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Letter from Viktor about men sent from Thelao and the fugitive Pasimepi TM 37299Thelbo (Herakleopolites)VI - VII

The same ancient text or artifact as recorded by 2 records across 2 independent projects, recognised as one entity by its TM-Text identifier. View on Trismegistos →

A Byzantine letter from Viktor to a high-ranking associate, complaining that only twenty of the sixty men from Thelao (Thelbo) were sent to him and demanding the rest, and asking that the fugitive Pasimepi and his companions be arrested and sent under guard. It mentions a magister John and a shortage of food for the lord's people, and comes from the Herakleopolite nome in the 6th to 7th century.

In English machine translation

[recto] † I received the letter of your illustrious friendship, and learning from it of your health I rejoiced greatly. Since you wrote to me, "See, I have sent the men from Thelao in full," did you not, by the Lord, send (only) the third? Why did you send me twenty names? For I have there altogether sixty names of those from Thelao, in vain. Only twenty names, you did not send me (the rest). I am astonished. So send me the remainder and the phorrosos (?), so that the other phorrosoi (?) also do not flee. And I did nothing to them, lord brother. But since Pasimepi has fled and those with him, if possible, seize him and send him to me under guard, so that no one else flees. For perhaps he showed contempt against me. Our lord thought about coming, and, by the Lord, until now I have not gone against them at all (?). Do not send me the expense that is lacking; come to me, by the Lord, brother. Otherwise I shall find the magister John, and he summoned me because the lord's people did not find anything to eat. So let him learn that, having found the so-called […] and […] beside our donkey […] and see, until […] my […] the ten […] […] […] [… ? lines lost …] [verso] † To my master […] magnificent, honoured […] illustrious […] son. † From Viktor, brother […] †

The term phorrosos is obscure, apparently designating a category of worker or conscript; the end of the letter is badly damaged and the address on the verso only partly legible.

Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Lettera bizantina). It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.

DDbDP-text Full record →

p.laur.2.46

Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text · VI - VII · Thelbo (Herakleopolites)

[r] † τὰ γράμματα τῆς ὑμετέρας λαμπρᾶς φιλίας ἐδεξάμην καὶ γνοὺς ἐξ αὐτῶν τὴν ὑγίαν ὑμῶν πάνυ ἐχάρην, ἐπειδὴ ἔγραψάς μοι ὅτι ἰδοὺ ἔπεμψα τοὺς ἀπὸ Θελαὼ εἰς πλῆρες, καὶ ὄντος τοῦ κυρίου οὐ δὴ τὸ τρίτον ἔπεμψας; τί γὰρ εἴκοσι ὀνόματα ἔπεμψάς μοι; ἔχω γὰρ ἐκεῖσʼ ὁμοῦ ἑξήκοντα ὀνόματ…