Private letter
The letter starts by referring to a number of dispatched items, and then mentions a few matters to be taken care of by the recipients. P. Fouad 54 is written on the verso of this letter.
One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 28602
Letter to Dionysios about clothing and grapes sent, and business with Dioskoros TM 28602Unknown2nd 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 private letter of the 2nd century AD addressed to Dionysios, apparently a wool-merchant, mentioning a garment sent earlier for the writer's daughter Kronous and now a scarlet cloak and six bunches of grapes in a basket. The writer also asks the recipient to find out whether Dioskoros has returned from Rome and to follow up with Ptolemaios about a letter and a pending matter.
In English machine translation
Erieп[…] to Dionysios […] the wool-merchant (?)
Deios […] greetings. I pray for you together with all your household and those you love. I sent you, for my sweetest daughter Kronous, through Soterichos the rod-bearer, the one called Sansakis, a small paschidion (garment) and a little letter. And now receive a scarlet pallium […] for the little […]talion, and grapes, in number 6 small bunches, of which 2 are white, 2 are the royal ones called Mareotic, and likewise 2 smoky ones, in a little basket, through Herakleides. Isidoros greets you, and your friend […] no one the […] and you of me […] having persuaded […] and hastening […] the eagerness […] of me. Find out whether Dioskoros has come from Rome, and greet him warmly in my words; and meet Ptolemaios the […] from Dioskoros, (to learn) what he did about my letter which you handed to him, and if he has accomplished the matter which I charged him with, good luck; but if not, while Dioskoros is present, send for Ptolemaios so that
[margin]
from this Dioskoros […] both absent and present he himself may promise […] he himself.
The opening lines with the names of sender and addressee are damaged and uncertain. Mareotic grapes came from the Mareotis district near Alexandria; 'smoky' (kapneia) grapes were a known variety.
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.fouad.1.77
[ctr] Ἐριεπ[…]Διονυσίῳ η τοῦ …… ἐριεμπόρου Δειος … χαίρειν εὔχομαι μετὰ τῶν σῶν πάντων καὶ ὧν φιλεῖς. διεπεμψάμην σοι ὥστε τῇ γλυκυτάτῃ μου θυγατρὶ Κρονοῦτι διὰ Σωτηρίχου ῥαβδιστοῦ τοῦ τοῦ Σανσάκιν λεγομένου πασχίδιον καὶ ἐπιστόλιον. καὶ νυνὶ κόμισαι πάλλιον ὕσγινον […]…ταλίῳ τῇ …