A loan contract in which Hareotes, a priest from the estate of Apel, acknowledges borrowing 3 gold solidi from Epimachos, overseer of the divine house, at Oxyrhynchus in AD 581. He promises repayment in three annual instalments each Hathyr, pledging a half-aroura of inherited land by a water-wheel as security.
In English machine translation
[recto]
† In the reign of our most divine and most pious master, greatest benefactor, Flavius Tiberius Constantinus, the eternal Augustus and Imperator, year 7, and in the consulship of the same our most pious master, year 3, Thoth […], indiction 15.
To the reverend Epimachos, overseer of the divine house, son of Ioustos of blessed memory, from this splendid city of the Oxyrhynchites, Hareotes, priest of the holy church, son of Phib, his mother being Erebekka, originating from the estate of Apel in the Oxyrhynchite nome, greetings. I acknowledge that I have received from your reverence as a loan, from hand to hand out of the house, for my pressing needs, 3 solidi of gold current on the private standard, total 3 gold solidi on the private standard, and I agree to pay these to your reverence in three instalments as follows: in the month of Hathyr of the present year 258/227 of the present fifteenth indiction, 1 gold solidus; in the month of Hathyr of the coming first indiction another 1 gold solidus; and in the month of Hathyr of the future second indiction the remaining 1 solidus, without deduction. And if I prove ungrateful in the repayment of the first or second or third instalment, your reverence shall take possession of and enjoy the half-aroura belonging to me as my own property inherited from my parents, lying at the water-wheel called Kylles […] in my same estate, north of the cistern, together with the proportional share of the same cistern and every right, and from it recover the sufficient amount of the same debt, at the risk of my property, which is pledged for this. The document, written in a single copy, is valid, and having been asked the formal question I gave my assent.
I, Hareotes, priest, son of Phib, the aforesaid, have made this document for the three solidi in accordance with the above statement, and everything written in it is satisfactory to me as set out above. I, D[…], wrote on his behalf since he is illiterate.
☧ Through me […]
[verso]
† Document of Hareotes, priest, son of Phib, from the estate of Apel, for 3 gold solidi on the private standard.
The years 258/227 refer to the Oxyrhynchite city eras. The 'divine house' is the imperial estate administration; 'private standard' refers to a weight standard for gold coin.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Loan of Money on Security). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.