Private letter
A letter from a woman asking that an embargo should be placed on a mound which a tenant was digging on her land, and that no more work should be allowed until her arrival.
One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 29021
Letter from Diogenis to Didymas about earth dug from her land TM 29021Oxyrhynchos, Oxyrhynchite nome, EgyptIInd 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 from a woman, Diogenis, to Didymas, written at Oxyrhynchus in the 2nd century AD. She asks him to place an embargo on the earth her farmer Hatres dug from her land and to stop any building with it until she arrives, and to hold back her other pending business.
In English machine translation
[recto]
Diogenis to the most honoured Didymas, very many greetings.
Before all else I pray for your health together with your children, may the evil eye spare them, and I make obeisance for you all before the great Sarapis, praying for the very best for you and all your household. Please place an embargo on the earth which Hatres my farmer dug out from my plots, and do not allow him to build on it until I arrive. Take care also to hold back the other matters I have pending with you, so that I may not be held in contempt because of my negligence. I greet all those whom you hold dear […]
[verso]
Deliver to Didymas.
The 'earth' (chous) is soil or mound material dug from cultivated plots, likely valuable as fertilizer or building material. 'Unharmed by the evil eye' (abaskantos) is a common protective epithet for children in letters.
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 Diogenis to Didymas). 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.14.1758
[r] Διογενὶς Διδυμᾷ τῶι τιμιωτάτῳ πλεῖστα χαίρειν. πρὸ παντὸς εὔχομαί σε ὑγιαίνειν μετὰ τῶν ἀβασκάντων σου παιδίων, καὶ τὸ προσκύνημα ὑμῶν ποιῶ παρὰ τῷ μεγάλῳ Σαράπιδι εὐχομένη σοι τὰ κάλλιστα πανοικεί. καλῶς ποιήσεις κατεγγυήσας τὸν χοῦν ὃν ἐξέσκαψεν Ἁτρῆς ὁ γεωργός μου ἀπὸ τῶν …