Associations in the Greco-Roman World (AGRW)

An expanding collection of inscriptions, papyri, and other sources in translation (run by Philip A. Harland)

[296] Letter of Complaint by a Guild of Wool-Weavers (139 CE) Philadelphia - Fayum region


Philadelphia (Fayum region, Egypt — Pleiades map), 139 CE (17 December)
AGRW 296 = GRA III 233 = BGU VII 1572 = Papyri.info TM 9480 = AGRW ID# 2928


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Now in the Ägyptisches Museum in Berlin (P. 11713).

To Dion, commander (stratēgos) of the division of Herakleides of the Arsinoite (nome), from the wool-weavers of the village of Philadelphia. Since we have recently received . . . x drachmas from the public treasury that we might prepare mili­tary clothing . . . some men from our guild (ergasia) . . . to complete what was ordered . . . four of them have been given . . . for public service, they have been taken from us and they went to Alexandria and what is more, we are. . . .

And so we are forced to come to you and request, if it please you, to grant those of us who are left to remain exempt from all public services, so that we may complete the clothing that has been ordered and deliver it, especially because we have received another order for military clothing which we must complete next, so that we may obtain redress. Initially, we were twelve men, of whom four have been taken away, so that now we are only eight men.

In the third year of emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrian Antoninus Augustus Pius, on the 20th of the month of Hadrianos.

Translation by: Kloppenborg



Δίωνι στρατηγῷ Ἀρσινοείτ[ου] Ἡρακλείδ[ου μερίδος] | παρὰ γερδίων κώμης Φιλαδελφεία[ς. ἐπειδὴ εἰλήφα]|μεν ὑπογύως ἐκ τοῦ δημοσίου ἀργυρίο[υ (δραχμὰς) -- , ἵνα ἱμα]|τισμὸν δημόσιον κατασκευάσωμε̣ν̣ ̣[ -13-14- ] || μενοι ὄντες ἀπὸ τῆς ἐρ[γ]ασ[ία]ς̣ ἀνδρε ̣[ - 12-13 - ] | τηκότες ἀπαρτίσαι τὸ κεκελευσμέν[ον -10-11- ] | τούτων τέσσαρες ἐδόθησα̣ν εἰς ἐπι ̣[ - 13-14 - ] | ἕνεκα τῆς χρείας ἀφῃρέθησαν ἀφʼ ἡμ[ῶν καὶ εἰς Ἀλεξάν]|δρειαν ἐπορεύθησαν καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον ε̣[ - 8-10 - ]εγενό||μεθα, ἀναγκαίως ἐπὶ σὲ κατεφύ̣γαμεν [καὶ αἰτ]οῦμεν, | ἐάν σοι δόξῃ, ἐπιτρέψαι ἐαθῆναι ἡμᾶς τ̣ο̣ὺ̣ς̣ [κατα]λειπομέ|νους ἀπὸ τῆς τέχνης ἀπερισπάστο[υς] ἀ̣[πὸ πασῶν] χρει|ῶν, ὅπως τὸν ἐγδεδομένον ἱματι[σμὸν ̣ ̣ ̣τελ]έσ̣ω̣μ̣ε̣ν̣ |καὶ παραδῶμεν καὶ μάλιστα ὅτι ἐπίκε̣[ιται ἡ]μ̣ῖν ἑτέρου δη||μοσίου ἱματισμοῦ ἔγδοσις, ἣν πάλιν ἡμε̣ῖ̣ς̣ ἀπαρτίσαι δεή|σει, ἵνʼ ὦμ(εν) πεφιλανθρωπημένοι. ἦμεν δ[ὲ πρότερον ἄνδρες] | δεκαδύο , ἐξ ὧν οἱ τέσσαρες ἀπεσπάσθησα[ν, ὥστε ν]ῦν [εἶν]αι | ἡμᾶς ἄνδρες ὀκτώι. | (ἔτους) γ Αὐτοκράτορος Καίσαρος Τίτου Αἰλίου Ἁδριανοῦ Ἀντωνείνου Σεβαστοῦ || Εὐσεβοῦς μηνὸς Ἁδριανοῦ κ.

Item added: September 12, 2012
Item modified: February 5, 2020
ID number: 2928
Short link address:
http://www.philipharland.com/greco-roman-associations/?p=2928

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