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Papyrus Revenue Laws

set of regulations on farm taxes

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 23, 2026
Entity authorityQ3362973 ↗
Source-derived summary

A famous papyrus published at the end of the 19th century by Bernard Pyne Grenfell, the papyrus Revenue Laws is a comprehensive set of regulations on farm taxes in the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (283–246), more precisely for the year –259/–258. This document contains tax regulations for the understanding of how Ptolemy II Philadelphus organized a sophisticated command economy.

Bibliography

There exists two editions of this text:

Bernard Pyne Grenfell, Revenue Laws of Ptolemy Philadelphus, Oxford, 1896.

Jean Bingen, Papyrus Revenue Laws, Göttingen, 1952.

Studies:

Jean Bingen, Le papyrus Revenue Laws, Westdt.Verlag, 1978.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Papyrus Revenue Laws” as set of regulations on farm taxes. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1896, 1952, 1978—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Papyrus, Revenue and Laws can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as set of regulations on farm taxes. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3362973. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1896, 1952 and 1978.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Papyrus Revenue Laws”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Papyrus Revenue Laws primary sources, Papyrus Revenue Laws archive and Papyrus research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Papyrus Revenue Laws” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.