Business Letter on an Ostracon
Business letter from Paulinus to Serenus, whom he addresses as his brother.
One text, 2 sources · Trismegistos-Text 817897
Business letter from Paulinus to his brother Serenus TM 817897ThebesSecond half 2nd century CE
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 business letter on an ostracon from Paulinus to Serenus, whom he calls brother, reporting that he acted promptly on Serenus' written request and received something in place of 4 artabas, with mention of a price of 4 drachmas. He offers further help if needed. It comes from Thebes, second half of the 2nd century AD.
In English machine translation
Paulinus to Serenus his brother […] greetings.
As you wrote to me, brother, […]
I made haste and received, as […]
instead of 4 artabas […]
of these the price not […] of 4 artabas, 4 drachmas, city (?) […]
if you have need of anything else. Greet […]
I pray for your health.
The right side of each line is lost, so the exact transaction is unclear; 'brother' may be a courtesy address rather than kinship. The word read as 'city' (polit-) is incomplete and its meaning uncertain.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below (catalogued as Business Letter on an Ostracon). 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.2023.1
Παυλεῖνος Σερήνῳ τῷ ἀδελφῷ […] χαίρειν. καθὼς ἔγραψές μοι, ἄδελφε, …[…] ἐσπούδασα καὶ ἔλαβον καθὼς […] ἀντὶ τεσσάρων ἀρταβῶν πε…[…] τούτων τὴν τιμὴν οὐκ ελ[…] τεσσάρων ἀρταβῶν δραχμῶν δ πολειτ[…] εἴ τι ἄλλο χρείαν ἔχεις. ἀσπάζ[…] ἐρρῶσθαί σε εὔχομαι.