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Catalog Record: michigan.apis.8444 [xml]

Title Petition
Author Agathokles, son of Menon
Summary Petition from Agathokles, son of Menon to a certain Horos, royal scribe of the Arsinoite Nome
Citations
Inv. Id P. Mich. inv. 6956
Support/Dimensions 2 papyri ; fr.1: 7.9 x 7.4 cm.;fr. 2: 8 x 25.7 cm.
Condition Medium brown papyrus with a break between ll. 7-8, and probably 4 or 5 lines are missing. Otherwise the papyrus is practically complete, and regularly cut on all sides.
Lines Recto: 1-27;Verso: 1
Hands Both fragments from the same page, fr. (a) is from the top of the page, fr. (b) from its middle and bottom. On the front page, the Greek text is written in a small longish column parallel to the fibers. The handwriting is broad, but the letters become more cramped towards the end of the text. The lines protrude progressively into the left margin (Maas' law). This observation allows a very rough calculation of the number of lines missing between fr. (a) and fr. (b). The first line is extended by the large omega with which the text begins. On fr. (a), the width of the left margin diminishes between ll. 2-5 by 2 mm (from 15 to 13 mm.); on fr. (b), the loss of the left margin between ll. 9-20 is 5 mm. (from 10 to 5 mm.; the margin of the last line of the Greek text [22] has the same width as in line 20). Thus the beginnings of lines move ca. 0.4 or 0.5 mm. per line to the left; and over the partially or totally lost lines between ll. 5 - 8, the left margin diminishes from 13 mm. to 10 mm., loosing 3 mm. We may therefore calculate that ca. 6 or 7 beginnings of lines are missing between ll. 5-8; i.e. 4 or 5 lines are missing between ll. 7-8.;The right margin varies between 0 and 12 mm., and the upper margin measures 16 mm. The margin at the bottom, below the Demotic, measures 46 mm.;The text is occasionally corrected. In line 21, the scribe added interlinearly a word he had omitted. Line 17 is more complicated by the fact that in the area some blots of ink obscure the scribes intention. Line 24 with the centered greeting, eutychei, the following line, and perhaps also, in line 26 to the left of the Demotic, have been washed out, whether this is a deliberate deletion or occured as by-product of the use of water either during the mummification or for separating the individual papyri from their cartonnage. The scribe did not correct a dittography in l. 11.;On the back, various traces of ink are visible that have accidentally been imprinted by the touch of another piece of papyrus when, during mummification, the papyrus was wet. At the top, upside down and across the fibers, appear some traces of Demotic with the name of an adressee (one or two lines).
Origin Oxyrhyncha, Polemon meris, Arsinoite nome, province of Egypt
More from Oxyrhyncha, Polemon meris, Arsinoite nome, province of Egypt
Language Greek; Demotic
Date 214/213 B.C.
More from the period between 214 BCE and 213 BCE
Note (general) Location: Ann Arbor
Note (general) Pub. status: Recto + Verso
Note (related) -
Subjects Oxyrhyncha; Documentary; Papyrus
Associated Names Horos, royal scribe; Agathokles, son of Menon; Metrodoros; Peteuris
Images Recto medium
Images Recto large
Images Verso medium
Images Verso large
License Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License.

APIS Translation (English)

"To Horos, royal scribe, from Agathokles, son of Menon. In Thoth of the 9th year (?) Metrodoros . . . came to Oxyrhyncha . . . and . . . [because (?)] I had farmed crown land in the 9th year, although I had not farmed and do not hold land from the crown. Hence, I request you, since I am not a royal farmer and also have never farmed (crown land), to investigate if he (sc. Metrodoros) was ignorant of these things, and to confirm that I shall not be made to pay in future. If this happens, I shall have obtained your benevolence. Farewell";Demotic docket: "To Peteuris(?): Write to me about what has happened concerning these (sc. things). Written by Horos, in the 9th year, 4th month of the 3h.3 season. (Choiak) day 17(?).";Back: "To Peteuris."