not here said that anyone wrote for her, there is no reference to her limitations as a writer, and she has not appended a subscription. Anyone who was not familiar with the situation, might suppose that she had herself written the receipt.74 Nothing could be further from the truth. The hand is, as Grenfell and Hunt have noted, a "good-sized cursive," hence not at all like the hands of slow writers as we have come to know them.75 At a much later time, in the year 526, a soldier named Samuel acts 72 POxy. XXXI 2586. For the cultural status of master weavers cf A. Zambon, Aegyptus 15 (1935) 29 n.!. 73 PGiss. 29. 74 PFay. 99. 76 PCair. 10792. 256 BPALJEQZ rPArJ>QN: BETWEEN LITERACY AND ILLITERACY for his daughters in arranging a lease of farm land, in consideration of which the lessee grants certain loans in money and kind. Samuel is said, in the body of the receipt, to be a slow writer, and he adds his subscription, which runs to about one line of text (lines 21f), in a slow and awkward hand, although it is a hand adapted throughout to the contemporary style. If he were not described as a slow writer, we might have thought him to be an old man who had to control a trembling hand.7s A year later he acknowledges a further loan from the lessee, and now he is not called a slow writer either in the agree­ ment itself or in the subscription which he puts below it. The lines are here much shorter than in the earlier contract, and Samuel takes about two and a half lines to say what he needs to say. In neither agreement did he think it necessary to employ someone to write a full-length subscription on his behalf.77 Our exhibit of slow writers might end here, if it were not for another class of writers who are not called slow but have hands that are equally labored and ill-formed. In a cursory survey of papyrus texts I turned up some thirty in which short subscriptions were writ­ ten by persons supposedly fully literate, whose handwriting is at least as deficient as what we see in subscriptions composed by slow wri­ ters.7S Here are some typical comments from editors of such docu­ ments: "rude uncials,"79 "a large clumsy 'uncial' hand,"80 the hand of "an illiterate, writing in uncials very clumsily drawn,"81 "letters as on 78 PMichael. 43 (pl.rr). 77 PMichael. 44. 78 Such hands must be distinguished from what may be called 'retarded' hands, although it is doubtful that the separation of slow hands from those here called 'retarded' can always be carried through successfully. The latter are hands which became stabilized at an early stage of development and so resemble slow hands in their awkward appearance, but are used freely and for compositions of any length. I cite as partly sure, partly possible examples: PPetaus 117 (pl.xvm; cf Ursula Hagedorn's careful description on p.37: "Aber dieser Mann konnte zweifellos lesen und schreiben, wenn auch seine Orthographie un­ sicher und seine Scheibweise unbeholfen ist"); PLond. II 172 (pp.xvi, 205; 8-line receipt in a "rough uneducated uncial hand"); PRy!. II 161, 31f (pLIO; large letters, taking up much space, somewhat awkwardly formed; but this man, subscribing for an illiterate, writes better than many others); BGU XI 2044 ("unbeholfene Majuskeln," 10 lines, printed by editor in capitals; same hand in PRy!. II 160d, 25-36); POxy. X 1276 (subscriptions of 5 and 6 lines written for illiterates "in rude uncials"). Cf W. Schubart, Griechische Palaeographie (Munich 1925) 146-48. 79 POxy. VII 1028 (A.D. 86),41 note; XIV 1707 (A.D. 204). 80 PAnt. I 37 (A.D. 209/210), 11 note. 81 PPhil. 13 (A.D. 155), introd.: "La deuxieme main est d'un illettre ecrivant en onciales tres gauchement tracees." HERBERT C. YOUTIE 257 an inscription, in a fumbling hand which leaves no illusion about the cultural attainments" of the writer,82 a "crabbed and irregular" hand, "using the large letter forms usually found in the subscriptions of barely literate writers,"83 "square letters, laboriously traced,"84 "a most illiterate scrawl."85 We are thus given a picture of unattrac­ tive hands, and the remarks closely resemble those made about slow writers.86 A few of these people fix our attention through their obvious in­ adequacy. They write only their names, and only one name at that, since their competence does not extend to adding their fathers' names in the customary way. Typical is the Egyptian camel-driver Peis, who in the year 190 joined his father Pakysis, also a camel-driver, and two other men in an agreement to deliver three camels to a des­ tination of which the name has been lost. A common subscription was written for Peis and his father by a certain Sara pion, whose formal statement of responsibility is couched as follows (lines 17-18): "I wrote for Pakysis since he cannot write, and for Peis who writes his name below." And immediately under the subscription, in a line re­ served for his use, Peis wrote his name, and nothing more, four large letters standing well separated and trembling with the writer's un­ certainties.88 A completely parallel situation is depicted in a document of the early sixth century. Abraham and his father Apphouas lease a mill and bakery from a woman of Oxyrhynchus. The lease itself was drawn up by a professional scribe; it almost fills the first seventeen lines. At the end ofline 17 Abraham wrote his name, five letters only, 82 PFuad 37 (A.D. 48), 12 note: "La signature (cf. Planche II) est tracee en caracteres epi­ graphiques, d'une main maladroite qui ne laisse pas d'illusion sur Ie degre de culture de Menodoros ... " The subscription is printed in capitals in the text. 83 PMich.inv. 4731a (A.D. 147)= Cd'E 56 (1953) 336. 84 PMich.inv. 4731b (A.D. 161)=Cd'E 56 (1953) 344. 85 PLond. III 1164f (p.162; A.D. 212), 32 note. The subscription is printed in capitals in the text. Cf above, pp.247f. 86 Cf above, pp. 249-51. 87 Read IIaK6cwc, TOU O€ IIELc (indecl.). 88 PBas. 2. The editor, E. Rabel, p.19: " ... kann der Sohn schon gliicklich seinen Namen schreiben, den er nun in zittrigen Buchstaben, Z.19 hinkritzelt." Cf Calderini, op.cit. (supra n5) 35: "Alcuni, anzi, non sanno scrivere altro che il proprio nome e per di piu in caratteri grossi e incerti ... " 258 BPALJEQE rPAqJQN: BETWEEN LITERACY AND ILLITERACY nothing more. His hand is characteristic. The letters are "rude un­ cials, the alphas having the strange form of a vertical stroke with a half circle on the right side, like p ... " The name is followed by a sub­ scription written for both the father and the son by Aurelius Serenus, for the father because he was illiterate, and for the son, who, as Serenus is careful to say, had written his name above.89 In spite of the absurdities which characterize Abraham's script, it appears that he is not to be thought illiterate or even Hslow."90 Equally tantalizing are texts in which a slow writer, while not ex­ ceeding the level of performance expected of him, nevertheless sur­ passes the efforts of another not so described, whose hand makes an even less favorable impression. An outstanding example is a cession of catoecic land made in the early first century by the brothers Apol­ lonios and Didymos to Zenon. A long subscription was written for the brothers by a professional scribe, for Apollonios because he was il­ literate, for Didymos because he Hwrote rather slowly." Didymos added his own short subscription in a somewhat awkward hand, using capital letters which are not too badly formed. There are a few but quite common misspellings, and the construction of the sentence is kept simple and conventional. Below this, Zenon wrote an acknow­ ledgment of about the same length. He has a hand much inferior to that of Didymos; it comes close to being ugly. There are atrocious errors in spelling, and before the sentence is finished, it becomes completely unintelligible. But Zenon makes no excuses for himself, and he is not identified in the document as a slow writer.91 Now, we are faced with a seeming confusion of categories which it would have been advantageous, we might suppose, for administrative supervision to have kept distinct. What could Peis and Abraham have hoped to gain by writing their names with an expenditure of much effort and a most unimpressive result? Why did Zenon not seek cover under the convenient devices used by slow writers? Their hands could deceive no one, and doubtless they were not trying to deceive anyone. We get the impression rather that there could be un­ certainty about the status of slow writers. 89 Cf Rabel, PBas. 2, introd. (p.20). 90 POxy. XVI 1890 (A.D. 508). Cf POxy. I 138 (A.D. 610/611), where John, the lessee of the local race-course, writes only his name and his employee Phoibammon writes the sub­ scription at his order; PAbinn. 6,26 (Br.Mus.Facs. 105); 8, 29 (Br.Mus.Facs. 104). 91 PMich. V 252= PSI VIII 905; see supra n.57. Cf PMich. VI 428, introd. (p.137). HERBERT C. YOUTIE 259 Justinian associated them closely with the aypap-l-taToL, who could not write at all, as if their capacity to put a few words together did not change their basic status as illiterates; they could not be trusted to act independently any more than could the completely illiterate.92 But the papyri suggest a different approach. Slow writers seem to have been accepted in Egypt as literate persons who needed assistance when the writing task became arduous. And for this reason, because they were placed at the lowest level of literacy rather than the top­ most level of illiteracy, they might be described as slow, and, when that view was taken, they employed someone to help them with a long subscription, themselves adding a brief one, but it was not felt that they had to be so described or had to use such assistance. If we interpret the evidence in this way, some order can be imposed on apparent chaos. We begin to understand certain curious phenom­ ena that can be observed in a number of texts: The slow writer giving a better performance than someone who is not called a slow writer ;93 someone who undertakes to produce a subscription for an illiterate person, although he himself is hardly more than a slow writer;94 an illiterate making a stab at writing, finding the material resistant, turning to someone else to complete the subscription for him ;95 another illiterate, or perhaps a slow writer, hesitating, then finishing a short subSCription begun for him by a scribe;96 the slow writer properly so described in one text and using a hypographeus, but functioning independently in another as if he were fully literate.97 Clearly we have much to account for, from the illiterate who tries for literate status, even if he fails, to the slow writer who sees himself primarily as a man able to write. With these people we move through a vague area between literacy and illiteracy, a rough frontier obscured by contradictions and evasions. And in the hope of finding some sure guide through the seemingly conflicting purposes of so many in­ dividuals, we return to Petaus, with whom we began. He at least is a man whose situation is known to us in some detail, and he made a definite statement about illiteracy. 92 See above, pp.253f and n.66. 93 See supra, n.91. 94 E.g. PFlor. I 1; see above, pp.246f and nn.35 and 36. 95 See supra n.71. 96 See supra n.72. 97 See supra nn.73-77. 260 BPALlEfJE rPAlJJfJN: BETWEEN LITERACY AND ILLITERACY Petaus was town clerk at Ptolemais Hormou, and in this position he was expected to be literate; but although he wrote his signature when necessary, he was able to do so only by virtue of unremitting practice, and could otherwise neither read nor write. His own estimate of his qualifications was decidedly more optimistic, as we have learned from his defence of his colleague Ischyrion. When the latter was charged with being illiterate, Petaus reported that this was not true: Ischyrion was not aypap.I-ux:roc but Signed all the papers that he sub­ mitted to higher officials. Petaus meant that since Ischyrion put his signature at the bottom of these documents, he was obviously not aypap.p.aToc, i.e. not a person unable to write.98 Petaus thus insisted on the narrowest possible definition of the word, one that would cover both Ischyrion and himself, as it would cover also a great many others, who at best could write their names and perhaps a few words in addition.99 Petaus declared himself and Ischyrion to be writers, hence not illiterate. On these terms a slow writer was clearly among the literate portion of the population; you might call him, as Justinian did, oALyoypaJLp.aToc, but certainly not , , aypap.p.aTOC. Another pertinent example is provided by a Tebtunis papyrus which preserves three declarations submitted in A.D. 99 by young men who had been enrolled as epheboi of Alexandria sixteen years earlier. These declarations have the purpose of maintaining the persons con­ cerned as members in good standing. The first report was presented by two brothers, Demetrios and Heliodorus, scribes by trade, the elder of whom wrote the body of the document, the younger the sub­ scription. The second report was written and submitted by a certain Sarapion, whose trade was gold inlay. And the same Sarapion wrote the third report for his friend Ammonios, a fisherman, because the latter wrote slowly; Ammonios added a short subscription. The formulation of these declarations implies that men of the gymnasium class were expected to be literate. If Ammonios was permitted to qualify on the basis of a minimum performance, we are tempted to conclude that the requirement of literacy was being liberally inter- 98 See above, pp.Z39-41. For aypapp.aToc as "unable to write Greek," cf. Youtie, op.cit. (supra n.S) 162f. 99 Out of 86 soldiers named in PHamb. 39 (cf. introd., p.169), 25 are normal writers, 58 are aypap.p.aTo" 1 is definitely a slow writer, 2 others are almost certainly so. As P. Meyer says, "3 schreiben mangelhaft." HERBERT C. YOUTIE 261 preted, doubtless to avoid the threat of a reduction in numbers at the upper levels of Greek society.lOO With these examples before us, we need no longer be surprised that a slow writer on occasion discarded this designation, refrained from using the services of a hypographeus, and aped the procedures normally employed by literate persons; nor that others obviously illiterate traced out a name, their own, as if some victory had thereby been sought and won.101 We know why Petaus did this and how he justified his action: he could remain a town clerk only if he were literate. We know why Ammonios did something similar; fisherman as he was, he was eager to retain his place in a class that conferred prestige. We do not know what economic or occupational motivations led so many others to follow the same pattern, but we may be sure that these existed. It is not likely that the driving force for very many was cul­ tural pride or vanity, since illiteracy carried no stigma in the condi­ tions of middle-class life in Graeco-Roman Egypt.102.103 UNIVERSITY OF MICIllGAN March, 1971 100 PTebt. II 316= Wilcken, Chrest. 148. Cf Youtie, op.cit. (supra n.5) 174f. 101 For more optimistic views of the ability to sign as evidence of literacy in more recent times, see R. S. Schofield, "Measurement of Literacy," in J. R. Goody, Literacy in Traditional Societies (Cambridge 1968) 319ff. 102 Youtie, op.cit. (supra n.5) 168ff. 103 This paper was presented as a lecture at Brown University on 1 March 1971, in mem­ ory of Charles Alexander Robinson, the distinguished historian of Alexander the Great.