CONVENTIO NUPTIALIS
   
Marriage contract between Heraclides and Demetria
     
( July 17 - August 15, 310 BC )
 
 
P. Eleph. 1 = M. Chr. 283 = Sel. Pap. I, 1 = Jur. Pap. 18 ( DDBDP ).
  
 
σκαιδεκάτωι μηνὸς Δίου. συγγραφὴ συνοικισίας Ἡρακλείδου καὶ Δημητρίας. λαμβάνει Ἡρακλείδης | Δημητρίαν Κώιαν γυναῖκα γνησίαν παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς Λεπτίνου Κώιου καὶ τῆς μητρὸς Φιλωτίδος ἐλεύθερος | ἐλευθέραν προσφερομένην ἱματισμὸν καὶ κόσμον (δραχμῶν) Α, παρεχέτω δὲ Ἡρακλείδης Δημητρίαι | ὅσα προσήκει γυναικὶ ἐλευθέραι πάντα, εἶναι δὲ ἡμὰς κατα τὸ αὐτὸ ὅπου ἂν δοκῆι ἄριστον εἶναι βουλευομένοις κοινῆι | βουλῆι Λεπτίνηι καὶ Ἡρακλείδηι. ἐὰν δέ τι κακοτεχνοῦσα ἁλίσκηται [[ἁλίσκηται]] ἐπὶ αἰσχύνηι τοῦ ἀνδρὸς Ἡρακλείδου Δημητρία, | στερέσθω ὧν προσηνέγκατο πάντων. ἐπιδειξάτω δὲ Ἡρακλείδης ὅτι ἂν ἐγκαλῆι Δημητρίαι ἐναντίον ἀνδρῶν τριῶν , | οὓς ἂν δοκιμάζωσιν ἀμφότεροι. μὴ ἐξέστω δὲ Ἡρακλείδηι γυναῖκα ἄλλην ἐπεισάγεσθαι ἐφ᾽ ὕβρει δημητρίας μηδὲ | τεκνοποιεῖσθαι ἐξ ἄλλης γυναικὸς μηδὲ κακοτεχνεῖν μηδὲν παρευρέσει μηδεμιᾶι Ἡρακλείδην εἰς Δημητρίαν· | ἐὰν δέ τι ποιῶν τούτων ἁλίσκηται Ἡρακλείδης καὶ ἐπιδείξηι Δημητρία ἐναντίον ἀνδρῶν τριῶν , οὓς ἂν δοκιμάζωσιν | ἀμφότεροι, ἀποδότω Ἡρακλείδης Δημητρίαι τὴν φερνὴν ἣν προσηνέγκατο (δραχμῶν) Α, καὶ προσαποτεισάτω ἀργυρί-|ου Ἀλεξανδρείου (δραχμὰς) Α. ἡ δὲ πρᾶξις ἔστω καθάπερ ἐκ δίκης κατὰ νόμον τέλος ἐχούσης Δημητρίαι καὶ τοῖς μετὰ | Δημητρίας πράσσουσιν ἔκ τε αὐτοῦ Ἡρακλείδου καὶ τῶν Ἡρακλείδου πάντων καὶ ἐγγαίων καὶ ναυτικῶν. ἡ δὲ συγγραφὴ | ἥδε κυρία ἔστω πάντηι πάντως ὡς ἐκεῖ τοῦ συναλλάγματος γεγενημένου, ὅπου ἂν ἐπεγφέρηι Ἡρακλείδης κατὰ | Δημητρίας ἢ Δημητρία τε καὶ μετὰ Δημητρίας πράσσοντες ἐπεγφέρωσιν κατὰ Ἡρακλείδου. κύριοι δὲ ἔσθωσαν Ἡρακλεί-|δης καὶ Δημητρία καὶ τὰς συγγραφὰς αὐτοὶ τὰς αὑτῶν φυλάσσοντες καὶ ἐπεγφέροντες κατ᾽ ἀλλήλων. μάρτυρες | Κλέων Γελῶιος, Ἀντικράτης Τημνίτης, Λῦσις Τημνίτης, Διονύσιος Τημνίτης, Ἀριστόμαχος Κυρηναῖος, Ἀριστόδικος | Κῶιος. | seal seal seal seal
 
 
English translation ( G. Milligan, Cambridge, 1910 ).
  
 
    In the seventh year of the reign of Alexander the son of Alexander, the fourteenth year of the satrapy of Ptolemaeus, the month Dios. Contract of marriage between Heraclides and Demetria.
    Heraclides takes Demetria of Cos as his lawful wife from her father Leptines of Cos and her mother Philotis, both parties being freeborn, and the bride bringing clothing and adornment of the value of 1000 drachmas, and let Heraclides provide for Demetria all things that are fitting for a freeborn woman, and that we should live together wherever shall seem best to Leptines and Heraclides in consultation together. And if Demetria shall be detected doing anything wrong to the shame of her husband Heraclides, let her be deprived of all that she has brought, and let Heraclides prove his charge against Demetria in the presence of three men, whom both shall approve. And let it not be allowed to Heraclides to bring in another woman to the insult of Demetria, nor to beget children by another woman, nor shall Heraclides do any wrong to Demetria on any pretext. And if Heraclides shall be detected doing any of these things, and Demetria shall prove it in the presence of three men, whom both shall approve, let Heraclides repay to Demetria the dowry which she brought to the value of 1000 drachmas, and let him pay in addition 1000 drachmas of Alexander's coinage. And let the right of execution be in accordance with legal justice to Demetria and to those acting with Demetria or Heraclides himself and all Heraclides' friends both on land and sea. And let this contract be valid under all circumstances, as if the agreement had been come to in that place wheresoever Heraclides brings the charge against Demetria, or Demetria and those acting with Demetria bring the charge against Heraclides. And let Heraclides and Demetria enjoy equal legal rights both in preserving their own contracts, and in bringing charges against one another. Witnessed by Cleon of Gela, Anticrates of Temnos, Lysis of Temnos, Dionysius of Temnos, Aristomachus of Cyrene, and Aristodicus of Cos.
 

 
►  Bibliography
 
 
Rubensohn, Elephantine Papyri, Berlin, 1907, pp. 18 ss. ; Milligan, Selections from the Greek papyri, Cambridge, 1910, pp. 1-4, n. 1 ; Schubart, Papyri Graecae Berolinenses, Bonn, 1911, 2 ; Mitteis, Grundzüge und Chrestomathie der Papyruskunde, Leipzig-Berlin, 1912, Chrest., 283 ; Meyer, Juristische Papyri : Erklärung von Urkunden zur Einführung in die juristische Papyruskunde, Berlin, 1920, n. 18 ; Davies, The Cambridge Ancient History, VII, 1, 1923, p. 312 ; Schubart, Griechische Papyri, Urkunden und Briefe vom 4. Jahrhundert v.Chr. bis ins 8. Jahrhundert n.Chr., Bielefeld-Leipzig, 1927, Taf. 9 ; Hunt & Edgar, Select Papyri, I, London, 1932, n. 1 ; Sigalas, Historia tes hellenikes graphes hypo Antoniu Sigala, Thessaloniki, 1934, p. 174 ; Février, Histoire de l’écriture, Paris, 1948, p. 384 ; Ibscher, Die Papyri als Zeugen antiker Kultur, Berlin, 1949, Taf. III ; Seider, Paläographie der griechischen Papyri, I, Stuttgart, 1967, p. 34 ; Hussein, Vom Papyrus zum Codex, der Beitrag Ägyptens zur Buchkultur, München, 1972, p. 65 ; Sigalas, Historia tes hellenikes graphes hypo Antoniu Sigala, Thessaloniki, 1974, p. 196 ; Μανδηλαρας, Παπυροι και παπυρολογια, Αθηνα, 1980, p. 174 ; Gallo, Avviamento alla papirologia greco-latina, Napoli, 1983, 13 ; Montevecchi, La Papirologia, Milano, 1988, Tav. 10 ; Winter, Tyndale Bulletin, 39, 1988, p. 84 ; Hanson, Biblical Theology Bulletin, 19, 1989, pp. 142–151 / 20, 1990, pp. 10-21 ; Pestman, David & Groningen, The new papyrological primer, Leiden, 1990, pp. 67-69 ; Cotton & Greenfield, ZPE, 104, 1994, p. 213 ; Μανδηλαρας, Παπυροι και παπυρολογια, Αθηνα, 1994, p. 365 ; Pestman & Rupprecht, Berichtigungsliste der griechischen Papyrusurkunden aus Aegypten, IX, Leiden, 1995, p. 78 / XI, p. 76 / XII, p. 66 ; Porten, The Elephantine Paypri in English : Three Millenia of Cross-Cultural Continuity and Change, Leiden-New York-Köln, 1996, Plate 6 ; Powell, The Greek world, New York, 1997, p. 232 ; Habermann, ZPE, 122, 1998, p. 147 ; Rowlandson, Women and Society in Greek and Roman Egypt, Cambridge, 1998, p. 123 ; Schubert, Vivre en Égypte gréco-romaine : Une sélection de papyrus, Vevey, 2000, pp. 65-67, n. 6 ; Arnaoutoglou, Mnem, 56, 2003, pp. 760-765 ; Haynes, Fashioning the feminine in the Greek novel, London-New York, 2003, pp. 23-24 ; Bagnall & Derow, The Hellenistic Period : Historical Sources in Translation, Oxford, 2004, n. 145 ; Meyer, Legitimacy and Law in the Roman World : Tabulae in Roman Belief and Practice, Cambridge, 2004, p. 17 ; Cavallo, La scrittura greca e latina dei papiri : Una introduzione, Pisa-Roma, 2008, p. 22 ; Günther, Griechische Antike, Tübingen, 2008, p. 16 ; Lippert, Einführung in die altägyptische Rechtsgeschichte, Berlin-Hamburg-Münster, 2008, p. 143 ; Richter in Gastgeber, Mitthof & Palme, Quellen zur byzantinischen Rechtspraxis : Aspekte der Textüberlieferung, Paläographie und Diplomatik, Wien, 2009, p. 49.
 
 
►  Source : Papyrus discovered at Elephantine, Egypt, in 1906.