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Circular forwarding a royal oath of the scribes of the Polemon division TM 754292Arsinoites

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 circular from the strategos Ptolemaios son of Pyrrhos instructing the epistatai of the Polemon division of the Arsinoite nome to have the district and village scribes sign a royal oath. The attached oath, sworn by Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II, Cleopatra II and the deified Ptolemies, binds the scribes to report promptly on goods being shipped or held back in the villages.

In English machine translation

Ptolemaios son of Pyrrhos to the epistatai in the division of Polemon, greetings. Obtain […] from the topogrammateis and komogrammateis a signature under the written undertaking set out below, and send it to us carefully. Farewell. Year 29, Phaophi 2. Oath which the topogrammateis and komogrammateis in the division of Polemon swore, and under which they also signed, to Ptolemaios son of Pyrrhos, of the First Friends and strategos: We swear by King Ptolemy, the god Euergetes, son of Ptolemy and Cleopatra, the gods Epiphaneis, and by Queen Cleopatra his sister, the goddess Euergetis, and by the god Philometor and the god Eupator and the gods Epiphaneis and the gods Philopatores and the gods Euergetai and the gods Adelphoi and the gods Soteres and by Sarapis and Isis and all the other gods and goddesses, that we will truly report about all the […] being brought up and those being held back in the villages and not sent out, immediately or on the following day. If we keep the oath, may it be well with us; if we swear falsely, the opposite.

Year 29 likely refers to Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II, i.e. about 142/141 BC. The word describing what is being brought up is damaged; it may refer to grain or other cargoes.

Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Rundbrief mit Weiterleitung eines Königseides). 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.koeln.16.649

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

Πτολεμαῖος Πύρρου τοῖς ἐν τῆι Πολέμωνος μερίδι ἐπιστάταις χαίρειν. λάβετε … παρὰ τῶν τοπογραμματέων καὶ κωμογραμματέων ὑπογραφὴν ὑπὸ τὴν κατακεχωρισμένην χειρογραφίαν καὶ πέμψαθ’ ἡμῖν ἐπιμελῶς. ἔρρωσθε. ἔτους κθ Φαῶφι β ὅρκος, ὃν ὤμοσαν, ὑφ’ ὃν καὶ ἐχειρογράφησαν Πτολεμαίωι Πύρρο…