The same ancient text or artifact as recorded by 2 records across 2 independent projects, recognised as one entity by its TM-Text identifier. View on Trismegistos →
A private letter on an ostracon from a man whose name ends in -apous to his friend Areios at the Roman fort of Didymoi in the Eastern Desert. He asks Areios to lend a wineskin to the donkey-driver Markos, who carries the letter, until Markos returns from Berenike, and adds a recognition sign to prove the request is genuine.
The 'sign' (semeion) is a private detail known only to the two correspondents, used to authenticate the request to the reader. The record groups this with a second letter possibly addressed to the same Areios (Arius).
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Two Letters to Arius (the Same?)). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.
[…]αποῦς Ἀρήωι τῶι φιλτάτῳ πλεῖστα χαίρειν· ἐρωτῶ σε χρῆσαι ἀσκὸν καὶ δὸς Μάρκῳ τῷ ὀνηλάτῃ τῷ κομίζοντί σοι τοῦτο τὸ ὄστρακον, ἄχρι οὗ ἀνακάμψῃ ἀπὸ Βερενίκης καὶ ἀπολάβῃς αὐτόν. σημεῖον ὅτι ἥκεις καλῶν με καὶ τὸν γαμβρὸν καὶ λέγω σοι ὅτι ὀφθαλμιᾷ. μὴ οὖν κολάσῃ τοὺς ὄνους ἡμῶν ἐπ…
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