A handwritten contract (cheirographon) in which a woman, possibly from Aphrodito, sells and cedes to Apion a half share of a house and courtyard together with allotment land, for 400 drachmas price plus 1,200 drachmas cession payment. Their mother keeps the usufruct for life, after which Apion takes full ownership; it is dated 28 January AD 138 in the Arsinoite or Herakleopolite nome.
In English machine translation
[…]
[…] Tryphon […]
[…] grain-land […] on the north, land; on the south, grain-land […] on the west
[…] the canal by which the allotment is irrigated; on the north, a drain; on the west and east
[…] land […] having made (the agreement) on condition that the aforementioned (?) has
[…] equally, for as long as she survives, the usufruct of the aforesaid, and
[…] for the half share of the house and courtyard, a price of 400 drachmas
[…] this, as cession payment, 1,200 drachmas; and I will guarantee […] Aphrodito (?) and my successors to you, Apion, and your successors, the things sold and
[…] as aforesaid, with every guarantee, and free from every debt, public and private, and from every claim; and after the death of our mother Apion and your successors shall possess and own
[…] and build as he chooses; and whenever you instruct me I will execute
for you the public sale in accordance with this handwritten agreement, and through the record office, no one […] from you, the fees and expenses being the responsibility of Apion himself. If
she transgresses the aforesaid, she will pay you the price and the cession payment with an extra half, and the damages and expenses twofold, and a fine of 800 drachmas and the same amount to the treasury. I have issued this handwritten agreement to you in duplicate, and being present I wrote all the aforesaid. Year 22 of Imperator
Caesar Aelius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, Mecheir 3. It is free from tax (?) and from registration of debt […] I have sold and ceded the aforesaid and I have received the price […] our mother having the usufruct of the whole
[…] I have paid (?) the cession payment.
[Fragment]
[…]
[…] of a cleruchic allotment […]
[…] neighbours […]
[…]
The parachoretikon is a payment for ceding rights in cleruchic (katoikic) land, which could not be sold outright. The phrase rendered 'free from tax' (aleiphatos) is uncertain in meaning.
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.