Account of Receipts and Expenses (P.Oxy. 1728)
Account of Receipts and Expenses (P.Oxy. 1728)
PAP.000443
Papyrus
ca. AD 200–300
Oxyrhynchus, now al-Bahnasā, (Egypt)
Greek
Ink on Papyrus
5.3 × 4.6 in. (13.5 × 11.8 cm)
Not on View
When Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt excavated the papyrus dump of ancient Oxyrhynchus they found many more documentary texts than religious or classical texts. These documentary texts include everyday business accounts such as this papyrus. It records a series of transactions with several people and amounts of money (mostly in drachmae) that have been received or paid for a variety of commodities such as wine and a carpet. Such business records offer scholars a snapshot of daily life and business practices in Roman Egypt.
Created in the 3rd century AD in Egypt. Excavated in early 1900s by Bernard Grenfell (1869–1926) and Arthur Hunt (1871–1934);[1] Acquired by the Egypt Exploration Fund until 1915–1922; Ownership assumed between 1915–1922 by Bonebrake Theological Seminary, later renamed United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio;[2] Acquired in 2009–2010 by Dirk Obbink, Oxford, England; Privately purchased in 2010 by the Green Collection, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Gifted in 2013 to Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC.
Notes: [1] Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, v. XIV (Egypt Exploration Society, 1920), 166. [2] Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, v. XVI (Egypt Exploration Society, 1924), 279. The Egypt Exploration Fund, which sponsored Grenfell and Hunt’s work, began distributing papyri as gifts to supporting institutions in 1900. By 1922, it had gifted approximately three thousand items to 103 institutions, including United Theological Seminary. See Roberta Mazza, “Papyri Ethics, and Economics: A Biography of P.Oxy. 15.1780 (P39),” Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 52 (2015): 113–142.
Selected References:
Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, v. XIV (Egypt Exploration Society, 1920)
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