Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

egypt 625
Theodore’s following his father in service in the same officium thus fits
both an expected familial pattern and a pattern sanctioned by late imperial
law. But where did provincial staff officials like Theodore ultimately come
from? The answer, reasonable but more assumed than proven, is that they
belonged to the provincial élite, and in many cases were men of the curial
class who in earlier times would have sought recognition through service
as members of municipal councils. Although the councils apparently continued
to function down into the reign of Anastasius (491–518), the
papyrus evidence disappears shortly after 370 when the records for the
Oxyrhynchus council (boul ) come to a close. 51 The curial class, from
which members of the municipal councils had been and perhaps continued
to be drawn, persevered and sometimes prospered in Egypt to the end
of Byzantine rule. Some of its members became counts, others reached
high office, many were substantial landowners. 52 Still others must have
sought political advancement through government service at the provincial,
or even higher, level in a world where despite, or rather because of, the
fragmentation of provinces, ‘power was more tightly channeled toward the
imperial center at Constantinople’. 53
In this gesture of following his father into bureaucratic service,
Theodore, whether of the curial class or not, 54 typified the provincial élite
of his age; but he is – finally – representative in yet one last and perhaps
most important respect – namely, in representing the common link
between private wealth and public service. The wealth, as typical of antiquity
as a whole, took the form of landed estates run by agents and stewards
for their absentee owners. In fact, the very existence of the provincial political
and cultural élites of late antiquity, and of the bureaucracies they
served, depended on the possibility and fruits of absentee landlordism.
Late antique Egypt presents many examples of this on various levels, 55 but
far and away best known is that presented by the Apion family of
Oxyrhynchus.
Although the history of the family can be notionally traced back to the mid
fifth century, the first known household head with the name Apion only
comes into evidence toward the close of the century, and then he appears
51 Bagnall, Egypt ch. 2; Maas, John Lydus 19. Later evidence is scrappy and sometimes indirect:
Geremek (1990).
52 Counts: P.Oxy. xvi 2002, Stud.Pal. xx 218. High office: Bernand (1969) ii.216 (decurion who is dux
et Augustalis of the Thebaid). Curiales as landlords: e.g. P.Cair.Masp. i67113, SB vi 9587, Stud.Pal. ii 218
(sixth- and seventh-century land leases), P.Cair.Masp. ii 67134, 67135, iii 67327, PSI viii 935 (sixthcentury
rent receipts); further (assorted fifth-century evidence): P.Michael. 33, P.Oxy. vi 902, 913.
53 Maas, John Lydus chs. 1–2. (The quotation is from p. 20.)
54 If P.Cair.Masp. ii 67169�iii 67169 bis concerns his brother, then Theodore’s grandfather would
55 have been a count (comes). Discussion and examples: Keenan (1974) 284–6 and notes.
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