P.Mich.inv. 2978

About this Item

Related Views

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Record Details

Inventory Number

P.Mich.inv. 2978

Processing Number

1723

Background and Physical Properties

Connections

Archive of Gaius Apolinarius Niger (& family). - PMich. Inv. 2981 is a fragmentary copy of the same petition, written on a sheet cut from the same roll

Material

Pap

Size

27 X 22 cm

Items

1

Lines

29

Mounted

No

Negative

No

Conservation Status

nearly complete; somewhat crumpled

Palaeographic Description

see electronic version of PMich VI, 423-424

Status

published

Library

Cairo

Contents

Date

May 22, 197 A.D.

Origin

(probably) Karanis, Herakleidou meris, Arsinoite nome, province of Egypt

Provenance

Karanis, Herakleidou meris, Arsinoite nome, province of Egypt

Acquisition

24-5006E2-A

Language

Greek

Genre

Documentary

Author

Gemellus alias Horion

Type of Text/Title of Work

Petition concerning Trespass

Content

Petition addressed to the strategos Hierax alias Nemesion by Gemellus alias Horion, complaining that a certain Iulius, with his wife and another man, have carried off produce from his fields and threatened him with some magical procedure, while several village officials were witnessing

Subject Headings

Agriculture

Health (Eyes)

Justice

Magic

Ownership Rights

Citizenship--Rome.

Citizenship--Egypt--Antinoöpolis (Extinct city)

Rural Society

Taxation (Land)

Violence

Kerkesoucha Orous (Extinct city)

Persons

Hierax also called Nemesion, strategos of the Herakleidou meris;

Gemellus alias Horion, son of Gaius Apollinarius, Antinoite (Gaius Gemellus Horigenes) (see P. Mich. VI, 422 introd.; Eos 49 [1957/1958] 155-164);

(Quintus) Aemilius Saturninus, prefect of Egypt;

Sotas, son of Eudas (deceased);

Iulius, son of Eudas;

Iulius' wife;

Zenas;

(unnamed) georgos of Gemellus;

Petesouchos & Ptollas, presbyteroi of Karanis, diadechomenoi ta kata ten komogrammateian;

Sokras, hyperetes (of the presbyteroi);

Septimius Severus, Emperor

Geographica

Karanis; Kerkesoucha; Herakleidou meris of the Arsinoite nome

Translation

To Hierax also called Nemesion, strategos of the division of Herakleides of the Arsinoite nome, from Gemellus also called Horion, son of Gaius Apolinarius, Antinoite. I appealed, my lord, by petition to the most illustrious prefect, Aemilius Saturninus, informing him of the attack made upon me by a certain Sotas, who held me in contempt because of my weak vision and wished himself to get possession of my property with violence and arrogance, and I received his sacred subscription authorizing me to appeal to his excellency the epistrategos. Then Sotas died and his brother Iulius, also acting with the violence characteristic of them, entered the fields that I had sown and carried away a substantial quantity of hay; not only that, but he also cut dried olive shoots and heath plants from my olive grove near the village of Kerkesoucha. When I came there at the time of the harvest, I learned that he had committed these transgressions. In addition, not content, he again trespassed with his wife and a certain Zenas, having with them a brephos, intending to hem in my cultivator with malice so that he should abandon his labor after having harvested in part from another allotment of mine, and they themselves gathered in the crops. When this happened, I went to Iulius in the company of officials, in order that these matters might be witnessed. Again, in the same manner, they threw the same brephos toward me, intending to hem me in also with malice, in the presence of Petesouchos and Ptollas, elders of the village of Karanis who are exercising also the functions of the village secretary, and of Sokras the assistant, and while the officials were there, Iulius, after he had gathered in the remaining crops from the fields, took the brephos away to his house. These acts I made matters of public record through the same officials and the collectors of grain taxes of the same village. Wherefore of necessity I submit this petition and request that it be kept on file so that I may retain the right to plead against them before his excellency the epistrategos concerning the outrages perpetrated by them and the public rents of the fields due to the imperial fiscus because they wrongfully did the harvesting.

(2nd hand) Gemellus also called Horion, about 26 years of age, whose vision is impaired.

(3rd hand) The 5th year of Lucius Septimius Severus Pius Pertinax Augustus, Pachon 27.

Papyri.info Link

https://papyri.info/apis/michigan.apis.1723

Information on Publications

Publications

Series and Volume	Editor	Year	Pg/Nr	Photo	SB	Preferred Citation	Corrections
PMich VI	Pearl OM-Youtie HC	1944	423	Pearl OM-Youtie HC, PMich VI, 423, 1944 -- BL VI, 82 (about the archive)	BL VI, 82 (about the archive)

Information on Publications--Bibliography

Bibliography

Tomasz Derda, ARSINOITHS NOMOS. Administration of the Fayum under Roman Rule, Warsaw 2006, p. 208

For the interpretation of the words BREPHOS and PHTHONOS see Ari Z. Bryen - Andrezei Wypustek, Gemellus' Evil Eyes (P.Mich. VI 423424), GRBS 49 (2009), pp. 535-555.

Cataloging

Cataloger

PH

Year Begin

197

Year End

197

Technical Details

Collection

Advanced Papyrological Information System (APIS UM)

Record

1723

Link to this Item

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-1723/1 content_copy