Letter to a comes
Letter concerning non-fulfilment of a promise to conclude certain leases.
One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 37870
Letter to a comes about leases promised but not sent TM 37870Oxyrhynchus6th 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 Christian-era letter from Oxyrhynchus to a high-ranking official (a comes), complaining that leases he had sworn would be drawn up and sent through Andronikos never arrived, although Andronikos himself came. The writer also reports what the comes Lamason said about an estate manager sent to collect a payment, and closes with news that a beloved child is well.
In English machine translation
[recto]
From […]
[…] we know and are persuaded that your genuine Excellency does [not] lie, especially when you swear an oath. Since, then, you swore that the leases would be drawn up and sent through the most devoted Andronikos, as Kallinikos our notary reported to us on his arrival, see, the aforementioned man has come, but the leases were not sent. And the comes Lamason, coming here, also told us that the pronoetes (estate manager) had been sent to demand the payment, and God knows I did not believe even him, since he acts to please you. With God, the sweetest child, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, is in good condition. †
[verso]
To the in all things most illustrious and admired comes […]
…
Comes was an honorific title for high officials and great landowners in late antique Egypt; the pronoetes was an estate manager. The sender's name and the addressee's name are lost.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Letter to a Comes). 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.16.1868
[r] παρὰ […]…ε… οἴδαμεν καὶ πεπείσμεθα τὴν σὴν γνησίαν λαμπρότητα μὴ ψευδομένην, μάλιστα καὶ ὅταν ὀμόσῃς. ἐπειδὴ οὖν ὤμοσες τὰς μισθώσεις γίνεσθαι καὶ πέμπεσθαι διὰ τοῦ καθοσιωμένου Ἀνδρονίκου, ὡς Καλλίνικος ὁ ἡμέτερος νοτάριος ἐλθὼν ἡμῖν ἀπήγγειλεν, ἰδοὺ καὶ ὁ προειρημένος ἀνὴρ …