Will
Uncials, clearly written, running along the fibres.
One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 31293
Gift on death of a quarter share of a house to a daughter and her foster brother TM 31293Hermoupolis3rd-4th c. AD
The same ancient text or artifact as recorded by 4 records across 3 independent projects, recognised as one entity by its TM-Text identifier. View on Trismegistos →
A deed of gift taking effect on death, in which a man from Alexandria living in Hermopolis grants a quarter share of a house in Hermopolis to his daughter Armenia, born of his freedwoman Nike, and to her foster brother Isidoros. It dates to the 3rd or 4th century AD; the end is lost.
In English machine translation
[I acknowledge], […], from the most splendid Alexandria, residing in [Hermopolis], that I have granted irrevocably and without change of mind [to Armenia my daughter] by the mother Nike, my freedwoman, and likewise [to Isidoros, her foster brother], [in equal and undivided shares], after my death, the [fourth part of a whole] house belonging to me in the same Hermopolis, with its fixtures and all appurtenances, [to belong to my daughter] and likewise to Isidoros, foster brother of Armenia, and [to their descendants and successors]; that the aforesaid [Armenia] shall therefore hold and own [the fourth part] after my death, together with those who will succeed to it from her, [and manage it] as they choose; likewise after my death [none of them shall be permitted] to acquire [anything] from you of what I have granted to you, nor […] […]
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The document is a synchoresis (grant) operating as a donatio mortis causa, a gift effective after the donor's death, and is sometimes catalogued as a will. The names Armenia and Isidoros at the start are restored from their later occurrence in the text.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Synchorema / Donatio Mortis Causa). 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.cair.preis.42
p.cair.preis.2ed.42
ὁμολογῶ […]ς ἀπὸ τῆς λαμπροτάτης Ἀλεξανδρείας καταμένων ἐν Ἑρμουπόλει, Ἀρμενίῃ τῇ θυγατρί μου ἐκ μητρὸς Νίκης ἀπελευθέρας μου, ὁμοίως Ἰσιδώρῳ τροφίμῳ ἀδελφῷ αὐτῆς ἀναφαιρέτως καὶ ἀμετανοήτως συγκεχωρηκέναι ἐξ ἴσου καὶ ἀδιαιρέτου μετʼ ἐμὴν τελευτὴν τὸ ὑπάρχον μοι ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ Ἑρμοῦ …