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Document Details : Title: State Monopoly or Authorized Business? Subtitle: The Organization and Taxation of the Fishing Industry in Ptolemaic Egypt Author(s): VANOPPRÉ, Lisa Journal: Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists Volume: 62 Date: 2025 Pages: 95-122 DOI: 10.2143/BASP.62.0.3294680 Abstract : The Nile has always been a fundamental source of food and life, not only because of its annual flooding of arable land, but also because of its abundance of fish, which led to the emergence and ubiquity of the fishing profession in Egypt. Documentary papyri testify to intensive fishing activities during the reign of the Ptolemies, especially in the Fayum. Traditionally, most historians have regarded the Ptolemaic fishing industry as a strictly regulated state monopoly with the Fayum as its epicenter, while in Upper Egypt it was supposedly extended or replaced by a tax on fishermen, the τετάρτη ἁλιέων. Based on a thorough analysis of both Greek and Demotic documents as well as the historical context, this article offers a more nuanced picture, moving away from the monopoly hypothesis and arguing that the difference in organization and control of the fishing industry between the Fayum (direct management) and Upper Egypt (occupational taxation) was a deliberate, well-considered choice by the Ptolemaic state. |
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