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A short private letter on an ostracon from Numerius Priscus to a friend, complaining that he has had no reply to his letter about a spear and promising to send the money once he gets an answer. It comes from the Roman quarry site of Mons Claudianus in the Eastern Desert, early 2nd century AD.
The text is very ungrammatical; the addressee's name is uncertain (read here as Leon, son of Apollos; another record takes it as 'Toleon'), and the words 'οις' and 'εξπακος' remain unexplained. 'Chalkos' literally means 'copper', i.e. money.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Letter from Numerius Priscus Toleon, Son of Apollos). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.
Νουμέρις Πρῖσκος Λέωντι Ἀπολλῶ τῷ φιλτάτῳ πλεῖστα πολλὰ οις χαίρειν. πῶς ἐπιστολὴν καὶ ἔγραψα καὶ οὐδεμίαν ἀντιφώνησιν περὶ τῆς λόνχης ἀφῆκας. πέμψον τὴν ἀντιφώνησιν καὶ πέμψω τὸν χαλκόν. ἀσπάζομαι Ἡρᾶν εξπακος καὶ πάντας τοὺς φίλους σου. ἔρρωσο.
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