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One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 20979

Petition against a coppersmith over forty drachmas and two doors TM 20979OxyrhynchusA.D. 44

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 Bassos son of Bassos of Oxyrhynchos to the strategos Gaius Julius […] against the coppersmith Harpokration son of Areios, who failed to repay 40 silver drachmas and to return (or pay for) two doors despite repeated demands and a promise made on Choiak 2 of Claudius' fourth year. Bassos asks that Harpokration be summoned and compelled to pay.

In English machine translation

To Gaius Julius […], strategos, from Bassos son of Bassos, of those from the city of Oxyrhynchos. […] Harpokration son of Areios, coppersmith, in the so-called (quarter?) of Pammenes […] to repay […] forty […] to receive […] of the […] two. And although he ought to act justly and repay the forty drachmas of silver and the doors […], though asked many times he did not repay; and on the second of the present month Choiak of the fourth year of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus Imperator, when I had settled accounts with him, he promised to give me the price of the two doors, and he did not pay, but I kept going after the doors and the 40 drachmas of silver. Therefore, taking refuge with you, I ask that Harpokration be brought before you so that he may be compelled to repay me the 40 drachmas of silver and the doors, so that I may have been benefited. Farewell.

The damaged opening lines hid the circumstances of the debt, so it is unclear how the doors and money came to be owed. The museum description reverses the roles, but the text shows Harpokration owes Bassos.

Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Plainte au sujet de quarante drachmes et de deux portes). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.

APIS-papyrus Full record →

Petition concerning forty drachmae

Papyri.info — APIS (Advanced Papyrological Information System) — papyri · 72066 · A.D. 44 · Oxyrhynchus

The part of the papyrus which is mutilated deprives us of the circumstances in which Bassus was to repay to Harpocration the value of two doors and forty drachmae of silver. What still remains is an account of his various attempts to recover his property,

DDbDP-text Full record →

p.fouad.1.27

Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text · Oxyrhynchos

Γαίωι Ἰουλίωι […] στρατηγῶι. παρὰ Βάσσου τοῦ Βάσσου τῶν ἀπʼ Ὀξυρύγχων πόλεως περι… κα Ἁρποκρατείωνα Ἀρείου χαλκεῖ ἐν τῷ Παμμένῳ λεγομένῳ[…]……ν ἀποδ[…] σεν μ[…]τεσσεράκοντα[…] λαβεῖν α[…] μων τῆς μ……[…] δύο · τούτου δὲ ὀφείλοντος δικαιοπραγεῖν καὶ ἀποδοῦναι τὰς τοῦ ἀργυρίου δραχμὰ…