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One text, 2 sources · Trismegistos-Text 15639

Petition to a beneficiarius about unpaid wages and an assault TM 15639Oxyrhynchos

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 →

Petition from Aurelius Gounthos of Oxyrhynchus to Flavius Isidorianus, a beneficiarius on the staff of the governor of Augustamnica. He complains that when he and his wife went to Dorotheos to collect wages owed (one solidus), Dorotheos and some slaves attacked and beat them, and he asks for redress for the assault.

In English machine translation

To Flavius Isidorianus, beneficiarius of the staff of the prefecture of Augustamnica, from Aurelius Gounthos son of Penephis, from the city of the Oxyrhynchites. Didymos and Aion, children of the sister of my wife, at the instigation of Dorotheos son of Aphynchis, a man from the same city, themselves came to me for the completion of the […], having agreed to provide the wage. Since then my wife and I were detained […] on account of the trade tax (chrysargyron) […] to the aforesaid Didymos and Aion, we went to the aforesaid Dorotheos for the payment of the wages owed by him from […], that is, one solidus, for the […] on the account. But we do not know in what way, in addition to his unfairness, he attacked us, me and my wife, with some slaves, and beat us with blows over the whole body […] brought (?) […] wife […] […] of our foster-child Heronas […]. Therefore I submit this petition […] owed […] and that the proper […] be done against the outrage. I, Aurelius Gounthos, have submitted it. I, Aurelius Theon, wrote on his behalf since he does not know letters.

The chrysargyron was a tax on traders and craftsmen introduced under Constantine; together with the province of Augustamnica it points to the 4th century AD. Several lines in the middle are badly damaged, so the exact course of events is uncertain.

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 a Beneficiarius). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.

DDbDP-text Full record →

p.oxy.49.3480

Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text · Oxyrhynchos

Φλαουίῳ Ἰσιδωριανῷ βενεφικιαρίῳ τάξεως ἡγεμονίας Αὐγουσταμνικῆς παρὰ Αὐρηλίου Γούνθου Πενήφιος ἀπὸ τῆς Ὀξυρυγχιτῶν πόλεως. Δίδυμος καὶ Ἀϊῶν τέκνα τῆς ἀδελφῆς τῆς ἡμετέρας γαμετῆς καὶ ἐκ προτροπῆς Δωροθέου Ἀφυγχίου τινὸς ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς πόλεως αὐτοὶ ἀπήντησαν ἐμοὶ πρὸς ἀπεργασίαν τῆ…