Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 24:3-4(1987) 109-110
A NOTE ON P.OSLO II 391
P.Oslo II 39 is a contract for an interest bearing loan of 176 silver drachmas made
by Isidorus, the son Arion, to Hermas, son of Heron, grandson of Hermas, a resident of
the Second Goose-farm quarter of Arsinoe. The loan agreement was drawn up on July 19,
A.D. 146, in Theadelphia, where, presumably, Isidorus was a resident, and was to be
repaid in Tubi of the following year, i.e. December-January. The conclusion of the
contract states that this loan was to be considered separate from any other obligations which
Hermas might have towards Isidorus.2
The publication of P.Col.Inv. 17 in BASP 23.3-4 (1986) 149-53, a loan contract
drawn up at a bank in Arsinod on April 10, A.D. 146, affords us a glimpse at these other
obligations and enables us to correct a reading in the Oslo papyrus, for there the same
parties are involved in another loan contract.3 In this agreement Hermas borrows 120
drachmas which he will repay in Pauni (May-June) of the same year. The fact that the
contract was cancelled by chiasmos suggests, as the editors of P.Yale I 63 have pointed
out,4 that the loan was repaid on schedule. Therefore the Oslo papyrus, recording an
agreement made after the due date of the previous loan, either mentions still further
outstanding obligations, or the phrase was added to distinguish the latter loan from the
former, which may still have been outstanding.
The reading which can be improved involves the name of the creditor's father.
The editio princeps of the Oslo papyrus reads in lines 10-11: 'oIat61p Toib 'Apiovo;,
which the editors later corrected to tlot86op Ti 'Apiovo;.5 On the basis of the Columbia
papyrus, where the name is clear, we can now read this as 'Ioti&pyp Mapiovog. What
appeared to be TO can be read as a mu, not unlike the mu of bgoXoyei in line 6.
11 would like to thank Tomas Hagg of the University of Bergen, for his help in securing a photograph of
the papyrus from the library of the University of Oslo. R. J. Heisler of the University of Illinois also
deserves thanks for his technical assistance.
2See Giinther Hige, Die ~l kiXarrou-gtvou-Klausel, Proceedings of the Twelfth International
Congress of Papyrology (Toronto 1970) 195-205; Hans-Albert Rupprecht, Studien zur Quittung im
Recht der Graeco-Agyptischen Papyri (Miinch.Beitr. 57, Munich 1971) 100.
3Lines 5-8 of the Columbia papyrus read: 'lotScopo; Mcapiovo 'Epgt "Hpwvo; Troi 'Epp.a& dtn a&o(p68o
XEvopooKicov &ripcov, d; (~rov) g o~idl'eTor6p i Foo. That the Hermas of the 2 contracts is one and
the samie person is clear, for he is styled in nearly identical fashion including his age and signalment, and,
though little remains on the Oslo papyrus, the subscriptions were clearly written by the same hand. The
only doubt about the identification of Isidorus, involving his father's name, will be dealt with below.
4See introduction to P.Yale I 63, and E. Wall, New Texts in the Economy of Tebtunis (Diss.:
Duke University 1984) 77-78. A receipt was often issued when the original terms of the contract were
violated, as in a late payment. This is not to say that receipt by cancellation and return of the original
contract proves that the loan was repaid on schedule.
5See the note to line 8 of P.Oslo III 132.
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