One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 37860

Letter from Victor to George about a stable-man and detained estate officials TM 37860Oxyrhynchus6th 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, an illustris and deputy estate-holder (antigeouchos), to George, an estate manager, concerning a stable-man and a horse, the release of several estate officials including Serenos, and a request that a clerk be sent to settle accounts with Agrippas. It dates from the 6th or 7th century AD and comes from Oxyrhynchus.

In English machine translation

[recto] † I have handed over the stable-man to the young diggers so that they may give him the horse which they took, and he may return […] bringing it, and I think that the little rascal (?) has already beaten (?) them too. Please then, by all means, before the waters overwhelm the land, send him to me, since, as the Lord lives, if anything whatever happens to him, you will pay his price. And by all means release Serenos the chartularius and the riparius and the meizoteros, for I do not want you to do any such thing. For I too could have made those coming from Kynopolis to Oxyrhynchus not even appear, and yet I did nothing of the kind. Send here one of the chartularii who is obliged to make up an account with Agrippas the most admired, so that we may learn what is owed to us by him, since we are engaged in the matter. By all means, then, send him today. † [verso] To my master in all things, most illustrious and worthy of all honour, true brother George, dioiketes, † Victor, illustris, with God's help antigeouchos. †

Chartularius (clerk), riparius (police official) and meizoteros (estate overseer) are late antique titles with no exact English equivalent. The sense of 'mystarin' and 'eskotosen' is uncertain.

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

Letter from Victor to George

Papyri.info — APIS (Advanced Papyrological Information System) — papyri · uninventoried · 6th or 7th century · Oxyrhynchus

Cf. P.Oxy. XVI 1844. This and the following two letters illustrate the importance of the family served by Victor and his correspondents. It appears that this family included riparii and meizoteroi among its dependents, which points to extensive domains.

p.oxy.16.1854

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

[r] † τὸν σταβλίτην παραδέδωκα τοῖς ἀνασκάφοις νεωτέροις ἵνα τὸν ἵππον ὃν ἔλαβαν δώσωσιν αὐτῷ καὶ ἐπανέλθῃ[…]μη ἐνέγκας αὐτό, καὶ νομίζω ὅτι τὸ μυστάριν ἤδη ἐσκότωσεν καὶ ἐκείνους. καταξιώσῃ οὖν πάντως πρὸ τοῦ τὰ ὕδατα κατακρατήσωσιν τὴν γῆν πέμψαι μοι αὐτόν, ἐπεί, ζῇ κύριος, ἐὰν…