4care-artefacts – 4care

4CARE-ARTEFACTS

ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID	1643
TM ID	TM 31749
Findspot (DEChriM ID)	28 (al-Bahnasā)
Class	Textual
Material	Papyrus
Writing medium	Sheet/roll
Text content	Documentary
Language	Greek
Description	P.Oxy. XII 1493, P.Oxy. 12 1493: Letter from Thonis to Herakleios Thonis writes this letter (10.9 x 9.6 cm) to Ἡρακλήῳ τῷ φιλτάτῳ (line 1), an expression of closeness or even familial bonds, with well-wishes τῷ κ(υρί)ω θεῷ (line 4-5). The writer is in charge of the recipient’s son who has arrived on 10 Thoth for work (τῷ ἔ̣[ρ]γῳ, line 13). Herakleios is addressed as ἀδελφέ (line 5) and Thonis promises to treat his son as if he were his own. The context of ἐκ τούτου θεοῦ (line 13, a reading initially doubted by Ghedini 1923) is unclear. Nomina sacra: κω
Selection criteria	Christian terms/formulas/concepts
Date from	275
Date to	325
Dating criteria	Palaeography. The ed.pr. considered this letter (alongside P.Oxy. XII 1492, 1494 and 1592) to be among the oldest Christian documents from Egypt.
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	Horsham, Christ’s Hospital P. Oxy. 1493 (now lost, e.g. Coles 1974)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editio princeps
• Grenfell, Bernard P. and Arthur S. Hunt. 1916. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Part XII (P. Oxy. XII). London: Egypt Exploration Fund. 250-251, No. 1493.

Additional bibliography
• Bardy, Gustave. 1925. “La vie chrétienne aux IIIe et IVe siècles d'après les papyrus.” Revue apologétique 41. 643-651, 707-721: 647.
• Collart, Paul. 1924. “Giuseppe Ghedini, Lettere cristiane dai papiri greci del III e IV secolo.” Revue des Εtudes Grecques (Rev.Et.Grec.) 37: 248-249.
• Ghedini, Giuseppe. 1923. Lettere Cristiane dai Papiri Greci del III e IV Secolo. Milano: Presso l'amministrazione di Aegyptus e la società editrice Vita e Pensiero. 138-140, No. 16.
• Leclercq, Henri. 1929. "Lettres Chrétiennes." In Dictionnaire d'Archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie (DACL) 8(2), fasc. 90–91, edited by Fernand Cabrol and Henri Leclercq. Paris: Librairie Letouzey & Ané, col. 2683-2885: col. 2785-2786, No. 16.
• Meecham, Henry G. 1923. Light from Ancient Letters: Private Correspondence in the Non-literary Papyri of Oxyrhynchus of the First Four Centuries, and Its Bearing on New Testament Language and Thought. London: George Allen & Unwin. 72.
• Naldini, Mario. 1968. Il Cristianesimo in Egitto. Lettere private nei papiri dei secoli II-IV. Firenze: Le Monnier. 164-165, No. 33.
• Wessely, Carl. 1924. “Les plus anciens monuments du christianisme II.” Patrologia orientalis 18(3). 395-396, no. K.
• Winter, John Garrett. 1933. Life and Letters in the Papyri. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 149-150.

Authors

Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023

Suggested citation

Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023, "Artefact ID 1643", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1643

Json data

External links

TM 31749 DDbDP (PN) HGV

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