Household Account
Account recording expenditures on various household items, for the most part food, over at least 9 days
One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 21368
Household account of daily expenses for food and sundries TM 21368probably Oxyrhynchus, Oxyrhynchite nome, province of Egypt(End of the) IInd century A.D. (after ca. 182 A.D.)
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 household account listing daily expenditure, mostly on food such as bread, beans, lupines, vegetables, eggs, meat and wine, along with bath fees, lamps and payments to a slave boy and an advocate. It dates to around AD 182 and probably comes from Oxyrhynchus.
In English machine translation
[column 1]
[…] meat, … drachmas 5 obols; bread 4 obols; […] 2 chalkoi; for the bath 1/2 obol; beans 2 chalkoi; lupines 1/2 obol; vegetables 1 obol; vetch (?) 2 obols; lamp-wicks 1 obol.
… bread 4 obols; asparagus, beet 3 obols; hot water (?) 1/2 obol; beans 1/2 obol; radish 2 obols; lettuce, leeks 4 1/2 obols; relish 1 drachma 3 obols.
Bread 6 obols; meat […] drachmas; … 6 drachmas 6 obols; bread 1 drachma 1 obol; asparagus, beet 5 obols; hot water (?) 1/2 obol 2 chalkoi; citron 4 obols; beans 1 obol.
[…] eggs 1 drachma 3 obols; for the bath [1/2 obol]; … 2 chalkoi; for the slave boy 4 obols; oil 5 drachmas 1 obol.
[column 2]
30th: bread 6 obols
beans 1 obol
for the child 1 drachma 1 obol
for the advocate 44 drachmas
for a libation 1 drachma 5 obols
pomegranate wine 1 drachma 6 obols
wine 18 drachmas
basins 2 drachmas 2 obols
salted fish 4 obols
lupines 1 obol
for the bath 1/2 obol
olive shoots (?) 1 obol
snails 1 obol
dyes 2 obols
pot 1 obol
beet 2 obols
hot water (?) 1/2 obol 2 chalkoi
lettuce, … 4 1/2 obols
bread 4 obols
beans 1 obol
[column 3]
[…] asparagus, beet 2 1/2 obols; hot water (?) 1/2 obol; radish 1 1/2 obols; lettuce 4 obols; coriander 2 chalkoi; bread 4 obols; beans 1 obol; cups 2 drachmas 4 obols; lupines 1 obol; boiled meat 1 drachma.
[…] … 4 drachmas; vegetables 4 obols; bread 6 obols; eggs 1 drachma 1/2 obol; boiled meat 1 drachma; asparagus, beet 4 1/2 obols; hot water (?) 1/2 obol 2 chalkoi; beans 1 obol; lupines 1 obol 2 chalkoi.
[…] 2 chalkoi; for the advocate 21 drachmas 1 obol; hot water (?) 1 1/2 obols; vetch (?) 2 obols; citron 1 obol; wine 24 drachmas 3 obols; lamps 1 obol; for … 2 obols.
The term zema, rendered 'hot water (?)', may mean a decoction or boiled dish; orobion (vetch) is likewise uncertain. Large payments to a rhetor (advocate) suggest the household was involved in a lawsuit.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Household Account). 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.mich.11.619
[1] […]κρέως δραχμ … πεντώβολον, ἄρτων τετρώβολον […] χαλκοὶ 2, βαλανεῖ ἡμιωβέλιον , κυάμου χαλκοὶ 2, θέρμου ἡμιωβέλιον, λαχάνων ὀβολὸς, ὀρβίων διώβολον, ἐλλυχνίων ὀβολὸς …ἄρτων τετρώβολον, ἀσπαράγου,σεύτλου τριώβολον, ζέματος ἡμιωβέλιον , κυάμου ἡμιωβέλιον , ῥαφάνου διώβολον, θρ…