Home › Spine › TM 33287
One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 33287

Agreement for farm work paid in pulses and daily cakes TM 33287?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 →

Fragmentary agreement from the 4th century AD, probably from the Hermopolite nome, in which workers undertake agricultural work in return for a share of the pulse crops (1/2 + 1/3 artaba per aroura, matched to any higher rate offered locally) and two cakes a day each. Hatres son of Iakob guarantees their wage, and Aurelius Bekis son of Bion signs for the illiterate parties.

In English machine translation

[...] [...] ... [...] to make [...] ... I drew up ... [...] likewise the [...] receiving ... [...] of fruits and vegetables [...] ... [...] and of the phaselus beans, beans and lentils likewise for each single aroura 1/2 1/3 artaba, and if others should be found offering in the same places more than 1/2 1/3 artaba, we shall receive at the same rate as they do, and we each receive daily two hamityria (cakes). The agreement is valid, which I have also issued for security, and having been asked the formal question I have assented. After the aforementioned consulship. Hatres son of Iakob, however, guaranteeing our wage as aforesaid. Mecheir 11. I, the aforementioned, have drawn up the agreement as aforesaid, and that concerning the stunted-growing hay around the enclosures (?), on condition that we do it free of charge. I, Aurelius Bekis son of Bion, wrote on their behalf since they do not know letters.

The records disagree on the type of contract, calling it either a contract of work or a lease of land; the text reads more like workers' remuneration. Hamityria were a kind of cake or bread ration; the word read as 'orkana' (enclosures) is uncertain.

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

APIS-papyrus Full record →

Lease of land

Papyri.info — APIS (Advanced Papyrological Information System) — papyri · SR1446 · 4th c. AD · ?

Uncial cursive, written along the fibres. The whole document is written in one hand only. The lessor bids 1/2 and 1/3 artaba interest for each aroura, but with the addition that, in case someone else should offer a higher interest rate, he should also pay this higher rate.

DDbDP-text Full record →

p.cair.preis.2ed.38

Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text · IV · Hermopolites (?)

[… ? lines lost …] […]… ἐπι…[…] ποιήσασθαι […] ωνος ἐθέμην …[…] ὁμοίως τὴν […] λαμβάνοντες ε…[…] καρπῶν καὶ λαχάνων […]…[…] τῶν δὲ φασήλων καὶ κυάμων καὶ φακοῦ ὁμοίως ἑκάστης ἀρούρης μιᾶς ἀρτάβην ἥμισυ τρίτον, εἰ δὲ εὑρεθείησαν ἄλλοι παρέχοντες ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς τόποις πλεῖον τοῦ ἥμ…