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80
Jason Combs and Joseph Miller
bers. Letters on the right margin have a tendency to shrink (notably in the
final words of lines 3-4, 6-8, 14) or expand (notably in lines 1, 10-12, 15) as
the scribe tries to make that margin more uniform. Initial letters on the left
margin, particularly the initial alpha (in lines 3, 8, 15), are often oversized.
The Date
The most telling criterion for the document's date is the formulaic oath
preserved in lines 13-15: rno vvTrv rcpiTonto o6v mT navTOxpdTOpa ov
Kai l]v fv ec tav Kal v[qKV tob Tn avTvKtC vTOg Se6TC& Tov Tig oixoD svg
QIavio'Iovotivov To aiwvov Anyonatov AntoxpdTopog. Flavius Justinus is
either Justin I(9.7.518-1.8.527) or Justin II(15.11.565-5.10.578).4 Of the closest parallels to this formula, two belong to Justin I: RCair.Masp. 3.67328.1.4-6
(521): to v6 evog T6v TeTnavTOxpdTOpaO Ov Kal i jv Ocav Kal oopdvtov
t1xqv0 to otnTravTvtxKwvTO&o6TcOtoo la i ijv CXavoov'Iovotivov to adviov
ayonatov catoxpctopog;5 and PFlor. 3.323.10 (525): inro v[vosv]q Ocv
KavToxpdTopa KalV Tvcvwe]3stav Kal v[KqvToV &e6Tcoo [iij ]bvi Xaovlov
['IoVotivoo Toi adviov ayonatov catoxp]{topog. One belongs to Justin II:
PLond. 5.1707.6-7 (566): 0vovtg tf-iv ay4av Ka io oonatov tptd6a Kalu iTv
V[KqV Kal &acoviv Toy KaLXXv[KoD i ijuiv &6Tcot[o]v 1A(alov) 'IovooTvov
Toi awiov ayonotoo antoxpdtopog.6 The formula in P.Duk. inv. 728 most
clearly resembles the parallels from the first Justin, invoking Tbv navToxpdTopa
6eov, referring to the emperor as0 to otnTravTnvtxvTOg Se6T oTov, and invoking hisenas3etav Kxal V[Kv. These features are absent in papyri dated under Justin II. Furthermore, Justin II tends in oath formulas to be invoked in company
with family members, whereas Justin I appears alone.7 The data are too few to
4 R.S. Bagnall and K.A. Worp, Chronological Systems of Byzantine Egypt (2nd ed.;
Leiden 2004) 254. For a detailed discussion of the historical data that support this precise chronology for the reign of Justin I see A.A. Vasiliev, Justin the First (Cambridge
1950) 68-74, 414.
5 Cf. Bagnall and Worp (n. 4) 282. The text of the formula given here follows Bagnall
and Worp, whose version depends on multiple fragmentary attestations in RCair.Masp.
3.67328.
6 This formula is also attested in PLond. 5.1717.31, which may date to the earlier reign
of Justinian. See Bagnall and Worp (n. 4) 285.
Bagnall and Worp (n. 4) 282, 284-285. All the papyri invoking Justin I have already been cited. As given by Bagnall and Worp, those for Justin II (apart from PLond.
5.1707 and 5.1717) are PManch. 1.1.44 (574); PCair.Masp. 2.67324b.v.18 (565-574);
ECair.Masp. 3.67353.27 (569); PSI 1.76a.12 (572/3); PCair.Masp. 2.67169bis.34 (569);
SB 1.4678.9 (574-578).
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