Bilingual Papyrus from Byzantine Egypt

The recto contains a letter in Coptic which appears to be an apology from the elders of the village of Kratos to a Bishop. It may be part of the archive of Pisenthios of Coptos.

The verso contains a loan contract in Greek, probably dating to the late-sixth or seventh century CE. The contract involves two quantities of grain and a sum of money. There is also mention of interest. The fragmentary state of the document obscures the relationship between the quantities of grain and the sum of money. It is possible that both grain and money are part of the principal, or that the grain is the principal and the money is the interest payable on it, or that the document is actually a loan dressed up as a "sale on delivery".

Guglielmo Libri (probably) - Libri 431

1862: Sir Thomas Phillipps - Phillipps MS 16402 (probably): “Coptic Papyri. 19 leaves pasted in fragments between glasses. Supposed to be of saec. iv”. 

1946: W.H. Robinson Ltd.

1971: Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of manuscripts on papyrus, vellum and paper of the 7th century to the 18th century from the celebrated collection formed by Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872) (London, 1971) Lot 484 (probably)

1975: sold by Charles Ede Ltd. (Writing and Lettering in Antiquity, 4, 1975, London, Lot 29)

Dekker, Renate, "Reconstructing and re-editing the archive of Bishop Pesynthios of Koptos/Keft (7th century)," Current Research in Egyptology 11 (2010), 33-41

Kelly, Benjamin, “A Late-Antique Contract in the Collection of the Australian National University Classics Museum,” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 161 (2007), 207-214 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/20191306)

Green, J. R. & Rawson, B. M., Antiquities : a description of the Classics Department Museum in the Australian National University, Canberra, 1981, Canberra, p. 121

Charles Ede Ltd, Writing and Lettering in Antiquity, 4, 1975, London, Lot 29