Home › Spine › TM 39098
One text, 2 sources · Trismegistos-Text 39098

Letter from Platon to the pagarch Papas about a lawsuit and Saracen envoys TM 39098unbekannt

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 →

Letter from Platon to Papas, count and pagarch, about a woman's lawsuit with an opponent over slaves, the release of a deacon, and demands from the amir conveyed by four Saracen envoys of the Caliph for the purchase of many goods. Platon complains of his distress at the situation.

In English machine translation

[recto] † I received what was written by your God-protected brotherhood through the most pious deacon, and […] to him the representative (apokrisiarios) […] of his, instructing him […] someone as far as the common mother; and see, I have made the common mother herself release the deacon, and I will not delay, with God, to send him off to you with the business to be done. And since I gave her my word that I would certainly write to my brother the lord Papas, so that your God-protected brotherhood might take up her case with her opponent concerning the slaves; see, Ananias the soldier (pallix) has gone up. If it pleases you, settle the matter for her, for I do not think she makes a wrongful claim. A letter of your God-protected brotherhood was shown to me saying that the matter belongs to the lord Christophoros. And who ought […] if not your God-protected brotherhood? After I left Kontralaton I received further replies from our master the most illustrious amir through four Saracens of the Commander of the Faithful concerning the purchase of many goods; and he did not grant release from them today. Let him taste water, and truly Satan brought upon me […] [verso] because I was never vexed, nor was I ever distressed except at the present time. True friend, I greet you, God-protected and most magnificent, by this letter. † To my God-protected master and brother Papas, the most great count, councillor and pagarch, † Platon †

The 'common mother' is probably an abbess or senior religious woman; 'Commander of the Faithful' renders the caliphal title, placing the letter in the early Arab period (7th century AD). Place is inferred from the Papas archive, not stated in the record.

Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as De Platon: affaire judiciaire et visite des Sarrasins). 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.apoll.37

Papyri.info — DDbDP (Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri) — text

[r] † τὰ διὰ τοῦ εὐλαβεστάτου διακόνου γραφέντα παρὰ τῆς ὑμετέρας θεοφυλάκτου ἀδελφότητος ἐδεξάμην καὶ πα[…] αὐτῷ τὸν ἀποκρισιάριον εισ…[…]αν αὐτοῦ παραγγείλας αὐτῷ[…] τινος ἕως τῆς κοινῆς μητρός· καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐποίησα αὐτὴν τὴν κοινὴν μητέρα ἀπολῦσαι τὸν διάκονον, καὶ οὐ βραδύνω σὺν …