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Letter from the penitent Antonius Longus to his mother Nilous TM 28097ArsinoitesII

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 private letter from Antonius Longus to his mother Nilous, in which he confesses his wrongdoing, describes his destitute state ('I am naked'), and begs her to be reconciled with him. It was written in the Arsinoite nome (Fayum) in the 2nd century AD, with mention of Karanis and the nome capital.

In English machine translation

[recto] Antonis Longus to Nilous his mother, very many greetings. And above all I pray that you are well. I make your obeisance every day before the lord Sarapis. I want you to know that I did not expect that you were going up to the metropolis; for this reason I did not come into the city either. […] to come to Karanis, because I am going about in a wretched state. I wrote to you that I am naked. I beg you, mother, be reconciled to me. For the rest, I know what I have brought upon myself. I have been punished (?) in a fitting way. I know that I have sinned. I heard from […] who found you in the Arsinoite nome, and he has told you everything accurately. Do you not know that I would rather be maimed than know that I still owe a man an obol […] you yourself come […] I heard that […] I beg you […] I nearly […] I beg you […] I want […] not […] do not do otherwise […] […] [verso] To his mother, from Antonius Longus, her son.

This famous letter is often compared with the parable of the Prodigal Son. The phrase 'I am naked' likely means he lacks proper clothing rather than literal nudity, and the sense of the sentence about the obol is debated.

Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below. 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 →

bgu.3.846

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

[r] Ἀντῶνις Λόνγος Νειλοῦτι τῇ μητρὶ πλεῖστα χαίρειν. καὶ διὰ πάντων εὔχομαί σε ὑγιαίνειν. τὸ προσκύνημά σου ποιῶ κατʼ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν παρὰ τῷ κυρίῳ Σαράπιδι. γιγνώσκειν σε θέλω, ὅτι οὐχ ἤλπιζον, ὅτι ἀναβαίνεις εἰς τὴν μητρόπολιν, χάριν τούτου οὐδʼ ἐγὼ εἰσῆλθα εἰς τὴν πόλιν. …[…]……