Petition to the strategus
From cartonnage found in Abusir el meleq. Clear cursive with occasional punctuation.
One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 18642
Petition of a guarantor seeking recovery of money paid for absconding dyke officials TM 18642Busiris (Heracleopolites)After 1 BC - AD 1
The same ancient text or artifact as recorded by 3 records across 3 independent projects, recognised as one entity by its TM-Text identifier. View on Trismegistos →
A petition from Antaios son of Onnophris, former gymnasiarch of Busiris, to the strategos Theon. He had stood surety for two dyke foremen who failed to appear, was forced by the toparch Apollonios to pay 421 silver drachmas for them, and asks that the toparch help him recover the money from their property.
In English machine translation
To Theon, strategos and in charge of the revenues,
from Antaios son of Onnophris. While serving as gymnasiarch of the village of Busiris in the 30th year of Caesar, I became guarantor for Theoxenos son of Lykos and Panetbeuis son of Petechon, of the same village, dekanoi of the dyke at Koma (?). And since the aforementioned men failed to appear, I was compelled by Apollonios, toparch of the district around Busiris, to pay into the public treasury on their behalf 421 drachmas of silver and the additional charges on these. Since therefore the said men have resources, houses and allotments and cattle and sown land, I ask, if it seems good, that you order the same toparch to assist me in demanding back what I have paid and […] from the aforementioned resources, so that I may have obtained your help.
Year 30 of Caesar refers to Augustus (1/0 BC). The dekanoi were overseers of work gangs on dykes; the line about what is to be recovered is damaged.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Eingabe an den Strategen). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.
bgu.4.1189
Θέωνι στρατηγῶι καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν προσόδων· παρʼ Ἀνταίου τοῦ Ὀννώφριος γυμνασιαρχῶν κώμης Βουσίρεως τὸ λ ἔτος Καίσαρος ἱκανοδότης ἐγενόμην Θεοξένου τοῦ Λύκου καὶ Πανετβεύιος τοῦ Πετεχῶντος τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς κώμης δεκανῶν χώματος τοῦ κατὰ Κόμα, καὶ τῶν προκιμένων ἀνδρῶν ἐγνενευκότων τὴν…