Letter of a provincial governor: 28 January, AD 342

This rare item is an original letter from the chancery of Flavius Julius Ausonius, governor of the province of Augustamnica in Egypt. It is addressed to two leading citizens of Oxyrhynchus and concerns their misconduct in tax-collection. The governor has himself added a word at the end of line 8. Below that is the consular date in Latin; in the left margin, also in Latin, is the day by the Roman calendar and the place of writing, Heracleopolis to the north of Oxyrhynchus. (Back also available.)

The impressively stylised script is of special interest. The only similar document to have survived in a good state of preservation is a letter from the governor of Egypt in AD 209.

The Oxyrhynchus Papyri vol.L, no.3577

A Millenium of Documents