| Artefact ID | 149 |
| TM ID | TM 33468 |
| Findspot (DEChriM ID) | 58 (Dayr al-ʿIẓām) | Class | Textual |
| Material | Papyrus |
| Writing medium | Sheet/roll |
| Text content | Documentary |
| Language | Greek |
| Archive/Dossier | Archive |
| Description | P.Herm. 9: Letter to Apa John. The letter was sent by a certain Chaeremon to "[his] master and father, Apa Iohannes, apotaktikos", asking for his prayers. The end of the letter is lost. Recto: text written along the fibres; 2 lines postscript in the left margin, from top to bottom. Verso: address, along the fibres: "To my master and brother Iohannes, Chairemon". P.Herm. 9 is one of many Greek and Coptic letters addressed by monks, clerics, soldiers, state officials and individuals to Apa John, so that he would intercede in their favour in dealings with the authorities or pray for them. The anchorite of this archive was identified with the famous John of Lykopolis known by literary sources by Zuckerman 1995. |
| Selection criteria | Mention of Christian individuals/communities, Christian terms/formulas/concepts |
| Date from | 375 |
| Date to | 399 |
| Dating criteria | Palaeography and archive connection |
| Absolute/relative date | Relative date |
| Archaeological context | According to Constantine Zuckerman's reconstruction, the Apa John’s letters were presumably found in September 1897, during the excavations of Farag Ismael and Yassa Tadros on the mountain of Siout (Lycopolis), in the ruins of Dayr al-ʿAẓām, the site of the monastery of John of Lycopolis. Yet they never reached the museum in Gizeh – like the other objects unearthed during these excavations – and must have ended on the market, where they were bought soon after the excavations (Zuckerman 1995: 191-192; Van Minnen 1994: 80-82, Gonis 2008: 69-72). Although not proven, this attractive hypothesis is generally accepted by scholars (see discussion in Van der Vliet 2015: 166-167, and some reservations in Choat 2017: 37-40). |
| Accession number | Manchester, John Rylands Library, P. Herm. 9 |
ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS
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