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p.oxy.59.3997 III - IVOxyrhynchos
Heracles to Cerdon via HGV-meta
Letter from Herakles to his brother Kerdon. A private letter from Herakles to Kerdon, whom he calls brother, complaining that Kerdon has written only once and has threatened him in a letter to his father. Herakles arranges through Kranas, who travels with a camel owner, to send something, asks Kerdon what he needs, requests some sangatha, and sends many greetings. From Oxyrhynchus, 3rd to 4th century AD. machine translation
The same text in other collections
Linked by Trismegistos ID
TM 31129.
Each record below describes this same artifact or text from a different angle.
- Heracles to Cerdon HGV-meta OxyrhynchosIII - IV
Inscriptions (1)
Inscription #1
· Greek
· Greek
Transcription
[r]
Ἡρακλῆς Κέρδωνι ἀδελφῷ πλεῖστα χαίρειν. πρὸ μὲν
πάντων εὔχομαί σε ὁλόκληρον ἀπολαβεῖν ἅμα
τῇ γλυκυτάτῃ Ταφύγχει θυγατρί σου. θαυμάζω πῶς οὐδεμίαν ἐπιστολήν μοι ἔγραψας. ἐγὼ
δὲ πολλάκις σοι ἔγραψα ἐπιζητῶν σου τῆς
φιλίας, σὺ δὲ μίαν μοι μόνον ἔγραψας, οὐδὲ πάλιν ἐμοὶ ἔγραψας, ἀλλὰ τῷ πατρί μου ἔγραψας, οὐκ ὀλίγως ἀπειλῶν μοι. θεὸς δὲ μόνος
οἶδε ὅτι καθʼ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν τὸ προσκύνημά σου ποιῶ, εἴτε παρʼ ἀνθρώποις, εἴτε παρὰ
θεῷ. ἐπεθύμησα γάρ σε προσκυνῆσαί σε καὶ
διὰ γραμμάτων ἔστʼ ἂν ὁ θεὸς δώσῃ τὴν
καλὴν ὁδὸν καὶ προσκυνήσωμεν ἀλλήλους. οἶδε γὰρ ὁ Κρανᾶς ὅτι πῶς αὐτὸν ἐξετάζω περὶ ὑμῶν καὶ ἠξιούμην αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης φορᾶς, ἵνα ἐνέγκῃ σοί τι καὶ οὐκ ἐδυνήθη, διότι ἐκεῖ ἦν
Ἥρων ὁ δεσπότης τῶν καμήλων. καὶ
νῦν αὐτὸν ἠξίωσα καὶ τέτακταί μοι.
ἐὰν οὖν λάβω, πέμπω σοί τι. καὶ οὖν πρότρεψον αὐτὸν ἵνα ἀνόκνως ἡμῖν
γένηται καὶ γράψον μοι τί χρῄζεις
καὶ διὰ τίνος θέλεις πέμπω. οὐδεὶς …
κτ[…]ειν παρʼ ἐμοῦ καὶ γράψον
[…]… ὑμῶν πάντων
[…]…τ… ἠκούσαμεν
[…] θυγατρὸς περὶ
[…]ἀσπάζου Ἀμμώνιον τὸν ἀδελφὸν καὶ[…]…αν καὶ Ἡρᾶν καὶ
[…]καὶ τοὺς ἡμῶν πάντας
[…]…λαυρα ημω…
[…]…. ἀσπάζου
[…]…πιον καὶ ὅλους
τοὺς ἐν οἴκῳ καὶ γράψον περὶ τῆς
ὁλοκληρίας ὑμῶν. ἐρρῶσθαι ὑμᾶς
εὔχομαι.
πέμψον ἡμῖν ὀλίγα σάγγαθα καλά, ὅσα ἐὰν εὕρῃς.
[v]
ἀσπάζεται ὑμᾶς Κοπρῆς ὁ υἱὸς Ἀμμωνοῦς ονου………[…]
ἀσπάζεται ὑμᾶς Τοπαστᾶς καὶ Ἀφοῦς καὶ Ἀμμωνοῦς καὶ Ἑλένη
καὶ ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ. ἀσπάζεται ἡ Ἑλένη τὴν θυγατέρα σου.
μὴ ἀμελήσῃς περὶ τῶν σαγγάθων. ἀσπάζου Χεναμοῦν τὴν
γραῖαν καὶ τὰ τέκνα αὐτῆς καὶ τὸν ἀναγινώσκοντα.
ἐρρῶσθαι ὑμᾶς εὐχόμεθα.
ἀπόδος Κέρδωνι ἀδελφῷ παρὰ Ἡρακλέους.Translations (1)
[recto]
Herakles to Kerdon his brother, very many greetings. Before all else I pray that you are restored to health together with your sweetest daughter Taphynchis. I wonder how it is that you have not written me a single letter. I wrote to you many times, seeking your friendship, but you wrote me only one, and you did not write to me again; instead you wrote to my father, threatening me not a little. God alone knows that every day I make obeisance on your behalf, both before men and before god. For I longed to greet you even by letter, until god grants the good journey and we greet one another. For Kranas knows how I question him about you, and I asked him from the first trip to bring you something, and he could not, because Heron the master of the camels was there. And now I have asked him and he has promised me. So if I get it, I will send you something. So urge him to serve us without hesitation, and write to me what you need and through whom you want me to send it. No one […] from me, and write […] of you all […] we heard […] of the daughter about […] Greet Ammonios the brother and […] and Heras and […] and all our people […] Greet […]pion and all those in the house, and write about your health. I pray for your health.
Send us a few good sangatha (?), as many as you find.
[verso]
Kopres son of Ammonous greets you […]
Topastas and Aphous and Ammonous and Helene greet you, and my father and mother. Helene greets your daughter.
Do not neglect the matter of the sangatha. Greet the old woman Chenamoun and her children, and the one reading this.
We pray for your health.
Deliver to Kerdon his brother, from Herakles.
Connections
Found at
Oxyrhynchus
Cross-references (3)
- TM-Text 31129 primary
- DDbDP-Text p.oxy;59;3997 tier-1
- HGV-Text 31129 tier-1
Similar inscriptions · by content embedding
About this record's data
- 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.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- 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.
- date — from HGV-meta, TM-Text 31129 (see that record)
- find site — from HGV-meta, TM-Text 31129 (see that record)
- find point — from HGV-meta, TM-Text 31129 (see that record)