Petition 324AD
Petition in which Aurelius Isidoros complains in vivid details about the irruption of the cattle of two men: as he was leading a cow away he was assaulted and a deacon and a monk helped him
One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 10525
Petition of Isidoros about crop damage by animals and an assault TM 10525Karanis (Arsinoites)324 CE
The same ancient text or artifact as recorded by 4 records across 3 independent projects, recognised as one entity by its TM-Text identifier. View on Trismegistos →
Isidoros son of Ptolemaios of Karanis petitions the two officials of the 5th pagus because the animals of Pamounis and Harpalos destroyed his crop, and when he seized their cow the two men beat him with clubs and took it back. He was rescued by a deacon and a monk, and he asks that the men be brought to justice. Written at Karanis in June 324.
In English machine translation
To Dioskoros and Sotas, praepositi of the 5th pagus,
from Isidoros son of Ptolemaios, from the village of Karanis in your pagus. The flocks of Pamounis and Harpalos damaged the crop I have sown, and moreover their cow again grazed down the same place, so that my farming became useless to me. When I caught the cow and was leading it up to the village, they met me in the fields with clubs, threw me to the ground, beat me severely with blows and took the cow away, as the wounds on me also show; and if I had not received help from Antoninus the deacon and Isak the monk, who happened to be present, they might perhaps have killed me outright. Therefore I submit this written statement, asking that they be brought before you concerning both the crop and the outrage, and that my right of action before the prefect's court also be reserved for me […]
In the consulship to be announced for the 4th time, Pauni 12.
The praepositus pagi was the official in charge of a rural district (pagus) in 4th-century Egypt. The mention of a deacon and a monk is among the earliest documentary references to a monk (monachos).
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Petition to the Praepositus Pagi). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.
p.col.7.171
Διοσκόρῳ καὶ Σωτᾷ πραιποσίτοις ε πάγου παρὰ Ἰσιδώρου Πτολεμαίου ἀπὸ κώμης Καρανίδος τοῦ ὑμετέρου πάγου· τῶν θρεμμάτων Παμούνεως καὶ Ἁρπάλου καταλυμηναμένων ἣν ἔχω σπορὰν καὶ μὴν καὶ τῆς βοὸς αὐτῶν πάλιν ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ τόπῳ καταβοσκηθείσης ὥστε ἀχρήσιμόν μοι τὴν γεωργίαν γενέσθαι, καὶ…