Page 34 - Edessa, 'The Blessed City'-01, by J. B. Segal (Oxford, 1970). Chapters 1-3

SOCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE 21

later, the records of Edessa were still arranged in the two categories of epis-
copal and lay; and, indeed, this is the pattern followed by most Syriac
histories. The writer of the spurious martyrology of Sharbil claims that it was
written down for deposit in the 'archives of the city where the royal charters
are placed'. Not only, however, were events of public significance recorded
there, but even the deeds of a private commercial contract, like the sale of a
slave girl, were kept in the official archives.1 Transcripts were made by the
'scribes of Edessa'—under the monarchy by the 'king's scribe'—or by
clerks (exceptores).2 It was then signed by witnesses and by the inspector of
contracts, and certified by the strategos bahora (as we have already remarked)
in the presence of the parties to the transaction.
The nobles of Edessa, who were in attendance on the king and were
entitled to wear a tiara, are called in Syriac documents variously 'grandees',
or 'chiefs', or 'commanders'. We do not know what was the exact significance
of these titles; but all nobles could be described as 'free men'. Many must
have acquired Roman citizenship. Probably this status became general only
in the last decades of the monarchy, through Caracalla's grant to Edessa of
the status of colonia. In the Edessan contract of 243, the parties to the con-
tract and most of the city officials bear Roman names, an indication of
citizenship; the names of their fathers, on the other hand, are Semitic. The
Resident and one of the two strategoi are Roman knights, a rare distinction,
since we do not hear of any citizen of Dura with this rank, and few are
mentioned even in the inscriptions of Palmyra.
The 'free men' built mansions in the 'High Street'3 in the vicinity of the
king's palace. No doubt they derived their wealth from landed property,
owning villages outside the city. But some may well have been merchants,
dealing in the products that were brought by caravans to Edessa from the
East, especially along the ancient road from Nisibis. Merchants were evidently
known at court. It was Tobias son of Tobias from Palestine with whom
Addai lodged according to legend, and Tobias was requested to introduce
the Apostle to the king. The 'strangers of the lands of Nisibis4 and Harran'
who attended the preaching of Addai the Apostle were, no doubt, merchants
from the two great commercial centres to the east and south of Edessa.
An important element in Edessan society were the artisans. Some were
employed by the king and housed near his own residence, presumably at his
expense. The 'husbandmen5 and artisans who (worked with their) hands' are

1 A duplicate of the document was given to 2 The clerks, we are told, recorded the
the purchaser of the slave, presumably in case of details of the trial and sentence of the martyred
resale or in defence of his title to the girl. Cf. Habbib, see p. 85 below.
Doctrine of Addai: 'The records of the kings, * On this name see p. 181 n. 3.
where the ordinances and laws are laid up and 4 Syriac, §oba.
[the contracts] of the buyers and sellers are kept 5 Or'workmen'; Syriac, pallafre.
with care, without any negligence whatever."

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