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Letter from Harpaesis to his brother Herakles about the Charmosyna festival TM 316234Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites) (?)1. Sept. 85

The same ancient text or artifact as recorded by 2 records across 2 independent projects, recognised as one entity by its TM-Text identifier. View on Trismegistos →

A private letter from Harpaesis to his brother Herakles, urging him to sail upriver, gods willing, for the festival of the Charmosyna and mentioning his wife and children. It is dated 1 September AD 85, probably from Soknopaiou Nesos in the Fayum.

In English machine translation

[recto] Harpaesis to Herakles his brother, greetings. I want you to know that if you have sailed up […] your wife was ready. Because such […] I am not sailing up, and so they have said […] so as to let (it) go until the Charmosyna […] they have not done, not so that in vain […] them […]. Therefore I am writing to you so that, the gods willing, you may sail up for the festival of the Charmosyna. Greet (?) […] the children. Farewell. Year 5 of Imperator Caesar Domitian Augustus Germanicus, month of Sebastos, day 4. [verso] To Herakles.

The Charmosyna was an Egyptian festival of rejoicing, associated with Isis. 'Brother' may be an affectionate term rather than literal kinship.

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 Harpaesis to Heracles). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.

DDbDP-text Full record →

bgu.20.2871

Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text · 1. Sept. 85 · Soknopaiu Nesos (Arsinoites) (?)

[r] Ἁρπαῆσις Ἡρακλήωι τῶι ἀδελφῶι χαίρειν. γινώσκειν σε θέλω ὅτι εἰ ἀναπέπλευκας […] οις ἡ γυνή σου ἑτοίμη ἦν. ὅτι τοιαῦ[…] οὐκ ἀναπλέω, οὕτως δὲ εἴρηκαν …[…] ὥστε ἀφεῖναι ἕως τῶν Χαρμοσύνων εα[…] μὴ πεποίηκαν μὴ ἵνα κενῶς αὐτοὺς μεμ…[…]…[…]. διὸ γράφω σοι ἵνα θεῶν θελόντων ἀναπλ…