P.Mich.inv. 1568 / Verso

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Record Details

Inventory Number

P.Mich.inv. 1568

Processing Number

8561

Section/Side

verso

Image Side

Verso

Background and Physical Properties

Material

Pap

Size

9.5 x 11 cm

Items

1

Lines

col. 1: 12 lines; col. 2: 8 lines

Mounted

Yes

Negative

No

Conservation Status

Broken off at all sides. Some splits and small holes.

Palaeographic Description

Small- to medium-sized letters written in a cursive hand.

In some respects P.Mich.inv. 1568v is a rather unexceptional piece, since it only contains a few fragmentary lines from a report of proceedings, about which little can be ascertained with certainty given the many lacunae and gaps in the text. Yet it deserves to be published for one noteworthy feature: it is written in red ink and is therefore a welcome addition to a very small corpus of such documents. While the use of red ink is attested in a wide variety of documents from the Pharaonic period through the Arabic period, very few were ever written entirely in red ink as it was mostly used to draw attention to certain words or phrases, mark the opening of various sections within a document, or render the total of certain accounts. See R. Parkinson and S. Quirke, Papyrus (Austin 1995) 45-46. In O.OI19361 (ca. 1200-1080 BC), a hymn to the inundation (Hieratic), the verse points and date are written with red ink whereas the rest of the document is written with black ink. Similarly in O.OIM25040 (ca. 1200-1080 BC), another hymn to the inundation (Hieratic), the verse points are written with red ink. In Princ. inv. Scheide M95 (ca. 1100-950 BC), a Book of the Dead (Hieratic), certain lines are written with red ink, though most are written with black ink. Red ink was mostly made from a clay called ochre that contained a high degree of the mineral hematite (Fe2O3) that was reddish in color. To make ink it was typically mixed with gum Arabic and water. The less ochre that was added to this mixture the more yellow the ink, whereas the more ochre that was added the more red the ink became. See P. Schubert, Les archives de Marcus Lucretius Diogenes et textes apparentés (Bonn 1990) 34. Additionally, red ink might also be made from either cinnabar (κιννάβαρις) or minium (μίλτος). See B.M. Metzger, Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Paleography (Oxford 1981) 17.

In the Roman period red ink was used very rarely for writing an entire document. During the Ptolemaic and Roman periods red ink appears to have been used mostly to highlight key words and phrases within a document or mark off and divide sections within a text. Likewise, it also appears to have been used intermittently in magical papyri, perhaps because it was thought to possess apotropaic qualities. See O. Montevecchi, La Papirologia (Milano 1988 [1973]) 16; cf. P.Oslo 1.4 (AD IV). Additionally, it appears that red ink was the ink of choice for validating certain kinds of documents. For example, in SB 6.9233 (early IIIBC), a customs house receipt, two red lines are drawn through the document and may constitute a mark of official validation. There are also some documents where red ink stamps have been used on the verso as a way of valida¬tion. For a list of these documents see Schubert (n. 1) 37-38, who lists 37 documents from the period between 108 BCand AD 223/4. To this list I would add the following: P.Tebt. 2.587 (26/5 BC), a tax receipt; P.Duke inv. 7v (AD 26), a loan; P.Tebt. 2.350 (AD 70/1), a receipt for tax on sales; P.Mich. 9.554 (AD 81-94), a division of inherited property; P.Mich. 10.585 (AD 87), a loan with right of habitation; P.Mich. 9.569 (AD 92), a contract concerning repayment of debt; P.Mich. 11.625 (AD 121), a receipt for taxes on loan with contract of habitation; P.Louvre 2.109 (AD 123 or 137), a contract concerning cession of catoecic land.

In fact, a recently published catalogue of red ink documents from this period could list only fifty such texts. P. Schubert, “BGUI361 et P.Gen. inv. 69: retour sur l’encre rouge,” APF 51 (2005) 250-252, where Schubert updates his former list (cf. Schubert [n. 1] 34-35) of documents (published and unpublished) written with red ink. To his most recent list Iwould add the following (unpublished) documents: P.Mich.inv. 1722 (AD II), a property return; P.Mich.inv. 1357v (AD III), names and amounts in arouras; P.Mich.inv. 6247 (AD III), list of names; P.Mich.inv. 6337 (AD III), contents unkown; P.Mich.inv. 6522 (AD III/IV), contents unknown; P.Princ. inv. GD 7706 D (AD III/IV), a list; O.Col. inv. 1259 (VI-VII), an exercise. A survey of these texts reveals that most of them were written during the second or third centuries and that the overwhelming majority come from the Arsinoite nome,4 although a few red ink documents are also attested from Oxyrhynchus, Hermopolis, Syene, Tenis (Memphite nome), Antinoopolis, and Alexandria. For the most part these documents deal with official matters, and a disproportionately large number of them concern the registration of civic status (ἐπίκρισις of ephebes). Noting the high proportion of such documents among red ink papyri, H.I. Bell sug¬gested many years ago that such papyri likely served as personal certificates. As he noted, “... certificates [of the registration of civic status] written in red ink were extracts from the registers made at a later period than the actual reg-istration and served merely as records of the entry which the party concerned could produce when required. They were written in red ink and sometimes provided with a decorative border to enhance the dignity of their appearance.” More recently, in a study of red ink documents by P. Schubert, he has found Bell’s suggestion persuasive, particularly that certain documents pertaining to registration of various sorts and written in red ink should usually be thought of as personal copies produced sometime after the original was made for the purpose of supporting or establishing other claims.

Status

Published

Library

Ann Arbor

Contents

Date

187-188 A.D.

Origin

Unknown

Provenance

Unknown

Acquisition

Brought to the University in November 1924.

Language

Greek

Genre

Documentary

Author

Unknown

Type of Text/Title of Work

Report of proceedings

Content

P.Mich.inv. 1568v should first be pointed out that there are three other reports of proceedings written in red ink: CPR 1.18 (= SPP 20.4 = M.Chr. 84 = Jur.Pap. 89) from Ptolemais Euergetis (AD 124); BGU 11.2070 (ll. 19-33 and Verso, Col. 1 = SB 5.7516) from Alexandria (AD 142-144); and BGU 1.361.2.10-3.30 (= M.Chr. 92 = FIRA 3.57) from Ptolemais Euergetis (AD 184). However, P.Mich.inv. 1568v is to be distinguished from these proceedings in one key respect: whereas they are all written on the recto, P.Mich.inv. 1568v is written on the verso of a land register. Remarkably, this is the only red ink papyrus written on the verso of another document. If it is accurate to suppose that documents written entirely with red ink should not generally be regarded originals, but rather personal copies or even abstracts provided by the register upon request to support another claim, it seems odd that the present document is written on the verso of an old land register, as one might expect such a text to be written on a clean sheet of papyrus. Perhaps, then, the scribe simply copied the present text on the verso of another document since he was short on papyrus and because it would not affect the integrity of the present document for the claim it was establishing.

Aside from being written on the verso this fragment is not markedly different in its appearance from other red ink documents. The hand of the document is not exquisite but it is not altogether sloppy even if it displays some irregularity. While the beginning of each line is lost, not much seems to be missing to the right: the writing gets progressively smaller, which suggests the writer was nearing the end of the line; at ll. 10, 11, and 13 there appears to be a gap between the last visible letter and the edge of the papyrus, which suggests the lines ended thereabouts.

Though this piece was purchased by the University of Michigan in 1924 and was unprovenanced, it seems likely that it originated in Oxyrhynchus. In the final line (l. 15) reference is made to an individual bearing the name and alias “Herammon also called Kastor.” Only one other individual by this name and alias is known and appears in P.Oxy. 36.2762 (census return) as the strategus of the Oxyrhynchite nome in the year AD 187/8. Two additional pieces of evidence may be cited to reinforce this identification. First, the word “strategus” can be read at the end of l. 14 and should be taken as reference to this “Herammon also called Kastor” who appears in the following line, and second, earlier in the same line (l. 14) reference is made to the “twenty-eighth year” (κη∫), the very same year of Commodus’ reign that is referred to in P.Oxy. 36.2762.8.

The present fragment appears to preserve the introductory section of a report of proceedings, where the location and date of the proceedings was typically given and the opening statements were made.13 Besides the name of the strategus there are only two other persons mentioned in the fragment, Menestheus (l. 9) and Soter (l. 14). Given that both persons are recorded speaking (εἶπεν), it seems at least likely that these speakers (lawyers?) represented the opposing parties.14 While the fragment affords precious little context, there is a reference to “theft” (βαστάζω) in l. 7 and a reference to “money” (τὸ ἀργύριον) in l. 11. Interestingly, the other three reports of proceedings preserved in red ink all concern disputes over inheritances. While it might therefore be tempting to suppose the present proceeding deals with this same issue, there is nothing definitive in the extant portions of the text to establish this connection.

Persons

Soter;

Herammon alias Kastor;

Menestheus

Papyri.info Link

https://papyri.info/apis/michigan.apis.8561

Information on Publications

Publications

Series and Volume	Editor	Year	Pg/Nr	Photo	SB	Preferred Citation	Corrections
BASP 46	Blumell Lincoln H.	2009	23-30	p. 29	Blumell Lincoln H., BASP 46, 23-30, 2009, p. 29 -- K.A. Worp, BASP 47 (2010), 231 (ll. 4, 5, 11)	K.A. Worp, BASP 47 (2010), 231 (ll. 4, 5, 11)

Cataloging

Cataloger

NL

Year Begin

187

Year End

188

Technical Details

Collection

Advanced Papyrological Information System (APIS UM)

Image Size

4795 x 3612

File Size

2 MB

Record

8561

Link to this Item

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-8561/1568v.tif content_copy

Related Links

IIIF

Manifest

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/apis:8561:1568V.TIF content_copy