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Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text · papyrus

p.mich.18.774 ca. 194/193 B.C.

Complaint via APIS-papyrus

Complaint of a goldsmith about silver seized by a tax farmer. A complaint from Menches, a goldsmith of Oxyrhyncha in the Arsinoite nome (Fayum), to the official Protarchos. He says that the farmer of the goldsmiths' tax, Ptolemaios, with an accomplice Menelaos, seized him in Krokodilopolis and took a lump of silver entrusted to him and an ornament; they promised before an official to return them but have not, and the silver's owner is now pressing him. machine translation

Source of record: Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

The same text in other collections

Linked by Trismegistos ID TM 8768. Each record below describes this same artifact or text from a different angle.

  • Complaint APIS-papyrus Oxyrhyncha, Polemonos meris, Arsinca. 194/193 B.C.

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 · Greek · Greek

Transcription

[1] Πρωτάρχωι ἐπιμελητῆι παρὰ Μεγχέους χρυσοχόου τῶν ἐξ Ὀξυρύγχων τῆς Πολέμωνος μερίδος. Πτολεμαίου τοῦ τελωνοῦντος τὴν χρυσοχοικὴν τοῦ νομοῦ εὑρόντος με. ἐν Κροκοδείλων πόλει καὶ συκοφαντήσαντος οὐθέν μου προσοφείλοντος τῶι βασιλεῖ καὶ προσλαβομένου συνεργὸν Μενέλαον τὸν κατὰ πόλιν καὶ ἀπαγαγόντων με καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἐπενεγκόντων ὅν τε εἶχον ἐκδόσιμον βῶλον ἀργυροῦν καὶ κάθεμα οὗ ὁλκὴ δραχμῶν ρη ἀφελομένων μου οὗ παρατεθήσεται τὰ δίκαια, κατέστην πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐπʼ Ἀσκληπιάδην τὸν παρὰ σοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ τούτου ὡμολογηκότων αὐτῶν καὶ εἰπόντων ἀποδώσειν μοι οὐδʼ ἕως τοῦ νῦν ἀποδιδόασι. ἐγὼ δὲ περισπώμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου τοῦ ἀργυρίου οὐ δύναμαι ἐκδημῆσαι ἀλλὰ καταφθείρομαι ἀργῶν. ὅπως οὖν δύνωμαι τὰ εἰς τὸ βασιλικὸν τέλη ἀναπληροῦν, ἀξιῶ σε δεόμενος μεταπεμψάμενον αὐτοὺς ἐπαναγκάσαι ἀποδοῦναί μοι τὸ ἀργύριον. τούτου γὰρ γενομένου ὢν ὑποτελὴς οὐκ ἀδικηθήσομαι ἀλλὰ τεύξομαι βοηθείας. εὐτύχει.

Translations (1)

EN AI · machine translation from the DDbDP edition (Claude Opus 5.5)
To Protarchos, epimeletes, from Menches, goldsmith, of the inhabitants of Oxyrhyncha in the division of Polemon. Ptolemaios, who farms the goldsmiths' tax of the nome, found me in Krokodilopolis and brought a false charge against me, though I owe nothing further to the king; and taking as his accomplice Menelaos, the one in the city, they led me off, laid hands on me, and took from me a lump of silver which I had been given out to work, and a necklace (?) weighing 108 drachmas, the proofs of which will be presented. I confronted them before Asklepiades, your agent, and before him they admitted it and said they would give it back to me, but up to now they have not given it back. And I, harassed by the owner of the silver, am unable to leave home but am being ruined by idleness. So, in order that I may be able to pay in full the taxes due to the royal treasury, I ask you, beseeching you, to summon them and compel them to give the silver back to me. For if this is done, being a taxpayer, I shall not be wronged but shall obtain help. Farewell.

Cross-references (3)

Similar inscriptions · by content embedding

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  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text.
  • AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
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  • Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.
  • Inherited across the Trismegistos spine — a Trismegistos ID names one ancient text, and papyrology splits that text's description across databases: the edition in one, the date and provenance in another, the physical papyrus in a third. Fields tagged via … on this page were read from a sibling record under the same TM number, not asserted by Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text.