E00346: Coptic papyrus letter sent to the monastery at Bawit (Middle Egypt) of Apa *Apollo (founder of the monastery at Bawit, 4th c., S00160), written in the 8th c., containing a request to remember the sender with a gift to the saint (unnamed, S00518).
online resource
posted on 2015-03-17, 00:00authored byBryan
P.Köln ägypt. II 41:
This fragmentary papyrus letter from the monk Pamoun to Apa Enoch of the same monastery primarily concerns agricultural matters, with expectations of the harvest and payments connected with it.
Line six of the verso reads:
ⲁⲣ ⲡⲉⲛⲙⲉⲉⲩⲉ ϩⲓϫⲛ ϯ ⲉⲙⲁ ⲛⲡⲉⲧⲟⲩⲁⲁⲃ
'Remember us through a gift to the place (topos) of the saint.'
Text and translation: Gesa Schenke
History
Evidence ID
E00346
Saint Name
Saints, unnamed or name lost : S00518
Apa Apollo, founder of the monastery at Bawit : S00160
Documentary texts - Donation document
Late antique original manuscripts - Papyrus sheet
Language
Coptic
Evidence not before
700
Evidence not after
799
Activity not before
700
Activity not after
799
Place of Evidence - Region
Egypt and Cyrenaica
Place of Evidence - City, village, etc
Bawit
Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Bawit
Hermopolis
ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ
Ashmunein
Hermopolis
Cult activities - Places
Cult building - unspecified
Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Source
The text P.Köln ägypt. II 41, located at the Institute for African Studies and Egyptology in Cologne under the inventory number 10302, is written on papyrus and can be dated by its script to the 8th century.
Discussion
The monk Pamoun, sending a letter to Apa Enoch at his own monastery of Apa Apollo at Bawit, seems to be away from the monastery on agricultural business. He informs the addressee of how things are going and asks to be remembered with a gift 'to the saint', presumably Apa Apollo, the monastery’s founder.
Bibliography
Edition:
Schenke, G., Kölner ägyptische Papyri (P.Köln ägypt.) II: Koptische Urkunden der früharabischen Zeit (Papyrologica Coloniensia IX/2; Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 2016), 87–90.
For a full range of the documentary evidence on Apollo:
Papaconstantinou, A., Le culte des saints en Égypte des Byzantins aux Abbassides (Paris: CNRS, 2001), 53–56.