OPES – Oslo Papyri Electronic System

Background and Physical Properties

Material:

Papyrus

Connections:

–

Size:

8.0 x 13.2 cm.

Lines:

30: 29 (R), 1 (V)

Publication side:

Recto, Verso

Palaeographic description:

Two hands. Hand 1 (recto): Practiced semi-cursive hand of the Roman period with some ligatures. Hand 2 (verso, writing in the direction of the fibres and parallel to the kollesis): Practiced cursive hand of the Roman period with ligatures. Black ink, medium thick pen.

State of preservation:

Medium brown papyrus. Left margin: 1.7 cm. Top margin: 1.4 cm. Vertical kollesis: 4.6 cm from the left edge. The lettering of the second half of lines 15-25, to the right of the kollesis, is faint. The bottom left of the papyrus shows more damage than the rest of the fragment. The docket on the verso is partly faint too.

Content

Date:

January 17, 118 CE

Origin:

Theadelpheia, Themistou meris, Arsinoite nome, Egypt

Language:

Greek

Genre:

Documentary

Author:

Dioskoros son of Herakleides

Title / Type of text:

Loan of money and wheat / Document

Content:

Agreement for a loan of 28 drachmas and an advance payment for 1 7/12 artabas of wheat, drawn up in the village of Theadelpheia in January 118 CE. The debtors are Dioskoros son of Herakleides and Sarapias daughter of Theon, and the creditor is Leonides son of Herodes. The loan is to be paid back, with interest, by May-June 118 CE. The document has been crossed out – an indication that the debt was repaid. The lower part of the document is missing. The verso preserves a rubbed off line which appears to be a docket. The document is part of the archive “Heron son of Dioskoros”, TM Arch 685.

Subjects:

Contract Agreement Loan Interest Wheat Money Repayment Advance payment Docket

Named people:

Dioskoros, son of Heakleides Sarapias, daughter of Theon and wife of Dioskoros Leonides, son of Herodes Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, emperor

Named places:

Theadelpheia Themistou meris Arsinoite nome

English translation:

In the second year of Imperator Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, the 22nd of the month Dystros, (i.e.) 22 Tybi (17.01.118 CE), in Theadelpheia, Themistou meris, Arsinoite nome. Dioskoros son of Herakleides, Persian of the epigone, about forty-nine years old, with no signalement, and his wife Sarapias daughter of Theon, "Persian", about forty-five years old, with a mole on the right side of her upper lip and a scar above the ankle of her left foot, with the abovementioned Dioskoros as her guardian, the two of them being mutual guarantors of the repayment in full, acknowledge to Leonides son of Herodes, about fifty years old, with a scar on his right shin, that they have received from him a loan, with interest, of 28 silver drachmas, [as well as an advance payment] of one, one half and one twelfth (=1 7/12) artabas of wheat, by use of the four choenix "dromos" measure, both of which the agreeing parties shall pay back to Leonides in the month of Pauni in the current second year ... (the remainder of the document is missing) Verso: [Agreement between Dioskoros and his wife, and] Leonides son of Herodes. 28 drachmas. One, one half and one twelfth (=1 7/12) artabas of wheat.

Provenance:

Batn el-Harit (found?), Cairo (bought)

Acquisition:

Acquired from Maurice Nahman through the British Museum (listed as no. V. C.19 in Bell’s report).

Acquisition year:

1923

Editions

• Eitrem, S. and Amundsen, L., P.Oslo III, 1936, pp. 196-198 (no. 131)

Further Literature

Catalogues

TM 12570

Discussions

• Sijpesteijn, P. J. (1984). “More Remarks on Some Imperial Titles in the Papyri II” (p. 80). Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 54, pp. 65-82.
• Azzarello, Giuseppina. (2007). “P.B.U.G. inv. 213: Un nuovo frammento del rotolo omerico di Londra, Manchester, Washington e New York (=Mertens-Pack3 643) nella collezione di Giessen” (p. 135). Archiv für Papyrusforschung, 53, pp. 97-143.
• Yiftach-Firanko, Uri. (2010). “P. Col. Inv. 131 recto: A Loan Contract with ‘Paramonê’ Provision from Mid-first-century CE Theadelpheia” (pp. 273-274 n. 9 and 10). The Journal of Juristic Papyrology, 40, pp. 267-282.
• Hagedorn, D. (2011). “Korr. Tyche 711. P.Oslo III 131.” Tyche, 26, p. 298.
• Yiftach, Uri. (2020). "A Petition to the Iuridicus from the Archive of Ptolemaios, Son of Diodoros (147 CE, Theadelphia)" (p. 201). Tyche, 35, pp. 195-218.
• Claytor, W. G. (2022). “TM Arch 685: Heron son of Dioskoros. Version 1.”