| Artefact ID | 1257 |
| TM ID | TM 32904 |
| Findspot (DEChriM ID) | - () | Class | Textual |
| Material | Papyrus |
| Writing medium | Sheet/roll |
| Text content | Documentary |
| Language | Greek |
| Description | P.Bour. 25: Letter from an orphan in Apameia (Syria?). Letter sent by Tare to her "lady and longed for aunt" (ἐπιποθήτῃ θείᾳ) announcing the death of her mother (her aunt's sister) during the Paschal feast. She reveals that she did not have any other relatives living with her and complains that she remains alone in a foreign country. She asks for someone to be sent to her (either for support or only to give news). The address on the back of the letter reveals that it was sent from Apameia, maybe in Syria, to her aunt in Koptos. The hand is an elegant majuscule influenced by the biblical majuscule, slightly inclined to the right, using nomina sacra – one of a public letter-writer familiar with the topos of death and Christian formulas. The word ἐπιποθήτη is only attested twice, in patristic texts (Clement of Rome and the Epistle of Barnabas). The writing runs along the fibres on both recto and verso. |
| Selection criteria | Christian terms/formulas/concepts, Nomina sacra, Biblical quote or paraphrase |
| Date from | 350 |
| Date to | 450 |
| Dating criteria | Palaeography. Dated 5th c. in ed. pr. but Schubart 1928: 222 (= BL II.2, 35) places it rather in 4th c. (so Naldini 1968 and Bagnall and Cribiore 2006). Gascou 2021 keeps it in 5th c. |
| Absolute/relative date | Relative date |
| Archaeological context | |
| Accession number | Paris, Sorbonne, Institut de Papyrologie, P.Bouriant 25 (Inv. Sorb. 850). |
ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS
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