DEIR EL-NAQLUN 1990: THE GREEK PAPYRI
Tomasz Derda
Hermitage 89, described above by W. Godlewski (see p. 48ff.), had been in use for
a relatively long lime. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that only some tiny scraps of
papyrus were found in particular rooms and their identification as Greek is often only
hypothetical. In room Al, beside the scraps of two other presumably Greek papyri (inv.
nos. 49 and 90/90), there was a small piece of an account (inv. no. 51/90) written in
chancery cursive of the 6th-7th centuries A.D. In room C only one Greek fragment was
found (inv. no. 13/90); it is a piece of another account written in upright chancery
cursive.
Of much greater importance was the contents of the storage pit in room Al which
had been filled in and covered with a floor during a renovation of the hermitage interior
in the 7th century (the date for the renovation is set by the finds, the papyri among
them).
Three papyri (inv. nos. 87, 96 and 99/90) preserved in many fragments were
found in this pit. There is comlete certair.itv thet even the smalles fragments belonged
to one of these three. All three papyri are legal documents.
The first one, inv. no. 87/90 (top and left margin are lost), is a document, most
probably a receipt for the repayment of a loan, written down by a notary of the
Arsinoite Nome; his subscription partly preserved at the bottom of the document cannot
be identified with the subscriptions known from the other documents from this nome.
The second document, inv. no. 96/90, preserved in two big fragments (bottom with
the notary’s subscription lost), is also a receipt for the repayment of a loan; the debtor
is a certain Aurelius Makarios son of Jakob, from the village of Alexandrou Nesos in the
Arsinoite Nome, the creditor is a monk whose name is partly destroyed by a lacuna his
function being called proestos Pyrgou i.e., the abbottof a Pyrgos monastery. Although
papyrological lexica do not mention the toponym Pyrgos, the reading seems to be fairly
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Tomasz Derda
Hermitage 89, described above by W. Godlewski (see p. 48ff.), had been in use for
a relatively long lime. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that only some tiny scraps of
papyrus were found in particular rooms and their identification as Greek is often only
hypothetical. In room Al, beside the scraps of two other presumably Greek papyri (inv.
nos. 49 and 90/90), there was a small piece of an account (inv. no. 51/90) written in
chancery cursive of the 6th-7th centuries A.D. In room C only one Greek fragment was
found (inv. no. 13/90); it is a piece of another account written in upright chancery
cursive.
Of much greater importance was the contents of the storage pit in room Al which
had been filled in and covered with a floor during a renovation of the hermitage interior
in the 7th century (the date for the renovation is set by the finds, the papyri among
them).
Three papyri (inv. nos. 87, 96 and 99/90) preserved in many fragments were
found in this pit. There is comlete certair.itv thet even the smalles fragments belonged
to one of these three. All three papyri are legal documents.
The first one, inv. no. 87/90 (top and left margin are lost), is a document, most
probably a receipt for the repayment of a loan, written down by a notary of the
Arsinoite Nome; his subscription partly preserved at the bottom of the document cannot
be identified with the subscriptions known from the other documents from this nome.
The second document, inv. no. 96/90, preserved in two big fragments (bottom with
the notary’s subscription lost), is also a receipt for the repayment of a loan; the debtor
is a certain Aurelius Makarios son of Jakob, from the village of Alexandrou Nesos in the
Arsinoite Nome, the creditor is a monk whose name is partly destroyed by a lacuna his
function being called proestos Pyrgou i.e., the abbottof a Pyrgos monastery. Although
papyrological lexica do not mention the toponym Pyrgos, the reading seems to be fairly
54