A 6th-century AD acknowledgement of debt from the Hermopolite nome in which the farmer Aurelius Ananias, son of Papnouthios, of the village of Terton Kanas, admits owing the noblewoman Aurelia unpaid rent in kind for a half-aroura of her land. He promises to deliver 3 artabas of wheat, 3 of barley and 1/3 artaba of vegetable seed to her house in Hermopolis in Epeiph; a scribe signs for him as he is illiterate, and three witnesses subscribe.
In English machine translation
[recto]
[…] [Pachon] 20, at the beginning [of the] [twelfth indiction].
[† Aurelius Ananias] son of Papnouthios, mother […], [farmer] from the village of Terton [Kanas of the Hermopo]lite nome, to Aurelia […], daughter of […]anos, the most noble, from the city of the Hermopolites, greetings. I acknowledge that I owe you and am indebted to you, on account of the rents of your half-aroura of sown land held by me, for the crops of the tenth and eleventh of the two indictions just past, as principal: 3 artabas of wheat and 3 artabas of barley and 1/3 artaba of vegetable seed, total 3 artabas of wheat and 3 artabas of barley and 1/3 artaba of vegetable seed, which I will pay you in the month of Epeiph of the present twelfth indiction without any dispute or delay, in new, clean, sieved produce by the Athenian measure, and I will deliver them to your house in Hermopolis with my own animals, and I will also provide you […], all my property being pledged to you for this debt, as if by legal judgment. The bond is valid and guaranteed, and having been asked the formal question I gave my consent. † I, Aurelius Ananias son of [Papnouthios], [farmer, have made] this bond. †
I, Aurelius Theophilos son of Eulogios, from Hermopolis, having been asked, wrote on his behalf because he does not know letters. †
[†] I, Aurelius O[…], [from] Hermopolis, [witness the bond, having heard it] from the party who made it. ☧ ☧ ☧
† I, The[…]s son of Menas, from Hermopolis, witness the bond, having heard it from the party who made it. ☧
I, Aurelius Georgios son of Artemidoros, from Hermopolis, witness the bond, having heard it from the party who made it. […]
[…]
[…] by me […]
[verso]
[† Bond of Ananias] son of Papnouthios, farmer from the village of Terton Kano of the Hermopolite nome, [for the 10th and] 11th indictions: [3] artabas of wheat and 3 artabas of barley and 1/3 artaba of vegetable seed.
The arrears relate to the 10th and 11th indictions and are repayable in the 12th. The village name appears as Terton Kanas in the body and Terton Kano on the verso docket.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Acknowledgement of debt for rent). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.