Home › Browse › DDbDP-text › Object 26469
Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text · papyrus

chrest.wilck.21 II - IIIArsinoites

Letter from Ptolemaios to his brother Zosimos about his posting to the Boukolia. Private letter from a man (Ptolemaios, written Ptolemais in the opening) to his brother Zosimos, reporting that he has been assigned by lot to service in the Boukolia (marsh district of the Nile Delta). He asks Zosimos to prepare bricks or lime with Longinus, to visit his friend Besarion at Skenai Mandrai, and to bring Apollon the hunter there. From the Arsinoite nome, 2nd-3rd century AD. 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 28194. Each record below describes this same artifact or text from a different angle.

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 · Greek · Greek

Transcription

[r,ctr] Πτολεμαῖς Ζωσίμῳ τῷ ἀδελφῷ πλεῖστα χαίρειν. πρὸ μὲν πάντων εὔχομαί σε ὑγιαίνειν καὶ τὸ προσκύνημά σου ποιῶ παρὰ τῷ κυρίῳ Σαράπιδι. γίγνωσκε, ἄδελφε, ἐκληρώθην εἰς τὰ Βουκόλια· οὐκ ἠδυνάμην παραιτήσασθαι, διότι καλῶς κεκλήρωμαι. ἐδήλωσα Λονγείνῳ, ἵνα ἑτοιμάσῃ πάντα. ἐκ γῆς ὀφειλήσῃς ἕψειν εἴτε τοὺς πλίνθους εἴτε τὴν κονίαν, ἵνα μεθʼ ὑγιείας ἐὰν ἐγὼ ἔλθω πρὸς ὑμᾶς, εὕρω πάντα ἕτοιμα. οἴδατε τὴν ἀνάγκην τῆς στρατείας· καὶ ἂν εἰς τοῦτο ὑπηρετήσατέ μοι ὅπως ε[…]…υλης μετʼ αὐτοῦ ἕως ὅτου ἡ ἑτοιμασία γένηται μετὰ τὴν κατασπορὰν καὶ εὐσχοληθῇς, ἐλθὲ πρὸς ἐμὲ εἰς τὰ Βουκόλια, τοῦτʼ ἐστιν τιοθεις . ὅταν λάβῃς ταύτην τὴν ἐπιστολήν, γενοῦ μετὰ Λονγείνου εἰς Σκηνὰς Μάνδρας πρὸς Βησαρίωνα τὸν ἐμὸν φίλον, ὡς καὶ σὺ ἐπίστασαι αὐτόν. ἔχω ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ ἀναγκαῖον φίλον καὶ τὰ πάντα μεταδώσει ἡμῖν. πᾶν ποίησον τοῦ σὲ ἀπενέγκαι Ἀπόλλωνι τὸν κυνηγὸν πρὸς τὸν φίλον μου εἰς Σκηνάς· διὸ οὖν , ἄδελφε, ὅπως ἐνταλῇς τῷ ἀνδρί. Γαία τεσεινα ὑπηρετήσῃ χορτάρια τῷ ἐμῷ φίλῳ καὶ γὰρ μέλλει αὐτῷ χρῄζεσθαι. [r,ms] ἀσπάζομαι τὴν ἀδελφήν μου πολλὰ καὶ τὰ τέκνα αὐτῆς καὶ Σερῆνον καὶ τοὺς φιλοῦντας ἡμᾶς πάντας. ἐρρῶσθαί σε εὔχομαι. [v] ἀπόδος Ζωσίμῳ ἀδελφῷ Πτολεμαίου ἀδελφοῦ.

Translations (1)

EN AI · machine translation from the DDbDP edition (Claude Opus 5.5)
Ptolemais to Zosimos his brother, very many greetings. Before all else I pray that you are well, and I make obeisance for you before the lord Sarapis. Know, brother, that I have been allotted to the Boukolia; I could not get myself excused, because I was properly allotted. I have informed Longinus, so that he may prepare everything. You must fire, from earth, either the bricks or the lime, so that if I come to you in good health I may find everything ready. You know the compulsion of military service; and if you assist me in this, so that […] with him until the preparation is done. After the sowing, when you have leisure, come to me at the Boukolia, that is […]. When you receive this letter, go with Longinus to Skenai Mandrai to Besarion my friend, as you too know him. I have a close friend in Alexandria and he will share everything with us. Do everything to take Apollon the hunter to my friend at Skenai; therefore, brother, see that you instruct the man. Gaia (?) [...] will supply fodder to my friend, for he is going to need it. [margin] I greet my sister warmly and her children and Serenos and all who love us. I pray for your health. [verso] Deliver to Zosimos, brother, from Ptolemaios his brother.

Connections

Found at Arsinoite nome

Cross-references (3)

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.