Vignes d’Égypte: Extension et exploitation des vignobles sous l’Empire romain. Retour sur les contrats de μίσθωσις τῶν ἔργων

• Authors: Freu Christel
• Languages of publication: FR

Abstracts

EN

This paper proposes to re-examine a type of contract from Roman Egypt,called μίσθωσις τῶν ἔργων, ‘lease of work’, which was used to lease vineyard workers for at least one year. These contracts and their classification have been discussed by scholars, particularly Andrea Jördens, who listed eleven documents of this type in 1990. This paper proposes a new classification including some documents that were not previously considered to be μίσθωσις τῶν ἔργων, notably a contract written very early in the Empire and another one from the Hermopolitan nome in the sixth century. This new classification is helpful for understanding the reason why such work contracts were used instead of lease contracts for vineyards. However difficult it is to evaluate the respective importance of each contractual type, it appears that both were used concurrently in various nomes during all of the Roman period, each one serving different purposes. It appears that the μ􏰆σθωσι􏰀 τ􏰂ν 􏰃ργων con- tract was used exclusively by the urban elite to create vineyards or to renew ancient ones that were not productive enough. Lastly, this contract seems to have been used even at the beginning of the sixth century , contrary to what Todd Hickey and Andrea Jördens argued: therefore, the reorganisation of labour on Byzantine estates is perhaps to be reconsidered.

Keywords

EN

vineyards; wage labour; irrigation; Greek contracts; legal Romanisation; Roman law

• Publisher: Fundacja im. Rafała Taubenschlaga
• Journal: The Journal of Juristic Papyrology
• Year: 2015
• Issue: 45
• Pages: 65-91

Dates

published

2015

Contributors

author

Freu Christel

• Université Laval Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines Département des sciences historiques Pavillon Charles-De Koninck 1030, avenue des Sciences-Humaines Québec GIV OA6 Canada

Identifiers

ISSN

0075-4277