George, Letter Concerning Compulsory Public Service, P.Nessana 74
created: This entry is taken from Letter Concerning Compulsory Public Service, P.Nessana
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: grc; grc
availability: Except for materials quoted from other sources, this entry is copyright 2023 by the contributors (Joseph L. Rife, et al.) and the Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project. It is licensed under the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. Some texts quoted in this entry may be in the public domain in the United States. No copyright is asserted for these quotations. Some texts quoted in this entry may have copyright restrictions and are reused under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/423

Κησαρίας

, and

Caesarea

are directly attested at George, Letter Concerning Compulsory Public Service, P.Nessana 74. This passage was written ca. 685 C.E. possibly in Gaza. Excavations in 1935-1937 by Princeton University at the site of Nessana, a Nabataean city in the Negev Desert on the Egyptian frontier, uncovered an important assemblage of literary and documentary texts on papyri. These texts are distinguished by their overall relatively good state of preservation, the variety of their forms and contents, and their testimony for life at Nessana and in the broader region during the Byzantine/Islamic transition. This text has been dated ca. 685 C.E. on the basis of the address to the administrator George, who was active during the last quarter of the 7th century (cf. P.Nessana 69; Kraemer 1958, pp. 199-200). It is a personal letter from one low-ranking George to the high-ranking George relaying an order to requisition two equipped camels for an expedition apparently of a military nature (στόλος) between Caesarea and Scythopolis. Kraemer (1958, pp. 209-210) raises the possibility that the military governor of the jund of Filastin or Urduun (in Gaza?) ordered the camels from the desert outpost for military activity in the north around the accession of ‘Abd al-Mālik.

Front [+ τὰ γράμμ]ατά σου ἐδεξάμην περιέχοντα χάριν τῆς ἀποκρίσεώς σου καὶ ἵνα εἰδῇ<ς> ὅτι ἡ ἀπόκρισις σοῦ ἀπόκρισις μοῦ ἐστιν· καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγράφη μοι ἵνα καμηλο- <λο>γεύσω. ἀλλὰ ζήτησον εὐτρέπισαι δύο καμήλια καὶ δ̣[ύο] ἐργάτας ὀφείλοντας βαστάξαι ἀπὸ Κησαρίας εἰ᾽ Σχυθ̣ό̣- (5) πολιν. καὶ ἵνα εἰδῇς ὅτι καλὰ καμήλια καὶ ἐργ̣ά̣τ̣ας θέλῃ ἔχοντας σάγματα καὶ μασθέλια. περὶ δὲ σ̣τ̣όλου οὐκ ἐζήτησεν δέξασθαι ἕως οὗ λάβῃ τὸ πρῶτον καὶ ἵνα δοῦναι τὰ δύο νομίσματα εξονεχοεισιν καὶ ἐὰν ειδεο̣ς̣ ἔχεις τη ελθης̣ επικαταρ̣α̣τος ̣ ̣ ̣δ̣ε̣ κ̣α̣ὶ̣ εἰρή̣ν̣η σοι + (10) Back [+ τ]ῷ δεσπ(ότῃ) μου κυρ(ί)ῳ Γεωργίῳ διοικ(η)τ(ῇ) Νεστάνων πα(ρὰ) Γεωργίω ἐλαχ(ίστου) +

[Ed. Kraemer 1958] [Lines 4-5: Papyrus reads καμιλο̣ κευσο apparently for καμηλολογεύσω after syllabic compression and phonetic shift.] [Minor corrections (common errors and phonetic variants from app. crit.)]

Front + I received your letter containing the favor of your payment. Know that your payment is my payment. Now look, I received word that I am to requisition camels. However, make sure that you have ready two camels and two laborers who are to perform compulsory service from Caesarea to Scythopolis. And bear in mind that he wants good camels and workers who have pack-saddles and straps. About the shipment, he did not ask to receive it until he received the first one, or to give two solidi … and peace (be) with you. + Back + To the Honorable George, administrator of Nessana, from George, least (of men) + [Rev. Kraemer 1958]

Works Cited

[...] 74 209-211

[P.Nessana 37

P.Nessana 69]

[Nessana

Scythopolis (Beth She’an)]

[George the least

George, administrator]

[Economy and Commerce

Geography

Government and Law

Natural Environment

Travel]