A while back, William Annis introduced me to the Oxyrhynchus Papyri project, and I was digging around on the site yesterday. It linked off to a parent site, which contained yet more Oxyrhynchus papyri. In that part of the site was a page called “A Millenium of Documents”, (http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/POxy/VExhibition/vexhframe_hi.htm), and that in turn, three lines from the top, has a picture of a Latin letter (Syneros to Chius). If you go look at that, and then click on the small picture of the papyrus fragment that comes up, you actually see a letter which appears to have been written during the reign of Augustus 
and you get to check out Latin as it was written then! It is actually pretty clear to read, the only trick being figuring out what the letters are, since they’ve changed a mite over the past 2000 years… But it’s truly cool to look at, and try to sort out! (Syneros very kindly put dots between the words so that you could tell where they ended…)
Kilmeny
funky.
if anyone has trouble finding it because of the frames (as I did, lousy frames), the direct link to the picture is http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/POxy/VExhibition/images/e3.jpg<br />
frames are evil.
Agreed.
Nice one! This is class…and I caught the final word “facere”! =faire
It looks more like Greek than Latin! The capital DELTA, or at least it looks like that, is there : )
It does look so much like the letters are mutated Greek ones! That was one of the cool things about it! I’m now wondering if this is because the guy who wrote the letter generally wrote in Greek, or if all Latin letters looked that way… But it’s hard to find other pictures of Latin papyri with enough clear print available to compare it with…
Kilmeny
latin letters do look more like greek
or, latin word order
look more like greek the latin letters
atque cum interpunctione Latina…
look.more.like.greek.the.latin.letters
I’ve a job at the Leiden Institute of Papyrology, so this wasn’t the first original text I ever saw, but it’s a very fine example. Usually these texts are scraps with only a few letters legible.
Most papyri are in Greek though, because most official documents in Egypt were written in Greek.
Eu)/xomai se e)rrw=sqai
Ptolemaios
[quote author=Milito link=board=6;threadid=326;start=0#2344 date=1059591000]
atque cum interpunctione Latina…
look.more.like.greek.the.latin.letters
[/quote]
whoa! how is that? is there even a verb there
[quote author=Milito link=board=6;threadid=326;start=0#2305 date=1059572737]
A while back, William Annis introduced me to the Oxyrhynchus Papyri project, and I was digging around on the site yesterday. It linked off to a parent site, which contained yet more Oxyrhynchus papyri. In that part of the site was a page called “A Millenium of Documents”, (http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/POxy/VExhibition/vexhframe_hi.htm) … [/quote]
What’s a really really neat site! Thanks for sharing this. It’s really beautiful, even though I can’t read any of it.
[quote author=klewlis link=board=6;threadid=326;start=0#2306 date=1059574838]
if anyone has trouble finding it because of the frames (as I did, lousy frames), the direct link to the picture is http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/POxy/VExhibition/images/e3.jpg [/quote]
That was very thoughtful of you to provide this direct link to the image. The site is very difficult to manoeuvre around!
I found links to a few more fragments on this page http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/POxy/VExhibition/vexhframe_hi.htm.
Wow, that is very interesting! 
Their alphabet does look a bit different than ours. I noticed the delta as well.
I can pick out a few words from it at glance such as “facere.” “necat,” and “itaque,” but I’d hate for our modern texts to be written in that way.
Of course, I’d also have difficulty in making out the letters in Old English!
Yeah, I know what you mean. A while ago I was looking at a site about Old English, and I couldn’t believe it when I first saw it. Luckily, when I read Beowulf in school, it was completely in Modern English. Old English reminds me of Icelandic with the thorn character, eth character, and the “ae” ligature in its alphabet and all. Old English also seems much more Germanic as well, which isn’t surprising since most of its literature was written before the Normans conquered them and introduced Norman-French. If you like seeing old literature from different cultures (including Latin), you can find alot of it here: http://www.fh-augsburg.de/~harsch/augustana.html
But anyway, It’s sad to see most of those texts are severly damaged, but that’s to be expected after many centuries.
Here is my reading of the letter. Italics are for the letters I hope I’ve read correctly without being sure of which word it is. Dots are for letters I can’t read. Please correct me !
(1) Suneris Chio suo plur(imam) sal(utem dicit) Si v(ales) b(ene) …co reduxsit ad me ohapim
(2) regium mensularium Oxsyry(nchensem?) .mitem qui quidem mecum est locutus
(3) de inprobitate ipaphrae s. Itaque nihil ultra loquor quam
(4) ne patiarus te propter illas perire Crede mihi, nimia bonitas
(5) pernicies homin[ib]us est vel maxsima Deinde ipsi tibei demo(n)strabit
(6) qu[a]e rei sit qum illum ad te vocareis set perseuera
(7) Qui de tam pusilla summa tam magnum lucrum facit
(8) dominum occidere volt Deinde ego clamare debeo si quid video
(9) deuom atque hominum
(10) tuum erit uindicare ne alio libeat facere
Remarks
- the “x” has always been written “xs”
Line 4 : PATIARUS = PATIARIS ?
Line 5 : TIBEI = TIBI
Line 6 : QUAE REI should perhaps be QUID REI ? – VOCAREIS = VOCA(VE)RIS “you will have called” – SET = SED
Line 8 : VIDEO : I’m not sure at all…
Line 9 : ALIO must be DAT sing instead of ALII. It is very infrequent but it can be found.
I add an attempt of translation in French. I’m sure someone could translate it into English… It is something about top financiers. “Dallas” in the Ancient World.
“Suneris salue bien son cher Chius. Si tu vas bien, c’est bien. …co a ramené chez moi Ohapis (?), le banquier royal d’Oxyrhynchos, un homme bien doux (?) qui m’a certes parlé de la malhonnêteté d’Ipaphra (?)… c’est pourquoi je ne te dis rien d’autre que (ceci) : ne souffre pas de te perdre pour ces (femmes)-là. Crois-moi, une bonté excessive est pour les hommes une très grande (source de) ruine. Ensuite, il te montrera à toi-même de quoi il s’agit (?) lorsque tu l’auras appelé auprès de toi, mais tiens bon ! Celui qui tire autant de bénéfice d’une si dérisoire somme (d’argent) veut tuer (son) maître. Ensuite Je doit crier, si … des hommes, ce sera ton rôle de faire une réclamation (en justice) de peur qu’il ne plaise à un autre de le faire.”
Right on, Skylax!!
I’ve been thinking I should do this, but haven’t gotten around to it - mostly because I’d want to work from paper, and haven’t tried to print it out…
A weekend project, for sure! (And in the mean time, I can brush up on some French by reading yours!)
Kilmeny
[quote author=Ptolemaios link=board=6;threadid=326;start=0#2350 date=1059593181]
I’ve a job at the Leiden Institute of Papyrology, so this wasn’t the first original text I ever saw, but it’s a very fine example. Usually these texts are scraps with only a few letters legible.
Most papyri are in Greek though, because most official documents in Egypt were written in Greek.
Eu)/xomai se e)rrw=sqai
Ptolemaios
[/quote]
Oh dear… I think I’m jealous. I’ve been wondering how one gets into papyrology…
Kilmeny
[quote author=Episcopus link=board=6;threadid=326;start=0#2359 date=1059597360]
[quote author=Milito link=board=6;threadid=326;start=0#2344 date=1059591000]
atque cum interpunctione Latina…
look.more.like.greek.the.latin.letters
[/quote]
whoa! how is that? is there even a verb there
[/quote]
No, Episcopus, there isn’t. 
I used an incomplete sentence… “And with latin punctuation”
Kilmeny
a (very) free translation of Skylax’s french …
Suneris warmly greets his dear Chius. If you are well, that’s good. …co has brought Ohapis to my place, the royal banker of Oxyrhynchos, quite a gentle fellow, who has spoken to me most assuredly of the dishonesty in Ipaphra … that’s why I’m telling you this only: don’t allow yourself to be corrupted for these ladies. Believe me, an excessive amount of goodness in a man is a sure way to ruin. Further, he will show you personally what it’s about, since you will have called him to you, but hold tight! He who derives so much benefit from such a paltry amount of money, wants to kill his master. Further, I must protest, if men’s … , it will be your job to lodge a (legal) complaint, lest no one else wants to do it.
Thank you so much ! 
Now let’s wait for amendments and additions. This text is allusive, so I don’t understand fully the point of the story. Maybe the addressee had borrowed (from a servant??? - or is it a special meaning of dominus?) a little money at a very high interest rate?
Now, wait and see.