Dionysius son of Socrates
(0189) Text: Διονύσιος Σοκράτους καὶ οἱ μέτοχοι παραλῆπται | δημοσίο(υ) ἱματισμοῦ κουστωδιῶν παραειλ(ήφαμεν) παρὰ γερδί- | ων κώμης Σεκνωπαίου Νήσου ιστωλο[…]ους χι- | θώνους δέκα ἐννέα (γίνονται) ιθ’ | καὶ (ε)ἰς (σ)τρατιωτικὰς χρείας | τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἰουαδαίᾳ στρατευομένων παλλίωλα λευκὰ | πέντε (γίνεται) ε’. ιγ’ ˪ Αὐτοκράτορος Καίσαρος Τραινανοῦ Ἁδριανοῦ | Σεβαστοῦ. Χοίακ κβ’. | [hand 2] Διογέν[η]ς παρέλαβα. | [hand 3] Ὀνησᾶς συνπαρέλαβα. | [hand 4] Φιλόξενος | συνπαρέλαβα.
Translation: We, Dionysius son of Socrates and the associate collectors of public clothing for the guards, have received from the weavers of the village of Socnopaei Nesus nineteen […] tunics, total 19, and for the needs of the soldiers serving in Judaea five white cloaks, total 5. The 13th year of the Emperor Caesar Trajanus Hadrianus, Choiak 22. [hand 2] Received, Diogenes. [hand 3] Received also, Onesas. [hand 4] Received also, Philoxenus.
Commentary: Greek spelling is eccentric on occasion. The use of white cloaks in Judaea is well attested both archaeologically at Masada and literarily in Josephus.
Provenience: Socnopaei Nesus, Egypt (near Fayuum, Egypt) 128 CE
Bibliography: P.Ryl. 2.189*; A. H. M. Jones, “The Cloth Industry under the Roman Empire,” Economic History Review 12 (1966): 183-192; Gedaliah Alon, The Jews in Their Land in the Talmudic Age: 70-640 C.E., trans. Gershon Levi (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989), 579; Richard Alston, Soldier and Society in Roman Egypt: A Social History (London: Routledge, 1995), 111.