Letter
Letter addressed to Apollos or to his son, demanding a remittance of money, because the boethoi have refused to issue the tax receipt as long as the extra 7 keratia have not been paid. Belongs to the archive of Dioscoros.
One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 36812
Letter about underweight solidi and a withheld tax receipt for the embole TM 36812Aphrodites kome (Antaiopolites)VI Century AD
The same ancient text or artifact as recorded by 3 records across 3 independent projects, recognised as one entity by its TM-Text identifier. View on Trismegistos →
A sixth-century letter from Aphrodito, apparently addressed to Apollos (or his son Dioskoros), complaining that the gold coins sent were 7 carats short. Because of this, the tax assistants refused to issue the receipt for 18 carats until the full sum was paid, and the writer urges the recipient not to neglect the village's grain-tax payment.
In English machine translation
[recto]
I have also written to your Esteemedness on another occasion that the solidi sent to me […] were found to be short by 7 carats; and for this reason the assistants (boethoi) would not consent to hand over the receipt for the 18 carats, saying: "Unless we receive the full amount." So, for God's sake, do not neglect the embole (grain tax) of your village. For you know that even if […] not […] the […] at present on account of the same embole.
[verso]
[…] Apollos […]
[… 1 line lost …]
The embole was the tax in grain for shipment to Constantinople, here apparently paid or adjusted in gold; a keration (carat) was 1/24 of a solidus. The letter belongs to the archive of Dioskoros of Aphrodito.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Lettre). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.
p.cair.masp.1.67070
[r] καὶ ἄλλοτε γέγραφα τῇ ὑμῶν εὐδοκιμήσει ὅτι τὰ πεμφθέντα μοι ὁλοκόττινα […] ηὑρέθησαν παρὰ ἑπτὰ κεράτια· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἠνέσχοντο οἱ βοηθοὶ ἀναδοῦναι τὸ πιττάκιν τῶν δέκα ὀκτὼ κερατίων, λέγοντες ὅτι· εἰ μὴ λάβωμεν τὴν συμπλήρωσιν. μὴ ἀμελήσητε οὖν διὰ τὸν Θεὸν διὰ τὴν ἐμβολ…