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The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Vol. 2, edited by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt (London: Egypt Exploration Fund, 1899)
Private contracts and letters: Nos. 259-267 (AD 23-96) [1] [2]
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No. 259. Bail for a Prisoner. 36 x 17.8 cm. AD 23.
Copy of a declaration on oath addressed to the governor of a public
prison by a surety for a man who had been arrested for debt. Theon, the
surety, had secured the temporary release of the prisoner, Sarapion,
some months previously ; and he now undertakes to produce Sarapion
within a month or to pay the amount of the debt.
The declaration is followed by a short and rather obscure letter
written by Theon (cf. 1. 32), and beginning apparently with a message
to Sarapion. Theon's object doubtless was to bring to Sarapion's notice
the conditions of his bond on Sarapion's behalf; cf. cclxix, where a
copy of a loan is sent with a letter requesting its recipient to try to
recover the debt.
translation from Greek:
"Copy of a bond. Theon, son of Ammonius, a Persian of the Epigone, to
Demetrius, governor of the prison of Zeus. I swear by Tiberius Caesar
Novus Augustus Imperator, that I have thirty days in which to restore
to you the man whom I bailed out of the public prison in Phaophi of the
present year, Sarapion, son of Sarapion, arrested through Billus,
assistant to the dioecetes, on account of a note of hand for a gold
bracelet weighing two minae to Magianus on behalf of Aline, citizen,
daughter of Dionysius. If 1 do not produce him within the said number
of days, I will pay the said two minae of gold without delay, and I
have no power to obtain a further period of time nor to transfer myself
to another prison. If I swear truly, may it be well with me, but if
falsely, the reverse. 9th year of Tiberius Caesar Augustus, Pachon 22."
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No. 260.
Promise of attendance in Court.
27.7 x 11.5 cm. AD 59.
Copy of declarations made by the two parties in a suit, Antiphanes, son
of Ammonius, and Antiphanes, son of Heraclas, of Oxyrhynchus, that they
would attend the court of the archedikastes at Alexandria for a stated
period, in order to effect a settlement of their dispute. The case had
been referred to the archedikastes from the strategus of Oxyrhynchus,
—whether by order of the strategus or merely by mutual agreement of the
litigants is not made clear. The declarations of the two men, apart
from necessary alterations in names and one or two slight unintentional
divergences, are verbally identical. We therefore print only the first
of them, which is the better preserved. The body of the document is
written by one hand and the signatures of the two persons concerned by
another.
translation from Greek:
"Copy. Antiphanes, son of Ammonius, of the city of Oxyrhynchus, to the
agents of Tiberius Claudius Ammonius, strategus and superintendent of
the revenues of the Oxyrhynchite nome. I swear by Nero Claudius Caesar
Augustus Germanicus Imperator, that in accordance with the agreement
made between me and Antiphanes, son of Heraclas, in consequence of our
confronting each other before the strategus Tiberius Claudius Ammonius,
I will appear at the court of the chief justice Sarapion at Alexandria
until the 30th day of the present month Epeiph, and will remain until
our suit is decided. If I swear truly may it be well with me, if
falsely, the reverse. The 5th year of Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus
Germanicus Imperator, Epeiph 9. I, Theon, son of Onnophris, assistant,
have checked this authentic bond." Date.
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No. 261.
Appointment of a representative. 24.6 x 15.8
cm. AD 55.
Agreement by which a woman named Demetria appoints her grandson
Chaeremon to act as her representative in a lawsuit which was pending
between herself and a certain Epimachus. This document should be
compared with (p.231) O.P.I. xcvii, a similar agreement between two
brothers, the language of which is often very close to that of the
present text, and with ccclxv, ccclxxvi.
In the margin at the top of the papyrus are two erased lines the first
of which reads "etou[s deut]eron Nero[nos K]laudiou Kaiseros, and at
the bottom below line 18 are two and a half more lines similarly erased
and also containing a date. These two expunged entries are apparently
in different hands, neither of which is identical with that of
the body of the papyrus.
translation from Greek:
"The 2nd year of Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus Imperator,
the . . . of the month Neos Sebastos, at the city of Oxyrhynchus
in the Thebaid. Demetria, citizen, daughter of Chaeremon, acting
with her guardian Theon, son of Antiochus, of the Auximetorean or
Lenean deme, and husband of her granddaughter Demetria, citizen,
acknowledges to Chaeremon, son of Chaeremon, of the Maronian deme, her
grandson and brother of her granddaughter Demetria (the contract
taking place in the street), concerning the case which the contracting
party Demetria claims to have against Epimachus, son of Polydeuces, or
which Epimachus claims to have against her, since she is unable owing
to womanly weakness to remain at the court, that she has
appointed her said grandson Chaeremon to appear for her before
every authority and every court which would be open to Demetria
herself if she were present; for she gives her consent to this
appointment. The agreement is valid."
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No. 262.
Notice of Death. 23.8 x 7.9 cm.
AD 61. (p.232)
Notice addressed to Philiscus, farmer of the tax upon weaving, by
Sarapion, announcing the death of his slave who was by trade a weaver.
The formula resembles that of ccli-iii. On the verso are four short
lines effaced.
translation from Greek:
"To Philiscus, farmer of the tax on weaving, from Sarapion, son of
Sarapion. My slave Apollophanes a weaver, registered in Temgenouthis
Square, died during absence in the present 7th year of Nero Claudius
Caesar Augustus Germanicus Imperator. Wherefore I request that his name
be inscribed in the list of dead persons, and I swear by Nero Claudius
Caesar Augustus Germanicus Imperator that this information is true.'
Date, and official signature of Philiscus."
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No. 263.
Sale of a Slave. 16 x 15.6 cm.
AD 77.
Declaration on oath addressed to the agoranomi by Bacche with her
guardian Diognetus, a member of the Epiphanean deme, stating that she
had sold to Heliodora an eight- year-old female slave, who was her
absolute property, and that she had received the price, 640 drachmae.
Cf. O. P. I. c and B. G. U. 543, which is addressed to tois epi chreon
tetagmenois and is a promissory oath (Mitteis, Hermes xxxii. p. 658) ;
the formula of the two Oxyrhynchus declarations is almost the same as
that of the Berlin papyrus,... For the price of slaves at
Oxyrhynchus cf. O. P. I. xcv, where a female slave aged twenty-five is
sold for 1,200 drachmae, and cccxxxvi, ccclxxv.
The papyrus formed one of a series of documents glued together, and the
ends and beginnings of lines of those adjoining it are preserved.
translation from Greek:
"To the agoranomi . . . from Bacche, citizen, daughter of Hermon, with
her guardian Diognetus, son of Dionysius, of the Epiphanean deme. I
swear by the Emperor Caesar Vespasianus Augustus that I have sold to
Heliodora, daughter of Heliodora, with her (p.234) guardian who is her
husband Apollonius, son of Dionysius, son of Dionysius also called
Didymus, the slave Sarapous who belongs to me, and is about eight years
old and without blemish apart from epilepsy and leprosy ; and I swear
that she is my property and is not mortgaged, and has not been
alienated to other persons in any respect, and that I have received the
price, 640 silver drachmae, and will guarantee the contract. If I swear
truly, may it be well with me, but if falsely, the reverse."
Signature of Diognetus on behalf of Bacche, and date.
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No. 264.
Sale of a Loom. 25 x 11 cm.
AD 54.
Contract for the sale of a loom to Tryphon, son of Dionysius (cf.
introd. to cclxvii) by Ammonius. The agreement is followed by the
signature of the vendor, and a docket of the bank of Sarapion through
which the purchase money, 20 drachmae of silver, was paid.
translation from Greek:
"Ammonius, son of Ammonius, to Tryphon, son of Dionysius, greeting. I
agree that I have sold to you the weaver's loom belonging to me,
measuring three weavers' cubits less two palms, and containing two
rollers [1] and two beams, and I acknowledge the receipt from you
through the bank of Sarapion, son of Lochus, near the Serapeum at
Oxyrhynchus, of the price of it agreed upon between us, namely 20
silver drachmae of the Imperial and Ptolemaic coinage [2]; and that I
will guarantee to you the sale with every guarantee, under penalty of
payment to you of the price which I have received from you increased by
half its amount, and of the damages. This note of hand is valid. The
14th year of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus Imperator,
the 15th of the month Caesareus. I, Ammonius, son of Ammonius, have
sold the loom, and have received the price of 20 drachmae of silver and
will guarantee the sale as aforesaid. I, Heraclides, son of Dionysius,
wrote for him as he was illiterate." Date, and banker's
signature.
notes:
[1] amia were rollers upon which the web was wound as it was woven.
[2] it does not appear what distinction in value, if any, was made in
the Roman period between Ptolemaic and Roman silver. Ptolemaic copper
was at a considerable discount (cf. introd. to ccxlii) ; but Ptolemaic
tetradrachms, which have more silver in them than the Roman, ought to
have been at a premium.
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No.
266. Deed of
Divorce. 15.6 x I4.6 cm.
AD 96.
Deed of separation drawn up between a husband and wife, who had been
married a little over a year. Thaesis the wife, who appears as the
principal party in the agreement, acknowledges to her late husband
Petosarapis the receipt of her dowry of 400 drachmae of silver, and
declares that he is released from all engagements entered into in their
marriage contract and from all further (p.239) claims from herself.
Petosarapis on his part acknowledges that he has no further claims upon
Thaesis. No ground for the separation is assigned, nor is there any
hint as to the side from which the initiative in the matter came.
translation from Greek:
"The 1 6th year of the Emperor Caesar Domitianus Augustus Germanicus,
on the . . . of the month Germanicus, at the city of Oxyrhynchus in the
Thebaid. Thaesis, daughter of Thonis, son of Amithonis, her mother
being Sintheus, with her guardian her step-father Onnophris, son of
Onnophris, son of Pammenes, his mother being Taarthonis, acknowledges
to her late husband Petosarapis, son of Thompekusis, son of Sarapion,
his mother being Sinthonis, all of Oxyrhynchus (the agreement being
executed in the street), the receipt from him of the capital sum of 400
silver drachmae of the Imperial coinage which she brought to him with
herself as her dowry and for which his mother Sinthonis, daughter of
Petosarapis, son of . . ., gave a joint guarantee, in accordance with a
contract of marriage drawn up through the office of the agoranomi at
Oxyrhynchus on the intercalary days of the 14th year of the Emperor
Caesar Domitianus Augustus Germanicus. This bond she has thereupon
returned to him cancelled in order to effect the dissolution of the
marriage ; and she neither makes nor will make any claim, nor will
proceed against him either on account of the aforesaid sum or of the
parapherna (which she has also received) or of anything else up to the
present date. Petosarapis likewise on his part acknowledges, in the
same street, that he neither makes nor will make any claim, nor will
proceed against Thaesis or any of her agents on any account whatsoever
up to the present date . . . "
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No. 267.
Agreement of Marriage. 36.5 x 18.5 cm.
AD 36.
This document relates to the terms of a marriage, but it is to be distinguished
from the ordinary marriage contracts, the scope of which is altogether
different. The two parties concerned are Tryphon and Saraeus, whose marriage
is expressly stated to be aypacpos, i. e. not based upon a regular contract. The
agreement is concerned almost entirely with the dowry of Saraeus, consisting
of a sum of 40 drachmae of silver and a robe and a pair of gold earrings which
are together valued at 32 drachmae. This dowry Tryphon acknowledges that
he has received, and promises to return it unconditionally on Oct. 27, a.d. 36,
the agreement itself being dated May 22 of the same year. The other stipulations
are that in case of a separation the value of the gold earrings was to be
made up to their present worth ; and that Tryphon was to make to Saraeus
an allowance of some kind if the separation was succeeded by the birth of a
child. Appended are the signatures of Tryphon and the guardian of
Saraeus, (p.244) and the docket of the bank through which payment of
the dowry was made.
Finally, below these is a declaration by Saraeus, dated June 9, A.D. 43, that
she had received back the dowry described in the agreement. The contract,
including the signatures of Tryphon and of Saraeus' guardian, has accordingly
been cancelled in the usual manner by a number of crossing diagonal strokes
of the pen (cclxvi. 15).
We
have already (introd. to cclxvi) stated our reasons for refusing to
find in this agreement any confirmation of the theory that the dowries
described in Graeco-Egyptian marriage contracts as brought by wives to
their husbands were really disguised donationes propter mtptias or
gifts from the husbands to their wives ....
Fortunately, we have a good many more papyri relating to the affairs of
Tryphon, and these throw some light upon the subject. Tryphon himself
was born in the year 8 A. D. (cclxxxviii. 40), and was therefore
twenty-eight years of age at the time of his marriage with Saraeus.
Saraeus, however, was not his first wife. It appears from cclxxxii that
he had been married to a woman named Demetrous, with whom he had
quarrelled ; and that this marriage was prior to that with Saraeus is
rendered practically certain by a petition (cccxv) addressed by Tryphon
to the strategus, complaining of an outrage upon his wife Saraeus by
Demetrous and her mother.
This petition is dated in Epeiph of the first year of an emperor whose name is lost,
but who, on account of the size of the lacuna, can only be Gaius. The outrage
of which Tryphon complained therefore occurred two months after this marriage
with Saraeus ; and we can hardly be mistaken in recognizing in the Demetrous
of cccxv the supplanted wife, who was no doubt actuated by jealousy.
Another fragmentary papyrus (cccxxi), the date of which is missing,
shows that Saraeus gave birth to a daughter, whose nurture was the
subject of a fresh
agreement between her and Tryphon. A son was born in A.D. 46-7 (O. P.
I. xxxvii. I. 5 and 22), and the pair were living together two years
later (O. P. I. xxxvii, xxxviii). Another son named Thoonis was born of
the marriage about the year 54, for he was not yet fourteen years of
age in 66, when he was apprenticed to a weaver (cclxxv). That the boy
was not taught his trade by his father, who was also a weaver, may
perhaps be accounted for by the fact that Tryphon was at this time
suffering from a partial loss of his eyesight (O. P. I. xxxix). The
last mention of Saraeus is in A. D. 59 (cccxx), when she was still
Tryphon's wife. ...
translation from Greek:
"Tryphon, son of Dionysius, a Persian of the
Epigone, to Saraeus, daughter of Apion, under the wardship of
Onnophris, son of Antipater, greeting. I acknowledge the receipt from
you at the Serapeum at Oxyrhynchus through the bank of Sarapion, son of
Kleandrus, of 40 silver drachmae of the Imperial and Ptolemaic coinage,
and for the value of one pair of gold earrings, 20 drachmae of silver,
and for a milk-white robe, 12 drachmae of silver, making a total sum of
72 drachmae of silver, to which nothing at all has been added, in
consideration of which I have consented (to our marriage). And I will
repay to you the 72 drachmae of silver on the 30th of Phaophi in the
coming second year of Gaius Caesar Germanicus Novus Augustus Imperator
without any delay. If I do not repay in accordance with the above terms
I will forfeit to you the said sum with the addition of half its
amount, for which you are to have the right of execution upon me and
upon all my property, as in accordance with a legal decision. If we
separate from each other, you shall be empowered to have the pair of
earrings at their present value. And since we are living together
without a marriage contract, I further agree if as aforesaid owing to a
quarrel we separate from each other while you are in a state of
pregnancy, to ... so long as you . . . This receipt is valid wherever
and by whomsoever it is produced."
There follow (1) the signature of Tryphon, written for him by Leon, (2)
the signature of Onnophris, the guardian of Saraeus, written on his
behalf by Theon, son of Paaeis, (3) the docket of the bank through
which the payment was made, (4) the signature of Saraeus, written for
her, in astonishingly badly spelled Greek, by Didymus, son of Boe'thus,
acknowledging that she had received back the sum mentioned in the
agreement. This acknowledgement of Saraeus is dated Payni 15 in the 3rd
year of Claudius.
Footnotes:
1. [Editor's Note:] The original textual commentaries and notes provided by Grenfell and Hunt on
passages in Greek, and on some bibliographic references, have
frequently been abbreviated or omitted, if not essential to
understanding the content of the papyri documents. Any such omissions
are marked with "....", and any added words needed for clarity are
placed between brackets [ ]. These elisions are separate from those
used by Grenfell and Hunt in the translated text, which have not been
altered.
2. [Editor's Note:] References to all other papyri from the Oxyrhynchus
collections are given with their sequential number as "No. xx".
Abbreviations to other papyri collections and standard historical
references used by Grenfell and Hunt include the following:
Archiv.= Archiv fur Papyrusforschung.
B.G.U. = Aeg. Urkunden aus den K. Museum zu Berlin, Griechische Urkunden.
C.I.G. = Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum
C.I.L. = Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
Cod. Just.= Codex Justianus
Cod. Theod.= Codex Theodosianus
C.P.R. = Corpus Papyrorum Raineri, by C. Wessely.
Marcellinus =The late Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus.
P. Amh. = The Amherst Papyri (Greek), Vols. I-II, by B.P.Grenfell and A.S.Hunt.
P. Brit.Mus. = Greek papyri in the British Museum, vol.I-II by F.G. Kenyon.
P. Cairo = Catalog of the Greek Papyri in the Cairo Museum,by Grenfell & Hunt.
P.
Grenf. = Greek Papyri, Ser. 1 by B.P. Grenfell, and Ser. II by Grenfell and Hunt
P. Hibeh = The Hibeh Papyri by B.P Grenfell and A.S. Hunt
P. Leipzig = Griechische Urkunden der Papyrussammlung zu Leipzig by I Mitteis.
P. Leyden = Papyri Graeci Musei Antiquarii Lugduni-Batavi, by C. Leemans.
P. Tebt. = The Tebtunis Papyri, by B.P. Grenfell, A.S. Hunt, et al.
Perseus = the satirical ancient Roman playwright Perseus.
Wilcken, Ost. = Griechische Ostraka, by U. Wilcken.
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