HistoryAdapted from Wikipedia

Clay tablets from around 1180 BCE record a priestess named Eritha disputing with her community over whether her land was held for her god.

The tablets come from the palace at Pylos in Greece. Eritha seems to have claimed that part of her land was held on behalf of her deity, which would have meant reduced taxes or obligations. The local community, the damos, disputed her claim, and the outcome is unknown.

Sources

Eritha Wikipedia
Θέμις in the Mycenaean Lexicon and the Etymology of the Place-Name *ti-mi-to a-ko (Thomas G. Palaima, Faventia 22.1, 2000) University of Texas at Austin (PDF)

Adapted from Wikipedia's article Eritha, first featured in its "Did you know" section, text available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Browse reworded it after checking the sources above; this fact's text is offered under the same licence.

What the wording keeps

around 1180 BCE (circa)
the tax motive is an interpretation ('seems')
outcome unknown

Checked against its sources by an AI research agent on 4 November 2026; not yet reviewed by a person.

Changed on 4 November 2026: removed the claim that this is Europe's oldest known record of a legal dispute: the study behind it could not be read.

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