P. IAND. INV. 398: A FRAGMENTARY PTOLEMAIC PROSANGELMA

The papyrus I am going to discuss belongs to the collection of the University of Giessen. It is a fragment of a report of a burglary committed by unknown individuals in a house of undefined localization, but, as the purchase history suggests, it might come from Medinet el-Fayum. The report is submitted in the said form of a prosangelma, which implies a certain handling process and addresses particular officials (most commonly aphylakites or a komogrammateus). Moreover, the form of a prosangelma is gradually expanded in the Ptolemaic period, beginning with a short report in the third century BC and increasing its length by adding more details to the main body in the second century BC. Therefore, aside from the palaeographical factor the text can be dated on the basis of the phraseology used (if, of course, there are no other indicators) and, particularly, by analyzing the appearance of some reoccurring technical expressions: in this case, as well as other linguistic aspects. This is what this paper will attempt to examine.