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ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID1147
TM IDTM 32644
Findspot (DEChriM ID)28   (al-Bahnasā)
ClassTextual
MaterialPapyrus
Writing mediumSheet/roll
Text contentDocumentary
LanguageGreek
Archive/DossierDossier
Description

P.Oxy. XXXVI 2785: Letter of peace.

The sheet contains a complete letter addressed to the bishop Sotas ("beloved Papa Sotas") by the priests of Herakleopolis, asking him to receive a female church member named Taion and a male catechumen receiving instruction in Genesis named Anos (see Luijendijk 2008: 85-86).

About Sotas, bishop of Oxyrhynchos, see Luijendijk 2008: 81-124.

This letter is categorised as a "letter of peace" rather than a "letter of recommendation in Teeter 1997: 960.

The script is an experienced albeit not very elegant hand, running along the fibres. Use of nomen sacrum for "Lord". Final greetings gathered on the right side of the sheet. About σδ as an isopsephism (= 204 = eirenika), see Llewelyn 1995.

Verso: blank.

Selection criteriaMention of Christian cult officials/institutions, Mention of Christian individuals/communities, Christian terms/formulas/concepts, Christian symbols/gestures/isopsephy, Nomina sacra
Date from250
Date to330
Dating criteria

Palaeographically dated 4th c. in ed. pr. Connexions with the dossier of Sotas bishop of Oxyrhynchos under Maximus (bishop of Alexandria 264-282), led Luijendijk 2008: 94 to date the letter back to "mid- to latter-half of the third century". W. Clarysse (see TM 32644) suggested extending the date to early 4th c.

Absolute/relative dateRelative date
Archaeological context


Accession number

Oxford, Sackler Library, Papyrology Rooms P. Oxy. 2785

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reference edition

Luijendijk, AnneMarie. 2008. Greetings in the Lord. Early Christians and the Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Harvard Theological Studies 60. Cambridge Ma.

Editio princeps

• Rea, John Rowland. 1970. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri XXXVI, edited by R.A. Coles, D. Foraboschi et al. London, no. 2785.

Additional bibliography

• Blumell, Lincoln H. and Wayment, Thomas A. 2015. Christian Oxyrhynchus. Texts, Documents, and Sources. Waco, Baylor University Press, no. 133.

• Choat, Malcolm. 2017. "Monastic Letters on Papyrus from Late Antique Egypt." In Writing and Communication in Early Monasticism, edited by M. Choat and M. Ch. Giorda. Texts and Studies in Eastern Christianity 9. Leiden, Boston, 17-71 (esp. 21-24).

• Llewelyn, S. 1998. A Review of the Greek Inscriptions and Papyri published 1984-85. New Documents illustrating Early Christianity (NewDocs) 8. Macquarie University, 172.

• Llewelyn, Stephen R., 1995. "ΣΔ, a Christian Isopsephism?." Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 109, 125-127.

• Tibiletti, Giuseppe. 1979. Le lettere private nei papiri greci del III e IV secolo d.C : tra paganesimo e cristianesimo. Milan, no. 31.

Authors
Valérie Schram, 2021
Suggested citation
Valérie Schram, 2021, "Artefact ID 1147", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1147
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