Lease of Land (P.Oxy. 1688)

By: Aurelius Theron

Collection ID

PAP.000442

Type

Papyrus

Date

3rd century AD

Geography

Oxyrhynchus, now al-Bahnasā, (Egypt)

Language

Greek

Medium

Ink on Papyrus

Dimensions

3.3 × 2.6 in. (8.3 × 6.7 cm)

Exhibit Location

Not on View

A man by the name of Aurelius Theon, also known as Epimachos son of Diogenes, from Oxyrhynchus, extended the lease on a plot of land to tenants from the village of Phoboou. He leased the property for four years to his tenants, Aurelius Thonis, Epimachos, and Ploutos the sons of Anesouris, daughter of Ammonous. The portion of the papyrus that survives does not include a date or the cost of the lease.

Created in the 3rd century AD in Egypt. Excavated in the 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 and 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 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), 148. [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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