Home › Spine › TM 24138
One text, 2 sources · Trismegistos-Text 24138

Letter from Grata to Successus about 140 missing skins TM 24138Mons Claudianusca. 107

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 letter on an ostracon from Grata to Successus, sent at the Roman quarry of Mons Claudianus around AD 107. She reports her inquiries about 140 missing skins (probably water or wine skins), which were traced through a sesquiplicarius and a former curator to a man named Kastoras, and passes on Arteimas' complaint.

In English machine translation

Grata to Successus her brother, very many greetings. I informed Arteimas about the 140 skins, and he replied that he had neither received them nor seen them. I sent Getas to the sesquiplicarius, and he too said he had not received them. But he called Alexander, the former curator, and that man said he had received them and had in turn handed them over to Kastoras. When Arteimas saw what you had sent, he grumbled, saying, "Woe is me, I have nothing to supply to the little olive-grove (?)." Greet Sabinus my brother and everyone. I pray for your health.

A sesquiplicarius was a Roman soldier on pay-and-a-half, and a curator here was an officer in charge of a station or supplies. The word rendered "little olive-grove" (elidion) is obscure and the sense of Arteimas' complaint is uncertain.

Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Letter from Grata to Successus). 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.1.126

Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text · ca. 107 · Mons Claudianus

Γράτα Σουκκέσσωι τῶι ἀδελφῶι πλεῖστα χαίρειν. μετέδωκα Ἀρτειμᾷ ὑπὲρ τῶν ρμ̅ ἀσκῶν καὶ ἀπεκρίθη μηδὲ εἰληφέναι αὐτοὺς μηδʼ ἑωρακέναι. ἔπεμψα Γέταν πρὸς τὸν σησκούπλικα καὶ αὐτὸς εἶπε μὴ εἰληφέναι. ἐφώνησε δὲ Ἀλέξανδρον τόν ποτε κουράτορα καὶ εἶπε ἐκεῖνος εἰληφέναι καὶ πάλι Καστορᾶ…