Private letter
Letter from a son(?) to his father. The contents are rather obscure owing to the lacunose state of the letter.
One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 25913
Letter from a son to his father about travel plans TM 25913Alexandria?, province of EgyptIst/IInd 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 fragmentary private letter, apparently from a son to his father, written in the 1st or 2nd century AD, possibly at Alexandria. The writer asks to be told whether to sail downstream or upstream, mentions a loss connected with Neilopolis, and closes with daily prayers to Sarapis and greetings to Leon.
In English machine translation
[…] to his father […] greeting.
[…]
[…] whether I sail down […] or […] I find you, let me know […] I shall sail up. Please therefore let me know this too […] or give him […]. I want you to know that […] lost […] of the treasury (?) in Neilopolis […] of me and […] asked you […] of […]lios […] to know […] having completed for me concerning the […] matter. I make obeisance for you every day before the lord Sarapis. Greet Leon and all who love you by name […] from the farmers […]
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The 'obeisance' (proskynema) is a standard formula of prayer on the addressee's behalf before a god, here Sarapis. Many restorations are conventional formulas, and the main body is too damaged for a secure sense.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Private Letter). 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.oslo.3.151
[…]τῶι πατρὶ […]χαίρειν […] […]…ντος δὲ τὰ ι[…]νου καταπλέω ἢ […]καταλαμβάνω σε δηλως[…]ἀναπλεύσω. καλῶς οὖν ποιήσεις δηλώσας μοι καὶ τοῦτο[…]… ἢ δῷ αὐτὸν […]…ς. γιγνώσκειν σε θέλω ὅτι[…]…νολινους ἀπολωλεκ[…]ταμίου ἐν τῇ Νείλου πόλει[…]ντων ἐμοῦ τε καὶ […] ἠρώτησέν σε βουλ[…]…[…]…