Note 267 — Chapter VIII

Even the land which the Pharaohs allotted to the temples with a tax of a fifth belonged to them in a certain sense. We have tolerably ancient records on papyrus, on which are given the incomes of the temples, with the names of the tax-payers, and the things given in taxation. When the Ptolemies ruled over Egypt the land which paid to the temples belonged actually to the temples as property, but as property revocable at will, and the kings on their side taxed the temples just as the Islamite princes are accustomed to tax their mosques. In the Rosetta inscription, under date March 27, 196 B.C., the prophets, upper priests, chamberlains, pastophors, and scribes, explain that the king (Ptolemy Epiphanes) had given an order that the incomes of the temples and the land-taxes paid to them yearly, and the portions reserved for the gods in the vineyards and other property, should continue to be paid. At the same time we see from the sequel of this inscription, as well as from other sources, that these incomes were not sufficient to keep the temples in good order, and the king was compelled to make additions. Yet, in any case, the Ptolemies by their state taxes withdrew from the temples a portion of their incomes. From every plot of corn-land (ἄρουρα) the temples were to pay to the king an artabe of corn, and from every plot of vineyard an amphora of wine. Besides this, they had to pay a money-tax and a certain amount of byssus cloth.