OPES – Oslo Papyri Electronic System

Background and Physical Properties

Material:

Papyrus

Connections:

–

Size:

19.5 x 18.5 cm

Lines:

14: 12 (R), 2 (V)

Publication side:

Recto, Verso (address)

Palaeographic description:

Practiced cursive hand of the Early Byzantine period, written along the fibres

State of preservation:

Recto: An unknown number of lines are missing from the beginning of the document. The remaining portion is well preserved, apart from a missing rectangular piece in the upper left corner (c. 5.5 x 5 cm), and a missing horizontal strip in the lower left corner (c. 9.5 x 2 cm). The left edge of lines 1-3 is missing 3-6 letters each. Left margin: 3.5 cm. Lower margin: 3.5 cm. No right margin. Verso: address of 2 lines written along the fibres, i.e. rotated 90° with respect to the writing direction on the recto. 3 lines of c. 4 letters per line written against the fibres in the lower left corner.

Content

Date:

5th century CE

Origin:

Unknown place, Egypt

Language:

Greek

Genre:

Documentary

Author:

–

Title / Type of text:

Private letter / Letter

Content:

Letter asking the recipient for news concerning an unspecified health-related matter, and complaining in emotional tones about the recipient's indifference towards the sender.

Subjects:

Private letter Family Health

Named people:

Apoll() probably Apollonios Theod() Theodoros or Theodora

Named places:

–

English translation:

… [I have not received ?] a letter from you (sing.). So deign to answer me at some point (?), in writing, about your (pl.) health. For I on my part, have I not written once, twice, many times, inquiring about your (pl.) condition? For there is nothing else causing me sorrow apart from this. For I have heard here that something which is distressing to me has happened – you know about what. I greet your (pl.) lady mothers and the brothers. Were you (sing.) not laid by my heart? Were you not put under [my ?] head-cover? Did my mother not mean (for you) to share my bundle? Verso: To K[......?], (from ?) Apoll[onios], Theod(oros/-ora)

Provenance:

Unknown place, Egypt

Acquisition:

Purchased in 1923 through the British Museum (lot number III.29 in H.I.Bell’s report)

Acquisition year:

1923

Editions

• Eitrem, S., & Amundsen, L., P.Oslo II, 1931, pp. 144-145 (no. 64), picture: Pl. IX

Further Literature

Catalogues

TM 35471

Discussions

Substantive addenda and corrigenda prior to 1936 are collected in Papyri Osloenses, Fasc. III, p. 277.

• Schubart, W. (1931). [Review of Papyri Osloenses, Fasc. II, edited by S. Eitrem & L. Amundsen]. Deutsche Literaturzeitung, 52, 1163-1165. On the three rhetorical questions in ll. 10-12; suggests several alternative readings; ἔδυ|σάν σε for ed. pr. ἔφυ|σέν σε ll. 10-11; see p. 1165 (= BL II.2, p. 92).
• Bell, H. I. (1932). The Oslo Papyri [Review of Papyri Osloenses, Fasc. II, edited by S. Eitrem & L. Amundsen]. The Classical Review, 46(1), 23–24. http://www.jstor.org/stable/701339. Reads ὑγίας ὑμῶν for ed. pr. ὑπ() εὐμεν() l. 2; see p. 24.
• Preisendanz, K. (1932). [Review of Papyri Osloenses, Fasc. II, edited by S. Eitrem & L. Amundsen]. Philologische Wochenschrift, 52, 227-234. Proposes that the fragment is a model letter, providing instructions and suggesting phrases depending on the individual circumstances of the sender; see. p 233 (= BL II.2, p. 92).
• Schmidt, K.F.W. (1932). [Review of Papyri Osloenses, Fasc. II, edited by S. Eitrem & L. Amundsen]. Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen, 194, 279-286. Proposes several alternative readings; οὖν̣ [πο]τ̣ε̣ for ed. pr. π̣[οτε] ο̣ὖ̣[ν] l. 1; the sender must be male; see p. 286 (= BL III, p. 124).
• Zucker, F. (1933). [Review of Papyri Osloenses. Fasc. 2, edited by S. Eitrem, & L. Amundsen]. Gnomon, 9(12), 648–657. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27674908. Suggests translating the phrase οὐκ ἐδόθης εἰς τὴν ψυχήν μου l. 10 “Wurdest du mir nicht ans Herz gelegt? (Were you not laid by my heart?)”, p. 657 (= BL III, p. 124; see also Byzantinische Zeitschrift (1931), 31, p. 416).
• Olsson, B. (1934). [Review of Papyri Osloenses, Fasc. II, edited by S. Eitrem & L. Amundsen]. Indogermanische Forschungen, 52, 154-155. Reads ὑγίας ὑμῶν for ed. pr. ὑπ() εὐμεν() l. 2; suggests translating εἰς τὴν ψυχήν μου l. 10 “for my solace (zu meinem Trost)”; see p. 155 (= BL II.2, p. 92).
• Kapsomenakis, S.G. (1938). Voruntersuchungen zu einer Grammatik der Papyri der nachchristlichen Zeit. (= Münchener Beiträge zur Papyrusforschung und antiken Rechtsgeschichte, Band 28). C.H. Beck. Tentative suggestion of οὐ πολλάς σοι γράφω for ed. pr. οὐ πολλὰ σύνγράφω l. 4; see p. 50 (= BL III, p. 124).
• Diethart, J. (1992). Bemerkungen zu Papyri V <Korr. Tyche 52-75>. TYCHE–Beiträge zur Alten Geschichte, Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 7, 225-228. Suggests reading φάσκειν (r. φάσκιν/φάσκιον) rather than φασκείν (r. φασκίν/φασκίον) l. 12, interpreted as a diminutive of φασκία; see p. 225-226.
• Fournet, J.-L., & Russo, S. (2015). Chronique de lexicographie papyrologique de la vie matérielle. In G. Bastianini & S. Russo (Eds.), Comunicazioni dell’Istituto Papirologico «G. Vitelli», 12 (pp. 127-193). Attestations of uses of φάσκια (l. 12) in a study on the various terms used for textiles and strips of cloths meant to envelop the body; omits the accent on φασκειν (possibly a typo); see p. 192.