Letter from Hermes
| Müellif | Unknown |
| Materyal türü | Yazma eser |
| Dil | İngilizce |
| Kurum | Chester Beatty |
| Kaynak | Europeana |
| Not | Papyrus fragment written in Greek in Egypt in the 3rd century AD, preserving an affectionate letter from Hermes to his brother. Hermes advises his brother to approach an official in the property-registry, who will assist him in securing documents from the archives, possibly in relation to a claim on a piece of property. Hermes further advises him to get a signed declaration from his relatives. Translation (Rees, Bell, Barns, Merton II, 1959): (?) Hermes to his sweetest..., greetings(?). Before all I pray for your prosperity, and make the salutation for you before the ancestral gods. Don't be negligent in writing about your health, my brother. Remember the man--you know whom I mean--in the registry. Receive twenty-two pairs of small wheat-loaves from him who delivers the letter to you. Do make haste and send me the sack and seven large cheese, and our sister Theodoris' two [drachmas'] and two obols' worth of honey-cakes. Don't have any hesitation in writing to me for what you want, sweetest brother; and write and tell me what has happened, for I am most anxious to hear(?). The man knows(?) what you are looking for (?) in the registry. Search from the 1st year of Alexander to the 9th, and if you can get a signed statement from our other relatives, you do well. My wife greets you, and so does our kinsman Isidorus. All our family greet you, and so does our sister Theodoris. Farewell, my sweetest brother; may I find you in lifelong prosperity. Greetings from Hermes. |
Unknown, Letter from Hermes, Chester Beatty, https://www.europeana.eu/item/1100/6773?utm_source=api&utm_medium=api&utm_campaign=mmurvess.