4care-artefacts – 4care

4CARE-ARTEFACTS

ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID	1637
TM ID	TM 33342
Findspot (DEChriM ID)	28 (al-Bahnasā)
Class	Textual
Material	Papyrus
Writing medium	Sheet/roll
Text content	Documentary
Language	Greek
Description	P.Oxy. VI 903, P.Oxy. 6 903: Affidavit by a wife against her husband This sheet (27.2 x 21.6 cm) is nearly intact, a vertical break down the middle causes a loss of 2-3 letters on some lines. An unnamed wife recounts the ill deeds of her husband towards his and her slaves and foster children, suspecting the wife of theft, until line 14. She then explains the extension of their until then apparently ἄγραφος γάμος to a marriage contract, with the involvement of τῶν ἐπισκόπων καὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτοῦ (“the bishops and his brothers”, line 15); the contract included the husband’s oath to no longer hide the keys to the house (?). This condition was not fulfilled, and when the wife went [εἰ]ς τὸ κυριακὸν ἐν σαμβάθῳ/σαββάτῳ (“to church on Sabbath”, line 19), he refused her reentry to the house, asking her why she had gone εἰς τὸ κυριακόν (line 21). More offences are listed, and the account ends with ταῦτα δὲ οἶδεν ὁ θ(εός) (line 37). The verso contains two columns of shorthand.
Selection criteria	Mention of Christian cult officials/institutions, Christian terms/formulas/concepts
Date from	300
Date to	499
Dating criteria	Palaeography; Blumell/Wayment 2018 expanded its possible dating to the 5th century.
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	Princeton, Theological Seminary P. 1

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editio princeps
• Grenfell, Berhard P. and Arthur S. Hunt. 1908. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Vol. VI (P. Oxy. VI). London: Egypt Exploration Fund. 238-241, No. 903.

Additional bibliography
• Blumell, Lincoln H. and Thomas A. Wayment. 2015. Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents and Sources. Waco TX: Baylor University Press. 446-450, No. 125.
• Bradley, Keith. 1994. Slavery and Society at Rome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 171–72.
• Broadhead, Edwin K. 2010. Jewish Ways of Following Jesus: Redrawing the Religious Map of Antiquity. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. 119–120.
• Bryen, Ari Z. 2013. Violence in Roman Egypt. A Study in Legal Interpretation. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 273-274, No. 123.
• Epp, Eldon Jay. 2004. "The Oxyrhynchus New Testament Papyri: ‘Not without Honor Except in Their Hometown’?" Journal of Biblical Literature (JBL) 123(1). 5-55: 51-52.
• Epp, Eldon Jay. 2005. "The Oxyrhynchus New Testament Papyri: ‘Not without Honor Except in Their Hometown’?" In Perspectives on New Testament Textual Criticism. Collected Essays, 1962–2004. Supplements to Novum Testamentum. Volume 116. Leiden/Boston: Brill. 743-801: 796-797.
• Frakes, Robert M. 2001. Contra Potentium Iniurias: The Defensor Civitatis and Late Roman Law. Munich: C.H. Beck. 214–15.
• Gascou, Jean. 2006. Sophrone de Jérusalem: Miracles des saints Cyr et Jean. Paris: De Boccard. 108n619.
• Huebner, Sabine. 2013. The Family in Roman Egypt: A Comparative Approach to Intergenerational Solidarity and Conflict. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 153.
• Lamoreaux, John C. 1995. “Episcopal Courts in Late Antiquity.” Journal of Early Christian Studies (JECS) 3. 143-167: 157.
• Montserrat, Dominic. 1996/2011. Sex and Society in Graeco-Roman Egypt. London/New York: Routledge. Plate 7.
• Rowlandson, Jane. 1998. Women and Society in Greek and Roman Egypt. A Sourcebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 207-208, No. 153.
• Tcherikover, Victor A., Alexander Fuks and Menahem Stern. 1964. Corpus Papyrorum Judicarum. Volume III. (C.Pap.Jud.) Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 16, No. 457d. [on l. 19]
• Winter, John Garrett. 1933. Life and Letters in the Papyri. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 126-127.

Authors

Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023

Suggested citation

Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023, "Artefact ID 1637", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1637

Json data

External links

TM 33342 DDbDP (PN) HGV

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