A sharecropping lease from Aphrodite in the Antaiopolite nome, in which Aurelius Mathias and Aurelius Ibeis jointly rent for one year from Aurelius Besarion a farm with cistern, reservoir and palms, which he himself held on lease from the holy New Church. Crops are to be split half and half, with extra payments in cheese and vegetables to the lessor.
In English machine translation
[recto]
… […]
Aurelii Mathias son of Ponnis and Ibeis son of Apollos, both from the village of Aphrodite in the Antaiopolite nome, to Aurelius Besarion son of Dioskoros, from the same village, greetings.
We acknowledge that we have leased from you, on mutual security, for the present year only of the crops of the eleventh indiction, God willing, the farm of however many arouras it is, which was leased by you to the holy New Church, lying in the plain of the same village of Aphrodite in the holding (kleros) of Hierax, with cistern and reservoir and plants and date palms and every right, according to its boundaries, on condition that we farm it and carry out all the agricultural work at our own expense and with our own animals, without neglect and without carelessness; and we shall enclose (?) the whole. The sowing seed being given by you, you also take it back from the common stock […]; and the sowing seed for the fodder being given by us, we also take it back from the common stock; and when the season comes, the surplus of crops of every kind and of chaff shall be divided between us and you by half, to us for our labours and to you for the rents. And you shall have from the common stock, before the division, fodder for all cuttings from half an aroura. We shall provide you with 50 good, large, dry landowner's cheeses and 6 cut bundles (?) of vegetables, and we shall pay from the common stock the cost of the sheepfolds for the flocks, without dispute. The lease is valid and secure, and having been asked we have agreed. The wage for the wooden machine and the expenses are to be paid from the common stock, and we shall carry out the transport of your landowner's share of the crop and the chaff as far as the village, and the threshing from your threshing floor.
† I, Aurelius Matheias son of Ponnis, the aforementioned, have leased as stated above. † I, Aurelius Ibeis (?) son of Apollos, the aforementioned, have leased as stated above. Aurelius Phoibammon […]
[…]
[verso]
… son of Apollos …
This is a métayage (sharecropping) sublease: Besarion leases on land he holds from the New Church. The 'wooden machine' is probably a water-lifting wheel (saqiya) for irrigation.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Lease. Land (métayage)). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.