_Sesonchosis_ is a fragmentary ancient Greek prose narrative preserved on a single papyrus, P.Oxy. 2466, published in 1961 and housed at the University of Oxford. The 45-line fragment depicts a scene in which a woman comforts and erotically engages a distressed king named Sesonchosis through anointing, kissing, and speech before the text breaks off. The narrative begins and ends abruptly, and its relation to a larger work is unknown. The fragment exemplifies the novelistic adaptation of heroic legend, repurposing Sesonchosis—a Greek romanticization of the Egyptian pharaohs Senwosret or Psamtik I—from a traditional figure of conquest into a protagonist of intimate, popular romance, illustrating a key thematic development in ancient Greek fiction.
| ver | [Break in Text (point at which text breaks off for an unknown length)] [ ]νη .. [] [ ] περικρατῆ ε . [] [ ] τὸν παῖδα ν[ο]ῦν ε[] [ ] Σεσόγχωσις ἀνῆλθε[] [ ]εια λοιπὸν μετὰ τῶ[ν] [ ] ἱππομαχων καὶ ὁπλομ[αχων] [εἰω]θότα βασιλεῦσιν ἐπὶ τ[] [ ἐν]νόμου ἡλικίας γε[νομεν] [ τῷ] πατρὶ εἶπεν, “κ[] [ ] ὑπὸ τῶν πατρῴω[ν] [κε]χαρ[ί]σθαι τὴν ο . [] [ ]αλ[ .. ] . ο . [ . ] ἀηδῶς α[] [ ]ν[ . ]ες . [ . ] . θυμ[] [ τε]λειοῦσθαι σ[] [Break in Text (point at which text breaks off for an unknown length)] [Break in Text (point at which text breaks off for an unknown length)] [ Σεσ]όγχωσις π[] [ ]και τυγχανου[] [ ] . πάντως ἀλλ’ ἔχου[σι] [] ὅπερ ἐπέκλωσαν του[] [] μὴ βουλόμενος τὰ τα[] []ειν ὅταν ἐκεῖνα ἀδεη[] [] τότε αὐτὸς ἐπιφανε . [] [ ]ρι δὲ ἕνα τῶν μορμ[] [ ] ἀνθρώπους οθ .. [] [ ]δαιμονίαν τὴν δω[] [ ] τὸν θεὸν βοηθὸν τ[] [Σε]σόγχω[σι]ς εἰς χώρα[ν] [ ]ρτων ἔξω γε ὅλου . [] [ ]υτα δο .. που .... [] [ ]ε .. τ . [] [Break in Text (point at which text breaks off for an unknown length)] |
Also published as PDF.