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ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID1365
TM IDTM 23522
Findspot (DEChriM ID)72   (Ǧazīrat Aswān)
ClassTextual
MaterialPapyrus
Writing mediumSheet/roll
Text contentDocumentary
LanguageGreek
Description

Pap.Eleph.Eng. D18; M.Chr. 361; P.Oxy. IV, p. 202: Manumission

Complete sheet of papyrus of large format (H. 24.5 x W. 53 cm) conserving a legal act of manumission written in Elephantine:

Aur. Terouterou, acting through her husband, Aur. Dorotheos, as guardian, emancipates her inherited share of the slave family, Aur. Sarapammon, Tkales, and her daughter Aur. Lousias, not in return for any monetary compensation, but simply as an act of piety in exchange for their affectionate service. She modifies the pagan emancipation formulary (from "Zeus, Earth, and Helios" to "earth and sky") and invokes the "all-merciful God" (kat' eusebian tou paneleēmonos theou) an epithet that becomes well known in later Christian epistolary documents. She forestalls any possible challenge on the part of her heirs to her "act of piety," though imposing no penalty for attempted violation.

Recto: the writing runs along the fibres. Verso is blank.

Selection criteriaChristian terms/formulas/concepts
Date from355
Date to355
Dating criteria

Dated in the [post-]consulate of Constantius VII Caesar III, Tybi 17 of the 13th indiction = January 12, 355 (see Bagnall and Worp 1978 = BL IX 123).

Absolute/relative dateAbsolute date
Archaeological context

Acquired in Egypt by Sir Archibald Edmondstone, Bart., in 1819.

Accession number

Paris, anonymous private collection since 1973 (previously Private collection Edmondstone).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reference edition

Mitteis, Ludwig. 1912. Grundzüge und Chrestomathie der Papyruskunde II.2.Chrestomathie. Leipzig-Berlin, no. 361.

Editio princeps

• Grenfell, Bernard P. and Hunt, Arthur S. 1904. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri IV. London, 202-203.

Additional bibliography

Bagnall, Roger and Worp, Klaas. 1978. "Chronological notes on Byzantine Documents I." Bulletin of American Society of Papyrology 15, p. 235-236 no. 2.  

• Porten, Bezalel. 1996. The Elephantine Papyri in English. Leiden-New York-Köln, p. 438-440 [D18] with pl. 9.

Authors
Valérie Schram, 2021
Suggested citation
Valérie Schram, 2021, "Artefact ID 1365", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1365
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