Official letter from Menches to Horos : draft or copy
Menches informs Horos, most likely the Basilikos Grammateus, about the illicit sale of oil at the village
One text, 3 sources · Trismegistos-Text 3792
Report of Menches on contraband oil hidden in dung at Kerkeosiris TM 3792Kerkeosiris3 Aug. 113 B.C.
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 →
Draft or copy of an official report from Menches, village scribe of Kerkeosiris, to Horos (probably the royal scribe) about contraband oil found hidden in dung in the house of Marres son of Samotis. The oil-seller Apollodoros, holder of the oil concession, took part in the search; the house and its furnishings were sealed while Marres slipped away.
In English machine translation
Menches, village scribe of Kerkeosiris in the division of Polemon, to Horos, [greeting. On the] […] of […] of year 4, Horos having come to me [together with Apollodoros, the] oil-seller of the same (village), to the Souchieion there […]
[…] […] […]
an earthenware lekythos full of oil […]
(they reported that they) had found, with Apollodoros, in the [house] of Marres son of Samotis, hidden in dung. This and the […] household furnishings of the said house, of which the itemized list [is appended …]
[…] Ptolemaios (?), having gone down to the Souchieion there concerning a s[earch with] Amenneus son of […], sealed it additionally […]
the said house of Marres with the furnishings […];
but the aforementioned Marres, having learned of them, escaped notice (and fled) to […]
to Ptolemaios […] concerning which Apollodoros has also submitted to us on the 17th […] the memorandum written below. I report this.
Farewell. Year 4, Epeiph 17.
Oil was a royal monopoly in Ptolemaic Egypt, so private stocks found hidden were treated as contraband. One record dates the text to 3 August rather than 2 August 113 BC.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as A report by Menches on oil smugglers hiding their contraband in ... Dung). 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.hoogendijk.17
Μεγχῆς κωμογραμματεὺς Κερκεοσίρεως τῆς Πολέμωνος μερίδος Ὥρ ωι χαίρειν. τῆι […] τοῦ […] τοῦ δ ἔτους Ὥρου τοῦ παρ’ ἐμοῦ παρεληλυθότος μετὰ Ἀπολλοδώρου τοῦ τῆς αὐτῆς ἐλαιοπώλου ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτόθι Σουχιεῖον […] …ρ…η…[…]…[…] κατε[…] λήκυθον ὀστρακίνην μεστὴν ἐλαίου κε…[…] εὑρηκέναι σὺν τῶ…