Onias IV and the δέσποτος ερός:

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" Onias IV and the δέσποτος ερός: "
Richard Last

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	1075022
Doc. No	:	LA118651
Call No	:	‭10.1163/157006310X529236‬
Language of Document	:	English
Main Entry	:	Richard Last
Title & Author	:	Onias IV and the δέσποτος ερός: [Article] : Placing Antiquities 13.62-73 into the Context of Ptolemaic Land Tenure\ Richard Last
Publication Statement	:	Leiden: Brill
Title of Periodical	:	Journal for the Study of Judaism
Date	:	2010
Volume/ Issue Number	:	41/4-5
Page No	:	494–516
Abstract	:	Josephus’ narrative of Onias IV in Ant. 13.62-73 is an account of a Judean refugee who flees to Egypt and manages to acquire land in both Alexandria and Heliopolis. He is also given the authority to construct a temple on his Heliopolis property, which Josephus describes to have previously been δέσποτος. This is a technical term used in the papyri and by classical authors to designate ownerless property, which could be acquired legally only by purchase at the public auction and, in the Roman period, also directly from the idios logos. Scholars have long endeavoured to reconstruct the history behind Josephus’ narrative of the temple of Onias, but they have yet to investigate the function of this technical term within the larger narrative of Ant. 13.62-73, nor the insights that it might provide regarding the historicity of the account. The present article enters into the world of Ptolemaic land tenure in order to contextualize Josephus’ account of Onias’ acquisition of an ownerless temple. It demonstrates that Josephus’ story of Onias’ temple is more nuanced than previously thought.
Descriptor	:	General
Descriptor	:	Jewish Studies
Descriptor	:	Josephus
Descriptor	:	land tenure
Descriptor	:	Onias IV
Descriptor	:	ownerless land
Descriptor	:	Ptolemaic Egypt
Descriptor	:	Temple of Onias
Location & Call number	:	‭10.1163/157006310X529236‬