One text, 2 sources · Trismegistos-Text 26868

Letter from Anthestianus to the potter Psois demanding payment of debts TM 26868OxyrhynchosII (?)

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 from Anthestianus to the potter Psois demanding payment of 700 drachmas owed for chaff and transport costs, plus wheat and wine, and threatening to summon him through an official if he keeps evading payment. It probably dates to the 2nd century AD and comes from Oxyrhynchus.

In English machine translation

Anthestianus to Psois, potter, greetings. Recently, once again, I sent Sarapammon to you so that at long last you might set right your past offences, both the first and the second, and pay the 700 drachmas you owe for the balance of the price of chaff and for the hire of animals for transporting the same chaff, and likewise for transporting earth at the present time, and likewise the [...] artabas of wheat which you received from Horion the potter, your [...] in the first year [...] other drachmas [...]-ty and of wine [...] one four-chous jar; and so once again, having obstructed the work, you went off, and you took no account of Sarapammon but said to him: 'Excuse me for now, since I have come from abroad with my pitch,' so that you may know the token. So I had to ask my friend Dionysios to demand from you these things which you owe, or that you give them to him in light goods (?). I have also written to Sarapammon to come to you again, so that you may not fight shamelessly, behaving unreasonably towards the demand with excuses, but by all means be reasonable, lest I deal with you in some other way, summoning you through the nomophylax [...]

The nomophylax was a local official with police and law-enforcement duties. The phrase 'in light goods' (en kouphois) is of uncertain meaning; the pitch was used by potters for lining jars.

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 Anthestianus to Psois). 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.oxy.41.2996

Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text · II (?) · Oxyrhynchos

Ἀνθεστιανὸς Ψόϊτι κεραμεῖ χαίρειν. καὶ πρώην μὲν πάλιν ἔπεμψα πρὸς σὲ Σαραπάμμωνα ὅπως ἤδη ποτὲ τὰ προημαρτημένα σοι καὶ ἅπαξ καὶ δεύτερον διορθώσῃ καὶ ἀποδοῦναί σε ἃς ὀφείλεις ὑπέρ τε λοιπῆς τιμῆς ἀχύρου καὶ μισθοῦ κτηνῶν μεταφορᾶς τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἀχύρου καὶ ὁμοίως μεταφορᾶς χοὸς ἐπὶ …