A deed in which Patermouthis, Sophia, Kalaophre and Martha cede to a sibling (together with their brother Aurelius Faustos) a whole house inherited from their late father, with neighbours listed and a penalty of 6 ounces of gold for any challenge. It was drawn up by a scribe of the Memnoneia (western Thebes) and witnessed by two priests and a third man, probably in the 5th century AD.
In English machine translation
[… lines lost …]
[…] … […] … […]
[…] [the shares falling to us from] our parents […]
[…] [the fifth] share of it, having passed […]
[…] Kyrikos son of Pam[…] […]
[…] kindly (?) … […]
[…] … Faustos […]
[of the whole house that] came down to us from our late father […] with all its appurtenances, situated in the same village on the lane (?) […]; the neighbours of the whole house are these, as they surround it: on the south, Ioannes son of Ioseph; on the north, a public street; on the east, a public street; again on the west, the house of me, Patermouthis; these are the neighbours on all sides; so that from now on you, the aforementioned, together with our brother Aurelius Faustos, shall possess, own and be master of the aforesaid whole house from the ground to the air, as stated above, to manage, inhabit, administer, build on, sell, cede, give away, doing everything concerning it with full authority and without hindrance, and no one shall be able to bring suit against you, not we, nor our heirs, nor brothers, nor nephews, nor anyone connected with us at all; and whoever at any time wishes to bring suit against you about it on any pretext whatsoever, the one who dares to do this shall pay by way of penalty 6 ounces of gold, exacted in fact and in force, and after payment of the penalty he shall nonetheless be bound to accept and abide by this security, which is valid and guaranteed; and having been asked the formal question we agreed and released.
† We, Aurelii Patermouthis and Sophia and Kalaophre and Martha, the aforementioned women (?), have made this security, properly executed, with the aforesaid penalty; and everything contained in it is satisfactory to us, as aforesaid.
Through me, Biktor son of Ananias, scribe of the Memnoneia. I, Paulos his brother, at their request wrote for them, being present, since they do not know letters, and I also drew up the body of the document. ☧
☧ I, Mathousalas son of Ioannes, priest, bear witness. †
☧ I, Kyrikos son of Ioseph, priest, bear witness. † ☧
☧ I, Aurelius Petros also called Paulos, …, bear witness. †
The beginning is lost, so the name of the recipient is missing. 'Asphaleia' (security) is the late-antique term for such a binding deed of cession.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Cession of Property). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.