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Letter from Theodoros to the dioiketes Phoibammon about unpaid kalandika TM 37871OxyrhynchosVI - 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 Theodoros, a scholastikos (advocate), to Phoibammon, a dioiketes (estate manager), from Oxyrhynchus. Theodoros tactfully reports that John, a scriniarius, says his kalandika payments have not yet been made, attributes the delay to hard times, and asks Phoibammon to settle the matter as a favour to him.

In English machine translation

[recto] † John, the most illustrious scriniarius, said that his kalandika have not yet been paid in full by your brotherly Belovedness, and on first hearing what was said seemed to me unbelievable, for he strung together much praise on your behalf while staying here, and it was not likely that you, who commend him so highly, had not long ago made the payment of the kalandika to him. But since again the man has proved truthful, I have not been able to dismiss the report altogether, but rather I attributed the cause of the delay to the straitness of affairs. For thus he himself also made excuses on behalf of your Belovedness, and asked only that you should know that you will do me a great favour if you very much […] towards him […] your Sincerity […] [… 3 lines lost …] [verso] † To my own master, the all-most-illustrious, most beloved, revered, true brother, lord Phoibammon, dioiketes, † Theodoros, with God, scholastikos. [… 14 lines lost …]

Kalandika were payments due at the Calends, probably periodic fees or allowances; a scriniarius was a clerk of an official bureau. The end of the request is 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 from Theodorus to a Dioecetes). 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.oxy.16.1869

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

[r] † Ἰωάννης ὁ λαμπρότατος σκρινιάριος ἔφη μήπω πεπληρῶσθαι παρὰ τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀδελφικῆς ποθεινότητος τὰ καλανδικὰ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐκ πρώτης μὲν ἀκοῆς ἄπιστον ἐδόκει μοι τὸ λεχθέν, πολὺν γὰρ εὔφημον λόγον ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ συνεῖρεν ἐνταῦθα διάγουσα, καὶ οὐκ ἦν εἰκὸς τοσοῦτον ὑμᾶς ἐγκωμιάζοντ…