A contract from Oxyrhynchus in which a seller sells a house in the eastern part of a village, together with a vacant plot, to a buyer from the same city for a sum of silver drachmas received in full. It includes guarantees against claims and permission to register the sale publicly. It is dated Year 2 of Claudius II, Thoth 13.
In English machine translation
[…]
[…]ou, from the same city, greeting. I acknowledge that I have sold to you from now for all time the house belonging to me in the village of […], in the eastern parts of this village, […] of which the neighbours are: on the south a public street, on the north […], on the east Aineas and others, on the west others; and in the same village, in the eastern parts, a vacant plot […], of which the neighbours are: on the south and east property of others, […] …is and others, on the west a public street; and the price agreed between us for the same house and vacant plot, […] drachmas of silver of imperial coinage, I have received from you on the spot, from hand to hand, in full, and on being asked about this I gave my assent. You therefore are to possess and own, with your descendants and those who succeed you, the houses and vacant plot sold to you by me as aforesaid, and to carry off all the proceeds from them from the present year, and to use and manage them as you choose; and I shall of necessity guarantee them to you permanently against all claims with every guarantee, and free from the registration of men and from the cultivation of royal and estate land and from every kind of impost and every debt and every sort of attachment and from anything else whatsoever; and I shall repel at once at my own expense, as though by legal judgment, anyone who proceeds against or lays claim to them in any way whatsoever. The sale, written in three copies, is valid, and you may register it publicly through the record office whenever you choose, without needing my participation or any further consent, since I hereby consent to the future public registration. And on being asked by you whether this has been done rightly and properly, I gave my assent.
Year 2 of Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Claudius Pius Felix Augustus, Thoth 13.
[…] houses and the
[vacant plot …]
The regnal year of Claudius II corresponds to 10 September AD 270. The names of the parties, the village and the price are lost; much of the formulaic wording is restored.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Sale of House - property). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.