Protagonist: Flavius Abinnaeus is commander of the cavalry (praefectus alae) in the Arsinoites nomos, stationed in a fortress in Dionysias, a village in the north-west of the nomos. From AD 342 to 351 he is responsible for frontier control and for policing the countryside. After his retirement he went to live at the other side of the Arsinoites, in Philadelpheia, where his archive was found. (Go to TM People)

Description: Archive of private and official documents (petitions, letters, accounts and lists). Of the 42 letters, 37 are addressed to Abinnaeus and one is written by him. Abinnaeus has 26 different correspondents. 14 petitions are addressed to him in his official capacity as commanding officer at Dionysias. One petition in Latin is directed to the emperors by Abinnaeus himself. Most accounts and lists register tax contributions levied from farmers by the agents of Abinnaeus.

Publication: P. Abinn.

Studies: The archive was collected and reedited by Bell e.a., The Abinnaeus archive. Papers of a Roman officer in the reign of Constantius II, 1962 [P. Abinn.]. Abinnaeus' career is described by Barnes, Phoenix 39 (1985), p. 368-374. Pestman, Familiearchieven uit het land van Pharao 1989, p. 134-137 gives a short introduction. Cf. also Teeter, The Classical Bulletin 80 (2004), p. 27-34. For the unpublished Coptic papyri, cf. Fournet, Pap. Congr. XXII (Firenze 1998), 2001, p. 483-484. For the provenance, cf. C. Gallazzi, AfP 61 (2015), p. 170-179. For the possible sub-archive of Gerontios on ostraca, cf. Quenouille, Pap. Congr. XXVII (Warsaw 2013), 2016, p. 975-990; Waebens in A Blackwell companion to Greco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt, 2019, p. 211-212 no. 7

Lists: Montevecchi, La papirologia, 1988, p. 259 no. 73; Seidl, Rechtsgeschichte Ägyptens als römischer Provinz, 1973, p. 69 no. 2.7

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