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One text, 2 sources · Trismegistos-Text 33297

Letter from the carpenter Genas to his master Pausanias TM 33297Kellis (Oasis Magna)1. Hälfte IV

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 letter from Genas, a carpenter, to his master Pausanias, greeting him with his wife Tamous and their sons. Genas explains that he has delayed coming as ordered because of farm work at sowing time, and asks Pausanias to send Timotheos to act in his place and to write to Gaios for a donkey so he can travel. Written at Kellis in the Dakhla Oasis in the first half of the 4th century AD.

In English machine translation

[recto] To my master Pausanias, Genas, greetings. First of all I greet your nobility warmly, together with my lady Tamous and your sons, praying that you are in good health always. As your nobility ordered, I wanted to come to your goodness at once, but since in the […] Pmoun Beri of the north […] days with (?) […] of the crop, for this reason I have postponed for the time being, so that I would not come and the matter be ruined. As you know, it is the time of sowing. If, then, it seems good to your nobility, send brother Timotheos so that he may do the business in my place, and write to Gaios for a donkey for me, so that I may hurry, since I do not have […] an animal. I pray for your health, my master, prospering for many years. [verso] To my master Pausanias, Genas the carpenter.

Pmoun Beri is a local place name (Egyptian 'pmoun', a well or water source), here specified as the northern one. The damaged lines explaining the delay are uncertain, though they concern the harvest or crop.

Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Private Letter). 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 →

p.kellis.1.5

Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text · 1. Hälfte IV · Kellis (Oasis Magna)

[r] τῷ δεσπότῃ μου Παυσανίᾳ Γενᾶ χαίρειν. προηγουμένως πολλὰ τὴν εὐγένειάν σου προσαγορεύω μετὰ τῆς κυρίας μου Ταμοῦ καὶ τῶν υἱῶν εὐχόμενος ὁλοκληρεῖν διὰ παντός· ὡς ἐκέλευσεν ἡ σὴ εὐγένεια, ἤθελον ἐξαυτῆς ἐλθεῖν πρὸς τὴν σὴν χρηστότητα, ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ ἐν τῷ […]...... Πμοῦν Βερι βορ…