Letter
Letter from Victor to Cosmas, a comes, concerning two brickmakers who had left their work without finishing it.
One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 37147
Letter from Victor to the comes Kosmas about runaway brickmakers TM 37147Oxyrhynchus6th or 7th century
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 letter from Victor to Kosmas, a comes and estate majordomo, about two brickmakers from Tampeti who had been brought to Ibion. Victor asks Kosmas to order the headman of Tampeti to take security for them so they will not run off again leaving their work half-finished. Written at Oxyrhynchus in the 6th or 7th century AD.
In English machine translation
[recto]
†
† Two brickmakers from Tampeti have been brought into the (estate?) of Ibion, and I urge your illustrious true brotherliness to order the headman (meizon) of the same Tampeti to take security for them, so that they do not run away again and leave the work half-done. Having written this, I greet you most warmly, most illustrious ones, urging you to write to me on every occasion about the health of you, the most illustrious. †
[verso]
† To my master, in all things most illustrious, worthy of all honour and reverence, true friend, Kosmas, comes and majordomo (meizoteros), † Victor. †
The meizon was a village headman and the meizoteros a senior steward of a large estate; neither has an exact English equivalent. 'Taking security' means obtaining a surety or guarantee that the workers would stay.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Letter). 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.oxy.1.158
[r] † † δύο πλινθευταὶ ἀπὸ Τάμπετι ἠνέχθησαν ἐν τῇ Ἰβίωνος, καὶ παρακαλῶ τὴν ὑμετέραν λαμπρὰν γνησίαν ἀδελφότητα κελεῦσαι τῷ μείζονι τῆς αὐτῆς Τάμπετι λαβεῖν τὸ ἀσφαλὲς αὐτῶν ἵνα μὴ πάλιν φύγωσιν καὶ ἐάσωσιν τὸ ἔργον ἡμίσεον . ταῦτα γράψας πλεῖστα ὑμᾶς τοὺς λαμπροτάτους προσκυνῶ,…