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ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID225
TM IDTM 17311
Findspot (DEChriM ID)30   (al-Ašmūnayn)
ClassTextual
MaterialPapyrus
Writing mediumSheet/roll
Text contentDocumentary
LanguageGreek
Archive/DossierArchive
Description

P.Ryl. IV 617: Petition to the Emperors.

Petition from a certain Aurelia Isidora claiming that she has been taxed on her land at a wrong rate. The petition contains an expression suggestive of Christian belief since the emperors are addressed as lords of "us, those in this world" (πρὸς τὸ ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἐν τῷ κόσμ̣[ῳ τούτῳ). which suggests a reminiscence of 1 Jn 4:17 (Choat (2006:75).

Recto: official hand, text written along the fibres; Verso: travel accounts from Theophanes' archive (TM 17317).

Selection criteriaChristian terms/formulas/concepts
Date from317
Date to324
Dating criteria

317? The document is dated in the period of the joint reign of Constantine and Licinius when their three children filled the office of Caesar (317-324); the mistake in the nomenclature of two out of three children makes it all but certain that P.Ryl. IV 617 belongs to the first year of this period (P.Ryl. IV 617 intro).

Absolute/relative dateRelative date
Archaeological context-
Accession number

Manchester, John Rylands Library, Gr. 617 Ro.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editio princeps

Roberts, Colin H. and Eric G. Turner. 1952. Catalogue of the Greek and Latin Papyri in the John Rylands Library, Manchester. IV, Documents of the Ptolemaic, Roman and Byzantine Periods. Manchester, 110-112, no. 617.  

Additional bibliography

Choat, Malcolm. 2006. Belief and Cult in Fourth-Century Papyri. Studia Antiqua Australiensia 1. Turnhout: Brepols.

Macquarie University 2005. Papyri from the Rise of Christianity in Egypt. Conspectus of texts, no. 45?

Authors
Valérie Schram, 2021
Suggested citation
Valérie Schram, 2021, "Artefact ID 225", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/225
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