Ber. P. 23922 a - b and P. 23967

frag. a = Upper Fragments (Pl. 13445a- P.. 13461-2 + B/AM x 582 h.) Verso (90° to the recto) frag. b = Lower Fragments (P. 13445-23140-88; P. 13445-1; P. 13445-6; P.13445-5; and P.13445-5) Commentary TAD titles this document “Fragmentary Letter re Egyptians Imprisoned.”*1* Unlike the other surviving documents that begins with “servant” or “your (m.s.) servant” (EM 43493 = TAD A.3.1 and EM 43467 = TAD A.4.10), this one may be a multicolumned document. In support of this is P. 23140-43, which includes the name פיא, and is written in the same hand as the other fragments on a papyrus. P. 23140-43 contains a sheet-join, however, and since the name פיא is probably introduced for the first time in the main text on line 13, and since no fragments of texts written over a sheet-join are missing after line 13 in the col. i, P. 23140-43 may belong to a second column. Line 3. -ארת ˀArta-... is the beginning of a Persian name. Lines 5–6. It us unclear if it is by coincidence that these two lines begin with the same word, or if this is a formatting feature on the manuscript. Line 7. The new fragment belongs to this document based on material, paleographic, and formatting similarities. It must sit some centimeters below the surviving fragment, and a distinct cluster of fibers on the verso suggests that it aligns with the right column. For the line spacing to align recto and verso, the recto’s column must have slanted slightly leftward over the course of a 1-2 more lines, placing it below the fold break. The restoration is tentative. The letter combination -ינצ or -ינח is rare in Egyptian Aramaic sources. In this hand the ח and צ are only distinguishable by the longer left vertical of the צ (see Lower Fragments line 11), which is broken in this fragment. The most attested roots (√נצל “to reclaim” C-stem and √נצח “to be diligent” Dt-stem) are not found in a stem that would match this orthography. Deriving the word for √נטר, which is attested once in the by-form √נצר (Bauer Papyrus = TAD B.1.8) and retains the initial נ in the G-stem imperfect, is not a satisfactory solution (but see the new reading below). Lastly, √נצף “to divide (payment),” which is known from the late Persian Bactrian documents (Naveh and Shaked, p. 207) is so far not attested in earlier Persian period Egypt, leaving it a unfavorable reading. The reading -ינח is left, but also not very satisfactory. The only appearance of this letter combination is in the restored name ינחרו (ˀIr.t-Ḥr-r.r=w*2* Înḥarou) in an Aršama letter Bodl. Aram. IV = TAD A.6.7.7. The obvious answer is to read a G-stem imperfect form of the verb √נחת, but the few attestations (none of which come from Elephantine) exhibit the ellision of the נ (Muraoka and Porten §33b). One instance, however, retains the נ, H5–AP 36 [1583] = Segal no. 6.3 אנחת, and for this reason I favor ינחת. It is unclear if these are G-stems which retain the נ or D-stems (cf. Syriac “to lead down”). Verso, line 1. TAD’s reading for בטתא Buṭetaˀ is superior to Cowley’s בחתא. The writing on the new fragment is better preserved than that on the larger fragment, perhaps owed to the fact that it must be placed past the fold break and therefore was exposed to different conditions in situ. TAD’s reading of the last visible word on the larger fragment is compelling, but does not match the stroke pattern. *1*TAD A, p. 66. *2*See Vittmann, “Ägyptische Onomastik,” 101 and Kornfeld, Onomastica, 82. Lower Fragment: Line 9. The name בגדת is found in a cuneiform Babylonian text from Nippur.*1* Line 12. The new fragment fills the hole in the middle of the papyrus. The reading is still difficult, since the end of the word is lost and this is an unattested name. I read אביתנצר “you shall guard my father,” which is perhaps of Syro-Mesopotamian origin. It is constructed like Abī-itt{e|a}nnu-uṣur by analogy with Nabû-tadd{a|i}nu-uṣur.*2* My reading suffers from the problem that the name is not otherwise attested in Aramaic or Babylonian. The name would be natively Aramaic, as apposed to Babylonian, since the expected Babylonian ending for -uṣur is אצר- in IA.*3* Line 13. The name פטנתר is Egyptian, PꜢ-dj-(ꜢꜢ-)nṯr.w.*4* The name פיא son of Ḥ...: The first name is Egyptian, PꜢ-ỉwỉw or PꜢj-ỉw.*5* If the last name is also Egyptian it may begin with ח(ו)ר Ḥor. This character seems to appear again in P. 23140-43. Line 16. The mention of Cambyses does not date the papyrus, but only provides a terminus post quem. *1*See Eilers, Iranische, 87–8. *2*Tallqvist, Neobabylonisches Namenbuch, 149 *3*See the list of names in Porten et al, “Akkadian Names,” 1–12, esp. 8–11. Only in an unreliable (see. Porten and Yardeni, TAD D, p. 267) handcopy of Graffiti from Aswan made by Archibald Sayce, is a spelling without א found in IA (see TAD D.22.42). *4*Vittmann, “Ägyptische Onomastik,” 101. *5*Vittmann, “Ägyptische Onomastik,” 101.