Letter from Herakleides to Paniskos about a knife with a lion's head TM 29696Mons ClaudianusII

A private letter on an ostracon from Herakleides to Paniskos at the Roman quarry of Mons Claudianus in the Eastern Desert, asking him to collect a sheath and have a fine small knife with a lion's-head decoration fitted, its head to be all bronze. He promises to pay on arrival and adds greetings to friends, including two men from Pselkis, and remarks that there are no vegetables yet.

In English machine translation

The word zmelimachairion (from Latin-Greek smile, a small knife or scalpel) is rare; the verb rendered 'fit' (hormasai) and 'shift' (probole, perhaps a relief or work rotation) are uncertain in meaning. Pselkites means men from Pselkis in Lower Nubia.

Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Lettre d’Hèrakleidès à Paniskos). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.