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Catalog Record: chicago.apis.211 [xml]

Title Shipping contract
Citations
Inv. Id O. MedinHabuCopt 962
Support/Dimensions ostracon ;
Condition On brown ribbed pottery with traces of black pitch coating inside
Lines On recto: 13 lines in Coptic
Recto/Verso Source of description: On recto: contract
Origin Thebes
More from Thebes
Language Coptic
Date VIIth - VIIIth century A.D.
More from the period between 600 CE and 799 CE
Note (general) Number 82 in Stefanski's and Lichtheim's publication. Undated. Measurements not available. In Greek papyri, stolarches (or stolarchos), as in line 7, is a fleet commander. Such a person is not appropriate in this context. Perhaps an official in charge of river traffic is meant. The reference to Kos and Koptos, two important towns on the way from Thebes to Antinoe, suggest some such meaning. Lichtheim did not understand the phrase ''hopht nim efnatalo'' in line 9. All ostraca in this volume were on loan from the Egyptian government and had been returned to Egypt by the time of publication.
Note (general) Location: Oriental Institute
Note (general) Pub. status: Published: recto
Subjects Elemou; Koptos; Jeme; Ermont; Antinoe; Kos; Shipping; Contract; Documentary; ostracon
Associated Names Pesenthius, son of Sia; Enoch, son of Pleine
License Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License.

APIS Translation (English)

MH 962, recto: (1) I, Pesenthius, (2) son of Sia, the sailor, the man of Elemou, in the district of Koptos, (3) write to Enoch, son of Pleine, the man of Jeme, in the district of Ermont, (4) saying: By the will of God, I am prepared (5) to take you and your chattels aboard and convey you to Antinoe (6) safely, barring act of God, and I answer (7) for the stolarches of Kos and Koptos. From the (8) outset (?) we shall pay jointly every expense, (9) and every --- (10) for us--half shall be for(?) me and half for(?) you. (11) And you shall pay for yourself eighteen gold carats (12) in the standard of Jeme. (13) Written on the 17th of Khoiakh, 13th indiction.