P.Berl.Leihg. I 21 (P. 11750)

This papyrus was found during the excavations in el-Ashmunein, the ancient Hermupolis, but originated from the neighbouring district Cynopolites. The back is blank the recto contains a sales contract: Aurelios Theodoros, son of Harpokration, from Oxyrhynchos has bought a young mouse grey male donkey from Aurelios Hierax, son of Paesios and Silbania, from the village Scharto in the district Hermopolites for the agreed price of 6 talents and 3500 drachmas. There is also date in the contract, which consists of the names of two consuls of the year 309 AD (the emperors Licinius and Constantine) and the day before the calends of January. Thus, the document can exactly be dated to the 31st December 309 AD. The seemingly high price for this donkey is not unusual for the beginning of the 4th century AD, but substantially higher than some decades earlier. It can be explained by the increasing inflation during this period.

The buyer of this donkey is especially interesting in this document. Aurelios Theodoros is also known to us from other documents of this period, in which he is the buyer of donkeys. This might lead to the conclusion that he was in a business, in which he needed donkeys, or he was a dealer of donkeys.

In addition, there is a curiosity that attracts attention immediately when looking at this papyrus. Apparently the last 4 lines have been written by another person and differ clearly from the rest of the text. In these lines the seller Aurelios Hierax confirms again the sale of the donkey and the receipt of the payment. Since he was unable to write himself, this confirmation was written by a Aurelios Horion as he tells us in the last 2 lines.