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ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID1764
TM IDTM 971674
Findspot (DEChriM ID)13   (ʿAyn al-Sabīl)
ClassTextual
MaterialCeramic
Writing mediumOstracon
Text contentDocumentary
LanguageGreek
Archive/DossierArchive
Description

O. Sabil 25: Receipt for epibole didrachmou

This ostracon (9.8 x 4.8 cm) witnesses that the ἐπιβολῆς διδράχμου (line 2–3) has been paid by Besas and Elias ἀδελφός (line 2), signed by Psais for his friend Sarapion, a former praepositus pagi. Most texts in the archive of Tithoes son of Pantonymos (identified as a διάκονος in O. Sabil 5 and O. Sabil 10) are receipts and orders to pay for chicken, oil and dates.

Selection criteriaChristian onomastics
Date from350
Date to399
Dating criteria

Site dating; objects and coins found on site support dating the remains of ʿAyn al-Sabīl to the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th c. CE.

Absolute/relative dateRelative date
Archaeological context

Discovered in the 2009–2011 excavations by the Islamic and Coptic Inspectorate of Antiquities for the Dakhla Oasis at ʿAyn al-Sabīl. Two archives were uncovered at the site, that of the deacon Tithoes son of Pantonymos (TM Arch ID 683) found in a house adjacent to a 4th c. church, and in the 2019 excavations that of Taa son of Pebos (TM Arch ID 684).

Accession number

Egypt, Ain el-Sabil, excavation number SCA 12/768/2010 (1)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editio princeps
• Masoud, D. Mahmoud, Rodney Ast and Roger S. Bagnall. 2021. "Two Archives of Ostraka from Ain es-Sabil". Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists (BASP) 58. 87-134: 117, No. 25. Fig. 31.

Authors
Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023
Suggested citation
Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023, "Artefact ID 1764", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1764
External links
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