Greek receipt from Oxyrhynchos (Middle Egypt), concerning an offering made to a hospital located in the vicinity of (a church of) *Neilos (perhaps the martyr of Alexandria, S00405); dated to 13 March 587.
E02301
Documentary texts - Other private document
Late antique original manuscripts - Papyrus sheet
P.Oxy. 16 1898
Receipt for a payment of 371 artabas of wheat made as an offering (prosphora) to a hospital (nosokomion), issued by the steward of that hospital and addressed to the heirs of Flavius Apion.
Lines 14–19 of the document run as follows:
καὶ ἐνοχὴν Μηνᾶς νοτάριος τῆς
ὑμῶν ὑπερφυείας υἱὸς τοῦ μακαρίου
Ἰωάννου ἑξῆς ὑπογράφων ἰδίᾳ
χειρὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Ὀξυρυγχιτῶν πόλεως
καὶ οἰκονόμος τοῦ ἁγίου νοσοκομίου
ἀββᾶ Ἠλία περὶ τὸν ἅγιον Νεῖλον.
'… from Menas, notary of your magnificence, son of the late John, subscribing below with his own hand, of the city of Oxyrhynchus, and steward of the holy hospital of Abbot Elias, near saint Neilos.'
Text and translation: B. P. Grenfell, A. S. Hunt, and H. I. Bell
A complete record of the document with images can be found at: http://papyri.info/ddbdp/p.oxy;16;1898
Cult building - unspecified
Non Liturgical ActivityBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesOfficials
Source
The complete papyrus document, P.Cairo 10039, is housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.Discussion
The hospital of Abba Elias does not appear to be connected to the institution dedicated to Neilos. The reference to the saint seems merely topographical. The identity of this saint Neilos, whose church is mentioned in several Oxyrrhynchite documents is unclear: he may have been the martyr whose martyrdom story, probably set in Alexandria, survives fragmentarily (E03561), or he may have been a local saint.Bibliography
Edition:Grenfell, B.P., Hunt, A.S., and Bell, H.I., The Oxyrhynchus Papyri XVI, published by the Egypt Exploration Society in Graeco-Roman Memoirs (London, 1924), 114–116.
Gesa Schenke
3/2/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00405 | Neilos/Nilos, martyr of Alexandria | Νεῖλος | Uncertain |
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