A handwritten deed (chirograph) from Karanis in which a seller cedes a small olive grove of 1/4 1/16 aroura to a woman, perhaps Tapetheus daughter of Ptolemaios, for 280 silver drachmas, guaranteeing it free of public and private charges. It was written on 6 September 177 AD in the Arsinoite nome.
In English machine translation
[…] to Tapetheus (?) daughter of Ptolemaios son of Zenas […]
from the village of Karanis […]
[…] her mother being Oua[l…] […]
chirograph […]
the time […]
[…]
[…]
[…]
[…] […] year […]
[…] […] the charge due for the past year […] which has fallen into the present year
[…] on the south formerly the allotment of Sempronius Gemellus, on the north the olive grove of Petheus son of Nestosiris, on the west olive groves of others, on the east formerly the olive grove of Anthestius Capitolinus,
and I have received from you the agreed price of cession, 280 silver drachmas, immediately
from hand to hand, and I will guarantee it to you with every guarantee and will present it
free from all public dues
and of every kind up to the sixteenth year and including
the sixteenth year itself of Aurelius Antoninus Caesar the
lord, and from private debts and every claim for all
time […] for you and your successors, and
you shall be owner of this olive grove of 1/4 1/16 aroura ceded to you and of what is produced from it, carrying it off from now on as your own, and I will not proceed against you on any pretext. This chirograph,
written by me in duplicate, shall be valid as if registered in a public archive. Year 18 of the Aurelii
Antoninus and Commodus, the lords Augusti,
Thoth 9. It is free of erasure and insertion.
A 'cession' (parachoresis) was the usual form for transferring rights in privately held land, effectively a sale. The buyer's name Tapetheus is restored.
Working translation of the DDbDP edition, made with Claude Opus 5.5 from the edition and the catalogue records shown below. It has not been reviewed by a papyrologist: check the edition before citing. Restorations follow the edition; […] marks lost text and (?) an uncertain reading.