Fragment of a sharecropping lease of an orchard or vineyard, in which the lessee promises careful cultivation, an equal division of the must (new wine), payment of the vintage expenses according to custom, and annual payment of the rent at the proper time. It dates to the 6th century AD.
In English machine translation
[recto]
[...]
[...] [...] [...]
[...] of the orchard [...]
[without] neglect, and of the [...] that will be found with God's help [...]
[...] of the must, which will be divided between us in equal share [...]
3 keratia
[...]
And I will also give you the vintage expenses, fittingly according to custom,
which aforesaid rent I will pay you each year at the
proper time [...] delivered to the [...]
[...]
[verso]
† [...]
The keration was a small fractional coin of the Byzantine period. Much of the opening and the end of the contract is lost, so the parties are unknown.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Fragment eines Teilpachtvertrages). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.