One text, 2 sources · Trismegistos-Text 19422

Letter from Aline to her husband Apollonios about wool and a shrine TM 19422Hermopolites113 - 120

The same ancient text or artifact as recorded by 4 records across 2 independent projects, recognised as one entity by its TM-Text identifier. View on Trismegistos →

A private letter from Aline to her husband Apollonios, the strategos, whom she addresses as 'brother'. She asks what colour he wants for the wool she is to work, reports on the newly built shrine of the Dioskouroi on his estate and the offer of the statue-maker Areios to serve them for free if Apollonios writes to him, and says the children are well. It was written in the Hermopolite nome around AD 113-120.

In English machine translation

[recto] Aline to Apollonios her brother, [...] greetings. We give thanks to all the gods for your health, that you also [...] your letter the [...] [...] turned away [...] [...]. The advance [...] so that nothing is seen [...] to be distressed because of the [...] having happened with ivy (?) [...] you wrote about your health [...] they are [...]. You are building (?) [...] for builders and carpenters [...] [...]. I will work the wool as you wrote to me; but tell me by letter what colour pleases you, or send a small piece of work of it. If you want your fine white robe to be put on, see to the purple. I received an oracle from the Dioskouroi of your estate, and their shrine has been built, and Areios the statue-maker serves them and said: 'If Apollonios writes to me about them, I will serve them free of charge.' So you will see that a two-line letter is written to him, so that he may attend to them unhesitatingly in a manner worthy of you and the gods. Your children are well and greet you. Write to us continually about your health. All that you have, Diskas, send [...] [...] [verso] To Apollonios her brother.

Aline calls Apollonios 'brother', a common affectionate term between spouses in Roman Egypt; he was her husband. The 'kōloplastēs' was a maker or keeper of cult statues.

Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Brief der Aline an ihren Gatten). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.

p.giss.apoll.11

Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text · 113 - 120 · Hermopolites

[r] Ἀλινὴ Ἀπολλωνίῳ τῶι ἀδελφῶι[…]χαίρειν. εὐχαριστοῦμεν πᾶσι τοῖς θεοῖς περὶ τῆς ὑγίας σου ὅτι σε καὶ ἀπο[…] ἡ ἐπιστολή σου τὴν […] που ἀπέστρεψεν […] μων. ἡ δὲ προέλευσις[…] ὥστε μηδὲν θεωρεῖσθαι[…] ἀηδῶς ἔχειν διὰ τὸ διαστ[…] γενόμενον μετὰ κισσον[…]ἔγραψας περὶ τῆς ὑγίας σου[…