Dovecotes of Karanis
About
Karanis households built at least six dovecotes, mudbrick towers up to two stories tall lined with nesting jars, some attached to houses and others run as standalone businesses. The two largest towers together housed around 1,250 birds. Villagers sold the squabs as a delicacy and the manure as fertilizer for land the Nile flood couldn't reach, and Roman tax collectors levied a specific tax on every productive nest. These pigeon-houses operated at Karanis from the first century BCE through the fourth century CE, squarely spanning 117 CE.
What happened here
Land held in one ownership and worked as a unit, whether the owner is a senator, an emperor or a town. Day to day it is run by a manager who keeps the accounts, allots the tasks and answers for the shortfall. The workforce is mixed — slaves in gangs, tenant farmers on shares, and seasonal labour hired for the harvest and the vintage. Tenants owe a proportion of the crop and a fixed number of days' work, and the terms are posted publicly, which is how we know them. Buildings cluster: presses, granaries, a smithy, quarters, a shrine. Disputes over water and over how many days are owed go to the estate's own procurator first and to the emperor if that fails.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →