Des pittakia de Théadelphie

The πιττάκιον was considered to be an agricultural company, with joint and several partners, run by the pittakiarch; or else as a method of cultivating public land, imposed by the administration: the pittakiarch took large areas on lease and sublet most of it to other cultivators, while remaining liable to the tax authorities. In the twenty or so texts on the pittakia that are currently available, there is, unless I am mistaken, no evidence of forced cultivation or subletting of the land, nor any signs of solidarity between the members of the group. The role of the pittakiarch remains undefined. What can be pointed out again is that two pittakiarchs were at the same time πληρωταί, liturgists exercising some control over the pittakia, that several cultivators were members of two pittakia at the same time and that there were lasting relationships between some members of a pittakion; also noteworthy is the transfer of some plots of land made from one pittakion to another. In addition, we find a number of people not attested elsewhere, and new toponyms, Greek or Egyptian in origin, indicating the location of cultivated land.