OPES – Oslo Papyri Electronic System

Background and Physical Properties

Material:

Papyrus

Connections:

–

Size:

15.5 x 16.9 cm.

Lines:

Verso - 15; Recto - 2

Publication side:

Verso; address on the Recto. Recto published as P.Oslo III, 196

Palaeographic description:

The letter was evidently written rather hastily.The end of the letter and the address were written on the recto, across the fibres, previously used for some accounts, of which only small fragments are left.

State of preservation:

–

Content

Date:

1st half of the IVth century A.D.

Origin:

Unknown place, province of Egypt

Language:

Greek

Genre:

Documentary

Author:

Dioskourides

Title / Type of text:

Private letter

Content:

Letter from Dioskourides to his sister Eudaimonis. Koptos and Sinary mentioned.

Subjects:

Letter Travel Transport Food

Named people:

Dioskourides, brother of Eudaimonis Eudaimonis, sister of Dioskourides Severus

Named places:

Koptos Sinary

English translation:

Dioskourides to my sweetest sister Eudaimonis, greeting. I salute you, sister, through this letter and I pray by all the gods that I will find you in good health as I come back. I approached the most splendid prefect. He received my case favourably and said he would hear (my case??) on the way down the Nile. And all the way to Koptos I travel with the mighty Severus, and from there, if the gods will, I return to you. The wine, I think that the wine of the nom.... of Sinary has been sold for a good price. But if not of the best ... and the wine .....Recto:............................To mye sister Eudaimonis from ........ Dioskourides

Provenance:

Unknown place, province of Egypt

Acquisition:

Purchased by S. Eitrem in Egypt 1920

Acquisition year:

–

Editions

• Eitrem S-Amundsen L, P.Oslo II, 1931, 62
  ▾ Corrections:

  • Wilcken U, APF 10 (1932) p. 86 (l. 9f.)Youtie HC, CP 27 (1932) p. 91 (l.12)Eitrem S-Amundsen L, P.Oslo III, 1936, p. 277 (Date)

Further Literature

Choat-M, Belief and cult in fourth-century papyri. 2006, p.143, 153