o.did.459
[…]… […] τῷ ἀδελφῷ χαίρειν· τὸ προσκύνημά σου ποιοῦμεν παρὰ τῇ κυρίᾳ Ἀφροδίτῃ. καλῶς ποιήσεις, ἄδελφε, ἐὰν […]…[…]ει σοί τι φαγεῖν πέμψον ἡμῖν καὶ ἐλλόγησον τὴν τιμήν. ἀσπάζομαι τοὺς φίλους πάντας .
One text, 2 sources · Trismegistos-Text 145020
Letter to a brother asking for food to be sent TM 145020Didymoi1. Hälfte III
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 →
Fragmentary private letter on an ostracon from the Roman fort of Didymoi in the Eastern Desert, addressed to a 'brother'. The writer reports making obeisance on his behalf before the goddess Aphrodite and asks him to send something to eat, charging the cost to the writer's account. It dates to the first half of the 3rd century AD.
In English machine translation
[…]
[…] to his brother, greetings. We make your obeisance before the lady Aphrodite.
Please, brother, if […] for you something to eat, send (it) to us and charge the price to our account.
I greet all the friends.
'Brother' may be a term of familiarity between soldiers or civilians at the fort rather than kinship. The verb ellogein means to enter a sum to someone's account, i.e. the sender should debit the writer for the price.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Fort: North-West Corner). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.