4care-artefacts – 4care

4CARE-ARTEFACTS

ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID	1673
TM ID	TM 30439
Findspot (DEChriM ID)	28 (al-Bahnasā)
Class	Textual
Material	Papyrus
Writing medium	Sheet/roll
Text content	Documentary
Language	Greek
Description	P.Oxy. XXXI 2599, P.Oxy. 31 2599: Letters from Tauris to Apeitheon and Theodoros Both the recto and verso of this sheet (6 x 26 cm) contain a letter from Tauris, one to τῷ κυρίῳ μου πατρὶ Apeitheon, the other to τῷ κυρίῳ μου ἀδελφῷ Theodoros. In the letter to Apeitheon, she asks him to buy her combs, στύραξ (balsam) and purple (πορφύριον), and gives him instructions on what to “tell the sister of Dioskoros’ wife to say to Didyme” regarding the making of the πορφύριον (purple) and the σιππῖα (tow), and to send Kyra towels. She greets an Esther and a Susanna. In the letter to Theodoros, he is asked to buy Tauris three towels, boots, three bath slippers and two large combs. She also instructs him to use the [σιππῖον] τρυφερὸν (“tow”, line 31) she has given him. She greets a Herakleianos, his son and others (illegible). It is unclear whether to attribute these letters to a Jewish or Christian context.
Selection criteria	Christian terms/formulas/concepts, Christian onomastics
Date from	200
Date to	399
Dating criteria	Palaeography
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. 2599

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editio princeps
• Barns, John W. B., Peter Parsons, John Rea and Eric G. Turner. 1966. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Part XXXI (P. Oxy. XXXI). Graeco-Roman Memoirs 45. London: Egypt Exploration Society. 161-165, No. 2599.

Additional bibliography
• Bagnall, Roger S. and Raffaella Cribiore. 2006. Women's Letters from Ancient Egypt, 300 BC–AD 800. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 400-401.
• Bagnall, Roger S. and Raffaella Cribiore. 2008. Women's Letters from Ancient Egypt, 300 BC–AD 800. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. B13.6, Nr. 291. [https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb90014.0001.001]
• Rowlandson, Jane. 1998. Women and Society in Greek and Roman Egypt. A Sourcebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 269-270, No. 206.

Authors

Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023

Suggested citation

Victoria G. D. Landau, 2023, "Artefact ID 1673", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1673

Json data

External links

TM 30439 DDbDP (PN) HGV Oxyrhynchus Online (Image Database) Oxyrhynchus Papyri (University of Oxford – Online Resource)

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