BKT IX 90 (P. 11754 + P. 21187)

“Men are pigs” is a phrase often uttered by women when they have been treated disrespectfully by men, be it through infidelity, selfishness, ruthlessness or abusive behavior. This topic is very old and was already addressed in ancient times. A literary treatment can be found on this papyrus.

The fragments of this papyrus were found during Otto Rubensohn’s excavations in Eschmunen, the ancient city of Hermupolis in Middle Egypt. They are written on both sides and come from one sheet of a papyrus-codex that was probably also written in Hermupolis. The script is a relatively large book script, slanted to the right, which can be dated palaeographically to the 6th century AD. A lower margin about 5 cm wide is preserved on both sides. Although all the other pages of the leaf have not survived, the size of the original paper can be reconstructed. There were probably 34 to 35 lines on each side.

The ink is brownish, apostrophes have been added occasionally and accents etc. are missing. It is interesting to note, however, that another scribe has made slanted strokes in the upper part of the lines, first in brown and later in black ink. They indicate where a word ends or a new one begins. This information was very helpful, as not all words were written separately as they are today. Instead, all letters were written one after the other without spaces. Punctuation marks were also not used. These slanted strokes should therefore be regarded as a reading aid.

The text contains a small excerpt from Homer’s “Odyssey”. Homer was and is the most famous poet of Western culture. He wrote the two epics that are known today as the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey”. These works were probably written around the turn of the 8th and 7th centuries BC, with the transition from the Mycenaean culture to the classical Greek period. Even in ancient times, he was the most respected poet in ancient Greece. His works were read, copied and studied again and again. They have served and continue to serve as inspiration and the basis for epic adventures, fantasy and dramatic media.

The Odyssey is about the adventurous wanderings of the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, who is returning home from the ten-year Trojan War. The 10th canto, to which the text on the fragmented papyrus leaf belongs, is about the failure of Odysseus and his crew to reach their homeland and almost all of his ships are destroyed by the Laestrygonians. They finally land on Aiaia, the island of the sorceress Circe. The experiences on the island are described in the text of the papyrus leaf.

To explore the island, a group of Odysseus‘ companions roam the surrounding area. When they soon arrive at the sorceress’s palace, they are surprised by tame wolves and lions. Circe entices and seduces her guests with a sumptuous meal. However, she spiked the foods and drinks with a poison and turned the men into pigs with a swing of her rod. Only the suspicious Eurylochus did not fall for the trap. He quickly returns to the ship to tell Odysseus what has happened. Despite Eurylochus‘ resistance, Odysseus immediately sets off to rescue his companions. On the way, he meets the god Hermes, who offers him his help.

The text of the papyrus breaks off at this point, but we know the rest of the story. Odysseus forces Circe to reverse the transformation of his men into pigs, thereby saving them.

Let us return to the main question: whether men are pigs or not. It’s a colloquialism and a question of perspective. The important thing is, are we talking about all men or about a certain category of men? And perhaps only about those who behave like pigs in one way or another. Besides, women can be no different and this question can also be applied to them.

BKT IX 16 (P. 21260 V)

In European stories, the wolf is often portrayed as a predatory villain. For example, in “Little Red Riding Hood”, a fable by the Brothers Grimm, he deceives an innocent young girl in order to eat her greedily. But has the wolf always been a cold-blooded foe or was he even a salutary hero in ancient literature?

The papyrus was probably purchased in the Fayum, a large oasis southwest of Kairo, and dates from the 3rd century AD. The piece was written in Greek and is inscribed on both sides. On the recto side there is a billing, but the verso side reveals a far more interesting content: it is a magical formula for preparing an amulet.

The requisites of the magical procedure are mentioned in the course of the seven lines. One should take lamellas, wrap something with linen, use an unknown ingredient of a black wolf and finally contain something in a small vessel. Then the amulet will serve the reader often. As the piece is only a fragment and also has holes in it, the connections between the components are missing. Nevertheless, several things can be said about the transmitted text.

Amulets have been around since the Predynastic period of Ancient Egypt and their use continued from the Pharaonic period to the Greek-Roman and Christian periods. They protect the owner from evil, bestow health, make prophecies and accompany the deceased in the afterlife. It is not unusual for an amulet to be wrapped in linen, as linen and flax were considered religiously pure. They were said to be connected to the sky and the sun. This is why, in addition to its many uses as bandage and writing material, clothing or lamp wicks, linen was also frequently used in the cult of the dead. For example, mummification material, burial objects or sacrifices and clothing for the gods were made of linen.

What is extremely unusual about the spell instructions, however, is the mention of a black wolf, as no other Greek magical papyrus mentions a black wolf. Only one Greek magical Christian papyrus, which is housed in the Papyrus Collection of Cologne nowadays, mentions a white wolf. Here the white wolf appears and heals Joseph’s trembling and fever, as Joseph is wearing his protective amulet.

Many positive medical effects were attributed to the wolf in the Greek world. For example, the sun-dried liver of a wolf fattened with figs combined with laurels, peppercorns, honey and sweet wine cures coughs, tuberculosis, stomach pains and flatulence. Binding a salted right wolf’s eye on the body helps against intermittent fever. The fat of the wolf helps against hardening, for instance of the uterus. If wolf skin is tanned in alum and applied to the affected area for six days, it also helps against loin pain. Even the wolf’s excrement was said to have a medical effect. If it is mixed with Attic honey and processed into an ointment, it cures cataracts when applied to the eye.

As can be seen from the text of the papyrus, wolves were also believed to have magical abilities. A wolf’s snout on the farm gate or a wolf skin strap on the wrist protected against death through poisoning, a wolf’s tail tied to a feeding trough prevented the animal from swallowing cattle bones and if a wolf’s tooth was tied to a horse, it became tireless. If a wolf bites a horse, it also runs stronger and faster, a sheep killed by a wolf tastes better and, on top of that, prey killed by a wolf even has healing powers.

Despite the many positive associations of the wolf at the time of the Ancient Greeks, it was already known then as an evil predator at the same time. The wolf was also regarded as an animal of misfortune, and its howling prophesied three days of bad weather. In particular, an encounter with a wolf with prey in its mouth, blocking your path from right to left, was regarded as a worrying omen.

In the end, the exact instructions for this spell and its use remain a mystery to the reader. Nevertheless, the viewer is all the more challenged to speculate about the puzzles of the piece, be it the varied uses of the linen or the ambivalent role of the wolf in the ancient world. Thus, this papyrus proves that incompleteness does not make a piece any less exciting.

BGU III 726 (P. 7788)

Buying at the right time has always been a good deal. This is true today and was also the case 1500 years ago. This also seems to be the case with a business deal that the text on the papyrus presented here gives us some insights into.

This papyrus was found by the Africa explorer and botanist Georg Schweinfurth in 1886 during his survey of the ruins of the ancient Arsinoiton Polis, which was the name of the modern-day Medinet el-Fayum in late antiquity and Byzantine times. It was and is the main town of the Fayum, a large oasis south-west of Cairo. In the same year, Schweinfurth donated this papyrus fragment, along with many others, to the Berlin Papyrus Collection, where it was soon also scientifically evaluated.

But Schweinfurth was not the only one to find artefacts in these ruins at that time. It is therefore not surprising that there is a papyrus in the Vienna Papyrus Collection that fits directly with the Berlin fragment. All that is known about the Vienna fragment is that it was found in the Fayum in the late 1870s and early 1880s. There is no connection to Georg Schweinfurth. But from the fact that it belongs with the Berlin fragment, it can be concluded that it must also have come from the ruins of Arsinoiton Polis.

The two fragments together contain the upper and middle part of a document that records a loan of money. The bottom part, with the signatures of the two parties to the loan and of the notary, is missing. The two fragments can be joined together with a small gap in between, so that they overlap in line 12 of the text. The letter Kappa of the last word in the first line of the Berlin fragment has its upper end on the bottom edge of the Vienna fragment. The back of both fragments shows particularly well the vertical lines. They show that the document was folded horizontally three times. Vertical folds are to be assumed at the places where the fragments broke apart.

The document was created on 19 October 481 AD, as indicated by the dating formula in the first two lines of the Vienna fragment. In addition to the Byzantine-era dating by tax years, the consul of the current year is also given. Both can be converted to our current calendar.

In this document, Aurelius Paomios from the village of Philoxenou in the Herkleidou Meris in the east of the Fayum and Aurelius Olympion from Arsinoiton Polis agree that Paomios will receive money from Olympion in the amount of one gold solidus minus four keratia, and in return, Paomios will give him flax in seven months‘ time, in the amount of the loaned money plus interest in the form of three artabas (about 90 kg or a donkey load) of wheat. The repayment is to take place in the month of Pauni, at the end of the harvest season. The text also indicates that both parties had apparently made a similar agreement in the past. Perhaps Paomios and Olympion are even regular business partners.

In this business relationship, in which the sale of natural products and a loan of money were combined, both parties seemed to profit. The farmer probably used the money to live on until he could earn income again by selling his agricultural products. The lender was apparently interested in the flax. Moreover, a clause in the contract protected him against inflation. The quantity of flax was to be calculated at the price that flax was worth at the time of repayment, which was the current market price. It is likely that the prices for natural products were much lower during the harvest than they were half a year before or after. In addition, Olympion secured the product early on, which he either needed himself or wanted to use for further business transactions. Finally, he could demand much higher interest rates when repaying a loan in natural products than if he received the borrowed money back as money. Interest rates of up to 50% are known. It was not until the 6th century that they were limited to 12.5%. If the loan was repaid in money, only 4% could be demanded. Apparently a good deal.

P. 14283

Ordinary people have their wills written by a lawyer. Ancient poets, however, wrote theirs themselves, namely in verses. Is this the case here and is this a testament by the famous epigrammatic poet Posidippus of Pella, who is named here, or did someone else try their hand at being a poet under the guise of a well-known name?

The poem begins with an invocation of the Muses, the goddesses of the arts. Addressed with epithets and referencing the poet’s earlier works, they are called upon to sing about the ‘hated old age’ along with Posidippus. The request for assistance in writing a poem was a common practice in antiquity, based on the belief that the Muses inspire and guide poets.

They are asked to descend from their vantage point on Mount Helicon and come to „Pipleian Thebes,“ where the writer is presumably located. This reference, however, poses a riddle because no geographically specific place with that name is known. There is a Thebes in Greece and one in Egypt, but neither is directly associated with the epithet Pipleian or Pimpleian (as it is more frequently called). In some versions, Pimpleia is the mother of the Muses, and in others, it is their birthplace. Here we can only speculate. However, it is clear that the poet has chosen a metaphorical level to describe his location.

The following verses are hard to interpret because they are placed at the very bottom of the first column of the tablet and are very worn down. But again, the name Posidippus is readable, and a reference to the god of poetry, Apollo, is inferred. The second column speaks of an oracle, which the god had once given in favour of another poet from Paros, thereby granting him honor. A poet who might fit this comparison is Archilochus of Paros, to whom, according to tradition, an honorific temple was built after his death at the command of Apollo. Posidippus asks for something similar and wishes to be honored beyond the borders of the city and country. He also has a specific idea of how this should happen, namely, through a statue depicting him holding a scroll, placed in a busy marketplace. Such a statue could be awarded in antiquity either during one’s lifetime or posthumously as a special honor.

He continues with the poet comparison and speaks of the ‘Nightingale from Paros’, who always causes sorrow and tears. The nightingale is a bird often associated with poets, as it sings its songs just as the poet his verses. This likely refers again to Archilochus, known for his satirical and ruthless writings. In contrast, Posidippus’ works do not bring the audience to tears. However, what exactly they are supposed to bring is lost in the faded verses at the bottom of the wax tablet.

The poem ends with a prayer-like formula in which the author expresses the wish to pass away in old age as a benefactor to society, walking upright and speaking clearly—healthy in both body and mind—and to leave his house and possessions to his children. Thus, a happy departure from life. How does this relate to the previously mentioned ‘hated old age’? Perhaps it is not to be taken literally, but rather as a thematic collection of poems, of which this one is part, serving as an introduction to the various facets of old age.

The wooden tablet comes from Western Thebes (Egypt) and is dated to the 1st century AD, while the content—the engraved poem—seems to fit the socio-political conditions of the 4th or 3rd century BC. This was also the time when the aforementioned epigrammatic poet Posidippus of Pella lived, who, after studying philosophy in Athens, spent some time on Samos before moving to the Ptolemaic court in Alexandria. This supports the assumption that he is the actual author of the poem.

The original poem was likely used as a writing template or transcribed from memory, rather than composed as an impromptu imitation. This accounts for the numerous spelling mistakes that have crept into the text, some of which were corrected or worsened by the writer himself. He often confuses long and short vowels, struggles to differentiate between the i/e sounds, which were still clearly distinguished in classical pronunciation, and is unsure about case and personal endings. Greek was probably not his first language.

In contrast, the well-formed letters point to a practiced hand. However, the script changes in the middle of the second column of the front side, and the writing shifts to a more cursive style. The uneven division of the front side is also noticeable: in the first column, the writer left a lot of space for the verses, occupying two-thirds of the writing surface, while the second column took up only the remaining third. This forced him to keep the letters compact and occasionally extend words beyond the wax, onto the wooden edge. There was enough space on the back, but only the last four verses are written there.

The writing medium, the wax tablet, is especially known from educational contexts. It is ideal for notes and exercises because the wax can easily be smoothed out with a metal stylus and rewritten. Thus, it is somewhat ironic that the poem, which is only preserved on this wax tablet, can be understood as a kind of legacy.

SB XVIII 13250 = BKT IX 173 (P. 21269 R)

Two young people, the future still ahead of them – but what will it bring? Is it worth going down this path together permanently? Because you can never be so sure, small decision aids, such as zodiac signs, are still used today to form an opinion about a relationship’s chances of survival.

But it is not only in the 21st century that people do not want to leave anything to chance when faced with this exciting question. Even if, in this case, fickle happiness in love was certainly not the primary measure of a successful marriage (after all, we are in Egypt in the 6th/7th century AD) – is it really surprising that people turned to higher powers when it came to this question back then? But let us let our piece speak for itself:

“God of the Christians: whether it is your will that we give Theodora, your servant, to Joseph? – Yes.”

We are in Christian Egypt, probably as part of the Eastern Roman Empire. Whether it was already conquered by the Sassanids under Khosrow II in AD 619, reverted to Eastern Rome in AD 630 or finally fell to the Arab Empire in AD 642 does not play a significant role in the religious situation, as neither the religiously diverse Sassanid Empire nor the Muslim Arabs initially had missionary intentions.

In any case, the address makes it clear that the Christian god is only one among many in the spiritual milieu of this oracular question. This is all the more astonishing given that the last tolerated pagan temple in Egypt, the Isis sanctuary of Philae, was closed under Justinian in AD 535 or 537 and the Christian churches of the time, above all the Eastern Roman state church, represented an exclusive monotheism. It is therefore not surprising that the Christian historian Eusebius (3rd/4th century AD) in his book “Theophany” does not leave a single good thing to be said about pagan oracles. He even explicitly mentions the topic of marriage in this context. It is therefore a practice that was probably not promoted by any major Christian church of the time. Rather, it is more likely a remnant of the diverse prediction practices from pagan times.

But what exactly prompted the guardian or father of Theodora mentioned here to resort to a practice that is questionable from a Christian point of view can only be speculated about – in any case, the choice of a husband for Theodora was obviously very important to him.

The question of the procedure for getting an answer from the “Christian God” seems more promising. What is interesting about our piece is that we are also given the answer to the question on the papyrus. This is special compared to similar pieces from the same period.

Palaeographic observations have identified the scribe of the question and the answer as one and the same. This suggests that either the lot itself was cast and the result noted immediately afterwards, or that there may have been two different question papyri with opposing, pre-formulated answers, each of which then functioned as a lot, or were submitted separately to a questioning point. Such a procedure is suggested by another example where the positive and negative variants were found (P.Harr. I 54 and P.Oxy. XVI 1926). But in this case only the question was formulated positively and negatively and there is no answer as in our case. It has also been speculated whether the questioner perhaps submitted just this papyrus to a certain institution and only received it back if it was correct.

But why it has to be someone else questioning the fate? A travelogue by Pausanias shows that there were already “self-service oracles” in the 2nd century AD, where the questioner only had to throw the dice. In the “Sortes Astramspychi”, the best-preserved Lorrery book in antiquity, the questioner ultimately arrives at the answer to his question to fate himself through the inner inspiration of a number via detours.

But however the answer to the question was determined – our piece, which on my first reading somewhat cheesily suggested the beginning of a marriage willed by fate, on closer inspection only indicates that the father or guardian was apparently not sure about Joseph from the outset. Unfortunately, we can only speculate as to what the oracle actually revealed and, even more so, what the person in charge ultimately decided due to a lack of further evidence.

Unfortunately, the only positive thing that can be said is, that Joseph seemed to have been considered a serious option for Theodora by the questioner.

P. 11517 V

In this fragment of a novel or an aretalogy on a papyrus from the 2nd century CE, there is a rhetorical duel between Daulis, who has just seized Delphi with his army and criticizes the oracle practice, and the prophet of the sanctuary, who defends the divine truth of the oracle.

A Clash of Worldviews – this papyrus offers an insight into the Greek intellectual world of the 2nd century AD. The text can be dated to this time based on its script. It consists of three unusually wide columns, of which only the middle one, containing 29 lines, is largely intact. The outer columns, with 24 and 29 lines respectively, are heavily fragmented. The text recounts a story about an attack on Delphi. Its renowned sanctuary, one of the most important religious centers of the Greek world, attracted people from far and wide seeking answers from the Oracle of Delphi. The priestess, known as the Pythia, would sit above a fissure in the earth emitting volcanic gases and convey the responses of the god Apollo. Grateful petitioners donated valuable offerings over the centuries, making the sanctuary rich and influential.

From the fragmented text, we learn that an enemy army has occupied Delphi, committing various atrocities. Daulis, the army’s leader, threatens the prophet of Delphi—responsible for interpreting and announcing the Pythia’s oracles—with a sword. Daulis accuses the priests of exploiting people’s faith to manipulate them with oracles and extort money. As punishment, he threatens to sacrifice the prophet’s blood to the war god Ares. The prophet, however, invokes the divine truth and Themis, the divine justice, who preside over the sanctuary, and predicts that Daulis will face due punishment for his sacrilegious acts.

During the 2nd century AD, Delphi flourished, but this prosperity also caused criticism of its practices. Some philosophers and intellectuals accused the oracle priests of deceiving the populace, using arguments similar to those made by Daulis. It can be assumed that his text originated from someone defending Delphi, portraying Daulis as embodying the critics‘ views and likely ensuring that he is punished in the story’s conclusion to affirm the god’s power and the oracle’s truth. The story may be a scene from a novel or an aretalogy—a text praising a god, often through miracle or retribution narratives.

It is likely that a miraculous event ended Daulis’ rule over Delphi and his life, as the author draws on a long tradition of such tales. The Greeks had numerous stories of enemies being repelled by lightning, landslides, earthquakes, snowstorms, or apparitions of heroes when they attacked Delphi, as with the Persians in the 5th century BC or the Celts in the 3rd century BC, and even when they had already seized Delphi, as with the Phocians, a Greek tribe, in the 4th century BC. This raises the question of whether the event in the text refers to one of these historical incidents or if the author invented an attack inspired by such narratives. Unfortunately, the text does not even clarify whether the attackers were Greeks or barbarians. If a specific event is depicted, it likely relates to mythology, particularly the attack by the Phlegyans, a wild tribe hostile to Apollo and Delphi.

This papyrus illustrates how, drawing on well-known stories from the cultural memory of the Greeks, a literary battle of worldviews was waged. A rational, skeptical perspective is countered with the assertion that Apollo’s power in the human world is real, and he is fully capable of defending his sanctuary.

BGU I 229 (P. 7318)

We have all been there: you are faced with a difficult decision or an urgent question and simply do not know what to do. It would be extremely practical if you could ask someone who could give you a direct answer. This is exactly what people did in ancient times when they consulted oracles. Two interesting examples of such oracle inquiries can be found in the Berlin Papyrus Collection.

The two documents probably originate from Soknopaiou Nesos in the Fayum, a large oasis southwest of Cairo, and initially belonged to the private collection of Heinrich Brugsch, but were then acquired by the Berlin Papyrus Collection in 1891. Based on the script, they can be dated to the first century or the second or third century AD and are written on papyrus. Both documents comprise four lines and are written in Greek. They are inscribed on the recto (front) parallel to the fibers and show no additional inscription on the verso (back).

The content of the oracle requests is identical. The sick Stotoetis asks the gods Soknopaios and Sokonpieios whether he will recover. The Greek seems rather clumsy and it is also noticeable that Stotoetis is very precisely identified, as his father’s and grandfather’s names have been added. This precise identification was probably chosen to avoid confusion with people of the same name, as no surnames were used at the time to facilitate identification. Therefore, the god asked for help needed a more detailed description of the person concerned.

Consulting an oracle was a common method for making decisions or answering questions in ancient Egypt. However, it only referred to questions that could be answered with a clear yes or no. Questions were asked on a wide variety of topics, but mostly related to illness or private life, but also to answer legal questions.

Normally, two versions of the question were submitted with an oracle query, one positive and one negative, whereupon the person concerned received the correct answer back. But why are there now two almost identical copies of the oracle question, both positive versions? There could be various reasons for this:

For example, two requests could have been submitted at short intervals purely due to the urgency of the matter. One could also consider that Stotoetis wanted to trick the gods in some way by not enclosing a negative version in order to offer the gods only the possibility of his recovery and thus influence his fate. However, a mere scribal error cannot be ruled out either.

The two papyri are two examples of questions to oracles that were often consulted in ancient Egypt for help with decisions or urgent questions. We can only guess what the two identical versions are all about. To what extent the two papyri are connected and whether it is a deliberate duplication remains a mystery.

BGU VII 1568 (P. 11473 R)

If you lend something, you want to get it back. It does not matter whether the loan was ordered or voluntary. The text on this papyrus provides a brief insight into one such case: a lost donkey is to be found again.

The papyrus was found in the winter of 1906/1907 during an excavation by Friedrich Zucker in Gharabet el-Gerza in the north-east of the Fayum, a large oasis south-west of Cairo. Gharabet el-Gerza is the modern name for the ruins of ancient Philadelpheia, a foundation of the second Ptolemaic king Ptolemy II Philadelphus. However, the papyrus does not date from this early period, but was written several centuries later, when Egypt was part of the Roman Empire. This is also indicated by the date formula in the last two lines of the text, which corresponds to 14 June of the year 261 AD.

The Greek text on the front (recto) of this papyrus is a request. This request was written in the form of a letter and contains the typical greeting formulae of ancient letters at the beginning and end. In this petition, officials of the Arsinoites, as the Fayum was called in antiquity, requested the return of a donkey from the officials of the neighbouring district of Neilopolites. The officials were the so-called Eirenarchs, who performed the duties of a police force. The donkey had been requested for state services. Although these are not described, it is highly likely that they were tasks that were probably related to the state’s grain transport.

Grain transport was a central task of the state and closely linked to the tax system. The grain that was collected from the farmers was stored in central granaries and distributed further. The stored grain was distributed to farmers as seed loans or used to supply Egypt’s cities. The grain was often transported by land, as the granaries were not always located on navigable canals. Donkeys were most suitable for land transport and were also relatively cheap.

The donkey from Philadelpheia, which is the subject of this text, was apparently also collected and used in such a context. At the end of the work, it should have been returned directly to its owner in Philadelpheia in Fayum. However, this apparently did not work out. Instead, it was mistakenly herded together with animals from the neighbouring district of Neilopolites after the end of its work for the state and brought to this part of the country.

The request was made to identify the current owner of the donkey or the transport manager responsible for the incorrect return transport of the animals and to return the donkey to the owner. The owner is already on his way to the neighbouring district where the animal is said to be located and is accompanied by a police officer. The donkey was to be handed over to him in exchange for a receipt. It is not known whether the donkey was found and returned to Philadelpheia, as no further texts on this incident have survived.

The main text was obviously written by a scribe or at least by a person other than the senders, as the greetings in the third last line and the dating formula in the last two lines were written by a different hand and one can assume that one of the senders was the writer of these lines.

BGU III 1568 (P. 8959)

Before making a purchase, people like to check what they are buying. This is how people already thought 2000 years ago, as this Greek contract for two donkeys shows. Interestingly, this fact only becomes apparent at second glance.

The papyrus came to the Berlin Papyrus Collection in 1894 and probably came from the private collection of the Berlin newspaper publisher and businessman Rudolf Mosse. The object was originally found in Fayum, an oasis south-west of Cairo. We learn more about its origin from the text. In the third line of the text, the place Soknopaiou Nesos, today’s Dime, is mentioned, even though the papyrus is badly damaged at this point and the place name is therefore only very incompletely preserved. The origin of the text can therefore be regarded as certain. This ancient village was located on the north side of Lake Moeris in the Fayum and was famous for its large temple to the crocodile god Soknopaios. In addition, the text begins with a date which, when converted to our modern date system, is 7 February of the year 33 AD.

The Greek text on this papyrus is a rental contract for a white donkey and her white foal. The animals belong to a Stotoetis, son of Horos, who rents them to a Phasis, son of Satabous. The rental period is stated. The lease is to last until 28 August, i.e. just over six months. It is also agreed that Phasis has to pay 3 drachmas a month for both animals. He is also to pay all the costs for the upkeep of the donkeys and the taxes incurred. In return, the tenant is free to decide what he uses the animals for.

Both the contractual partners and the object of the contract (the animals) are described. The age and physical characteristics of the people are given, as is usual in such texts. For example, we learn about Stotoetis that he is about 30 years old and has a scar on his right hand. All we learn about Phasis is that he is about 25 years old. In addition to their white coat colour, the animals are said to be healthy, well-fed and undamaged. In addition, a value of 120 drachmas is given for the donkey and 48 drachmas for the foal.

These details about the animals are taken up again in the explanations about the return conditions. The tenant Phasis is obliged to return both animals healthy, well-fed and undamaged at the end of the rental period or to pay the value of both animals in cash. Stotoetis thus had the certainty that he would receive his two animals or their value in money.

At the end of the contract, a Charimedon personally confirms that the contract is valid. Both parties to the contract also sign the document in their own hand, summarising the content of the contract and the respective obligations once again. It is interesting to note that Stotoetis did not write in Greek, but in Demotic. Apparently he did not speak Greek or was at least bilingual and favoured Demotic. Phasis, on the other hand, signed in Greek.

A small detail in the return conditions of this rental agreement is interesting. While at first glance it appears as if the main aim was to ensure that Stotoetis receives his animals or a replacement, these conditions should also be understood to mean that the tenant Phasis is free to choose between returning the animals correctly and paying for them at the end of the rental period. He could therefore use both animals for several months and consider whether he wanted to purchase them at the end. The rental period therefore appears to be a trial period.

Stotoetis is also known from other texts. In a text four years older, for example, he acquires a male donkey foal. In this text, too, he was already described as a man aged around 30 with a scar on his right hand.

BGU III 982 (P. 9791)

Donkeys fulfilled many tasks 2000 years ago that are now performed by cars, motorbikes, delivery vans, etc. And today, just like back then, they were used for trade. It is therefore not surprising that documents have survived that attest to such a change of ownership. The papyrus presented here is one such example.

The small papyrus leaf was found in Dimê in the Fayum, a large oasis south-west of Cairo, and entered the Berlin Papyrus Collection via the Reinhardt Private Collection in 1896. Dimê is the archaeological site of the ancient Soknopaiou Nesos, a place with an important sanctuary north of Lake Moeris in the Fayum. This place is also mentioned in the Greek text on this papyrus, so that its origin can be regarded as certain.

The text dates from the Roman period. The date formula of the Roman emperor Trajan refers to the year 107 A.D. The day of the date is no longer legible due to the loss of material in line 5. However, the month name Epeiph, which is still legible in a few remnants, corresponds to the period from the end of June to the end of July. The text can therefore be dated to the early summer of 107 AD.

The text certifies that a Pekysios, son of Stotoetis, from the already mentioned village of Soknopaiou Nesos bought a white-breasted donkey from a Posidonios, son of Posidonios, and paid the agreed purchase price. Apart from the information given in this text, we know nothing about the persons mentioned. However, the names of the buyer and his father are very typical for the village of Soknopaiou Nesos and would have allowed an attribution even without the explicit mention of the village.

The description of the animal serves to identify the object of purchase more precisely and will certainly have been more detailed in the purchase contract that preceded this certificate. In other purchase contracts for donkeys, the sex and colour of the animal as well as other external characteristics and its age are specified. The latter was also important for determining the purchase price.

The transaction did not take place directly between the two contracting parties. It was brokered by a bank, which is also named in the text of this certificate. It is the bank of an otherwise unknown Heras, son of Akousilaos. We learn about this bank that it was located in Lykion. This is a district of Ptolemais Euergetis, the capital of Arsinoites, as the Fayum was called in antiquity.

The exact sum paid for the donkey in this text has not survived, as the papyrus has been broken off at the bottom. In comparable sales of donkeys at that time, prices of 100 to 150 drachmas were paid. The purchase of a donkey therefore represented a considerable investment in Roman Egypt.

This text is therefore a receipt for the sale of this animal. However, the first two words of the first line give a more precise indication of the nature of this text. It says that it is a copy of a receipt. This was apparently made and archived for administrative purposes. The letters of these two words have been written slightly larger than the rest of the text, so that both words look like a heading for this text.

In addition to these interesting insights into the details of an animal trade 2000 years ago, the text offers another detail about the people of the time. We do not know who wrote this text. But this person wrote some words differently from most of their contemporaries. This is most obvious in the place name Soknopaiou Nesos, in which an ‘e’ was always written instead of an ‘o’. It is obvious that the writer and certainly many of his contemporaries obviously pronounced this name in such a way that it was possible to confuse the ‘o’ and ‘e’. Occasionally, people wrote the way they spoke.