Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine Prinicipal Investigator Michael Satlow Brown University Mare 0050

Maresha, 300-101 BCE. Ostrakon. Letter.

Red clay jug sherd

5.5 3.5 0.3

Left hand side of document missing.

writing on concave side

black ink

 300-101 BCE Judaea Maresha Subterranean Complex 57

Taxonomies for IIP controlled values

Initial Entry Edited adding period attribute to date element, with Periodo value.

ΕΡΟΙΣ ΔΙΩΝΟΥ ΥΤΩΝ ΑΙΤΩΝ ΥΠΟΑΥ ΟΥΠΑ

τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις δεῖνα τοῦ Διωνουσίου υτων αἰτῶν ὑπὸ ἀυτοῦ πα´

...To the Elders?/ so and so son of Dionisios/ .../ ... demanding/ ...from/ him 81 (drachmae?).

The reading is very speculative, but if we regard the letters of line 4 as a nominative masculine present indicative active participle of the verb "to demand, to ask" (αἰτέω), the noun ending in the masculine plural dative case in line 1 might be the individuals to whom the petitioner is appealing. The section detailing the reasons for the request is lost, but the demand is preserved in the last two lines. An Aramaic letter and an Aramaic marriage contract, all written on ostraca, were also found in Maresha: one cannot exclude the possibility that these were drafts, even though the fine handwriting may indicate that they were indeed final documents.

τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις δεῖνα τοῦ Διωνουσίου υτων αἰτῶν ὑπὸ ἀυτοῦ πα´

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