The same ancient text or artifact as recorded by 3 records across 3 independent projects, recognised as one entity by its TM-Text identifier. View on Trismegistos →
A letter from the landowner Lucius Bellenus Gemellus to his son Sabinus, asking him to send the field-guard Pindaros to the city so that Hermonax can take him to Kerkesoucha to advise on thinning a crowded olive grove. He also asks for fish to be sent for Gemella's birthday celebration. Written on 14 December AD 100, from the Gemellus archive at Euhemeria in the Fayum.
The closing phrase about Sabinus' 'shaking-out' (ektinagmos, perhaps threshing or beating out olives) is obscure, and the meaning of 'do not neglect' is uncertain. A nearly identical letter was sent a few days earlier, suggesting Sabinus had not yet complied.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Letter from Gemellus to Sabinus). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.
This letter is almost identical to another written a few days earlier, both containing directions that a man should be sent to see an olive-yard belonging to a friend called Hermonax, which required thinning. Probably Sabinus did not immediately comply, and Gemellus became impat…
Λούκιος Βελλῆνος Γέμελλος Σαβίνῳι τῶι υἱῶι χαίρειν. εὖ οὖν ποιήσας κομισάμενός μου τὴν ἐπιστολὴν πέμψεις μοι Πίνδαρον εἰς τὴν πόλιν τὸν πεδιοφύλακα τῆς Διονυσιάδος, ἐπεὶ ἐρώτησέ με Ἑρμῶναξ ἵνα αὐτὸν λάβῃ εἰς Κερκεσοῦχα καταμαθεῖν τὸν ἐλαιῶνα αὐτοῦ ἐπεὶ πυκνός ἐστιν καὶ θέλει ἐξ α…
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