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p.col.4.83 245 - 244 v.Chr.Philadelphia (Arsinoites)

Petition in a Case of Usury and Illegal Detention via HGV-meta

Petition of Antipatros against Nikon for usury and detention of his child. Petition to King Ptolemy from Antipatros of Philadelphia against the moneylender Nikon, who charged his wife Simon illegal interest on a loan of 70 drachmas and then detained her and their child in Herakleopolis. Simon escaped, but the child is still held, and Antipatros asks that the case go to the chrematistai, that Nikon be punished and the child returned. Written around 245-244 BC. machine translation

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Linked by Trismegistos ID TM 1796. Each record below describes this same artifact or text from a different angle.

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 · Greek · Greek

Transcription

[r] βασιλεῖ Πτολεμαίωι χαίρειν Ἀντίπατρος τῶν ἐκ Φιλαδελφείας. ἀδικοῦμαι ὑπὸ Νίκωνος. δανείσας γάρ μου τῆι γυναικὶ Σίμωι ἀργυρίου δραχμὰς ο, τόκου ὡς τὴν μνᾶν τὸν μῆνα ἕκαστον δραχμῶν ἕξ , καὶ κεφαλαιώσας σὺν τῶι ἀρχαίωι συνεγράψατο συγγραφὴν δανείου πρὸς αὐτὴν δραχμῶν ριε ἐφʼ ἧς ἐπεγράφην ἔγγυος ἐγώ. ἀπελθόντος δέ μου ἐκ Φιλαδελφείας διὰ τὸ συκοφαντεῖσθαι ὑπὸ Ἀρτεμιδώρου τοῦ παρʼ Ἀπολλωνίου τοῦ διοικητοῦ καὶ ἀνοίξαντος καπηλεῖον ἐν Ἑρμοῦ πόλει τῆι ἄνω, Νίκων ἔγραψεν ἐπιστολὴν εἰς Φιλαδέλφειαν πρὸς Μενέστρατόν τινα ἡμέτερον οἰκέτην ἐν ἧι καὶ γράφει ὅρκον βασιλικὸν συνγράψεσθαι πρὸς ἡμᾶς τοῦ ἀρχαίου αὐτοῦ τῶν ο δραχμῶν. τοῦ δὲ Μενεστράτου μοι γράψαντος εἰς Ἑρμοῦ πόλιν παραγενέσθαι καὶ ἐμοῦ καταπλεύσαντος εἰς Φιλαδέλφειαν, Νίκων ἀναπλεύσας εἰς Ἑρμοῦ πόλιν τὴν γυναῖκά μου ἔφη παραδώσειν τῶι πράκτορι πρὸς τὸ δάνειον ἐὰν μὴ ἑκοῦσα ἀκολούθηι αὐτῶι. εὐλαβηθείσης δὲ τῆς Σίμου καὶ συνκαταπλευσάσης τῶι Νίκωνι μετὰ τοῦ παιδίου ἀγαγὼν αὐτοὺς εἰς Ἡρακλέους πόλιν κατέκλεισεν παρά τισιν χωρὶς ἑκάτερον. ἡ μὲν οὖν Σῖμον λαθοῦσα ἀπῆλθεν. τὸ δὲ παιδίον ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἔχει συνκεκλεικὼς καὶ ἀξιούντων ἡμῶν ἀποδοῦναι ὅτε μὲν ὁμολογεῖ ἔχειν πρὸς τὸ δάνειον ἠνεχυρακώς, ὅτε δὲ ἀρνεῖται. δέομαι οὖν σου, βασιλεῦ, ἀποσταλῆναι μου τὴν ἔντευξιν ἐπὶ χρηματιστὰς καὶ ἐὰν ἐνδείξωμαι ἀληθῆ ὄντα τὰ διὰ τῆς ἐντεύξεως τυχεῖν Νίκωνα τῆς προσηκούσης τιμωρίας περί τε τῶν τόκων ὧν συνγέγραπται παρὰ τὸ διάγραμμα καὶ ὅτι τὸν ἐλεύθερον εἴρξας ἔχει διʼ αὐτοῦ, ἐμοὶ δὲ ἀποδοθῆναι τὸ παιδίον, ἵνα ἐπὶ σέ, βασιλεῦ, καταφυγὼν τοῦ δικαίου τύχω. εὐτύχει. [v]

Translations (1)

EN AI · machine translation from the DDbDP edition (Claude Opus 5.5)
[recto] To King Ptolemy, greetings from Antipatros, one of those from Philadelphia. I am wronged by Nikon. For having lent to my wife Simon 70 drachmas of silver, at interest of 6 drachmas per mina each month, and having added the interest to the principal, he drew up a loan contract with her for 115 drachmas, on which I was registered as guarantor. When I left Philadelphia because I was being falsely accused by Artemidoros, the agent of Apollonios the dioiketes, and opened a tavern in Upper Hermopolis, Nikon wrote a letter to Philadelphia to a certain Menestratos, our servant, in which he also writes that he would draw up a royal oath with us for his principal of 70 drachmas. When Menestratos wrote to me at Hermopolis to come, and I sailed down to Philadelphia, Nikon sailed up to Hermopolis and said he would hand my wife over to the collector (praktor) for the loan unless she willingly followed him. Simon, being afraid, sailed down together with Nikon with the child, and he took them to Herakleopolis and shut them up with certain persons, each separately. Simon escaped unnoticed and got away. But the child he still keeps shut up even now, and when we ask him to give it back, sometimes he admits that he holds it as a pledge for the loan, sometimes he denies it. I beg you therefore, King, to have my petition sent to the chrematistai, and if I show that the statements in the petition are true, that Nikon receive the appropriate punishment both for the interest which he wrote into the contract contrary to the ordinance and because he holds the free child imprisoned by his own action, and that the child be returned to me, so that having taken refuge with you, King, I may obtain justice. Farewell. [verso] […] (deleted)

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