OPES – Oslo Papyri Electronic System

Background and Physical Properties

Material:

Papyrus

Connections:

–

Size:

9 x 9.2 [H x W]

Lines:

7

Publication side:

Recto (Verso: blank)

Palaeographic description:

Practiced cursive hand of the Byzantine period, using black ink and a medium thick pen.

State of preservation:

Well-preserved square fragment of medium brown papyrus from the upper right section of a document. Only the upper margin (ca. 1.5 cm) is preserved. No apparent kollesis.

Content

Date:

25 February - 26 March 442 CE

Origin:

Antinoopolis, Antinoopolite nome, province of Egypt

Language:

Greek

Genre:

Documentary

Author:

Aurelius

Title / Type of text:

Declaration on oath

Content:

Declaration of guarantee given to the police. Its exact purport is unknown, but parallels suggest that it possibly concerned some person's appearance within a certain time or his staying at a certain place.

Subjects:

Declaration Oath Police

Named people:

Aurelius Flavius Cyrus, consul Theodosius, emperor Valentinianus, emperor

Named places:

Antinoopolis

English translation:

[After the consulship] of Flavius Cyrus, the most illustrious, Phamen[oth …, to …] night-strategus in office of Antin[oopolis (the most illustrious)], from Aurelius. I acknowledge, swearing by the [almighty God and t]he divine and heavenly Fortune of our [all vic]torious sovereigns Th[eodosius and Valerianus, the] eternal Augusti, ... (translation adapted from Martha Eliassen (1973))

Provenance:

Unknown place, Egypt

Acquisition:

Sam Eitrem bought the lot from Maurice Nahman in Cairo in 1936.

Acquisition year:

1936

Editions

• Eliassen M de Kat, Symbolae Osloenses, 49, 1973, pp. 54-55
  SB: XIV 11434

Further Literature

Catalogues

TM 18133 / DDbDP / HGV / PapPal / BL Online

Discussions

• Bagnall, R., A. Cameron, S. R. Schwartz, & K. A. Worp. (1987). Consuls of the Later Roman Empire. Scholars Press. On dating, see p. 419 (= BL IX, p. 274).
• Torallas Tovar, S. (2001). Los riparii en los papiros del Egipto tardoantiguo. Aquila legionis: cuadernos de estudios sobre el Ejército Romano, 1, 123-152. On the policing function of the riparii and the νυκτοστράτηγοι l. 2; see p. 129.
• Hennig, D. (2002). Nyktophylakes, Nyktostrategen und die παραφυλακὴ τῆς πόλεως. Chiron, 32, 281-296. On the office of the νυκτοστράτηγος l. 2 in Antinoopolis; see p. 290 n. 39.