P.Mich.inv. 256 / Recto
About this Item
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Record Details
- Inventory Number
- P.Mich.inv. 256
- Processing Number
- 1603
- Section/Side
- Recto
- Image Side
- Recto
Background and Physical Properties
- Publ./Side
- Recto; Verso is blank
- Connections
- -
- Material
- Pap
- Size
- 17.1 x 18.4 cm.
- Items
- 1
- Lines
- 1-16
- Mounted
- No
- Negative
- Yes
- Conservation Status
- This light-brown and very smooth papyrus was folded three times vertically and probably four times horizontally. Two of the horizontal fold panels (= 4 cm.) are lost on the left from lines 3-11, and three panels (= 6 cm.) are lost from lines 1-2 and 12-17. But, except in lines 1, 3, and 17, where the names of the borrowerand the lender will have stood, the text is easily restorable from known examples of loan agreements of the same period.
- Palaeographic Description
- The hand of the body of the contract is medium-sized and semi-cursive, with letters 3 mm. high. The writing is in the main flourished and quite expensive, and the scribe has a fondness for long, decorative horizontal strokes. There is often crowding toward the right edge of the papyrus, thus indicating that this edge was the original limit of the piece. The hypograph (2nd hd.) is written in a smaller hand, with letters 2 mm. in height, regularly spaced, and rather square. The left margin is lost, while at the right, the writing runs almost to the edge of the papyrus. Line 1 is certainly the first line of the document, although the upper margin is lost. At the bottom, the blank space varies from 6.8 cm. to 7.4 cm., since the last line of the text (the hypograph, line 17) slants upward. Interlineation averages 3 mm., and approximately 1 cm. separates the body of the agreement from the hypograph.
- Status
- published
- Library
- Ann Arbor
Contents
- Date
- June/July, 205 A.D.
- Origin
- Alabastrine, Hermopolite nome, Middle Egypt, province of Egypt
- Provenance
- Alabastrine, Hermopolite nome, Middle Egypt, province of Egypt (?)
- Acquisition
- purchased in Egypt by B.P. Grenfell and F.W. Kelsey in March-April 1920
- Language
- Greek
- Genre
- documentary
- Author
- unknown
- Type of Text/Title of Work
- loan of money
- Content
- The text is a chirographic homologia confirming a loan of money.
- Persons
- Imperator Caesar Lucius Septimius Severus Pius Pertinax Arabicus Adiabenicus Parthicus Maximus, emperor,
- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius Augusti, emperor.
- Geographica
- Alabastrine,
- Hermopolite nome
- Translation
- "NN . . . from the village of Alabastrine of the Hermopolite nome, priest of the first-rank temples of Apollo and Isis, to NN, eques and signifier of the turma of Heraclides of the Ala Mauretana, greetings.
- I acknowledge that I have received from you as a loan in cash the full sum of 116 drachmas in imperial silver coinage, at interest of 1 drachma per mina a month, which I bind myself to repay to you within 4 months from Epeiph of the current thirteenth year without delay. If I do not make repayment, when the time for repayment begins, I agree to be laible to seizure until such time as I repay both the principal with a 50% surcharge and the simple interest, and interest at the same rate for the period beyond the term of the loan. You have the right of execution against both me and all my property, as if there were a judgement. Let this chirograph, written in one copy and subscribed by me, be valid, as if registered in the public archives. The thirteenth year of the Imperatores Caesares Lucius Septimius Severus Pius Pertinax Arabicus Adiabenicus Parthicus Maximus and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius Augusti, Epeiph.
- (2nd hd.) I, NN, acknowledge that I have received 116 drachmas in full, as stated above."
- Papyri.info Link
- https://papyri.info/apis/michigan.apis.1603
Information on Publications
- Publications
-
Series and Volume Editor Year Pg/Nr Photo SB Preferred Citation Corrections ZPE 51 Priest NE 1983 65-70 Pl IV SB XVI 13030 Priest NE, ZPE 51, 65-70, 1983, Pl IV -- SB XVI 13030
Cataloging
- Cataloger
- TC
- Year Begin
- 205
- Year End
- 205
Technical Details
- Image Size
- 4991 x 5219
- File Size
- 3 MB
- Record
- 1603
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-1603/256r.tif
Rights and Permissions
The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes. These materials are in the public domain. If you have questions about the collection, please contact APIS Help. If you would like to request high-resolution images, please contact the Papyrology Collection. If you have concerns about the inclusion of an item in this collection, please contact Library Information Technology.
No Copyright. This work has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.
Related Links
IIIF
- Manifest
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/apis:1603
Cite this Item
View the Help Guide for more information.
- Full citation
-
"P.Mich.inv. 256; Recto." In the digital collection Advanced Papyrological Information System (APIS UM). https://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-1603/256r.tif. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 21, 2025.