Draft of a petition by a woman of Hermopolis to the governor (praeses) of the Thebaid, complaining that the grain officials (sitologoi) of the village of Magdola are trying to collect again taxes on her property that she had already paid through a written order to their partner Hymiseus. She asks the governor to stop their violence.
In English machine translation
[...]
[...] from Hermopolis the most splendid, greetings. With all kindness, lord governor, your magnificence benefits those who are wronged, and especially women because of the weakness of their nature. My affair is as follows: a long time ago [...] by the sitologoi of the village of Magdola of the same nome [...] on account of public taxes of my property in the same village, and before this [...] I issued a written order to one of them, named Hymiseus, to someone [...] that I be well-disposed (?). These things to them [...] orders not [...] they, but towards your magnificence [...] time (?) [...] despising my weak female nature, they come against me wishing to exact what they have already received, through the order which I issued to their partner, one named Hymiseus, the pious (?) taxes. Therefore, not being able to bear, as a woman, [...] their unlawful demand, I take refuge at the feet of you, my lord, begging and asking that you order, by whatever means your magnificence sees fit, that these men cease from their violence, so that I suffer nothing further, but, having been benefited, I may give thanks to your fortune forever.
The sitologoi were village officials responsible for collecting grain taxes. The petitioner stresses her 'weak female nature', a common rhetorical appeal in petitions by women.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Entwurf einer Eingabe an den Präses der Thebais). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.