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One text, 2 sources · Trismegistos-Text 33328

Letter from Psais the potter to Aron about purple dye, olives and a debt TM 33328Kellis (Oasis Magna)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 private letter from Psais the potter to Aron, whom he calls father and brother, asking him to send purple dye for tunics for his mother and sister, reporting on an olive harvest and unpaid wages, and passing on a complaint about a man named Peteminis claiming a debt. It was found at Kellis in the Dakhla Oasis and dates to the 4th century AD.

In English machine translation

To my lord father Aron, Psais the potter, his son, greetings. I greet you warmly before all else and pray for your health. My mother and my brothers each by name greet you warmly, and I warmly greet mother Agape and her daughter. Please, according to the agreement, send me the little bit of purple for a tunic for my mother and my sister, since there is need, and the work materials are lying idle until you send the purple quickly. Know that father Klodianos has taken up the olives and has given us the share of the crop on hand, and he has given the olives to Psenpnouthes, and as of now we have not yet received wages. So let us know whether you want to receive (them) or not. Know that […] were to us the […] for the sake of the purple […]. Do not hesitate to write to me, to mother Tagape, indicating (this): Petem[inis] has gone away from the house and is constantly troubling me, as though you owed him money. If then you owe him anything at all, tell me and I will pay him off. And please, [margin] O brother Aron, hasten to come to us, since we very much need you. I pray for your health, my lord master. [verso] To my lord father, brother Aron, in Kellis, Psais the potter.

'Father', 'mother' and 'brother' are used here as terms of respect or affection, possibly within a religious (Manichaean) community at Kellis, not necessarily literal kinship. The middle section shifts to a message apparently from Tagape, which is quoted within the letter.

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.1.74

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

[r,ctr] κυρίῳ μου πατρὶ Ἄρωνι Ψάις κεραμεὺς ὁ υἱὸς χαίρειν. ἀσπάζομαί σε πολλὰ τὸ πρὸ πάντων καὶ ὑγιαίνειν εὔχομαι. ἡ μήτηρ μου καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ κατʼ ὄνομα πολλά σε ἀσπάζονται καὶ τὴν μητέρα Ἀγαπην πολλὰ ἀσπάζομαι καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτῆς· ἀξιωθεὶς κατὰ τὴν συνταγὴν πέμψον μοι τὸ ὀλί…