Letter from Diogenes to his mother
A letter of a certain Diogenes to his mother about family matters. The grammar and spelling are bad.
One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 25711
Letter from Diogenes to his mother Thermouthas TM 25711Arsinoites (?)Ist century 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 short private letter from Diogenes to his mother Thermouthas, sending greetings, asking her to find out and report how the family is doing, and offering to send anything she needs. It dates to the 1st century AD and probably comes from the Arsinoite nome (Fayum).
In English machine translation
[recto]
Diogenes to Thermouthas, his mother and lady, greeting.
Before all else I thought it necessary to greet you by letter. Please take care, in turn, to find out how our people are doing and to write to me. As for anything you may need from here, do not hesitate to write to me, knowing that I will do it without hesitation. Greet everyone in the household.
Farewell.
[verso]
Diogenes to Thermouthas, […]
"Lady" (kyria) is a conventional term of respect for a female relative. The verso carries the address, with the mother's name abbreviated and the rest lost.
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 Diogenes to his Mother). 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.corn.49
[r] Διογένης Θερμουθᾶτι τῇμητρὶ καὶ κυρίᾳ χαίρειν. πρὸ πάντων ἀναγκαῖον ἔγνων δι’ ἐπιστολῆς σὲ ἀσπάσεσθαι μελήσει δ' αὖ γινώσκειν τί οἱ ἡμέτεροι πράσσουσιν καὶ γράφειν μοι περὶ δὲ ὧν ἐὰν χρῄζῃς τῶν ἐνθάδε μὴ ὄκνει μοι γράφειν, εἰδυῖα ὅτι ἀνόκνως ποιήσω. ἀσπάζου τοὺς ἐν οἴκῳ πάντα…