Catalog Record: michigan.apis.8248 [xml]
Title | P.Mich.inv. 3443 |
---|---|
Author | Unknown |
Summary | According to the description in the old catalogue, which was compiled in May of 1925 (by H.I. Bell in London) it is a mysterious text. This papyrus came to the University in October 1926. Some words in the first column, appear here in almost the same way as they are attested in P.Gen. II 111, which records a specific examination of a canditate for entering the ephebate (eiskrisis), dated in the 21st year (probably of Hadrian, A.D. 137, or Antoninus Pius, A.D. 158). However, there are some further similarieties and some differencies between the Geneva and the Michigan text. In the former after the name and the age (l. 1-4), there is a set of questions asking for some personal details of the canditate: if he has any scar (l. 4; see correction below); his profession (l. 5); his mother's name (l. 5-6); who presents him (l. 7-8), the names of his guarantees (l. 8-10), his place or residence (l. 11-12), his order of birth among his siblings (l. 12-13), the names of his siblings (l. 14-17), and the group in which he belongs (l. 17-20). The questions and answers are written continously without being separated by means of spaces or lines. The year and the day that the examination took place follow (l. 20-21) . ; In the Michigan papyrus, the name of the fourteenth year and -probably- some more days young boy is not known. Didymo[ in l. 1 could be his name, but also the name of his father or grandfather. -eus in l. 2 is the demos. His mother's name is Serapias, daughter of Soterichos (l. 3). He belonged in the unit of Artemon, son of a person whose name is partially preserved (l. 4, [ _]__ _[) and the certificate was taken from the temple of Hadrian in Alexandria, if �ǣa�ǥ is to be considered as an abbreviation of �ǣAdrianou�ǥ. His profession is wool-carder (l. 5) and the persons who guarantee him are the brothers of his father, whose the names are lost (l. 6). He stays in the Gamma area of Alexandria or Antinoopolis (l. 7) and he has no scar (l. 8). ; Concerning the arrangement of the details in the Michigan text, the answers, similar to the ones in the Geneva text, are put in the right column, except l. 2, where the first question and answer are put both in the right column. The space between the first letter of the column is 3.5 cm and the space between the end of the text of the first column and the beginning of the second varies from 1 to 1.8 cm. Just below these two columns of the Michigan text, the regnal year, the 16th, follows and then again in two columns the titles and the names of the gymnasium officials. The offices are in ascending order of importance.; In the Michigan papyrus the left column contains nouns, adjectives and verbs and not interrogative sentences as in the Geneva text. Of course these words followed by a question mark could be considered as playing the role of simple questions. This could be easily understandable and could apply to the nouns and adjectives, which are given in different cases, nominative (�ǣgnwstoi�ǥ), genitive (�ǣmhtros�ǥ), accusative (�ǣtexnhn�ǥ), nominative or accusative (��_____ and and the form _____, if my proposal below is acceptable). However, it could be difficult to consider the first singular ____ as a question. If the Michigan text is not exactly a questionnaire, as the Geneva text is, then, what kind of document could this be. There are three periods that this document could be submitted: before, during and after the examination. All the documents we have so far and deal with proceedings before and after the examination are totally different. They are either applications of the parents of the young boy to enter the ephebate or extracts written at the end of the interview . If it was submitted during the interview (as the Geneva text), the only probable scenario is that the young boy (not his parents', because this is the person who explicitly speaks or writes, and not someone else) entered the room where the examination took place having in his hand this kind of personal application, and he could expect this application to be approved by the mentioned Alexandrian gymnasium officials who were in charge in this year. Or, is it a piece of paper that the young boy kept in his hands as a advisory sheet or a cheat-sheet, so as to answer the right way the expected questions? But, again, why does it bear a date and the gymnasium officials?; P.Mich. inv. 3420 (= SB III 7239) is an extract from the records of entry among the ephebi, dated from A.D. 140-141. The fact that these two document belonged to the same lot, which was acquired by the University of Michigan in 1926, could be a fortuitous one, since they are dated to different periods and concern different persons. If, however, this is not fortuitous, then, these two documents could come from the same office or archive etc. |
Citations | Litinas Nikos, XXVth Congress of Papyrology |
Inv. Id | P.Mich.inv. 3443 |
Support/Dimensions | 1 papyrus ; 13.1 x 14.8 cm |
Condition | The papyrus is broken off at the top, the bottom and and at the right-hand side. The dimensions are 13.1 x 14.8 cm. There is a kollesis 8.3 cm from the left edge of the papyrus. The left sheet's fibers run horizontally, and the right sheet's fibers vertically. The right sheet is glued in a breight of 2.5 cm on top of the left sheet. The ink of the text written over the kollesis is almost effaced or partially lost. There is a small fragment of 0.6 x 1.3 cm, which comes from the right sheet and preserves a letter, ��. |
Lines | 13 lines |
Recto/Verso | Source of description: recto |
Origin | Unknown |
Language | Greek |
Date | IInd century A.D. |
Note (general) | Location: Ann Arbor |
Note (general) | Pub. status: under research; contact institution |
Subjects | Documentary; Papyrus |
Images | Recto thumbnail |
License | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License. |
Linked Data
RDF/XML | Turtle | N-Triples | JSON | Graph Visualization