kiana
(Kiana)
#1
202 christina m. kreinecker
another request from a woman, artemis, for legal representation can be
found in p.mich. VIII 507.4–6 (II–III ce).
nemesion asks his brother Tryphon to go to the officials and complain
against papei (or patei) in p.mich. XII 656.3–6 with Bl VIII 217 (first half
of I ce). p.sarap. 94.9–10 (90–133 ce) contains the request for the recipi-
ent to plead for a certain pegeus against petepois and demetrios—ἐρῶ
(l. ἐρωτῶ) οὖν σὲ πρὸς ἐπίστασιν τῶν ἄλλων | ἐκδικῆσαι αὐτόν καὶ ἐντυχεῖν
κατὰ
Πετεψώιτος Φατρήους καὶ Δημη|τρίου Τεκωοῦτος κτλ. (“I ask you there-
fore for the purpose of deterring the others to help him [scil. pegeus] to
obtain his right and to carry on a lawsuit against petepsois, son of phatres,
and demetrios, son of Tekous”).
private letters containing requests within a business context deal with
money issues. one example is p.mich. VIII 475 (early II ce), in which
papirius apollinarios asks the veteran Tiberianus to find out and inform
him what a certain gaius has sold. Information regarding the successful
sale of meat and the actual prize achieved is the content of the request in
o.claud. I 145.4–9 (ca. 100–120). a father asks his son in sB XIV 12037.11–12
(mid to late II ce) to take care of money entrusted to his care. another
father requests his son in Bgu II 417.2–5 (II–III ce) to settle all his affairs
and not to leave one unfinished. In p.michael. 15.5–6 (ca. 75–85 ce) chaire-
mon asks apollonios to give money from their shared account to a certain
deios. In o.claud. I 156.5–7 (II ce) antigonos asks his brother marion for
the second time to claim back money from a certain rutilius. In p.oxy.
XXXVIII 2861.7–10 (II ce) a tax-collector requests more emphasis on col-
lecting taxes. a certain Iulius capito complains in o.claud. I 178.8–10
(II ce) that although he paid for a door-handle with a nail and a key, he
only received the latter.
These instances above demonstrate not only that ἐρωτῶ is a request-
formula primarily used in private communication, but also that it is used
where the person asking is involved in the recipient’s affairs and takes a
personal interest in the wellbeing of, or feels strongly for, the other person.
we may summarize that, depending on the particular context above, the
use of ἐρωτῶ for requests indicates a close personal relationship between
the one bringing forward the request and the one who is asked. It is the
term which denotes closeness and personal involvement.
although letters of private interest are the main and primary source for
requests with ἐρωτῶ, there are, nevertheless, a handful of official letters in
which ἐρωτῶ is used. among requests with ἐρωτῶ in official writings are
sB XVI 12835.4–7 (february 16, 6 ce), in which the recipient is asked—most
