P.Mich.inv. 3279 / Verso

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Record Details

Inventory Number

P.Mich.inv. 3279

Processing Number

1921

Section/Side

Recto + Verso

Image Side

Verso

Background and Physical Properties

Publ./Side

Recto + Verso

Connections

-

Material

Pap

Size

7 x 21 cm.

Items

1

Lines

1-21

Mounted

No

Negative

Yes

Conservation Status

The papyrus is almost intact.; a small strip, 1.5 x 4 cm., was detached at the lower left-hand margin, resulting in the loss of two or three characters in each of the last four lines of the body of the letter (lines 14-17). After the letter was written, it was folded in half vertically twice, and then in half horizontally twice, forming sixteen equal panels. The first horizontal fold damaged a number of letters in line 9. Although these losses present difficulties for reading, the flow of meaning in the document is never in doubt.

Palaeographic Description

The address on the verso is centered just below the first horizontal fold. In the panel to the left of this address are two additional lines. All the writing on the verso was added after the letter was folded, because it was placed on the only two exterior surfaces of the folded letter. The name of the addressee, Dioysios, would have been written first and then, as an afterthought, someone, perhaps Diogenes himself, decided that additional information ought to be available to the carrier of the letter.

The hand which produced the letter is a neatly-formed cursive, similar to that in PMert. I 7 (2nd half of Ist century B.C.), or to that in Schubart, Gr. Pal. 41, Abb. 17 (BGU VI 1282), a contract from the Fayum for the joint lease of a pottery shop, dated to the end of the IInd cent. B. C. or to the beginning of the 1st cent. B. C. The hand of this letter, however, is distinctive in that it sometimes forms omega in such a way that it resembles the omegas produced by cursive hands of more than a century earlier. That is to say, a cursory glance at such an omega in this hand gives the impression of a rather conventional "h" shaped eta or of the first three strokes of the English capital letter "W". In spite of this archaic quality of the omegas, the general impression of the hand supports a date in the 1st century B. C.

Status

published

Library

Ann Arbor

Contents

Date

May 20, 37 B.C. (?)

Origin

Arsinoite nome, Ptolemaic Egypt (?) (TC)

Provenance

Arsinoite nome, Ptolemaic Egypt (?) (TC)

Acquisition

May 2, 1925; Acquired from Nahman lot.

Language

Greek

Genre

documentary

Author

Diogenes

Type of Text/Title of Work

private letter

Content

The text is a business letter, in which Diogenes has written to Dionysios to urge him about a business matter involving two donkeys for which Pasis is the donkey driver - a matter which Diogenes claims he and Dionysios have already discussed in person at a previous meeting in the village of Theogenes.

Subject Headings

Theogonis (Extinct city)

Letter writing, Greek--Egypt.

Drovers--Egypt.

Donkeys--Egypt.

Business communication--Egypt.

Persons

Diogenes;

Dionysios;

Pasis;

Orsenouphis;

Geographica

Theogenes;

Translation

"Diogenes to Dionysios, greeting.

In regard to the matter which I asked you about in the town of Theogenes concerning the two pack-animals for which Pasis is the driver, please write to Orsenouphis so that he may make the payment for the stephanos. Give the letter to this donkey driver so that he may deliver it to Orsenouophis and with dispatch. If you do this, you will be totally obliging.

Farewell. Year 15, Pachon 22."

Papyri.info Link

https://papyri.info/apis/michigan.apis.1921

Information on Publications

Publications

Series and Volume	Editor	Year	Pg/Nr	Photo	SB	Preferred Citation	Corrections
PColl Youtie I	Hanson AE	1976	17	Pl III	Hanson AE, PColl Youtie I, 17, 1976, Pl III

Cataloging

Cataloger

TC

Year Begin

-37

Year End

-37

Technical Details

Collection

Advanced Papyrological Information System (APIS UM)

Image Size

5693 x 3222

File Size

2 MB

Record

1921

Link to this Item

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-1921/3279v.tif content_copy

Related Links

IIIF

Manifest

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/apis:1921:3279V.TIF content_copy