Beginning of a lease contract in which a farmer, Aurelius Ath[…], takes from Aurelia Isidora of Hermopolis one aroura of unirrigated land for four years, to sow whatever crops he chooses. It comes from the Hermopolite nome and dates to the 5th or 6th century AD.
In English machine translation
[recto]
† In the consulship of Flavius […]
To Aurelia Isidora, daughter of […], from the city of the Hermopolites, from Aurelius Ath[…], mother […]pia, farmer, from […].
I acknowledge that I have willingly and of my own choice leased from you for a period of four years, reckoned from the crops of the coming, with God's help, […] indiction, one aroura of unirrigated land lying in the plain of the same village, for sowing and storing of whatever crops I choose, at a rent for it of […]
[… lines lost …]
[verso]
† Lease of Ath[…]
Much of the formula is restored by the editor from standard lease wording; the rent and later clauses are lost. An aroura is an Egyptian land measure of about 0.27 hectares.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Pachtvertrag über eine Arure unbewässerten Landes). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.