Ptolemaic papyrus signed by Cleopatra VII - February 23, 33 BCE
"A single Greek word, ginesthoi, or "make it so," written at the bottom of a Ptolemaic papyrus may have been written by the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII herself, says Dutch papyrologist Peter van Minnen of the University of Groningen. Received in Alexandria on Mecheir 26 (February 23, 33 B.C.), the papyrus text, recycled for use in the construction of a cartonnage mummy case found by a German expedition at Abusir in 1904, appears to be a royal ordinance granting tax exemption to one Publius Canidius, an associate of Mark Antony's who would command his land army during the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C.
"Written in an upright hand by a court scribe, the document was meant to be an internal note from Cleopatra to a high official charged with notifying other high officials in Alexandria," says van Minnen. "The personal nature of the communication is evident in the lack of any formal introduction of Cleopatra herself (she is not even mentioned by name) and the absence of a title after the name of the official to whom it was addressed (the name cannot be read)." The manuscript is not one of the copies received by the other officials, as there is no forwarding note attached to it and because it was executed in multiple hands. The text of the ordinance was written first, Cleopatra's written approval second, and the date of the document's receipt in Alexandria third. As for the "make it so" subscription, there are only two parallels from antiquity, says van Minnen, citing one of Ptolemy X Alexander I, who signed a document "take care" in Greek in 99 B.C. and another such closing penned in Latin by the fifth-century Roman emperor Theodosius II in a petition to Appion, the bishop of Syene.
According to Lorelei Corcoran of the University of Memphis, such documents would have been both written and signed by a court scribe; however, given the nature of this particular papyrus, Cleopatra herself would have been the only one who would have had the authority to approve such edicts. The document, known as Berlin P 25 239, is on display at the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung in Berlin."
...
"To date, this is the only text that we have that may contain her subscription, and in many respects it’s a stroke of luck that this document has survived at all. Rather than come from an archive of official paperwork, this papyrus was recovered from mummy cartonnage. Wastepaper was regularly reused at this time as a form of papier-mâché to pad out funerary masks. While this ordinance was written in Alexandria, it was found further south in the cemetery at Abusir el-Melek, and the other papyri in this particular cartonnage date to the Augustan period. It is not impossible that other texts bearing her subscription have simply yet to be found and studied."
By line number, it reads:
1 ἔ λ (αβον) (ἔτους) ιθ δ Με χ (εὶρ) κ̣ϛ
2 (hand 2) [ ̣ ̣ ̣ ̣]ωι
3 σ̣υνκεχωρήκαμ̣[εν] Π̣ο̣π̣λ̣ίωι Κανιδ̣[ίω]ι(*) (*) καὶ τοῖς τούτου κληρονόμοις
4 κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐξάγειν πυροῦ ἀρτάβ[ας] μυρίας καὶ εἰσάγειν οἴνου κεράμια
5 Κ̣ῷα πεντακισχείλια(*) μηδὲν ὑπὸ [μ]η̣δενὸς π̣ρ̣ασσομένωι τέλος
6 [μ]ηδʼ ἄλην(*) καθόλου δαπάνην· ἐπ[ικε]χωρήκαμεν δὲ καὶ ὧν ἔχει κατ̣ὰ̣
7 τὴν χώρ̣α̣ν̣ ἐδαφῶν πάντων ἀτ̣[έλει]α̣[ν ἐ]φ' ᾡ(*) · οὐδὲν οὔτε εἰς τὴν διοί-
8 κησιν οὔτε εἰς τὸν ἴδιον ἡμῶν κα[ὶ τέκν]ων(*) (*) λόγον καθʼ ὁντινοῦν τρόπον
9 πραχθήσεται ἐπὶ τὸν ἀεὶ χρόνον· ε[ἶναι](*) δὲ καὶ τοὺς γεωργοῦντος αὐτῶι
10 πάντας ἀνεπάφους καὶ ἀτελεῖς μ[ηδ]ὲν ὑπ̣ὸ̣ μ̣η̣δενὸς πρασσομέν[ο]υς̣
11 μηδʼ ἐν ταῖς κατὰ καιρὸν γεινομέν[αις](*) (*) [ ἐ]πιγραφαῖς ἐν τοῖς νομοῖς συνεισ-
12 φόρους μηδὲ λαϊκὰς ἢ στρατηγικ̣[ὰς] πρασσομένους δαπάνας· τά τε
13 πρὸς τὴν̣ κατασπορὰν κτήνη κα[ὶ τ]ὰ̣ πρὸς τὴν τ̣ῶν πυρῶν καταγωγὴν
14 ὑποζύγια καὶ πλοῖα κατ̣ὰ τὸν αὐτ[ὸν] τ̣ρόπον ἀνέπαφα καὶ ἀτελῆ καὶ
15 ἀνενγ̣άρευτα(*) εἶναι· γραφήτωι(*) οὖ[ν [οἷ]ς καθήκει(*) , ἵνʼ εἰδότες κατακολουθῶσι·
16 (hand 3) γινέσθωι(*)
In English:
"We have granted to Publius Canidius and his heirs the annual exportation of 10,000 artabas [300 tons] of wheat and the annual importation of 5,000 Coan amphoras [ca. 34,500 gallons] of wine without anyone exacting anything in taxes from him or any other expense whatsoever. We have also granted tax exemption on all the land he owns in Egypt on the understanding that he shall not pay any taxes, either to the state account or to the account of me and my children, in any way in perpetuity. We have also granted that all his tenants are exempt from personal liabilities and from taxes without anyone exacting anything from them, not even contributing to the occasional assessments in the nomes or paying for expenses for soldiers or officers. We have also granted that the animals used for plowing and sowing as well as the beasts of burden and the ships used for the transportation [down the Nile] of the wheat are likewise exempt from 'personal' liabilities and from taxes and cannot be commandeered [by the army]. Let it be written to those to whom it may concern, so that knowing it they can act accordingly.
Make it so!"
Source/Quote:
https://berlpap.smb.museum/05150/
https://archive.archaeology.org/0101/newsbriefs/cleopatra.html
https://papyrus-stories.com/2020/07/20/on-a-document-signed-by-cleopatra/?fbclid=IwAR2iMuVegvsTzowJYBC6tkB9nA2ttSCkSUia6CxFm6CwhTyH72wK4ueA7_Q
"Written in an upright hand by a court scribe, the document was meant to be an internal note from Cleopatra to a high official charged with notifying other high officials in Alexandria," says van Minnen. "The personal nature of the communication is evident in the lack of any formal introduction of Cleopatra herself (she is not even mentioned by name) and the absence of a title after the name of the official to whom it was addressed (the name cannot be read)." The manuscript is not one of the copies received by the other officials, as there is no forwarding note attached to it and because it was executed in multiple hands. The text of the ordinance was written first, Cleopatra's written approval second, and the date of the document's receipt in Alexandria third. As for the "make it so" subscription, there are only two parallels from antiquity, says van Minnen, citing one of Ptolemy X Alexander I, who signed a document "take care" in Greek in 99 B.C. and another such closing penned in Latin by the fifth-century Roman emperor Theodosius II in a petition to Appion, the bishop of Syene.
According to Lorelei Corcoran of the University of Memphis, such documents would have been both written and signed by a court scribe; however, given the nature of this particular papyrus, Cleopatra herself would have been the only one who would have had the authority to approve such edicts. The document, known as Berlin P 25 239, is on display at the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung in Berlin."
...
"To date, this is the only text that we have that may contain her subscription, and in many respects it’s a stroke of luck that this document has survived at all. Rather than come from an archive of official paperwork, this papyrus was recovered from mummy cartonnage. Wastepaper was regularly reused at this time as a form of papier-mâché to pad out funerary masks. While this ordinance was written in Alexandria, it was found further south in the cemetery at Abusir el-Melek, and the other papyri in this particular cartonnage date to the Augustan period. It is not impossible that other texts bearing her subscription have simply yet to be found and studied."
By line number, it reads:
1 ἔ λ (αβον) (ἔτους) ιθ δ Με χ (εὶρ) κ̣ϛ
2 (hand 2) [ ̣ ̣ ̣ ̣]ωι
3 σ̣υνκεχωρήκαμ̣[εν] Π̣ο̣π̣λ̣ίωι Κανιδ̣[ίω]ι(*) (*) καὶ τοῖς τούτου κληρονόμοις
4 κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐξάγειν πυροῦ ἀρτάβ[ας] μυρίας καὶ εἰσάγειν οἴνου κεράμια
5 Κ̣ῷα πεντακισχείλια(*) μηδὲν ὑπὸ [μ]η̣δενὸς π̣ρ̣ασσομένωι τέλος
6 [μ]ηδʼ ἄλην(*) καθόλου δαπάνην· ἐπ[ικε]χωρήκαμεν δὲ καὶ ὧν ἔχει κατ̣ὰ̣
7 τὴν χώρ̣α̣ν̣ ἐδαφῶν πάντων ἀτ̣[έλει]α̣[ν ἐ]φ' ᾡ(*) · οὐδὲν οὔτε εἰς τὴν διοί-
8 κησιν οὔτε εἰς τὸν ἴδιον ἡμῶν κα[ὶ τέκν]ων(*) (*) λόγον καθʼ ὁντινοῦν τρόπον
9 πραχθήσεται ἐπὶ τὸν ἀεὶ χρόνον· ε[ἶναι](*) δὲ καὶ τοὺς γεωργοῦντος αὐτῶι
10 πάντας ἀνεπάφους καὶ ἀτελεῖς μ[ηδ]ὲν ὑπ̣ὸ̣ μ̣η̣δενὸς πρασσομέν[ο]υς̣
11 μηδʼ ἐν ταῖς κατὰ καιρὸν γεινομέν[αις](*) (*) [ ἐ]πιγραφαῖς ἐν τοῖς νομοῖς συνεισ-
12 φόρους μηδὲ λαϊκὰς ἢ στρατηγικ̣[ὰς] πρασσομένους δαπάνας· τά τε
13 πρὸς τὴν̣ κατασπορὰν κτήνη κα[ὶ τ]ὰ̣ πρὸς τὴν τ̣ῶν πυρῶν καταγωγὴν
14 ὑποζύγια καὶ πλοῖα κατ̣ὰ τὸν αὐτ[ὸν] τ̣ρόπον ἀνέπαφα καὶ ἀτελῆ καὶ
15 ἀνενγ̣άρευτα(*) εἶναι· γραφήτωι(*) οὖ[ν [οἷ]ς καθήκει(*) , ἵνʼ εἰδότες κατακολουθῶσι·
16 (hand 3) γινέσθωι(*)
In English:
"We have granted to Publius Canidius and his heirs the annual exportation of 10,000 artabas [300 tons] of wheat and the annual importation of 5,000 Coan amphoras [ca. 34,500 gallons] of wine without anyone exacting anything in taxes from him or any other expense whatsoever. We have also granted tax exemption on all the land he owns in Egypt on the understanding that he shall not pay any taxes, either to the state account or to the account of me and my children, in any way in perpetuity. We have also granted that all his tenants are exempt from personal liabilities and from taxes without anyone exacting anything from them, not even contributing to the occasional assessments in the nomes or paying for expenses for soldiers or officers. We have also granted that the animals used for plowing and sowing as well as the beasts of burden and the ships used for the transportation [down the Nile] of the wheat are likewise exempt from 'personal' liabilities and from taxes and cannot be commandeered [by the army]. Let it be written to those to whom it may concern, so that knowing it they can act accordingly.
Make it so!"
 |
| Received in Alexandria on Mecheir 26 (February 23, 33 BCE). Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung in Berlin. |
 |
| Back of papyrus. |
Source/Quote:
https://berlpap.smb.museum/05150/
https://archive.archaeology.org/0101/newsbriefs/cleopatra.html
https://papyrus-stories.com/2020/07/20/on-a-document-signed-by-cleopatra/?fbclid=IwAR2iMuVegvsTzowJYBC6tkB9nA2ttSCkSUia6CxFm6CwhTyH72wK4ueA7_Q
Comments
Post a Comment