P. Iand. inv. 398: A fragmentary Ptolemaic prosangelma

The form and the function of the prosangelma in the Ptolemaic period has been thoroughly examined in the classic M. Hombert and C. Préaux, "Recherches sur le prosaggelma à l'époque ptolémaïque", C.d'É., 17 (1942). In the ensuing years, new texts were published to contribute to the already available material e.g. Aly (1958), Mosallamy (1971), Parca (1984) and a further discussion appears in Parca (1985). Texts published later include P. Köln V 216, SB XVIII 13160, P. Köln VI 272, SB XVI 12813 and 12823, P. Erasm. I 4, Gonis (1992), and most recently SB XXII 15803 and P. Phrur. Diosk 1. 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 a phylakites or a komogrammateus). Moreover, the form of a prosangelma is gradually expanded in the Ptolemaic period, beginning with a short report in the 3rd century B.C. and increasing its length by adding more details to the main body in the 2nd century B.C. 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: διὸ ἐπιδίδωμι in this case, as well as other linguistic aspects. This is what this paper will attempt to examine.