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One text, 2 sources · Trismegistos-Text 26870

Letter from Sarapion to his son Sarapas with farm instructions TM 26870OxyrhynchosII

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 short private letter from Sarapion to his son Sarapas, written on the back of an earlier papyrus, giving farm instructions: get chickling from the orchard-keeper Aphynchios if needed, sieve fodder seed for the animals, and secure the hay-store and storehouse. It dates to the 2nd century AD and comes from Oxyrhynchus.

In English machine translation

[recto, column 1] […] [recto, column 2] […] [verso] Sarapion to Sarapas his son, greeting. If you need chickling (vetch) before we come, go to Aphynchios the orchard-keeper and he will give you what you want. Do not neglect to sieve the long-grown fodder seed for the service of the animals; do not neglect to secure (?) the hay-store and the storehouse because of the date-palm (?). I pray for your health.

Arakos is a leguminous fodder plant (chickling or vetch). The verb about the hay-store is damaged, and the reason given 'because of the phoinix' may refer to a date-palm or possibly something else.

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

p.oxy.36.2781

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

[r,1] [… ? lines lost …] [r,2] [… ? lines lost …] [v] Σαραπίων Σαραπᾷ τῷ υἱῷ χαίρειν. ἐὰν χρείαν ἔχῃς ἄρακος πρὸ τοῦ ἔλθωμεν γενοῦ πρὸς Ἀφύγχιον τὸν πωμαρίτην καὶ δώσει σοι ὃ θέλεις, μὴ ἀμελήσῃς κοσκινεύειν τὸ μακροφυὲς χορτόσπερμον τῆς ὑπηρεσίας τῶν κτηνῶν, μὴ ἀμελήσῃς ἀσφ[…]λ…ς…