It was common during the later Ptolemaic period for native Egyptians to take on a Greek name as well as their Egyptian name. It was less common for Greeks, such as Nikon who is named in these contracts, to take on an Egyptian name in addition to their Greek names; but he apparently came from a mixed family - his father had a Greek name and his mother had an Egyptian name.
Although both the contracts involve Nikon, modern scholars have been unable to establish the exact relationship between the two plots of land, because of inconsistencies in the lists of the plots' neighbours. It is even more puzzling that an unpublished 'cession' document, which is connected to the sale in B, contains some further differences in the list of neighbours; see C.A.R. Andrews, "Unpublished Demotic Texts from the British Museum" (SAOC 51, p. 11).
The translation of A is adapted from D. Devauchelle, "Le papyrus démotique Louvre E 9416 : une vente de terrain" (BIFAO 87, 1987). The translation of B+C is adapted from F.Ll. Griffith, "A Sale of Land in the Reign of Philopator" (PSBA 23, 1901). There is a German translation of A in the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae.
[A] Year 9, first month of the Akhet season {= Thoth}, of the pharaoh (l.p.h.) Ptolemy (l.p.h.) son of Ptolemy (l.p.h.) and Berenike (l.p.h.) the Beneficient gods, Ptolemy son of Ptolemy son of Stasikrates being priest of Alexander (l.p.h.) and the Saviour gods and the Brother-loving gods, Beneficient gods and the Father-loving gods, Arsinoē daughter of Sosibios being kanephoros before Arsinoē (l.p.h.) the Brother-loving, Nikanor son of Bakchios being priest in the nome of Thebes of Ptolemy (l.p.h.) the god and of the Father-loving gods.
The woman Tauretmin daughter of Atâs (?), whose mother is Taïset, declared to the Greek man Nikon son of Athenion, whose mother is Tasheretmin: you have satisfied my heart with the money for these 3 arouras of fields, or 2+½+¼+⅛+1/16+1/32 arouras, that is 3 arouras of fields again, which are part of the fields of the Divine Offering of the domain named Pestenemenophis, (part) of the land in question of which the other part belongs to you and thus you have augmented that part with these 3 arouras of fields. The boundaries of all the land in question: south: the fields of Kallikrates, which belong to his children; north: the fields of Kallias; east: the fields of Megakles the Greek; west: the fields of Ptolemaios son of Antipatros, which belong to his children; these then are the boundaries of all the land indicated above, of which I have given you 3 arouras of fields and of which I had acquired the three arouras of fields in question by payment to Zenion son of Apollonios, for which he gave me a contract of sale dated in year 25, third month of Peret {= Phamenoth}, of the pharaoh (l.p.h.) Ptolemy (l.p.h.), son of Ptolemy (l.p.h.) and of Arsinoē (l.p.h.) the Brother-loving gods. I have given them to you, they belong to you; these are your 3 aforementioned arouras of fields.
I have received their price in silver from you, it is completely paid, with no remainder due. My heart is satisfied with it. I have no claim on earth to make against you concerning the price. No person in the world, including me, will be able to exercise power over them {= the three arouras} apart from you from today onwards. If anyone proceeds against you concerning them, in my name or in that of anyone else in the world, I will remove him from you; I will make them free for you in respect of every person from every genbet-document, from every claim in the world at all times. All the writings, all the genbet-documents in whatever place they are, belong to you. All the writings that have been made and all the writings that have been made for me concerning the fields and all the writings by means of which I have any rights concerning them, they belong to you as well as the rights which ensue from them. To you belongs all that in the name of which I have rights over them. The oath or proof that will be required from you in any court regarding the rights arising from the above agreement that I have made for you, in order to ensure that I do apply them, I will provide them without making any genbet-document or any claim in the world against you.
Written by Hor son of Khonsudjehouty son of Hor, who writes in the name of the priests of Amon and the Brother-loving gods, the Beneficient gods and the Father-loving gods of the five phyles.
{ Back: Signatures of 16 witnesses: }
[B] Year 12, Tybi, of Ptolemy, son of Ptolemy and Berenike the Beneficent Gods; Eteoneus son of Eteoneus being priest of Alexander, and the Saviour Gods, and the Brother-Loving Gods, and the Beneficent Gods, and the Father-loving Gods, for the second year; Konion, daughter of Themistos, being kanephoros before Arsinoē the Brother-loving; Imna (?), daughter of Perigenes, being priestess of Berenike, the Mistress of Might, the Beneficent; Nikanor, son of Bakchios, being priest in the Thebaid of Ptolemy the God and the Father-loving Gods.
The Greek man Nikon, who is called Petechons, son of Athenion, his mother being Tasheretmin, declared to the man of Pi-gerg (?), Thoteu, son of Pshemmin, his mother being Tashere-tutu : you have satisfied my heart with the money for my land, which makes eleven and a half and an eighth arouras of land, that is eleven and a half and two sixteenths arouras, that is eleven and a half and an eighth of land again, together with the right? to their equivalent (?) - which is upon the divine property of Amen, the farm of Ophis . . .. (?) in the inhabited parts (?) on the west of Thebes in the nome of Pathyris; which has to the south the land of Ammonios, son of Kallikrates, north the land of Pshemmin, son of Philolaos, east the village which is called the Magdol, and west my other land which makes three arouras of land with their equivalent (?), the boundary ? stone being between them and (?) the neighbours (?) of (?) the land which makes 11+½+⅛ arouras of land with their equivalent (?) that is written above, in all. I have given it to you, it is yours; from now on it is your land, which makes 11+½+⅛ of land with their equivalent (?), as is written above.
I have received its price from you, in full without any remainder. My heart is satisfied with it. I have nothing on earth to do against you in its name. Nor shall any man on earth be able, nor I likewise, to have power over it instead of you from to-day onward. If anyone who shall come to you on account of it in my name or in the name of any man on earth, I will cause him to depart from you; and I will purge it for you in regard to any writing, any deed (?), any word of the world at all times. Yours are its writings, its deeds (?), in every place in which they are. Every writing that they have made with regard to it, together with every writing that they have made for me with regard to it, together with every writing that I have claim to in its name, they are yours along with their rights; you are the one in whose name I have claim to it. The oath, the proof (?) . . . that they shall put upon you in the place of justice, in regard to the right of the document that is written above, that I have made for you to cause me to do it, I will do it without making any deed (?), any word in the earth against you.
Written by Chesthout, son of Hor, who writes in the name of the priests of Amon-rasonther, the Brother-Loving Gods, the Beneficient Gods and the Father-loving Gods, of the five phyles.
{ The names of the witnesses were written on the back. The following tax-receipt was written in Greek on the same papyrus. }
[C] Year 13, 3rd Tybi. There has been paid, into the customs office at Diospolis Magna, for the trafficking-tax {enkyklion} of which Hermokles, the tax-farmer, is in charge, to the king's account by Thoteus, son of Psemminis and Nikon, who is also called Petechonsis, son of Athenion : the tax that becomes due to the revenue of the trafficking-tax on 11⅝ arouras of land, which is in Pestenemenōphe, in the Pathyrite nome, and which Thoteus is buying from the above-mentioned Nikon by an Egyptian contract of sale which he wrote for him in Tybi of the 13th year; the tax from both together eight drachmas, two obols, two chalkoi; fees three obols, chalkiaia four drachmas one obol. Hermokles, agent of Noumenios, wrote the receipt.
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