Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 27 (1990) 61-67
Two Documents From Tebtunis
These documents were uncovered by Grenfell and Hunt at Tebtunis
during the excavations of 1899-1900.1 They are currently housed in the
Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley. The first
text is from those mounted and described by E. H. Kase, Jr., "Notes on
the University of California Collection of Papyri," TAPA 70 (1940) xliv f.2
It can be added to A.E. Hanson's list of documents dated to the reign of
Augustus.3
1
Conclusion Of A Letter
UC 2444 14.3 x 14.9 cm. 23 June A.D.6
This medium brown papyrus contains the conclusion of a letter with
both side margins and that of the bottom preserved. The amount lost at
the beginning cannot be determined; the top two lines are very badly
preserved and little can be ascertained about their contents. Sense can
be obtained from the middle of the third line onward. The letter
contains a request for money and, because a visit is mentioned, perhaps
personal assistance. The text is written in what could be called a spidery
hand, with crudely formed letters, and is certainly not the work of a
skilled writer. The spelling and grammar of what remains of the letter
seem normal, although there is a least one case of asyndeton, and
perhaps more. The writing is parallel to the fibers, and the back is blank.
11 wish to thank Elbert Wall of the International Photographic Archive of Papyri for
providing me with photographs and preliminary transcripts of these papyri, and the
Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley for permission to publish
them. The first of these texts originally appeared in my doctoral dissertation presented to
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1988 entitled Select Papyri. I wish to
thank my committee members David Sansone, David F. Bright, and G. M. Browne for
their helpful suggestions.
2Records are unclear but it may also bear the inventory number P.Tebt. frag. 21400 -21401.
3In BASP 24 (1987) 100-02.
