CONVENTIO NUPTIALIS
   
Marriage contract between Apollonius and Thatres
     
( March 14, AD 170 )
 

 
P. Oxy. VI,  905 (
Duke Data Bank of Documentary Papyri ).
  

 
[ - ca. 9 - Ἀντωνί]ν̣ου καὶ Φαυστείνας Σεβαστῶν. | [ἐξέδοτο Μηνόδωρο]ς̣ Ὥρου μητ(ρὸς) Τακαλλίππου ἀπὸ κώμης Ψώβθεως | [τὴν αὑτοῦ θυγατ]έρα Θατρῆν μητρὸς Θατρῆτος Ἀπολλωνίῳ | [Ἡρακλέους μητρὸ]ς Ταυσοράπιος ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς κώμης πρὸς \γ/ά\μ/ου κοι-|[νωνίαν. ἡ δ ἔκδοτ]ος φέρει τῷ ἀνδρὶ \[εἰς φε]ρνῆς λόγον/ [χ]ρυσοῦ μὲν κοινοῦ σταθμῷ | [Ὀξυρυγχιτικῷ μνααῖον ἓν [[τεταρτον]] ἐν εἴδεσι συντιμηθὲν | [(δραχμῶν) - ca. ? - ἐν δὲ παρ]αφέρνοις ἱματίων σουβρικομαφόρτια δύο , | [ἓν μὲν .......]νον τὸ δὲ ἕτερον λευκόν. [[ο̣νο̣υν]] συμβιούτωσαν | [οὖν ἀλλήλοις οἱ γ]αμοῦντες φυλάσσοντες τὰ τοῦ γάμου δίκαια, | [καὶ ὁ γαμῶν ἐπι]χορηγείτω τῇ γαμουμένῃ τὰ δέοντα κατὰ δύνα-|μ̣ι̣ν̣ [τοῦ βίου. ἐ]ὰν̣ δ̣[ὲ ἀ]παλλαγὴ γένητ[α]ι τέκνων ὄντων ἢ καὶ | [μὴ γενομένων ἀποδότ]ω̣ ὁ γαμῶν  τὰ  παράφερνα  πάντα | μὲν̣  ἅμ̣[α]  τ[ῇ  ἀπ]αλλαγῇ  τὴν δ[ὲ] φερνὴν ἐν ἡμέραις ἐξή-|κοντα ἀ[φ ἧ]ς̣ ἐ̣[ὰν ἡ ἀ]παλλαγὴ γένηται, τῆς πράξεως [[αυ]] οὔσης | τῷ ἐκδ̣ιδόν[τ]ι Μηνοδώρῳ παρὰ τοῦ γαμοῦντος καὶ ἐκ | τῶν ὑπαρχ[ό]ντων αὐτῷ πάντων. παρὼν δὲ ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ | γαμοῦντος \Ἡρ[α]κλῆς Μώρου μητ(ρὸς) Ἀπ[ολ]λωνίας ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς κώμης/ εὐδοκεῖ τῷ [[τ̣ε̣]] γάμῳ καὶ ἐγγυᾶται εἰς ἔκτισιν | τὴν προκειμένην φερνήν. κυρία ἡ συνγραφὴ δισσὴ γρα-|φεῖσα πρὸς τὸ ἑκάτερον μέρος ἔχειν μοναχόν, καὶ ἐπερωτη-|[θέν]τες ἑαυτοῖς [[αλληλοις]] ὡμολόγησαν. (ἔτους) ι Φαμενὼθ ιη.

 
English translation (
G. Milligan, Cambridge, 1910 ).
  

 
... Antoninus and Faustina, Augusti. Menodorus son of Horus, his mother being Tacallippus, of the village of Psobthis, has given for partnership of marriage his daughter Thatres, her mother being Thatres, to Apollonius son of Heracles, his mother being Tausorapis. The bride brings to her husband for dowry of common gold on the Oxyrhynchite standard one mina's weight, in kind, according to valuation, and in parapherna in clothing two outer veils, one...and the other white. Let the husband and wife therefore live together, observing the duties of marriage, and let the husband supply the wife with necessaries in proportion to his means. And if a separation takes place, whether there are children or none have been born, let the husband restore all the parapherna at the time of the separation, and the dowry in sixty days from the day when the separation takes place, the right of execution belonging to Menodorus, the giver (of the bride), upon the husband and upon all that belongs to him. The father of the husband, Heracles, son of Morus, his mother being Apollonia, of the same village, being present assents to the marriage, and is surety for the payment of the aforesaid dowry. The contract is valid, being written in duplicate in order that each party may have one : and in answer to the formal question they declared to each other their consent. The 10th year, Phamenoth 18.
 

 
►  Bibliography
 
 
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►  Source : Papyrus from Oxyrhynchus.