Erotic Narrative Anonymous Tinouphis in Greek
Tinouphis is a fragmentary ancient Greek erotic narrative preserved on a single papyrus, P.Oxy. LXXIII 4930, from Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. The surviving prose passage presents a first-person account of a seduction, describing a character named Tinouphis being led, kissed, and having his hand placed on a body part, likely within a bedchamber. The narrative details an erotic encounter and a seduction involving the character Tinouphis, with a possible Egyptian setting inferred from the Egyptian name of the titular figure. The text is known solely from this papyrus fragment, dated paleographically to the late second or early third century CE, which provides a terminus ante quem for its composition. The fragment consists of partial text on both sides and is otherwise unattested in any ancient source. As a recently published fragment, Tinouphis holds significance for papyrologists and scholars of ancient popular literature, illustrating the presence of erotic prose fiction within the Greco-Roman culture of Egypt.
| 1 | [The initial 3 lines are too mutilated to reproduce.] [ ... ] . ον ἄ̣σχετον καί τις εἶπεν βροτῶν [ .. ] . ο̣ὗτο̣ς, ὦ θεοί, βασιλέως σωτὴρ φανείς . [ ...... ]κα κατεκρίθη μοιχάδα .... λ̣ε̣[] .... [ ... ] .. ς ὁ νόμος, ἂν γυνὴ μο̣ι̣χ̣ὰ̣ς̣ ἦ̣ ἱερε̣[ .......... ] .. ⏕–⏑⏕–⏑⏑ καὶ τοῦ κατακριθέ̣ν̣τ̣ο̣[ς] ⏕–⏑–⏕– βροτῶν οὐκ ἀγρότης̣ . [ ...... ] ⏕–⏑–⏕ δαιμόνων μοίρης γὰρ ἦν̣ [τ]ρ̣ο̣π̣α̣[ῖ]ον ἐντεῦθεν ἦν πλίνθος μία σώτειρα τοῦ προφήτου [ἀλλ’] ο̣ὐδὲ ε[ἷ]ς ἠπίστατο ἦν αὐτόσοφον ὁ τέκτων ἐ[ν]ταῦθα γοῦν ὁ δήμιος ἔστησε τὸν προφήτην ὁ δήμιος δ’ ὁ δυσσεβὴς ὁ τοῖς τρόποισι φαῦλος ἔσωσε τ̣[ᾖ] π̣οθουμένῃ ζώοντα τὸν Τινοῦφιν πορθου γ̣ὰρ ἦν ὑπηρέτης καὶ τῆς πικρᾶς [ἀν]άγκης. ἐπὶ γοῦν μέγ̣ι̣[σ]τον οἶκον παρὰ [τὴν] σ̣υ̣ν̣ή̣θειαν οὗτος ἐποίησεν, ἐπύ[θε]το τὸ αἴτιον ὁ Μαγώας καὶ ὁ Σωσίας ἀπεκ̣ρ̣ίνατο ἔργῳ τοῦτο ἐπίτηδες π̣[εποι] ηκέναι διὰ τὸ τὸν Τινοῦφιν μάγον τ̣[υγ] χάνειν· ὁ δ’ εὖ λέγειν ὑπολαβὼ̣[ν τὸν] δ̣ήμιον ἀπέστη· τελέσας δὲ πά[ντα ὁ] Σ̣ω̣σ̣ί̣α̣ς̣ πρὸς τὴν Ἰσ̣ι̣άδα ε .... [] |