A contract of loan from Alexandria in which Hermaphilos, a 'Persian of the epigone', and his wife Agathonike acknowledge receiving a cash loan of silver drachmas from Ptolemaios son of Ptolemaios. They agree to pay monthly interest of nine obols per mina and repay the principal within six months, from the 7th year of Augustus (24-23 BC), under strict penalty clauses.
In English machine translation
[…]
from Ptolemaios son of Ptolemaios […]
and from Hermaphilos son of […], Persian of the epigone, and his wife Agathonike daughter of […], Persian, with her guardian, her husband. Hermaphilos and Agathonike acknowledge
that they have received from Ptolemaios a loan, from hand to hand out of his house, of [...] drachmas of silver,
at interest of nine obols per mina each month, which they will also repay within six months from […] of the current 7th year of Caesar, paying
the interest monthly and regularly,
and the principal in the last month without any delay; otherwise they shall be liable to immediate arrest
and be held in custody until they have paid the loan with an addition of one half,
and the interest at the simple rate, and for the
overdue time the interest according to
the ordinance at 2 drachmas; the
execution being for Ptolemaios against the debtors, who are mutually guarantors for payment,
both against any one of them, whichever he chooses,
and against all their
property, as if by a legal judgment, all guarantees and every protection they may bring forward being invalid.
[…]
'Persian of the epigone' was a legal status designation often used by debtors who could be subjected to personal arrest. Nine obols per mina monthly amounts to 18% a year; the amount of the loan is lost.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Darlehnsurkunde, Alexandrien). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.