| Artefact ID | 1129 |
| TM ID | TM 64465 |
| Findspot (DEChriM ID) | - () | Class | Textual |
| Material | Papyrus |
| Writing medium | Sheet/roll |
| Text content | Documentary |
| Language | Greek |
| Description | P.Mich. XVIII 767: Notes on rival bishops Fragment of a text: not only the top and righthand side of the sheet are missing, but the text was left unfinished since l. 7 breaks off in the middle of a sentence, which suggests that it was a draft. Moreover a second hand added a line between l. 4 and 5 and started another sentence below a paragraphos (l. 6-7). The first hand uses a traditional cursive form, the second hand a form introduced in the 4th c. The script runs along the fibres. No writing on the back. The text, maybe a "letter on the arian question" (ed.), seems to be dealing with ecclesiastical politics of the 4th c., and particularly with the Arian controversy: according to the ed., the people mentioned in the text could be Maximinus of Trier, Dionysios of Milan, and Didymos the Blind, all three partisans of Athanasios, the bishop of Alexandria who opposed Arius. The text gives the following: "... bishop ("Maximinus" crossed out) Dionysius [... not?] to be the (?) authorized bishop, but [...] to correct such disorder [...] the aforementioned when they realized that they (or: the aforementioned conspirators ... themselves) [...] (2nd hand) to return to us ... [...] (1st hand) by putting on a pious face and hiding their (?) true intentions [...]" "Didymus who cons over Homer and perverts (?) Holy Writings, and even (left unfinished)". According to N. Gonis, the identification of this text by the editor as "an original document from the Arian controversy?", and of the bishop with Dionysius of Milan is ingenious but purely conjectural: Dionysius could well have been an Egyptian bishop, possibly the same person as in P.Oxy. XXII 2344 and/or in P.Harr. I 94. See also Choat 2006: 127 quoting E. Judge who suggested that the document has the appearance of rough notes, and that "Notes on rival bishops" might be a better designation. |
| Selection criteria | Mention of Christian cult officials/institutions, Christian terms/formulas/concepts |
| Date from | 300 |
| Date to | 399 |
| Dating criteria | Palaeography (especially shape of the nu): dated to 4th c. in ed.pr. |
| Absolute/relative date | Relative date |
| Archaeological context | Purchased in Egypt by B.P. Grenfell and F.W. Kelsey in March-April 1920 |
| Accession number | Ann Arbor, Michigan University, Library P. 423 b |
ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS
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