4care-artefacts – 4care

4CARE-ARTEFACTS

ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID	1720
TM ID	TM 33802
Findspot (DEChriM ID)	28 (al-Bahnasā)
Class	Textual
Material	Papyrus
Writing medium	Sheet/roll
Text content	Documentary
Language	Greek
Description	P.Berl. 14897, SB 3 7243, SB 8 9746: Letter from Didyme and the “sisters” to Sophias The top left corner of this sheet (27.5 x 12.5 cm) is broken off, but can be reconstructed since the rest of the letter is near-complete. Addressed to [μ]ου ἀγαπητῇ [ἀ]δελφῇ (line 1) Sophias, she is greeted ἐν κ(υρί)ῳ (line 2) by Didyme καὶ αἱ ἀδελφαὶ. The letter recounts various transactions of goods: wine, grapes, garments, sandals, an ostrich egg ([σ]τρούθ[ιον] μέγα, line 21) and a basket of date palms. Didyme, Favorinos, Bikeutia, Italia and Theodora are greeted, and greetings are relayed from Valeriana, Philosophos, Loukila and Pansophion. Other individuals mentioned are an ἀδελφός Piperos, Loukilos, Sipharos son of Plou[…] (?), Pansophion’s bride (?), Severus and Aionios. The farewell includes ἐν κ(υρί)ῳ, ὁ κ(ύριό)ς (line 34). The verso contains the address. Didyme and the sisters wrote another letter, P.Oxy. XIV 1774, addressed to Atienateia. See Wipszycka 2002 for a summary and rebuttal of scholarly opinions on the “sisters” and their activities (including the group possibly being Christian ascetics).
Selection criteria	Christian terms/formulas/concepts, Christian onomastics, Nomina sacra
Date from	300
Date to	350
Dating criteria	Palaeography; Wipszycka 2002 limits it to before 340, when the talent collapsed. Blumell/Wayment 2018 compare the hand to P.Oxy. LXVI 4528 (6 May 336), P.Col. VII 147 (6 April 342) and P.Abinn. 47 (1 May 346).
Absolute/relative date	Relative date
Archaeological context	Unknown acquisition, from al-Bahnasā (Oxyrhynchos).
Accession number	Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung P. 13897

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editio princeps
• Manteuffel, Georgius [Jerzy]. 1927. “Epistulae Privatae Ineditae.” Eos: commentarii Societatis philologae Polonorum = Eos: organ Polskiego Towarzystwa Filologicznego 30. 211-215: 211-214, No. 1.

Additional bibliography (in chronological order)
• Bilabel, Friedrich. 1927. Sammelband Griechischer Urkunden aus Ägypten. Dritter Band. Zweite Hälfte. Urkunden Nr. 6001 bis 7269. (SB 3). Berlin/Leipzig: De Gruyter. 253-254, No. 7243.
• Wilcken, Ulrich. 1930. “Urkunden-Referat.” Archiv für Papyrusforschung (AfP) 9. 63-104: 97-98.
• Olsson, Bror. 1932. “Zwei Papyrusstellen besprochen.” Aegyptus 12. 355-356: 355, No. 1.
• Cavassini, Maria Teresa. 1954. “Lettere cristiane nei papiri greci d’Egitto.” Aegyptus 34. 266-282: 269, 273, 274, 276.
• Kiessling, Emil. 1965. Sammelband Griechischer Urkunden aus Ägypten. Achter Band. Erstes Heft. (Nr. 9642–9825). (SB 8). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 85-86, No. 9746.
• Naldini, Mario. 1968. Il Cristianesimo in Egitto. Lettere private nei papiri dei secoli II-IV. Firenze: Le Monnier. 173-177, No. 36.
• Tibiletti, Giuseppe. 1979. Le lettere private nei papiri greci del III e IV secolo d.C. Tra paganesimo e cristianesimo. Milano: Vita e Pensiero. 15, 43, 68.
• Goehring, James E. and Robert F. Boughner. 1990. “Egyptian Monasticism (Selected Papyri).” In Ascetic Behavior in Greco-Roman Antiquity: A Sourcebook, edited by Vincent L. Wimbush. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 456-463: 462-463.
• Brakke, David. 1995. Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 28-29, 37, 40-41.
• Elm, Susanna. 1996. Virgins of God. The Making of Asceticism in Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 236-237, 241-244.
• Gonis, Nikolaos. 1997. “Remarks on Private Letters.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik (ZPE) 119. 135-147: 142-144.
• Wipszycka Ewa. 2002. “Del buon uso delle lettere private. Commento a SB III, 7243 e P. Oxy. XIV, 1774.” In "Humana sapit". Études d'Antiquité tardive offertes à Lellia Cracco Ruggini, edited by Jean-Michel Carrié and Rita Lizzi Testa. Bibliothèque de l'Antiquité tardive 3. Turnhout: Brepols. 469-473, 484.
• –––. 2005. “IX. Letters Dated Early or First Half IV. A. With ‘Nomina Sacra’ or Other Decisive Indications of Christian Identity.” Papyri from the Rise of Christianity in Egypt: Draft Conspectus. (PCE.IX.A). Macquarie University. 8, No. 105. [http://www.mq.edu.au/pubstatic/public/download/%3Fid%3D45105&usg=AOvVaw2xqK_R6N3vQdQpC4Mq_iMD]
• Choat, Malcolm. 2006. Belief and Cult in Fourth-Century Papyri. Studia Antiqua Australiensia 1. Turnhout: Brepols. 158.
• Bagnall, Roger S. and Raffaella Cribiore. 2006. Women's Letters from Ancient Egypt, 300 BC–AD 800. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 196-197.
• Bagnall, Roger S. and Raffaella Cribiore. 2008. Women's Letters from Ancient Egypt, 300 BC–AD 800. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. A13.2. [https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb90014.0001.001]
• Albarrán Martínez, María Jesús. 2010. Prosopographia Asceticarum Aegyptiarum. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC). 97–98.
• Blumell, Lincoln H. and Thomas A. Wayment. 2015. Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents and Sources. Waco TX: Baylor University Press. 527-533, No. 144.
• Emmett, Alanna M. 2017. “An Early Fourth-Century Female Monastic Community in Egypt?” In Maistor. Classical, Byzantine and Renaissance Studies for Robert Browning, edited by Ann Moffat. Byzantina Australiensia 5. Leiden/Boston: Brill. 77-83.

Authors

Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023

Suggested citation

Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023, "Artefact ID 1720", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1720

Json data

External links

TM 33802 DDbDP (PN) HGV BerlPap

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