On a papyrus sheet: 16 cm x 15.5 cm, written along the fibres, on the back of another document (an order for payment of poll tax: P.Nessana 70). Squarish script.
+ λ(ό)γ(ος) τον εὐλογιον τοῦ ἁγί(ου) Σεργί(ου) ἐπὶ τῖς ἰνδ(ικτίωνος) ιγ΄
Σεργίου Αεδου σίτου μ(ό)δ(ια) ι΄ Ἀβρααμίου Αμμονου σί(το)υ β*΄
Ἀβρααμίου Ροκεος σίτου μ(ό)δ(ια) ϛ΄
Στεφάνου Ανουνες σίτου μ(ό)δ(ια) γ΄
5Ἰω(άννου) πρεσ*β(υ)τ(έρου) σίτου μ(ό)δ(ια) β΄ Μουσείου Στεφάνου σί(τ)ου β΄
Ουαλιου Γαδιμου σίτου γ΄ Σαδαλου πρε(σβυτέρου) σί(τ)[ου] β΄
Γεωργίου Ροκεος σίτ(ου) μ(ό)δ(ια) δ΄
'+ Account of donations to Saint Sergios, 13th indiction.
Of Sergios, son of Aedos/'Ā'dih: 10 modii of wheat. Of Abraamios, son of Ammonos: 2 (modii) of wheat
Of Abraamios, son of Rokis(?)/Raqī': 6 modii of wheat
Of Stephanos, son of Anoynis(?)/Ḥanūn: 3 modii of wheat
Of Ioannes, the presbyter: 2 modii of wheat. Mouseios, son of Stephanos: 2 modii of wheat
Of Oualis(?)/Wa'il, son of Gadimos/Jadhīmah: 3 modii of wheat. Of Sadalos/Sa'd Allāh, the presbyter: 2 modii of wheat.
Of Georgios, son of Raqī': 4 modii of wheat'
Text: P.Nessana 80. Translation: C.J. Kraemer, adapted.
Evidence ID
E04368Saint Name
Sergios, soldier and martyr of Rusafa : S00023Saint Name in Source
ΣέργιοςType of Evidence
Documentary texts - List
Documentary texts - Donation documentEvidence not before
680Evidence not after
690Activity not before
680Activity not after
690Place of Evidence - Region
Palestine with SinaiPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
NessanaPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Nessana
Caesarea Maritima
Καισάρεια
Kaisareia
Caesarea
Kayseri
Turris StratonisCult activities - Places
Cult building - independent (church)Cult activities - Places Named after Saint
Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Bequests, donations, gifts and offeringsCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Other lay individuals/ peopleSource
Nessana/Auja Hafir was an important town (actually termed a kome/'village' in documents) in the southwest Negev desert, located on the caravan route from 'Aila/'Aqaba to Gaza, and the pilgrim route towards Sinai, and is sometimes identified with the site of the hostel (xenodochium) of Saint George, visited by the Piacenza Pilgrim (see E00507; for an alternative identification, see E02006).
The site was excavated by the Colt Expedition, led by Harris Dunscombe Colt, between 1935 and 1937, on behalf of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem. Although the site had suffered serious damage during World War I, it soon yielded rich epigraphical evidence (more than 150 Greek and Nabataean inscriptions), and two invaluable collections of 6th-7th c. documentary and literary papyri, comprising several distinguishable archives.
The first, smaller collection of papyri, was found in Room 3 of the South Church (about six rolls, parts of rolls, and many fragments; they belong to a 6th c. archive, and deal mainly with property rights). The second group was found in Room 8 of the North Church (damaged and mostly fragmentary documents, including some blank sheets); the room where they were kept is unlikely to have been a proper archive room, but rather a place where unneeded documents were deposited. In 1987 Dan Urman resumed archaeological exploration of the site on behalf of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, but no new papyri have been discovered.
The literary papyri were published in 1950 by Lionel Casson and Ernest Hettich, in the second volume of the Excavations of Nessana. Among them is a fragmentary account of the miracles and martyrdom of *George (soldier and martyr of Diospolis/Lydda), see E04385.
The documentary papyri, which we discuss here, were published in 1958 by Casper Kraemer Jr., in the third volume of the Excavations at Nessana. They can be divided into the following groups (termed 'archives' by their editors):
1) Legal documents concerning private transactions of soldiers (loans, a notice of tax transfers, marriages, inheritance, division of property, etc.), which cover the period between 505 and 596. Drafted by people with good knowledge of legal phrasing. This was probably the archive of the unit named the 'unit (arithmos) of the Most Loyal Theodosians', originally thought to have been based at the garrison of Nessana. This identification was later questions as the Theodosians are mentioned in just one papyrus, and could reside in the coastal city of Rhinokoroura/El Arish. It has been also suggested that this was one of the Palestinian units termed equites sagittarii indigenae in the Notitia Dignitatum (see Whately 2016, 122).
2) Five documents of one Patrikios (son of Sergios, grandson of Patrikios), abbot of the monastery of St. Sergios (to which the North Church in Nessana belonged), and of other ecclesiastics. Patrikios' father was likewise abbot of this monastery. The dated papyri come from the period 598-605. Sergios died in 592, and Patrikios in 628, as is known from their epitaphs (see I. Nessana, no. 12). As members of their family served in the military unit garrisoned at Nessana, Kraemer supposes that the two were involved in the depositing of Archive 1 in the North Church after the unit's disbandment in about 582-590.
3) Documents of Georgios, son of another Patrikios, and his son Sergios. Georgios' documents come from the period 682-684. He acts as a moneylender, and is possibly identical with an abbot who offered a column to the North Church (see I. Nessana, no. 77). Sergios, son of Georgios, appears more prominently. His papyri date to c. 682-689. He was a presbyter at the monastery of Sergios and Bakchos in 689, and (later?) its abbot. He acts also as an influential landowner, witness to other transactions, taxpayer, etc.
4) A small collection of documents of the Arab administration: written mainly in Arabic and Greek.Discussion
The document is a list of people who made donations of wheat to a church of Saint Sergios. This is certainly the North Church at Nessana, associated with the monastery of Sergios and Bakchos.
Except for the first donor, who offered ten modii, the donations are small, usually ranging from 2 to 4 modii. The modius was an ancient measure of volume and corresponded to roughly 8.73 litres.
The document shows that the church of Sergios also received donations in kind, although a long and detailed list of offerings, preserved on another papyrus, refers to donations of money, see: E04367.
Dating: The papyrus is dated by the 13th indiction year, but this is insufficient information to identify the year. An approximate date, AD 685, is established by the editor based on the fact that our document closely resembles a number of other papyri from Nessana which date to this period.Bibliography
Edition:
Kraemer, C.J., Excavations at Nessana (Auja Hafir, Palestine), vol. 3: Non-literary Papyri (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1958), no. 80.
See also:
http://papyri.info/ddbdp/p.ness;3;80
Further reading:
Meimaris, Y., Sacred Names, Saints, Martyrs and Church Officials in the Greek Inscriptions and Papyri Pertaining to the Christian Church of Palestine (Athens: National Hellenic Research Foundation, Center for Greek and Roman Antiquity, 1986), 119, no. 650.
Whately, C., "Camels, soldiers, and pilgrims in sixth century Nessana", Scripta Classica Israelica 35 (2016), 121-135.
