| Artefact ID | 1148 |
| TM ID | TM 33801 |
| Findspot (DEChriM ID) | - () | Class | Textual |
| Material | Papyrus |
| Writing medium | Sheet/roll |
| Text content | Documentary |
| Language | Greek |
| Description | SB VIII 9683: Complaint of a monk. Remarkably well-preserved sheet of papyrus conserving a complaint and request for help concerning robberies made by some soldiers. The complaint is written by Timotheos, probably himself a monk, acting on behalf of the monastery (or corporation of monks) in Ankyron polis (mone Ankyronites) and is addressed to a certain Heron who is addressed as despotes and patron (“my master and truly esteemed patron and brother”) and seems to have been a military officer (centurion?) acting as protector and sponsor (Choat 2000: 159 and n. 25).
Here is a summary of the affair according to ed. pr.: 1. The soldier Paulos has stolen an 'anchor' (monobolon, maybe a metonymy for 'boat') from the brothers, as reprisals for an unsettled debt (24 000 myriads of den.) of the deacon Apa Horos (on behalf?) of the monastery of Ankyron. He also refers to an authoritative pronouncement of his superior, Apa Aiantinos, the priest of the mone, concerning this debt, and stresses that the procurator did not take or lay claim to more than half of the sum. The indispensability of the anchor for the boat traffic of the monastery is emphasised by mentioning the large number of brothers living there: monks, anchorites, presbyters, deacons. Heron is urgently requested to send the soldier to Thelbo (Herakleopolites) to settle the affair with Horos. 2. Soldiers (possibly the same Paulos) have also robbed the wine-boat belonging to a certain Komon and Timotheos presents as witness brother Onouon acting as a fisherman to the monastery. In this connection, he quotes a precedent: the same Heron had once before annulled the confiscation of Komonʼs boat when it was detained in Herakleopolis.
M. Choat remarks that Ankyron lies c. 13km north of Hipponon, and the request for Paul the soldier to be sent to Thelbo to settle the affair puts it within the geographical orbit of the Melitian monastery of Hathor (see P.Neph. 20). Indeed, a monk named Horion from the monastery of Ankyron is sent from there to Phathor in P.Neph. 3, while a certain Hor, from the same monastery of Ankyron, is mentioned in P.Neph. 6, 24 (Choat 2017: 43, n. 147). For Apa Aiantinos as a possible misspelling of Apa Antinos, see Gascou and Pintaudi 2000: 513, n. 12 about P.Bingen 121.
Careful upright cursive and layout with indentations, but grammatical incorrectness leading to ambiguities in the interpretation. Ed. notes that the writerʼs native language is evidently Coptic. The writing runs along the fibres. Verso: Address, running along the fibres. |
| Selection criteria | Mention of Christian cult officials/institutions, Mention of Christian individuals/communities |
| Date from | 375 |
| Date to | 399 |
| Dating criteria | Palaeography, vocabulary and structure of the letter |
| Absolute/relative date | Relative date |
| Archaeological context | Unknown |
| Accession number | Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Gr. class. c. 42 (P) |
ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS
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