Letter
Letter to George from Victor relating to a dispute over labourers, but the mutilation of ll. 3-5 causes some obscurity.
One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 37889
Letter from Victor to George about a dispute over farmers TM 37889Oxyrhynchus6th 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, deputy of a landowner, to George, a comes and estate administrator, written at Oxyrhynchus in the 6th or 7th century AD. It concerns a dispute over farm labourers between villages, asking George to bring the village headmen or have them hand over farmers belonging to others, and to hurry for a settlement planned for the next day.
In English machine translation
[recto]
† I have received what was written by your genuine brotherliness, and before she (?) goes up tomorrow, you will make the people from Terythis give to the people of Leonides concerning Tampeti(?) […]
[…]
[…] bring the same headmen, or make them hand over the farmers belonging to others. Rather, let the headmen of Pheretnouis also come up, so that we may know the former state (?) of the estate of Hierax. But make haste for tomorrow's settlement. †
[verso]
† To my master, in all things most illustrious, worthy of honour, genuine brother, George, comes and administrator, † Victor, with God, landowner's deputy.
The antigeouchos was a deputy acting for a large landowner, and the meizones were village headmen. Lines 3-5 are damaged, so the exact details of the dispute are obscure.
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.
p.oxy.16.1937
[r] † τὰ γραφέντα παρὰ τῆς ὑμετέρας γνησίας ἀδελφότητος ἐδεξάμην, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ αὐτὴν ἀνελθεῖν αὔριον παρασκευάσῃ τοὺς ἀπὸ Τερύθεως δοῦναι τοῖς ἀπὸ Λεωνίδου περὶ Ταμπετι … … … φέρε τοὺς αὐτοὺς μείζονας ἢ παρασκεύασον αὐτοὺς ἀναδοῦναι τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους γεωργούς. μᾶλλον δὲ ἀνέρχονται κ…