OPES – Oslo Papyri Electronic System

Background and Physical Properties

Material:

Papyrus

Connections:

–

Size:

12.5 x 27.5 cm

Lines:

20

Publication side:

Recto (Verso: blank)

Palaeographic description:

Practiced cursive hand, typical for second cent. BCE documents, see e.g. the ‘split’ form of tau. (Lewis: «Written in a hand which generally sprawls out, but is occasionally cramped»).

State of preservation:

Medium brown papyrus, top and left margin 3.5 cm, bottom margin (partly broken, but parts of the lower edge are intact) 4.5 cm. The letter was folded five times vertically (folding lines at 2.8, 5.6, 8 and 10.4 cm from the preserved right edge), and the strip of papyrus to the right of the last fold (now the right edge), containing the ends of the lines of writing, is lost. There is also considerable loss across the middle, around what was probably a horizontal fold in the middle, where little now remains of lines 8-11. The letter appears to have been sealed, and the verso may preserve traces of the clay seal itself (see the darker area next to the right edge at mid height), as well as the single papyrus fiber used to tie up the roll.

Content

Date:

105/4-96/5 BCE

Origin:

Tebtynis, Polemonos meris, Arsinoite nome, province of Egypt

Language:

Greek

Genre:

Documentary

Author:

Ammonios, Ammonios and NN

Title / Type of text:

Letter from three contractors to public order functionaries / Petition

Content:

Three contractors of the retail sale of papyrus rolls inform the officials in Tebtynis of the name of their new assistant in the papyrus trade and ask them to lend him their cooperation. Along with P.Tebt. III 709 [= TM 5320], this fragment is an important testimony to the state-licensed monopolies on trade in Ptolemaic Egypt, at least as was organized in the Arsinoite nome.

Subjects:

Petition Letter Papyrus Sale Monopoly

Named people:

Ammonios Harmiysios

Named places:

Tebtynis Arsinoite nome

English translation:

Ammonios and Ammonios and [...] the contractors for the disposal of the papyrus in the Arsinoite nome, to the epistates at Tebtunis and the archiphylakites and the others who are employed in royal affairs, greetings. (Knowing that) Harmiusis son of (?) T[... for the present] is a farmer of the consumption tax upon papyrus [at Tebtynis, you will do well to] support him zealously and if he hands over to you any "irregular persons", or else persons who use unstamped material, take them, in order that they may be mulcted, and send them at once to the proper officials, in order that they may be able without hindrance to fulfill their public duties. Thoth 5, 15th year. (Transl. Martha H. de Kat-Eliassen, 1961) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ammonios and Ammonios and He[...], contractors of the retail sale of papyrus rolls in the Arsinoite nome, to the epistates, the chief of police, and the other functionaries in the royal service at Tebtynis, greeting. We have [appointed?] Harmiysios, [our assistant in the contract?], to administer papyrus affairs for us from now on. Therefore, kindly lend him your zealous cooperation, and if he identifies any persons as violating the regulations or even using unstamped rolls, seize them together with their contraband supplies and despatch them to the appropriate officials, so that the latter may be able to discharge their royal service without hindrance. Farewell. Year 1[5?, month, day]. (Transl. Naphtali Lewis, 1973)

Provenance:

Tebtynis, Polemonos meris, Arsinoite nome, province of Egypt

Acquisition:

Purchased by L. Amundsen from M. Nahman, Cairo, Feb. 18, 1929

Acquisition year:

–

Editions

• De Kat-Eliassen, M. H., Symbolae Osloenses 37, 1961, pp. 132-138
  SB: VI 9629
• Lewis, N., Chronique d'Égypte 48, 1973, pp. 134-139
  SB: XII 11078

Further Literature

Catalogues

TM 4392

Translations

• De Kat-Eliassen, M. H. (1961). Two papyri from the Oslo collection. Symbolae Osloenses, 37, 132-138. Translation on pp. 132-133.
• Lewis, N. (1973). The text of SB VI, 9629 reconsidered. Chronique d’Égypte, 48, 134-139. Translation on p. 139.

Discussions

• Lewis, N. (1974). Papyrus in classical antiquity. Clarendon Press. Prints the 1973 edition alongside P.Teb. III 709 in a discussion about Ptolemaic state monopoly regulating the sale of papyrus; pp. 124-126.
• Schäfer, W. (1985). Brief des Asklepiades an Theodoros: (πενθήμερος λόγος). Kölner Papyri (P. Köln). Band 5 (pp. 119-128). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. On the phrase ὁ ἐξειληφὼς τὴν διάθεσιν τῶν χαρτῶν (ll. 2-3) in the context of state-licensed concessions on papyri; see p. 121 n. 5 and p. 123-124 n. 14.
• Cuvigny, H. (1990). [Review of Papyri in the Collection of the Erasmus University (Rotterdam) (P. Erasm.) (Papyrologica Bruxellensia 21), by P. J. Sijpesteijn & Ph. A. Verdult]. Revue des Études Grecques, 103(490/491), 299–300. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44264456. Makes the connection between the authorized sale of stamped clothing and stamped ‘royal’ papyri; see p. 299 commentary on P.Erasm. I 5.
• Diethart, J., Feissel, D., & Gascou, J. (1994). Les prôtokolla des papyrus byzantins du Ve au VIIe siècle. Édition, prosopographie, diplomatique. TYCHE–Beiträge zur Alten Geschichte, Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 9, 9-40. On the existence of stamped ‘royal scrolls’ in Ptolemaic Egypt; see p. 9 n. 3.
• Bogaert, R. (1998). Les opérations des banques de l’Égypte ptolémaïque. Ancient Society, 29, 49–145. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44079793. On the papyrus monopoly as evidenced in P.Tebt. III 709 and SB XII 11078; see p. 88.
• Kaltsas, D. (Ed.). (2001). Dokumentarische Papyri des 2. Jh. v. Chr. aus dem Herakleopolites [= P. Heid. VIII]. Universitätsverlag C. Winter. Edition of P. Heid. VIII 418; suggests the emendation τὸν τ[ὴν ἐντολὴν ὑμῖν ἐπιδει]κνύντ[α] ll. 7-8; see p. 247 n. 61 [= BL XII, p. 207].
• Sänger-Böhm, K. (2009). Überlegungen zum Steuertitel χαρτηρά. TYCHE–Beiträge zur Alten Geschichte, Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 24, 103-113. On the organization of state-licensed concessions of manufacture and sale of papyri; see pp. 103-104 n. 4 and 5.
• Harrauer, H. (2010). Handbuch der griechischer Paläographie. Textband. Anton Hiersemann Verlag. Prints Lewis' (1973) text and translation in a preliminary discussion on papyri and their trade, and compares P.Tebt. III 709; see p. 28-29.
• Gibbs, M. (2011). Trade associations in Roman Egypt: Their “raison d’être”. Ancient Society, 41, 291–315. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44079954. On trade associations and various efforts to organize trade collectively; see p. 297 n. 24.
• Malczycki, W. M. (2011). The Papyrus Industry in the Early Islamic Era. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 54(2), 185-202. On state involvement in the papyrus industry; see p. 187 n. 5.
• Sänger-Böhm, K. (2011). Der ἐπίτροπος χαρτηρᾶς und der procurator rationis chartariae. Zwei Prokuratoren im Dienste der Papyrusversorgung Roms. TYCHE–Beiträge zur Alten Geschichte, Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 26, 247-257. On the papyrus ‘monopoly’; see p. 249 n. 15.
• Huss, W. (2012). Die Wirtschaft Ägyptens in hellenistischer Zeit. Verlag C.H. Beck. On the papyrus ‘monopoly’ and related expressions in Ptolemaic papyri; see p. 10 n. 89.
• Stern, M. (2013). Einblicke in die ptolemäische Verwaltungspraxis: Nochmals BGU VI 1242 und BGU VI 1311. Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete, 59(1), 62-94. Comparison with BGU VI 1242 as examples of ‘Autorisations-ἐντολαί’; see pp. 66-71.
• Guerra, A. (2015). P.Sal. Gr. 2: un prosangelma tolemaico. Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete, 61(1), 114-121. On ἐξαποστεῖλαι ἐφ’ οὓς καθήκει (ll. 16-17) and similar phrases; see p. 121 commentary on ll. 11-13 of P.Sal. Gr. 2.
• Benaissa, A. (2016). Perfume, frankincense, and papyrus: Collecting the state revenues. Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 200, 379–388. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26603899. Edition of P.CtYBR inv. 691; discussion of ‘tax farming’ of aromatics and papyrus, p. 379 n. 2; discussion of the term χαρτηρά (l. 9), pp. 385-386.
• Backhuys, T. (2018). Eingabe von Koskineutai an den Strategen. In T. Backhuys (Ed.), Kölner Papyri (P. Köln). Band 16 (pp. 189-230). Schöningh. On προθύμως ποιεῖν and similar phrases (ll. 10-11); see p. 201 commentary on l. 7 of P.Köln XVI 651.
• Weilbach, C. (2019). The new Fachwörterbuch (nFWB). Introduction and a lexicographic case: The meaning of βασιλικά in the papyri. In A. Nodar & S. Torallas Tovar (Eds.), Proceedings of the 28th Congress of Papyrology. Barcelona 1-6 August 2016 (pp. 667-673). Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat. On the phrase οἱ τὰ βασιλικὰ πραγματευόμενοι (l. 6); see p. 669 n. 12.
• Cannata, M. (2020). Three Hundred Years of Death. Brill. On the trade and use of scrap papyrus in the manufacture of mummy cartonnage; see p. 283 n. 25.