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One text, 2 sources · Trismegistos-Text 16543

Sworn undertaking to guard a persea tree and its enclosure TM 16543Oxyrhynchos3. März 323 (?)

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 →

End of a sworn undertaking by several men, including Timotheos, Euporion and Moros, to guard and look after a persea tree and the enclosure being rebuilt around it, so that no complaint arises. It was written at Oxyrhynchus, probably in March 323 AD, with subscriptions by scribes for those who could not write or could not see.

In English machine translation

[...] entirely, and moreover to undertake the guarding and watching over the enclosure of the rebuilding of the same persea tree, so that no complaint will follow, or may we be liable to the divine oath. In the same consulship, Phamenoth 7. We, Timotheos, have submitted [...]. I, [...], son of Apion, wrote on his behalf since he does not know letters. We, Euporion, have submitted. We, Moros, have submitted. I, Horion, wrote on his behalf since he is impaired in his sight. [Docket:] House plots of Moros the reader (?): the persea, 17

The persea was a sacred tree in Egypt, and such trees were officially protected. The docket's reading 'reader' (anagnostes, perhaps a church lector) is largely restored.

Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Undertaking to Tend a Persea Tree). 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.41.2993

Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text · 3. März 323 (?) · Oxyrhynchos

[… ? lines lost …] παντός, ἔτι τε καὶ τὴν τήρησιν καὶ παραφυλακὴν τῆς περιβολῆς τῆς ἀνοικοδομῆς τῆς αὐτῆς περσίας ποιήσασθαι εἰς τὸ μηδεμίαν μέμψιν ἐπακολουθήσειν ἢ ἔνοχοι εἴημεν τῷ θείῳ ὅρκῳ. ὑπατείας τῆς αὐτῆς, Φαμενὼθ ζ. Τιμόθεος ἐπιδεδώκαμεν[…] Ἀπίωνος ἔγραψα ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ γράμμ…