Christian woman of Egypt (fl. ca. 350 CE). Autograph letter signed, on papyrus. [Egypt]. Single papyrus leaf, 219 x 103 mm. 20 lines in Greek, written in dark-brown ink in a single hand on the recto, across the fibers, with address on verso. Written in an upright and regular hand, letters well formed and generally detached; few ligatures. The.
$ 213,527 / 185.000 €
(106025/BN67959)
Arguably one of the most famous early letters written by a woman, first brought to light in the 18th century and only recently released from institutional custody, an extraordinary opportunity to acquire a fourth-century document always considered beyond reach. To a female recipient Atienateia, who still had a balance of 1,300 denarii to her credit, urging her to indicate any further wants. Didyme refers to herself and "her sisters in the Lord", a formula indicating that the writer is a Christian.
The letter reads translated, in full: - "To my lady sister Atienatia, Didyme and the sisters send greetings in the Lord. First of all it is necessary to greet you, praying that you are well. Write to us, my lady, concerning your health and whatever orders you need, with full liberty. Let us know if you received your orders. There is a balance with us from the money of your orders, I believe, of 1,300 denarii. Canopic cakes received for you from them will be dispatched. Greet my blessed lady sister Asous and her mother and [...]" (addressed on the verso: "To my lady sister Atienateia, Didyme with the sisters"). - The Roman denarius currency is a sign of the fourth-century date; the sum is equal to 5,200 drachmas. In the 1920 edition of Grenfell & Hunt (The Oxyrhynchus Papyri XIV, London 1920), the hand was judged to be "early fourth century", but more recent research has tended to place it a little later, towards the middle of the century. The use of "in the Lord" with "K[yri]o" abbreviated as a nomen sacrum, in the manner of Christian texts, shows that the author is a Christian. - This is one of two surviving letters from Didyme and the sisters (the other being SB 8.9746, which is written to another woman, Sophias). The mention of "the sisters" in both texts has led to considerable debate whether Didyme was the head of a group of female Christian ascetics (cf. Elm, pp. 236f., 241-244; Wipsyzcka). In the present text, the only persons mentioned are female, unlike in SB 8.9746. The women have been described as engaged in business, but their activities - receiving and sending produce, food, and clothing - do not differ materially from those described in ordinary family letters. - The two letters have given rise to speculation about the milieu in which they were produced. Particularly important has been the question whether "sisters" and "brothers" in these texts are to be taken as normal kinship terms (even if not necessarily denoting a common father and mother) or as references to a common membership in Christian communities, particularly of a monastic kind. That they come from a Christian milieu is clear enough, and the plural forms in the opening are not paralleled elsewhere in family letters: "While caution is advisable, the evidence favours a community of women and men who are not relatives and are united by other than business interests alone: at the very least by their shared Christianity, but perhaps by ascetic principles as well … For the present this somewhat vague conclusion has to suffice, but the two papyri have presented us with a potential model of ascetic life for women, aspects of which might reappear in literary sources" (Elm, pp. 236-244)..