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A short business letter from a count to Martyrios, a superintendent, asking him to send four of eleven mules used at the cisterns, among them four Gallic ones, or else to report to whom he had given them. It comes from Oxyrhynchus and dates to the 5th-6th century AD.
The phrase 'those that work the cisterns' renders an obscure expression, literally 'those that tame the cisterns'. Martyrios' title (epikeimenos, related to the epeiktes) denotes an estate overseer or superintendent.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Letter to an ἐπείκτης). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.
[r] παρὰ ἐὰν ἔχεις τοὺς ἕνδεκα βούρδονας, λέγω δὴ τοὺς δαμάζοντας τοὺς λάκκους καὶ τὰ τέσσαρα γαλλικὰ ἐξ αὐτῶν, διὰ τῶν ταύρων πέμψον μοι τέσσαρας, εἰ δὲ οὐκ ἔχεις τὰ ἕνδεκα πλήρης, ἀλλὰ φάσιν γράψον μοι τίνι δέδωκας, ἵνα ταῦτα ζητήσω. [v] † ἐπίδος τῷ θαυμασιωτάτῳ Μαρτυρίῳ ἐπικει…
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