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One text, 2 sources · Trismegistos-Text 35455

Letter of a tax collector about gold collection and wine accounts at Gessias TM 35455Gessias (Herakleopolites)Ende V - Anfang VI

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 John, apparently a tax collector, to his superior John the magister, reporting that he found only four gold coins collected at Gessias in the Herakleopolite nome. He explains the difficulty of reconstructing accounts after the death of the former intermediary and the confusion of the soldiers' wine accounts for the eighth and ninth indictions, and says he sent the wine on so the boat would not leave empty.

In English machine translation

[recto] From […] On reaching Gessias I found no more than four gold pieces collected, and perhaps necessity will compel me, on returning from the Herakleopolite nome, to spend three days here until the gold is completed. For as I learned, Philoxenos, who came from Herakleopolis, has been collecting for only two days, and the solidi demanded are many, as your excellence knows, and it is necessary to settle accounts with each one. For truly it is hard work to grasp the account, since the man who was intermediary from the beginning has died, and God knows I was very disheartened, neither finding gold nor being able to wait and learn the account, as I was hurrying to reach my master Artemios. So that I would not send the boat off in ballast, I sent off the soldiers' wine. I have God as my witness, by God it is not possible to grasp the account, because the former intermediaries mixed up the account of the wine of the eighth and ninth indictions. [verso] Deliver to my master, in all things most virtuous, […] John, magister From John, mag[…]

Solidi (holokottina) were the standard gold coins of the period. A ship 'in ballast' (saburaton) is one sailing without cargo.

Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Letter of a Tax - Collector). 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.mert.1.46

Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text · Ende V - Anfang VI · Gessias (Herakleopolites)

[r] παρά καταλαβὼν Γεσσιάδα εἰ μὴ μόνα τέσσερα χρύσινα οὐκ ηὗρον ἀπαιτηθέντα καὶ τάχα ἡ ἀνάγκη παρασκευάζει με ἐν τῷ ἐπανελθεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἡρακλεοπολιτῶν ποιῆσαι ἐνταῦθα τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἕως οὗ ἀνυσθῇ τὸ χρυσίον· ὡς γὰρ ἔμαθον δύο ἔχει μόνας ἡμέρας ἀπαιτῶν ὁ Φιλόξενος ἐλθὼν ἀφʼ Ἡρακλέως…