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One text, 2 sources · Trismegistos-Text 23999

Letter from Heron to Hareotes about a courier, a stater and oil TM 23999Mons Claudianusca. 140

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

A private letter on an ostracon from Heron to his 'brother' Hareotes at the Roman quarry site of Mons Claudianus, around AD 140. Heron disputes a transaction with a courier over a stater and a purchase of oil, complaining that Hareotes did not write promptly and that he received only half a kotyle though he paid in full.

In English machine translation

Heron to Hareotes his brother, greetings. I did not give the tabellarius a stater, but I wrote to you through him, (asking you,) having received small change from him, to buy a kotyle of oil; and you ought to have written to me immediately through him so that I could demand it back from him, and not when he had already gone away. For I did not even receive a kotyle but a half-kotyle, and I paid the price in full. Greet the fellow soldiers. Farewell.

The tabellarius was a letter carrier or courier in the Roman military postal system. The kotyle is a small liquid measure (roughly a quarter litre); 'brother' may be a term of familiarity among soldiers rather than kinship.

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

DDbDP-text Full record →

o.claud.2.290

Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text · ca. 140 · Mons Claudianus

Ἥρων Ἁρεώτῃ τῷ ἀδελφῷ χαίρειν. ἐγὼ τῷ ταβελλαρίῳ στατῆρα οὐκ ἔδωκα, ἀλλʼ ἔγραψά σοι διʼ αὐτοῦ λαβόντι παρʼ αὐτοῦ κέρμα ἀγοράσαι κοτύλην ἐλαίου καὶ ἔδει σέ μοι εὐθέως γράψαι διʼ αὐτοῦ ἵνʼ αὐτὸν ἀπαιτήσω, καὶ οὐχ ὅτε ἀπῆλθε. ἐγὼ γὰρ οὐδὲ κοτύλην ἔλαβον ἀλλὰ ἡμικοτύλιν καὶ τὴν τιμὴν…