Abstract

Access to a Building on the Grounds of SB I 6000
Summary
In densely built-up urban areas access to a property may be a problem,
especially if the property is not connected directly to a public network
of streets. This was a familiar problem already in ancient times and can
be observed in Demotic and Greek papyri from Ptolemaic and Roman
Egypt. Despite an abundance of records attesting to the existence of
access to property, there are very few documents giving direct evidence
for the regulation of access, viz. its establishment or right of use. SB
I 6000, dated to the 6th century AD, is one of these rare items, the only
extant papyrus exclusively on access to premises. It contains a series of
agreements relating to this problem, some on the division of an inherited
estate between the members of a family, and others only on access to
the property. This document sheds light on an important, but relatively
little known legal issue: access to property in non-Roman legal systems.