Your Day in the Ancient Greek World

November 25

November 25 in ancient Greece is represented in our source-audited archive by one verified record dated AD 30. The entry below connects this calendar date with its surviving historical evidence and context.

Across the centuries

On This Day

  1. AD 30

    Life on This Day

    Roman Egypt, provenance uncertain Society & Daily Life High

    Zois Writes Her Brother About Bread and Alexandria

    On November 25, AD 30, a woman named Zois wrote in Greek to her brother Ischyrion. She discussed sending an artaba connected with bread and then turned to his possible travel to Alexandria. The letter preserves ordinary family communication while modern scholars continue to debate the precise reading of one phrase.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • P.Oxy. X 1291

    Modern scholarship

    • Nikos Litinas, Notes on Papyri: Styles and desires in P.Oxy. 10.1291, BASP 51 (2014)
    • R. S. Bagnall and R. Cribiore, Women's Letters from Ancient Egypt

    Public links