| Artefact ID | 998 |
| TM ID | TM 33500 |
| Findspot (DEChriM ID) | - () | Class | Textual |
| Material | Papyrus |
| Writing medium | Sheet/roll |
| Text content | Documentary |
| Language | Greek |
| Description | P.Laur. II 42: Letter mentioning a Christian woman Letter, partially mutilated on the left side, written on a reused document. Different arguments are articulated over paragraphs separated with blank spaces. The letter starts without any prescript and concerns a certain Tletes, a sailor who had to send some shipload of dipla of wine to Babylon but spent nearly half of it on the way, and has to be caught – he is described as a drunkard. The letter continues on the back (over a previous account), where the writer expresses that he is grieved over something the addressee has done to a woman named Atheas, "who is a Christian woman (χρηστιανή, l. χριστιανή), because she also is a laywoman (λαική), and she has never been discovered (doing) worldly business." (translation and comments of this passage in Luijendijk 2008: 38, n. 57; see also Choat 2006: 47-48, n. 185). This document contains one of the rare mentions of "Christian" people – the writer is seemingly also Christian. The letter is written in a cursive hand running along the fibres on the verso of a reused papyrus, and continues on the back across the fibres, over a previously written in 2 columns account related with annona (SB XVIII 14039). |
| Selection criteria | Mention of Christian individuals/communities, Christian terms/formulas/concepts |
| Date from | 368 |
| Date to | 425 |
| Dating criteria | Dated 4/5th c. in ed. pr.; Luijendijk 2008: 39, n. 57 dates it to late 4th c. or early 5th c., while Fournet 2017: 420 suggests a date in 4th c. The letter is written on the back of an account dated c. 368-369 (SB XVIII 14039 and BL X 224) which is the terminus post quem for the letter. |
| Absolute/relative date | Relative date |
| Archaeological context | Assigned to Oxyrhynchites nomos in ed. pr. |
| Accession number | Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana PL II 14 |
ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS
Json data
