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 Christian letter from the Oxyrhynchite nome, AD 4th-5th century. On one side the writer complains that the recipient failed to arrest a drunken sailor who squandered nearly half of a cargo meant for Babylon, and asks for his capture; on the other the writer rebukes someone for mistreating Athias, a Christian laywoman, and passes on news that Theodoros of Teeis has become a speculator.
Babylon is the fortress town near modern Cairo. A speculator was an official courier or executioner attached to a governor's staff; 'τλητης' is obscure and its rendering 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 Lettera cristiana). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.
[v] θαυμάζω πῶς ἀκούσας ὡς ὅτι τλητης ναύτης ἐν τοῖς μέρεσι ὑμῶν ἐστιν καὶ ἠμέλησας αὐτὸν συλλαβέσθαι · ὑποδεξάμενος γὰρ τὸν γόμον ἀπενεγκεῖν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα τὸ ἥμισυ σχεδὸν ανήλωσεν. βοήθησον οὖν εἴτε διὰ σοῦ εἴτε ἀξιώσει τοῖς διαφέρουσιν Μαξίμου ἢ δολίως αὐτὸν συλλαβέσθαι· διακινε…
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