Petaus, lo scriba che... sapeva scrivere?

Despite being a «village secretary», the notorious Petaus son of Petaus, komogrammateus of Ptolemais Hormu during the years 184-187, is believed to have been completely illiterate. A new analysis of his archive, lately enlarged with the 13 new papyri of the Milano Vogliano Collection, shades new light over his behaviour with regard to the difficult professional duties tied to his position. He was in fact a careful administrator, being able to grasp an elementary degree of alphabetisation during his adult life and controlling personally the paperwork of his office.