OPES – Oslo Papyri Electronic System

Background and Physical Properties

Material:

Papyrus

Connections:

–

Size:

17.4 x 9.9 cm

Lines:

25

Publication side:

Recto

Palaeographic description:

Two hands. Hand 1, ll. 1-22: Practiced cursive hand of the Roman period with many ligatures. Hand 2, ll. 23-25: Slow, unsteady hand. Large, thick lettering.

State of preservation:

Medium brown papyrus. Upper margin: 1.8 cm; left margin: 1.8 cm. Holes (0.1-1 cm in diameter) are scattered over the fragment. The lower part becomes progressively more lacunose. The lower left part of the sheet is broken off. No kollesis is apparent.

Content

Date:

July 19, 146 CE

Origin:

Theadelpheia (Batn el-Harit), Themistou meris, Arsinoite nome, Egypt

Language:

Greek

Genre:

Documentary

Author:

Hermas, son of Heron, grandson of Hermas

Title / Type of text:

Loan of money / Document

Content:

Agreement for a loan of 176 silver drachmas, drawn up in the village of Theadelpheia in July 146 CE. The debtor is Hermas son of Heron and the creditor is Isidoros son of Marion. The agreement mentions the time of the repayment (Dec.-Jan. 146/147 CE). Below the agreement the debtor has signed in confirmation. The document has been cancelled by cross-strokes – an indication that the loan was repaid. Docket on the back (not included in ed.pr.). The papyrus is part of the archive “Hermas son of Heron”, ArchID 569. The "other obligations" mentioned in the agreement may have included the loan P.Col. X 259 (contracted 10.04.146).

Subjects:

Contract Agreement Loan Interest

Named people:

Hermas son of Heron grandson of Hermas Isidoros son of Marion Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, emperor

Named places:

Theadelpheia Themistou meris Arsinoite nome

English translation:

Recto: In the ninth year of Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, Epiph 21st [19.07.146 CE], in Theadelpheia, division of Themistos in the Arsinoite district. Hermas son of Heron, who is son of Hermas, resident, as he declares, of the second Gooseherd quarter [sc. of the metropolis], "Persian of the epigone", forty-two years old, with a scar in the middle of his forehead, acknowledges to Isidoros son of Marion, to have got from him a loan, including the interest, of one hundred and seventy-six silver drachmas. The acknowledging party [sc. Hermas] will repay it to Isidoros in the month of Tybi of the coming 10th year of Antoninus Caesar our Lord [Dec.-Jan. 146/7 CE], without delay. Isidoros will have the right of execution upon the person of the acknowledging party (sc. Hermas) and upon all his property as though there has existed a court-decision. [The loan is] separate from any other obligations Hermas may have to Isidoros (according to other written acknowledgements that he has made?). 2nd hand: I, Hermas son of Heron have received the 176 silver drachmas and shall repay them (as proposed?). Verso: Agreement between Hermas [and Isidoros].

Provenance:

Cairo, Egypt

Acquisition:

Acquired from Maurice Nahman through the British Museum (listed as no. V. C.34 in Bell's report).

Acquisition year:

1923

Editions

• Eitrem, S. and Amundsen, L., P.Oslo II, 1931, pp. 39 and 153 (no. 39)

Further Literature

Catalogues

TM 12565

Translations

• Kühnert, H. (1968?). Zum Kreditgeschäft in den hellenistischen Papyri Ägyptens bis Diokletian (p. 92). Albert-Ludwigs-Universität.

Discussions

• Meyer, Paul M. (1934). Juristicher Papyrusbericht VIII (p. 346). Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte: Romanistische Abteilung, 54, pp. 339-372.
• Eitrem, S. and Leiv Amundsen. (1936). P. Oslo III (pp. 198-199 and 276). The Academy of Science and Letters at Oslo. (= BL III, p. 122).
• Kühnert, H. (1968?). Zum Kreditgeschäft in den hellenistischen Papyri Ägyptens bis Diokletian (p. 91-92). Albert-Ludwigs-Universität (= BL V, p. 73).
• Warga, R.G. (1987). A Note on P.Oslo II 39. The Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists, 24(3-4), pp. 109-110. (= BL IX, p. 175; X, p. 134; XI, p. 140).
• Kramer, Bärbel. (1993). Akanthus oder Akazie? Bemerkungen zu Bäumen (p. 142). Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 97, 131-144.
• Warga, R. G. (1994). A Repayment of a Loan (p.78). Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 100, 78-80.
• Hanson, A. E. (1998). Review of Papyrus Graux II (P.Graux 9 à 29), by Hélène Cuvigny (p. 239). The Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists, 35, 235-241.
• Claytor, W. G. and Andrzej Mirończuk. (2015). The Archive of the Theadelphian Herdsman Heron, Son of Hermas (p. 193-194). Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 194, 193-200.
• Yiftach, Uri. (2020). A petition to the iuridicus from the archive of Ptolemaios, son of Diodoros (147 CE, Theadelphia) (p. 201). Tyche, 35, 195-217. https://doi.org/10.25365/tyche-2020-35-16
• Claytor, W. G. (2022). “TM Arch 569: Hermas son of Heron. Version 1.”