One text, 2 sources · Trismegistos-Text 18862

Petition of an undertaker to the prefect about his hereditary post TM 18862Chosis (Oasis Magna, Ägypten)ca. 290 - 292

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 to the prefect Titius Honoratus from Petechon son of Mersis, of the village of Chosis near Hibis in the Great Oasis. He complains that five people, described as exopylitai, are trying by force to oust him from the undertaker's post he inherited from his father, and asks that their violence be stopped.

In English machine translation

To Titius Honoratus, the most eminent prefect, from Petechon son of Mersis, his mother being Talabon, from the village of Chosis of the city of the Hibitai in the Great Oasis. Trusting in your just judgement, lord prefect, I make this petition to you, the saviour of all, relying on the laws. I shall set out my case to you briefly: my father held an undertaker's post (taxis), which he himself also received from his parents, and while living he enjoyed it for the span of his life, and after his death, may your ears be undefiled, I likewise enjoyed the revenues of the post in succession to our father. But I do not know on what ground Peious and Peious the younger and Apolinarios and […]chillos and Tapaaus wife of Parepsais, all of them exopylitai, as if waking from a long sleep, having no claim against me nor any share, wish in a tyrannical manner to drive me out of the aforesaid post, disobeying the force of the laws and […] wealth. And not only this […] but also […] fortune […] they plot, combining with one another against me, a humble man who earns the necessities of life with his own hands through toil and as a private person. Therefore, foreseeing their continual acts of violence and greed which they commit against me, I take refuge at your feet, asking and begging that their violence be restrained from me, if it please your […] […] […]

The taxis entaphiastike was a hereditary undertaker's post with its revenues, treated as property. Exopylitai were people living 'outside the gate', apparently associated with funerary work in the necropolis.

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

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p.nekr.23

Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text · ca. 290 - 292 · Chosis (Oasis Magna, Ägypten)

Τιτίωι Ὁνωράτωι τῷ διασημοτάτωι ἡγεμόνι παρὰ Πετεχῶντος Μέρσιος μητρὸς Ταλαβῶνος ἀπὸ κώμης Χώσιος τῆς Ἱβιτῶν πόλεως τῆς μεγάλης Ὀάσεως. τῇ σῇ δικαιοκρισίᾳ, δέσποτα ἡγεμόν, θαρρῶν, ταύτην τὴν δέησιν πρὸς σέ, τὸν πάντων σωτῆρα, ποιοῦμαι τῶν νόμων ἠρτημένην. τὰ δὲ κατ’ ἐμὲ διὰ βραχέ…

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Petition to the Prefect

Papyri.info — HGV (Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis) — metadata · Inv. Sorb. 675 + Oxford, Sackler Library, Papyrology Rooms 89B/36(a) · ca. 290 - 292 · Chosis (Oasis Magna, Ägypten)