Thursday, June 04, 2009
A Unique Indication of Longing
P. Oxy. 14.1761, tr. Roger S. Bagnall and Raffaella Cribiore in Women's Letters from Ancient Egypt, 300 BC-AD 800 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006), p. 392:
A slightly different translation of part of the same letter in Peter Parsons, City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish: Greek Lives in Roman Egypt (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2007), p. 54:
Newer› ‹Older
Kallirhoe to Sarapias her lady, greeting. I make your obeisance each day before the lord Sarapis. Since the day you left, we are searching for your turds, wishing to see you. Greet Thermouthis and Helias and Ploution and Aphrodite and Nemesianos. Karabos and Harpokration greet you and all those in the household. I pray for your health.On "turds," Bagnall and Cribiore note: "A unique indication of longing."
A slightly different translation of part of the same letter in Peter Parsons, City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish: Greek Lives in Roman Egypt (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2007), p. 54:
I make obeisance on your behalf every day before the Lord God Serapis. From the day you left we miss your turds, wishing to see you.Unfortunately, I can't find the Greek anywhere on the Internet.
Labels: noctes scatologicae
