POxy 1464 (or P. Oxy. XII 1464) is a document that was found at the city of

Oxyrhynchus Oxyrhynchus (; grc-gre, Ὀξύρρυγχος, Oxýrrhynchos, sharp-nosed; ancient Egyptian ''Pr-Medjed''; cop, or , ''Pemdje''; ar, البهنسا, ''Al-Bahnasa'') is a city in Middle Egypt located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. This document was given to a Roman citizen to certify performance of a

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

sacrifice Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...

, hence demonstrating

loyalty Loyalty, in general use, is a devotion and faithfulness to a nation, cause, philosophy, country, group, or person. Philosophers disagree on what can be an object of loyalty, as some argue that loyalty is strictly interpersonal and only another h ...

to the authorities of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

. Such a document is called a ''

libellus A ''libellus'' (plural ''libelli'') in the Roman Empire was any brief document written on individual pages (as opposed to scrolls or tablets), particularly official documents issued by governmental authorities. The term ''libellus'' has particular ...

'' (plural ''libelli''), and this was one of four ''libelli'' found at Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript declares the date — the first year of the emperor

Decius Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius ( 201 ADJune 251 AD), sometimes translated as Trajan Decius or Decius, was the emperor of the Roman Empire from 249 to 251. A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was procla ...

, whose full name was Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius. We know the first year of his reign was 250 AD. The day and month are also given as the third of Epeiph or

Epip Epip ( cop, Ⲉⲡⲓⲡ), also known as Epiphi ( grc-gre, Ἐπιφί, ''Epiphí'') and Abib. ( ar, أبيب), is the eleventh month of the ancient Egyptian calendar, Egyptian and Coptic calendars. It lasts between July 8 and August 6 of the Grego ...

in the

Coptic calendar The Coptic calendar, also called the Alexandrian calendar, is a liturgical calendar used by the Coptic Orthodox Church and also used by the farming populace in Egypt. It was used for fiscal purposes in Egypt until the adoption of the Gregoria ...

. So this ''libellus'' was issued on 27 June 250 AD.

Text

*Original lines are retained (and numbered). *Text in racketsis reconstructed to fill a gap (

lacuna Lacuna (plural lacunas or lacunae) may refer to: Related to the meaning "gap" * Lacuna (manuscripts), a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or musical work **Great Lacuna, a lacuna of eight leaves where there was heroic Old Norse po ...

) in the

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

. *Text in (

parentheses A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...

) is full spelling of an abbreviation. *Letters with _{subscript

A subscript or superscript is a character (such as a number or letter) that is set slightly below or above the normal line of type, respectively. It is usually smaller than the rest of the text. Subscripts appear at or below the baseline, whil ...} dots are incomplete or indistinct.

References

POxy 1464 POxy 1464 (or P. Oxy. XII 1464) is a document that was found at the city of Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. This document was given to a Roman citizen to certify performance of a pagan sacrifice, hence demonstrating loyalty to the authorities of the Roman E ...

1464 Year 1464 (Roman numerals, MCDLXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. It is one of eight years (CE) to contain each Roman numeral once (1000(M)+(-100(C)+500(D))+50(L)+10(X)+(-1(I)+5(V ...

{{OxyrhynchusGR-stub

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References