LOCATIO OPERIS FACIENDI
   
Contract of apprenticeship for a weaver
     
( September 18, AD 66 )
 
 
P. Oxy. II, 275 = P. Lond. III, 794 descr. = W. Chr. 324 = Sel. Pap. I, 13 ( DDBDP ).
  
 
      ὁ[μ]ο[λ]ογοῦσιν ἀλλή[λ]οις Τρύφων Διονυ[σίου] | τοῦ Τρύφωνος μητρὸς [Θ]αμούν[ιο]ς τῆ[ς] | Ὀννώφριος καὶ Πτολεμαῖο[ς] Παυσιρίωνος | τοῦ Πτολεμαίου μητρὸς Ὠφελοῦτος τῆς | Θέωνος γέρδιος, ἀμφότεροι τῶν ἀπ᾽ Ὀξυ-|ρύγχων πόλεως, ὁ μὲν Τρύφων ἐγδεδόσ-|θαι τῷ Πτολεμαίῳ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ υἱὸν Θοῶ-|νιν μητρὸς Σαραεῦτος τῆς Ἀπίωνος οὐδέ-|πω ὄντα τῶν ἐτῶν ἐπὶ χρόνον ἐνιαυτὸν | ἕνα ἀπὸ τῆς ἐνεστώσης ἡμέρας, διακονο\ῦ/(ν)-|τα καὶ ποιο[ῦ]ντα πάντα τὰ ἐπιτασσόμε-|να αὐτῷ ὑπὸ τοῦ Πτολεμαίου κατὰ τὴν | γερδιακὴν τέχνην πᾶσαν, <ὁ δὲ Πτολεμαῖος κατ᾽ αὐτὸν ἐκδιδάξειν τὸν   παῖδα   κατὰ   τὴν   γερδιακὴν τέχνην> ὧς καὶ αὐτὸς | ἐπίστα<τα>ι, τοῦ παιδὸς τρεφομένου καὶ ἱμα-|τιζομένου ἐπὶ τὸν ὅλον χρόνον ὑπὸ | τοῦ πατρὸς Τρύφωνος πρὸς ὃν καὶ εἶναι | τὰ δημόσια πάντα τοῦ παιδός, ἐφ᾽ ᾧ | δώσει αὐτῷ κατὰ μῆνα ὁ Πτολεμαῖος | εἰς λόγον διατροφῆς δραχμὰς πέντε | καὶ ἐπὶ συνκλεισμῷ τοῦ ὅλου χρόνου | εἰς λόγον ἱματισμοῦ δραχμὰς δέκα δύο , | οὐκ ἐξόντος τῷ Τρύφωνι ἀποσπᾶν τὸν | παῖδα ἀπὸ τοῦ Πτολεμαίου μέχρι τοῦ | τὸν χρόνον πληρωθῆναι, ὅσας δ᾽ ἐὰν   ἐν   |   τούτῳ   ἀτακτήσῃ   ἡμέρας   ἐπὶ   τὰς   |   ἴσας   αὐτὸν   παρέξεται   [με]τὰ τὸν χρό-|νον ἢ ἀ̣[πο]τεισάτω ἑκάσ[τ]ης ἡμέρας | ἀργυρίου [δρ]αχμὴν μίαν , [τ]οῦ δ᾽ ἀποσπα<σ>-|θῆναι ἐντὸς τοῦ χρόν[ου] ἐπίτιμον | δραχμὰς ἑκατὸν καὶ εἰς τὸ δημόσιον | τὰς ἴσας. ἐὰν δὲ καὶ αὐτὸ[ς ὁ] Πτολεμαῖος | μὴ   ἐγδιδάξῃ   τὸν   παῖ[δ]α   ἔνοχος | ἔστω   τοῖς ἴσοις ἐπιτίμοις. κυρία | ἡ διδασκαλική. (ἔτους) ιγ Νέ[ρ]ωνος Κλαυδίου | Καίσαρος Σεβαστοῦ Γερμανικοῦ | Αὐτοκράτορος, μηνὸς Σεβαστοῦ κα. |
      (hand 2) Πτολεμαῖος [Πα]υσιρίωνος | τοῦ Πτολεμαίου μητρὸς Ὠφε-|λοῦτος τῆς Θέωνος ἕκαστα | ποιήσω ἐν τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ ἑνί. |
      Ζωίλος Ὥρου τοῦ Ζωίλου μητρὸς | Διεῦτος τῆς Σω̣κέ̣ω̣ς̣ ἔγραψα | ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ μὴ εἰδότος γράμματα. | ἔτους τρεισκαιδεκάτου Νέρωνος Κλαυδίου Καίσαρος | Σεβαστοῦ Γερμανικοῦ | Αὐτοκράτο[ρο]ς, μη(νὸς) Σεβαστοῦ κα.
 
 
English translation ( G. Milligan, Cambridge, 1910 ).
  
 
    Agreement between Tryphon, son of Dionysius, the son of Tryphon, his mother being Thamounis the daughter of Onnophris, and Ptolemaeus, son of Pausirion, the son of Ptolemaeus, his mother being Ophelous, the daughter of Theon, weaver, both parties belonging to the city of Oxyrhynchus. Tryphon agrees to apprentice to Ptolemaeus his son Thoönis, his mother being Saraeus the daughter of Apion, who is not yet of age, for a period of one year from the present day, to serve and to do everything commanded him by Ptolemaeus in accordance with the whole weaving art, as also he himself knows it—the boy being supported and clothed during the whole time by his father Tryphon, on whom also all the public dues for the boy shall fall, on condition that Ptolemaeus shall give him monthly on account of his keep five drachmas, and at the expiry of the whole period on account of his clothing twelve drachmas, it not being permitted to Tryphon to remove the boy from Ptolemaeus until the time is completed ; and if there are any days during this period on which he [the boy] plays truant, he [Tryphon] will produce him for an equal number of days after the time, or let him pay back for each day one silver drachma, and the penalty for removing him within the period shall be a hundred drachmas and a like amount to the public treasury. But if Ptolemaeus himself does not teach the boy thoroughly, let him be liable to the like penalties. This contract of apprenticeship is valid. The 13th year of Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus Emperor, the month Sebastus 21.
    I Ptolemaeus, son of Pausirion, the son of Ptolemaeus, my mother being Ophelous the daughter of Theon, will carry out each of these requirements in the one year.
    I Zoilus, son of Horus, the son of Zoilus, my mother being Dieus daughter of Soceus, write on his behalf seeing that he does not know letters. The 13th year of Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus Emperor, the month Sebastus 21.
 

 
►  Bibliography
 
 
Grenfell & Hunt, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, II, London, 1899, n. 275 ; Kenyon & Bell, Greek Papyri in the British Museum, III, London, 1907, n. 794 descr. ;  Milligan, Selections from the Greek papyri, Cambridge, 1910, pp. 54-58, n. 20 ; Berger, Die Strafklauseln in den Papyrusurkunden : Ein Beitrag zum gräko-ägyptischen Obligationenrecht, Leipzig-Berlin, 1911, pp. 42 and 166 ss. ; Helbing, Auswahl aus griechischen Papyri, Berlin-Leipzig, 1912, p. 89 ; Wilcken, Grundzüge und Chrestomathie der Papyruskunde, Leipzig-Berlin, 1912, Chrest., n. 324 ; Westermann, CP, 9, 1914, pp. 295-315 ; Meyer, Juristische Papyri : Erklärung von Urkunden zur Einführung in die juristische Papyruskunde, Berlin, 1920, n. 42 ; Segrè, Circolazione monetaria e prezzi nel mondo antico : Ed in particolare in Egitto, Roma, 1922, p. 114 ; Holleaux, BCH, 48, 1924, p. 33 ; Dibelius, Thessalonicher I II an die Philipper, Tübingen, 1925, pp. 46 and 75 ; Moulton & Milligan, The vocabulary of the Greek Testament illustrated from the papyri and other non-literary sources, London, 1930, pp. 6, 192 and 465 ; Hunt & Edgar, Select Papyri, I, London, 1932, n. 13 ; Winter, Life and Letters in the Papyri, Ann Arbor, 1933, pp. 69-71, 94 and 124 ; Winter, Papyri in the University of Michigan collection : Miscellaneous papyri, Ann Arbor, 1936, p. 164 ; Westermann, CP, 40, 1945, pp. 1-10 ; d'Ors, Introducción al estudio de los documentos del Egipto romano, Madrid, 1948, p. 172 ; Grosheide, Some Early Lists of the Books of the New Testament, Leiden, 1948, p. 24 ; Meecham, The Epistle to Diognetus, Manchester, 1949, p. 129 ; Taubenschlag, Opera Minora, II, Paris-Warszawa, 1959, pp. 275 and 539 ; Adams, Paramoné und verwandte Texte, Berlin, 1964, pp. 142, 183 and 188 ; Biscottini, Aegyptus, 46, 1966, p. 274 ; Petit, Le premier siècle de notre ère, Paris, 1968, n. 87 ; Hengstl, Private Arbeitsverhältnisse freier Personen in den hellenistischen Papyri bis Diokletian, Diss., Bonn, 1972, pp. 93 and 113 ; Seidl, Claus & Müller, Rechtsgeschichte Ägyptens als römischer Provinz : Die Behauptung des ägyptischen Rechts neben dem römischen, Sankt Augustin, 1973, p. 60 ; Soden, Untersuchungen zur Homologie in den griechischen Papyri Ägyptens bis Diokletian, Köln-Wien, 1973, pp. 66, 92 and 94 ; Wolff, Das Recht der griechischen Papyri Ägyptens in der Zeit der Ptolemaeer und des Prinzipats, II, München, 1978, p. 124 ; Krause, Witwen und Waisen im Römischen Reich, I, Stuttgart, 1994, p. 210 / III, p. 7 ; Pestman & Rupprecht, Berichtigungsliste der griechischen Papyrusurkunden aus Aegypten, IX, Leiden, 1995, p. 179 ; Kruse, ZPE, 111, 1996, pp. 151 ss. ; Meissner, Die technologische Fachliteratur der Antike : Struktur, Überlieferung und Wirkung technischen Wissens in der Antike (ca. 400 v. Chr.-ca. 500 n. Chr.), Berlin, 1999, p. 135 ; Pearson, Corresponding sense : Paul, dialectic and Gadamer, Leiden-Boston-Köln, 2001, p. 84 ; Weeber, Alltag im alten Rom : Ein Lexikon, Zürich, 2001, p. 50 ; Hengstl in Hengstl & Sick, Recht gestern und heute : Festschrift zum 85. Geburtstag von Richard Haase, Wiesbaden, 2006, p. 131 ; Kraus, Ad fontes : Original manuscripts and their significance for studying early Christianity, Leiden, 2007, p. 149 ; Charlier, Les monstres humains dans l'Antiquité : Analyse paléopathologique, Paris, 2008, p. 38 ; Walker, The Economic History Society, Annual Conference, Warwick, 2009, p. 119 ; Evans & Obbink, The language of the papyri, Oxford, 2010, p. 128 ; Kreinecker, 2. Thessaloniker : Papyrologische Kommentare zum Neuen Testament, Göttingen, 2010, p. 200.
 
 
►  Source : Papyrus from Oxyrhynchus.