Accounting Control in the Zenon Papyri

Por H. P. Hain
The Accounting Review, October 1966.

GYPTIAN peasants, in 1915, digging for antiquities in the Fayum discovered a horde of inscribed rolls which later became known as the Zenon papyri. Many of them have since been reconstructed, translated, and evaluated. Taken as a whole they have thrown important light on the accounting system not only of Ptolemaic Egypt, but also of Greece by which it was inspired. Under Alexander the Great, Egypt had been a Greek province; and although the country regained its independence under the native dynasty of the Ptolemies, Greek influence persisted in practically every aspect of public administration and business organization.


The Zenon papyri, a collection of more than one thousand documents, are mainly concerned with the private estate of Apollonios, who was the chief financial minister (dioiketos) of Ptolemy Philadelphos but also conducted a variety of business activities on his own account. The estate was situated in a recently-drained area near the new city of Philadelphia and was still in the process of development. The accounts therefore reflect construction projects as well as current agricultural and business operations. They span a period of approximately thirty years during the third century B.C…

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