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Letter in Greek Concerning Purchase of Wool
Not on view
Letters, receipts, and other documents written on papyri and ostraka (broken pots and stone fragments) that survive from Egypt provide a vivid picture of commercial activities in the Byzantine and early Islamic era. Together with coins, they prove that trade continued as political authority over the region was transformed.
The letter’s author writes to his brother about a shopping venture that he took alongside Apa Romanos, probably a local monastic leader. On the trip he attempts to purchase wool for a local woman (the lady Patricia) and himself. Since the wool was not ready, the writer puts a future delivery on credit, which he asks his brother
to cover.
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