Artefact ID | 324 |
TM ID | TM 32414 |
Findspot (DEChriM ID) | 34 (Ǧabal al-Ṭārif) | Class | Textual |
Material | Papyrus |
Writing medium | Sheet/roll |
Text content | Documentary |
Language | Greek |
Archive/Dossier | Archive |
Description | P.Nag Hamm. 72: Letter to Sansnos and Psas. A woman named Proteria writes "to the monks Sansnos and Psas" (Σανσνῶτ̣ι̣ κ̣α̣ὶ̣ Π̣σ̣άτος | μοναχοῖς̣) to request that they seek out a little chaff that can be purchased for use as fodder for her donkeys. She asks that they inform her about the price and transport cost. Recto: written along the fibres. Flowing, ligatured hand characteristic of experienced writers of the period. Verso: address, along the fibres. About the letters addressed to Sansnos, probably the same person as the priest in P.Nag Hamm. 77 and 78 or the "beloved father" in P.Nag Hamm. 68, see M. Choat (in Choat and Giorda 2017: 35-36) and Bagnall 2018: 80-85. |
Selection criteria | Mention of Christian cult officials/institutions, Mention of Christian individuals/communities |
Date from | 325 |
Date to | 375 |
Dating criteria | On palaeographic grounds, Bagnall and Cribiore 2006: 206 date the letter from the 340s or shortly before. Also, other waste papyri recovered from the same cartonnage used to construct the Nag Hammadi codex VII include contracts dated 341, 346 and 348 (P.Nag Hamm. 65). |
Absolute/relative date | Relative date |
Archaeological context | The leather covers of eight of the twelve Nag Hammadi codices found in a sealed jar by Egyptian agricultural workers in 1945 (see ID 23) had been strengthened by cartonnage made of waste papyri. This papyrus comes from the richest of these cartonnages, codex VII. |
Accession number | Cairo, Coptic Museum Nag Hamm. VII 12 c |