4care-artefacts – 4care

4CARE-ARTEFACTS

ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID	1613
TM ID	TM 32313
Findspot (DEChriM ID)	28 (al-Bahnasā)
Class	Textual
Material	Papyrus
Writing medium	Sheet/roll
Text content	Documentary
Language	Greek
Description	P.Oxy. L 3581, P.Oxy. 50 3581: Petition from Aurelia Attiaena to tribune Flavius Marcellus This well-preserved sheet (30.8 x 26.7 cm) contains a wife’s description of her husband’s misdeeds, and even crimes, against herself, for which she is seeking compensation and punishment. Aurelia outlines a marriage by force, followed by practically bigamy on the part of her husband Paulos, who spent much of his marriage with another woman, leaving his wife and infant daughter, before making use of πρεσβύτεροι (line 8) to convince Aurelia to let him back into her house, stating in writing that he would adhere to their marriage. Paulos is then described as having endangered her life by stealing from soldiers lodging with the couple and fleeing, leaving his wife to bear the consequences. He has since refused her deed of divorce (ῥεπούδιον, lat. repudium), forcibly bringing her into his house and then abandoning her again once she became pregnant. Aurelia identifies both herself and her husband as citizens of/being from Oxyrhynchus, and she has signed the subscription herself. The verso is hardly legible, concerned with taxes, and not related to the recto.
Selection criteria	Mention of Christian cult officials/institutions, Christian onomastics
Date from	300
Date to	399
Dating criteria	Palaeography and juristic content. According to the ed.pr., some conditions for divorce named might indicate a 5th c. dating.
Absolute/relative date	Relative date
Archaeological context	Found in al-Bahnasā (Oxyrhynchos) during the excavations of Bernard Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt between 1896 and 1907.
Accession number	Oxford, Sackler Library, Papyrology Rooms P. Oxy. 3581

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editio princeps
• Bowman, Alan K. et al. 1983. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Part L (P. Oxy. L). Graeco-Roman Memoirs 70. London: Egypt Exploration Society. 202-205, No. 3581.

Additional bibliography
• Bryen, Ari Z. 2013. Violence in Roman Egypt. A Study in Legal Interpretation. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 275, No. 125.
• Rowlandson, Jane. 1998. Women and Society in Greek and Roman Egypt. A Sourcebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 208-209, No. 154.

Authors

Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023

Suggested citation

Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023, "Artefact ID 1613", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1613

Json data

External links

TM 32313 DDbDP (PN) HGV Oxyrhynchus Papyri (University of Oxford – Online Resource)

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