Grazing Animals in Ptolemaic Egypt: Taxes on the Provision of Green Fodder and Pasture

Access to green fodder and pasture was of vital importance for the husbandry of ‘grazing animals’, particularly sheep and goats, in Ptolemaic Egypt. Extant papyrological documents from this period record payments for two pasture-related taxes, the ἐννόμιον or qtm and the νομῶν. However, there has been no scholarly consensus on the nature or purpose of these taxes, and, accordingly, on the rationale behind the Ptolemies’ imposition of more than one “pasturage tax”. Following a concise overview of the availability of green fodder and pasture in Ptolemaic Egypt, this article identifies the main focus of each tax as well as the pastures or green fodder to which they gave access.