Letter asking that a farmer not be sent to Babylon at sowing time TM 129778Hermopolites

Fragmentary end of a Christian letter from the Hermopolite nome asking the recipient, addressed with a respectful title, to stop a man (apparently a farmer) from being sent to Babylon, since it is sowing time. The writer also reports that someone complained against the recipient to a high-ranking chartularius and that only the writer's closeness to him prevented trouble.

In English machine translation

The recipient is addressed in the third person feminine ("her"), reflecting an honorific title such as "your Magnificence". Babylon here is the fortress city in Egypt near later Cairo; a chartularius was an official or secretary of an administration or great estate.

Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Contro l'invio di un contadino a Babylon). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.