Commodity prices from the Ramesside period An economic study of the village of necroplis workmen at ThebesBYJAC. JanssenLEIDENE.1. BRIL L1975TABLE OF CONTENTSList of Tables . Preface . List of Abbreviations Introduction PART I: SOURCESXIV XVII XXII. The Dating of the Material 11. Ostraca Ill. Papyri .PART 11: PRICES15 23 94I.The Money § 1. The deben. §2. The sniw §3. Use and Value of the snlw §4. The hin § 5. The khar .101 102 105 108 109 112 117 119 122
COMMODITYPRICES FROM THERAMESSIDPERIOD
ANECONOMICSTUDYOFTHEVILLAGEOF NECROPOLISWORKMENATTHEBES BY
lAC.l.lANSSEN LEIDEN E.1.BRILL 1975 TABLEOFCONTENTS Listof Tables.
Preface. List of Abbreviations Introduction PARTI:SOURCES I.The
Dating of the Material 11.Ostraca Ill.Papyri. PART11:PRICES
I.TheMoney 1.The deben. 2.The sniw 3.Use and Valueof thesnlw 4.The
hin 5.The khar. 11.Cereals 6.Emmer(bdt)
7.TheEmmerPricesandtheSeason 8.Barley(it) 9.BarleyasaUnit of Value.
10.TheBarleyPricesandtheSeason 11.EmmerandBarleyPricesCompared
Ill.BasketryandMatting 12.kbs,'grain basket' 13.nbd,bndandkr
14.dnit 15.k r ~ t 16.m(t)rbt,'strainer'or'sieve' 17.mmjmandn*r
18.lrgs/ir*s 19.'nbr XIV XVII XXI 15 23 94 101 102 105 108 109 112
117 119 122 125 127 133 136 140 143 145 147 149 150 VIII
..--20.kskst 151 54.*bwn wt,'canopic jars'243 21.'rlf.,'sack'(?)
151 55.br y-mrlJ244 22.b'w. 153 56.prt-m-hrw,'Book of theDead'245
23.tm5,'mat' and srjr,pallet'. 154 57.*nlw,'shrine'246 24.I:ztp 160
58.WoodenStatues246 25.skr. 161 VIII.Dress IV.Animals
59.Garments249 26.'nb,'smallcattle' 165 60.mss,'tunic'259
27.'5,'donkey'. 16761.d51w265 28.Cattle 17262.srjw/srjy272
29.Blw,'pig' 177 63.btrl nIsh277 30.5pdw,'fowl'. 17864.rj5yt.278
31.wns,'jackal' 17865.ldg.282 V.Furniture 66.rwrjw284 32.b'tl,'bed'
180 67.mrw286 33.krk(r),'couch' 185 68.I;bs.287
34.hdmw,'footstool'. 185 69.bndw288 35.'seat'. 187 70.mb5Y289
36.lsbwt,'folding-stool' 191 71.sndyt289 37.msr. 194 72.swl;w290
73.bry-k'l;t290 VI.WoodenContainers 74.ifd291 38.'fdt. 197
75.twt,'sandals'292 39.g5Wt. 198 IX. Toilet Equipment,Jewellery,and
Amulets 40.. 200 41.dbt 203 76.'razor'299 42.15Y 204
77.'nb,'mirror'301 43.bs 206 78.pSI,'comb' .302
44.Jpt,'corn-measure'. 207 79.bwy,'fan'303 45.mhn. 207 80.bnwn
tiltsgnn,'cosmeticstick'. 303 81.bll, 'end-piece'(?).304
VII.TombEquipment 82.sbw.306 46.Coffins. 20983.smnand sb'308 47.wt
215 84.'ring'.308 48.mn-'nb 23385.mny.309 49.swl;t 23586.blk.310
50.rjb5t. 23887.sJwn msw,'birth-charm'.310 51.ytlt. 239
52.Itr,'shawabti-box' 242 X.Toolsand OtherImplements
53.S5W5btl,'shawabti' 243 88.M,'spike' .312 89.mrj5t,'chisel'.317
XTABLEOFCONTENTS TABLEOFCONTENTSXI 90.Ifrr;!n318 XIV.Wood and
WoodenObjects 91.'nt,'adze' .321 124.nh,'sycamore'.370
92.minb,'axe'322 125.s'd,'log'.371 93.wp.323 126.s3y,'beam'.372
94.sft,'knife'.324127.(I)lyn 374 95.iddk;mrlfgn;kmti324
128.iswt,'plank'.375 96.niw,'spear'325 129.tpt,'stake'.376
97.s/:lmyand mg/:lt,'pestle'and'mortar'.326 130.bt-13w,'mast'377
98.inrn g3f,'griddle-stone'.327 131.irkt,'trunk'.378
99.iknw,'hoe'328 132.p3[y]pt (?)379 100.mrkbt,'chariot' 329
133.gp/:l 380 134.gr't380 XI.Oiland Fat 135.Pricesof
Ship'sParts.381 101.n/:z/:z,'sesame oil' . 330 136.sbd 382
102.mr/:lt 333 137./:l'wand'wn. 384 103.sgnn 336
138.m3wg,'carrying-pole'.385 104.'g,'fat' 337 139.n/:lbt. 387
140.mryf,'board' 388 XII.Food andBeverages 105.ng,'flour' 343
XV.Parts of Buildings 106.Bread andCake. 344 141.sb3,'door' and
sbbt,'door-frame' 389 107./:lnlft,'beer' 346
142./:ltri,'door-jambs' 391 108.Fish 348 143.wb3,'column' 392
109.irp,'wine' 350 144.'gyt. 393 110.bit,'honey' and mn/:l,'wax'
352 145.m3'w. 394 Ill.smy,'curd' 353 146.lnb,'wall' 394
112.iry,'liibyabeans',lbw,sty and's(?) 355
147.lwfn,'site'and'f,'house'. 396 113.356 XVI.. Leather 1l4./:lmy
357 148.dlJrl,'hide' 398 149.bnt,'skin' 400 XIII.Plants
150.(1)[13,'leather sack' 401 115.w3g,'vegetables'. 359 151.msti.
403 116.m/:ly,'flax' 364 117.g3s1,'reed' 365 XVII.Vessels
118.'flag'andtI-SpS,'cinnamon' 365 152.VesselsinGeneral. 407
119.nkpf andlwfyf 366 153.kl 408 120.by. 367 154.Ifbw. 412
121.Mw,'onions' . 367155.If/:ln 415 122.sst/d(?) 367
156.i','and'-n-b'w 418 123.Comparison of Plant Prices 369 157.nw
421 XII 158.lrr 159.dydy 160.rhdt 161.wsm 162.gly 163.mrsw 164.pgs.
165. 166.TABLEOFCONTENTS 167.klt-mrbtand sbnk 168.wglJw 169.
170.11bw 171.lnlJ. 172.lrb. XVIII.MiscellaneousMaterials
173.nwt,'yarn' 1. H. 174.nwl},'rope'
175./:lmlt,'salt'and/:lsmn,'natron' 176.IJmtl,'copper'
177.f/I}ty,'lead' 178.snw,'wool' 179.ht(?). 180.snlr,'incense'
181.'gum'. 182.gm"'papyrus' 183.Water,Firewood,StrawandDung
PARTIll:ECONOMICS Wages 1.Organization of paymentstotheworkmen.
2.Thegrainrations. 3.The rationsinthe'journal of the necropolis'
4.Cakes and beer,datesand vegetables 5.Fish andfuel 6.Pottery.
7.Extraprovisions The Transactions 422 423 425 426 426 428 429 429
430 431 432 433 433 434 435 436 438 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447
448 455 460 466 471 478 485 488 494 TABLEOFCONTENTSXIII
Ill.Features of EconomicLifeintheVillage
1.Whywerethetransactionsrecorded?510 2.Thefrequencyof theuseof
eachmeasureof value514 3.Why wasaparticularmeasUreof valueused?520
4.AnancientEgyptianpricelist523 5.Comparison
withsomepricesfromother sources527 6.Jointproperty531 7.The
wealthof theworkmen533 IV.AncientEgyptianEconomics
1.Preliminaryremarks539 2.The mentalityineconomicmatters540
3.Themoney545 4.Pricefluctuations550 5.Theeconomyof
theVillage,asectoroftheEgyptian economy558 Indexes. Addendum
Documents A.Graffiti B.Ostraca C.Papyri EgyptianWords Coptic Words.
Greek Words Names. 563 564 565 565 565 579 586 592 593 593
LISTOFTABLESXV XXXVIIstatues 247 XXXVIIIListsof
garmentsinPap.HarrisI 255 XXXIXListsof garmentsinostraca 257
LISTOFTABLES XLLaundry listof o.DeM.258 258 XLImss 262 I
130-132XLIId3lw 266 II kbs 134XLIIIscjw/scjy 275 III dnlt 141
XLIVcj3yt 279 IV144 XLVldg. 283 Vm(tJrbt 146 XLVIrwcjw 285 VImncjm
+147 XLVIImrw 287 VII 150 XLVIIIWeavingof a garment 288 VIII. 152
XLIXlfd. 292 IXtm3 156 Ltwt. 294-295 Xscjr+ tm3 159 LImb'k300 XI.
161 LIIb3315 XIIskr. 163 LIIInM331 XIII'nb 166 LIV 335 XIV'3 168
LV'cj339 XV173 LVIfish350 XVIs3iw 177 LVIIbeansandfruit?356
XVII3pdw 178 LVIIIw3cj361 XVIII .181-182 LIXplants369 XIXhdmw 186
LXnh.370 XX -+ hdmw 190 LXIS'd.372 XXIisbwt 193 LXIIs3y.374 XXIImsr
195 LXIIIpartsof ships.381 XXIII'Idt 198 LXIVsbd.383 XXIVg3wt 199
LXV 399 XXV 202LXVIbnt.400 XXVIdbt. 204LXVII (l)b3403 XXVIII3y.
205LXVIIImsti405 XXVIIIbs 206LXIX kI411 XXIXwt. 216LXX 413
XXXwoodfora wt 222LXXI 417 XXXIdecorationof a wt 224LXXIIi'420
XXXIIconstruction of a wt. 229LXXIIInw.422 XXXIIImn- 'nbandwt'3.
233LXXIVlrr.423 XXXIV236LXXV dydy424 XXXVdecorationof a. 237 LXXVI
nwt437 XXXVIytit 241 XVI LISTOFTABLES A Daysof issuinggrainrations
B Daysof theyear1-2of RamessesIVforwhichthere
are'journal'entriesleft. c Days of the year31-32 of Ramesses IIIand
the year1 of RamessesIVforwhichthereare'journal'entries left. D
Rations of psnand bit E Rationsof dsandps F Rationsof Dates G
Rationsof Vegetables HFish-rations IFuel-rations K
DeliveriesofthePotter L Frequency of Pricesindeben M Frequencyof
Pricesinsniw N Frequencyof Pricesinkhar 0Salesof Oxen 464 467 468
472 474 475 476 480 483 487 517 518 520 537 'Ir ,!I:t PREFACE This
book would never havebeenwrittenbutfortheencouragement of
thegreatscholartowhosememoryitisdedicated.Observingfrom
myPh.D.thesismyinterestineconomicmatters,heofferedmewith
hischaracteristicgenerositytheuseofhisinvaluablenotebooksin
ordertoselectfromthemthebasicdataforthepresentstudy.He
furthermoreallowedmetheloanof aspecialnotebookinwhichhe
hadcollectedthematerialforhisarticlePricesandWagesinthe
RamessidePeriod.NeitherhenorIdidsuspectthatitwouldtakeso
longtocompletethework.Proceedingfromanotherarticleof Cerny
aboutFluctuationinGrainPricesduringtheTwentiethDynasty,
Ithoughtitworthwhiletotryanddatethevariouspriceostraca,so
thattheirpricescouldthenbearrangedinchronologicalorder.This
promptedafairlyextensivestudyofthecommunityofnecropolis workmen
ingeneral, while furthermorethe attempt todefine the nature of
theobjectsof whichpricesarerecordedinvolvedtheanalysisof
thearchaeologicalevidenceuncoveredbytheexcavatorsofDeir
el-Medina.Ideeplyregretthatallthistooksomuchtimethatthe results
were ready forpublication only years after the deathof theman
towhom they owe somuch,as willbe evident not only from the above,
but alsofromalmosteverypagefollowingbelow.
Itwasonlywhenthemanuscriptwasalreadyinthepressthat
Ireceivedthreebookswhich,hadtheybeeninmypossessionbefore,
wouldhaveservedasconstantreferencesformyownwork.They are: Cernfs
magnum opus ACommunityof WorkmenatThebesinthe Ramesside
Period,together with thefragmentof amanuscriptthat was
tohaveformedthesecondvolumeofthiswork,by
S.SauneronunderthetitleTheValleyof theKings;andSchafik
Allam'sHieratischeOstrakaund Papyri ausderRamessidenzeit.Inthe
platevolumeof thelatterAllamgivescopiesoftranscriptionsfrom Cernfs
notebooksof severaltextswhichinthepresentstudyarestill
referredtoas'unpublished'.Alistof theseisgivenonp.564.Allam's
translations,althoughcoveringpartlythesamesourcesasdiscussed
here,wouldnot haveledtodifferencesonagreatmanypointshadit
cometomynoticeearlier,however,sincehedidnotstudythewords
withwhichthepresentbookisconcerned,hisaimbeingaltogether XVIII
PREFACE differentfrommine.WhetheranearlieracquaintancewithCernY's
abovementionedbookswouldhavesubstantiallyaffectedmyfinal
conclusionsissimilarlyopentoquestion.Hismaterialonvarious
subjectswasfarmoreextensivethanmine,andhisscholarship
undeniablygreater,butevensomostof thedifferencesbetweenus seem
toconcern marginalproblemsonly.Whereouropinionsareseen
todifferitisforthereadertodecideforhimself withwhomof ushe agrees.
To the variouspersonsandinstitutionswhohavecontributedtothe
completionof thisworkIoffer mysincerethanks. The Netherlands
Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research
(Z.W.O.)notonlymadethepublicationpossiblethroughagenerous
grant,butalsoprovidedmewiththeopportunitytovisittheremains of
theworkmen's community at Thebesandtostudyrelevantantiqui-tiesatthe
CairoMuseum. Iam
indebtedtoProf.SilvioCurtoforallowingmetoexaminethe originalsof
severalostracainthecollectionof theMuseoEgizioat
Turin;toDr.WolfgangMullerforfurnishingmewithaseriesof excellent
photographs of ostraca and papyri preserved in the Agyptisches
MuseumatBerlin;toProf.SergeSauneronforkindlylendingmea
notebookwithtranscriptionsof ostracafoundduringtheexcavation
ofthe'GrandPuits';toMr.I. E. S.Edwardsforhispermissionto
collateCernY'stranscriptionsof someostraca withtheoriginals inthe
BritishMuseum;toProf.PhilippeDerchainforprovidingmewith
photographsofostracainStrasbourg;toDr.HenryFischerfor photographs
of ostraca preservedintheMetropolitanMuseum of Art, New York;
andtoMissAnnS.Robertsonforphotographs of ostraca intheHunterian
Museum,Glasgow. IgratefullyacknowledgethehelpIreceivedfromProf.P.
W.Pest-man,whoreadthefirstdraughtofchapter11ofPartIIIand
contributed substantiallytothework
withsuggestionsandrecomman-dations. Iamindebtedto mystudent,Mr.S.
P.Vleeming,forcompilingthe indexof
Egyptianandotherwords,andtomyassistant,Mr.L. M. J.
Zonhoven,whonotonlydevotedmuchtimeandenergytothe compilationof
theindexofdocuments,butalsoassistedmeinthe ungratefultaskof
proof-reading. ToMissM.vanYperen,whocorrectedtheEnglishof
thegreater part of Part n andthewholeof
PartIIIIexpressmysincerethanks. If this book would never have been
written without the encouragement PREFACEXIX
ofProf.Cernymentionedabove,itwouldequallyneverhavebeen completed
without the generous helpof myfriendProf.John R.Harris.
Forhisnumerouscriticalremarksaswellashiscarefulcorrectionof
myEnglishof PartIandsomechaptersof Part11Iammorethan grateful.The
weekspassedat hishouseinAbingdonindiscussingthe
problemsofthesubjectbelongtothemostpleasantmemoriesin connection
withthe preparations of the work.
Last,butcertainlynotleast,Iwishtothankmywife.Forover
twelveyearsnow"the book" hasformedaregularpartof ourfamily
life.Onlyotherscholars' wiveswillknowwhatitmeansforawoman
tohavetoput up withsucharivalintheinterestof science.Thatthe book
isfinallycompleted after allmaygiveherthesatisfactionof the
knowledgethatshehasnot sufferedin vain. Autumn1974.
LISTOFABBREVIATIONS A'gypw!Stud",,,(Ft';.t'ed'f:gypIOJogie.
CAH];,vu!.I-ll. ThcCambridgc
History.RevisedEdmonofVolumesI&11[quoted.tftcrIheedillOnmlooseCAMtNOS.LAt..
-Eg. Riamlo.\C;lIll1nO.,.Latc-EgyptianMiscellanies.London.
1954=BrownEgyptologicalStudLesI
C\MINOS.LIIilll!\ment.s:RicardoA.Caminos,LiteraryFrlLgmenlsIII
theHicrutic Scripl,O:tford.19S6,
C,IP;/aJ.S",.mglIt1dCredit:RaymondFirthandB.S.Yllfficy.Capital.Savingand
CrcdilInPC",,,,)IStudiesfromAsia.Ckeama,TheCuribbeanand
MlddIcAl'nc>JLondon.1964 XXIILISTOFABBREVIATIONS
CERNY,Lefonteindiretti:Lefonteindirettedellastoriaegizia.StudidiJ.Cerny,
W.Helck,G.Posener,A.Volten.RaccoltidaSergioDonadoni,Roma,1963.
CERNY,Graffiti:JaroslavCerny,Graffitihieroglyphiquesethieratiquesdelanecropole
thebaine(nos1060a 1405).LeCaire,1956=Documentsdesfouillespublies
par lesmembresdel'Institut d'Archeologieorientale, T.9.
CERNY,GrainPrices:Jaroslav
Cerny,FluctuationsinGrainPricesduringtheTwentieth
Dynasty,Arch.Or.6,1934,173-178. CERNY,Hier.lnscr
...Tut'ankhamun:JaroslavCerny,HieraticInscriptionsfromthe Tombof
Tut'ankhamiin,Oxford,1965=Tut'ankhamiin'sTombSeriesn.
CERNY,LateRam.Letters:JaroslavCerny,LateRamessideLetters,Bruxelles,1939=
BibliothecaaegyptiacaIX. CERNY,Prices
andWages:JaroslavCerny,PricesandWagesinEgyptintheRamesside
Period,Cahiersd'histoiremondialeI,1954,903-92\.
CERNY,Repertoireonomastique:JaroslavCerny,aveccollaborationdeB.Bruyereet
de1.1.Clere,RepertoireonomastiquedeDeirel-Medineh,LeCaire,1949=
DocumentsdefouillesdeI'Institut d'ArcheologieorientaleduCaire,
TomeXII.
CHAMPOLLlON,Monuments:JeanFranqoisChampollion-le-jeune,Monumentsde1'E-gypteetdelaNubie,Paris,1835-1845.
TheCityof Akhenaten:TheCityof
Akhenaten,3parts,4vols,London,1923-1951
TheEgyptExplorationSociety,38th,40thand44thMemoir.
CRUM,Copt.Diet.:W.E.Crum,ACopticDictionary,Oxford,1939.
DARESSY,Ostraca(Cat.gen.):G.Daressy,Ostraca(nos.25001-25385),Catalogue
generaledesantiquites du Museedu Caire,LeCaire,1901.
Drogenwb.:HildegardvonDeinesundHermannGrapow,Worterbuchderagyp-tischenDrogennamen,
Berlin,1959=Grundriss derMedizin derAltenAgypterVI.
EDGERTON-WILSON,Hist.Records:WilliamF.EdgertonandJohnA.Wilson,His-toricalRecordsofRamsesIll.TheTextsinMedinetHabu,VolumesIand11,
Chicago,1936=StudiesinAncient OrientalCivilisation,No.12.
ERICHSEN,Demot.Glossar:W.Erichsen,DemotischesGlossar,Kopenhagen,1954.
ERMAN,Neuiigypt.Gramm.2:Adolf
Erman,NeuagyptischeGrammatik.Zweite,vollig
umgestalteteAuflage,Leipzig,1933.
FAuLKNER,Cone.Diet.:RaymondO.Faulkner,AConciseDictionaryofMiddle
Egyptian,Oxford,1962. GARDINER,TheChesterBeatty
Papyril:AlanH.Gardiner,TheLibraryof A.Chester Beatty.The
ChesterBeattyPapyri,NoI,London,1931.
GARDINER,EgyptianHieraticTexts:AlanH.Gardiner,EgyptianHieraticTexts.
SeriesI:LiteraryTextsoftheNewKingdom.PartI,ThePapyrusAnastasiI
andthePapyrusKoller,togetherwiththeParallelTexts,Leipzig,191 I.
GARDINER,Grammar':SirAlanGardiner,EgyptianGrammar,beinganIntroduction
totheStudy of Hieroglyphs.ThirdEdition,Revised,London,1957.
GARDINER,Hier.Pap.Brit.Mus.:AlanH.Gardiner,HieraticPapyriintheBritish
Museum.Third Series.ChesterBeattyGift.2 vols,London,1935.
GARDINER,Late-Eg.Mise.:AlanH.Gardiner,Late-EgyptianMiscellanies,Bruxelles,
1937=BibliothecaaegyptiacaVII.
GARDINER,Late-Eg.Stories:AlanH.Gardiner,Late-EgyptianStories,Bruxelles,
1932=Bibliotheca aegyptiacaI.
GARDINER,Onom.:AlanH.Gardiner,AncientEgyptianOnomastica,2vols,London,
1947.
GARDINER,Pap.Wilbour:AlanH.Gardiner,TheWilbourPapyrus,3vols,London,
1941-1948[withvo\.IV,Index,byRaymond O.Faulkner,London,1952].
Giornale:cf BOTTI-PEET. graff. : graffito/i. LISTOFABBREVIATIONS
XXIII GrainPrices:cf CERNY. Gri/fithStudies:StudiesPresentedtoF.
L\'Griffith,London,1932. HARRIS,Lexicogr. J.
R.Harris,LexicographicalStudiesinAncientEgyptian
Mmerals,Berhn,1961=DeutscheAkademiederWissenschaftenzuBerlin.
InstitutfUrOrientforschung,Veroff.Nr.54.
HAYES,OstrakaandNameStones:WilliamC.Hayes,OstrakaandNameStones
fromtheTombofSen-Mut(No.71)atThebes,NewYork,1942=The
MetropolitanMuseumof Art.EgyptianExpeditionPublications.Vo\.15. HA
YES,Seepter:WilliamC.Hayes,TheScepterofEgypt.ABackgroundforthe
Studyof theEgyptianAntiquitiesinTheMetropolitanMuseumof Art2Parts
Cambridge,Mass.,1953-1959.',
HELCK,Beziehungen:Wolfgang.He\Ck,DieBeziehungenAgyptenszuVorderasien
im3.und2.1ahrtausendv.Chr.,Wiesbaden,1962=AgyptologischeAbhand-lungen,Bd.5.
HELCK,DasBier:WolfgangHe\ck,DasBierimAltenAgypten,Berlin,1971.
HELCK.Materialien:WolfgangHe\Ck,MaterialienzurWirtschaftsgeschichtedesNeuen
Reiches,TeilI-VI,Wiesbaden,1961-1969=AkademiederWissenschaftenund
derLiteraturinMainz.Abh.derGeistes-
undsozialwiss.Klasse,Jhrg.1960-1969+
IngeHofmann,Indices,Wiesbaden,1970(= Abh.1969,Nr.13).
HELCK,Verwaltung:WolfgangHe\Ck,ZurVerwaltungdesMittlerenundNeuen
Reichs,Leiden-Koln,1958=Probleme derAgyptologie,Bd.3.
Hier.Ostr.:JaroslavCernyandAlanH.Gardiner,HieraticOstraca,Oxford,1957.
Hierogl.Texts:HieroglyphicTextsfromEgyptianSte1aeetc.,9parts,London
1911-1970.' JANSSEN,Ship 'sLogs
:JacobusJohannesJanssen,TwoAncientEgyptianShip'sLogs.
PapyrusLeldenI350versoandPapyrusTurin2008+ 2016,Leiden,1961. JARCE.
: Journalof theAmericanResearchCenterinEgypt. JEA.: The Journalof
EgyptianArchaeology.
JIf0L.:1aarberichtvanhetVooraziatisch-EgyptischGenootschap"ExOrienteLux".
JEQUIER,Lesfrcsesd'objets:GustaveIequier,Lesfrisesd'objetsdessarcophagesdu
MoyenEmpire,LeCaire,1921=MemoirespubliesparlesmembresdeI'Institut
d'Archeologieorientale duCa ire,Tome47. JESHO. : Journalof
theEconomic andSocialHistoryof theOrient. JNES. : Journalof
NearEasternStudies. JRAS. : Journalof theRoyalAsiaticSociety.
Gartenpflanzen:LudwigKeimer,DieGartenpflanzenimaltenAgypten.
AgyptologischeStudien,Berlin,1924.
KRl.:K.A.Kitchen,RamessideInscriptions.
LEFEBVRE,lnser.cone.lesgrandspretres:GustaveLefebvre,Inscriptionsconcernant
lesgrandspn:tresd'AmonRome-RoyetAmenhotep,Paris,1929.
Romansetcontes:GustaveLefebvre,Romansetcontesegyptiensde I epoque
pharaomque.Traductionavecintroduction,noticesetcommentaireParis
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MarketsinAfrica:PaulBohannan and George Dalton,Markets
inAfrica,Northwestern UniversityPress,1962. MDAIK.:
MitteilungendesDeutschenArchaologischenInstitutsAbteilungKairo.
Med.Habu:MedinetHabu.TheEpigraphicSurvey,vo\.I-IlI(p\.1-192)Chicago
1930-1934.', MelangesMasperoI: MelangesMasperoI.Orient
ancien.4fascicules,LeCaire,1934. XXIVLISTOFABBREVIATIONS
1961=MemoirespubliesparlesmembresdeI'Institutf r a n ~ a i
sd'Archeologie orientale du Caire,T.66.
MESNILDUBUISSON,Nomsetsignes:ComteduMesnilduBuisson,Lesnomset
signesegyptiensdesignant desvasesou objetssimilaires,Paris,1935.
MIO. :MitteilungendesInstitutsfUrOrientforschung.
MONTET,ScenesdelaviepriV/?e:PierreMontet,Lesscenesdelaviepriveedansles
tombeauxegypriensdel'AncienEmpire,Strasbourg,1925=Publicationsdela
Faculte desLettres del'UniversitedeStrasbourg,fasc.24. O.:
ostracon. O.Cairo:cfI)DARESSY,Os/raca(Cat.gen.)=Nos 25001-25385.
2)JaroslavCerny,Ostracahieratiques(Cat.gen.)=Nos25501-25832.
O.Col.Campb. :OstraconColinCampbell(nowintheHumerianMuseum,Glasgow;
unpublished).
O.DeM.:cfJaroslavCerny,CataloguedesostracahieratiquesdeDeirelMedineh
(nos.1-456),5vols,LeCaire,1937-1951;andvol.7(nos.624-705),LeCaire,
1970. SergeSauneron,CataloguedesostracahieratiquesdeDeire1
Medineh(nos.550-623),LeCaire,1959. O.DeM.Gr.P.:
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Ostracon Gardiner(unpublished). O.Gard.fragm.:Ostracon
Gardiner,fragment(cfp.61,note95). O.IFAO.:OstraconInstitutf r a n ~
a i sd'Archeologieorientale du Caire(unpublished).
O.Metr.Mus.:OstraconMetropolitanMuseumof Arts,NewYork(unpublished).
O.Michael.: cf Hans Goedicke und Edward F. Wente, Ostraka
Michaelides, Wiesbaden, 1962.
O.Or.Inst.Chicago:OstraconOrientalInstitute,Chicago(unpublished).
OLZ. : OrientalistischeLiteraturzeitung. Pap. :papyrus.
Pap.AnastasiI : cf GARDINER,EgyptianHieraticTexts.
Pap.AnastasilI-VI:cf GARDINER,Late-Eg.Mise.,12-78.
Pap.HarrisI:ed.W.Erichsen,PapyrusHarrisI.HieroglyphischeTranskription,
Bruxelles,1933=BibliothecaaegyptiacaV. Pap.Harris500vs.: cf
GARDlNER,Late-Eg.Stories,1-9and 82-85. Pap.d'Orb. : cf
GARDINER,Late-Eg.Stories,9-30. Pap.SallierIandIVvs.: cf
GARDINER,Late-Eg.Mise.,79-99. Pap.Salt124:=Pap.Brit.Mus.10055;cf
JaroslavCerny,lEA.15,1929,243-258. PEET,GriffithStudies:cf
GriffithStudies. PEET,Pap.Mayer:T.
E.Peet,TheMayerPapyriA&Bnos.M.1I162and11186 of
theFreePublicMuseums,Liverpool.London,1920.
PEET,TombRobberies:T.EricPeet,TheGreatTomb-RobberiesoftheTwentieth
EgyptianDynastybeingacriticalstudy,withtranslationsandcommentaries,
of thepapyriinwhichthesearerecorded,2vols,Oxford,1930. PETRIE,Stone
and MetalVases:W.M.FlindersPetrie,Stone andMetal Vases,London,
1937=BritishSchoolof ArchaeologyinEgyptandEgyptianResearchAccount,
vol.59.
PETRIE,ToolsandWeapons:W.M.FlindersPetrie,ToolsandWeapons,London,
1917=BritishSchoolof ArchaeologyinEgyptandEgyptianResearchAccount,
26thyear.
Phoenix:Phoenix.BulletinuitgegevendoorhetVooraziatisch-EgyptischGenootschap,
Leiden.
PLEYTE-RosSI:PapyrusdeTurin.FacsimilesparF.RossideTurinetpubliespar
W.PleytedeLeide,2vols,Leide,1869-1876. PORTER-Moss2
,l.iandii:BerthaPorterandRosalindL. B.Moss,Topographical
LISTOFABBREVIATIONSXXV
BibliographyofAncientEgyptianHieroglyphicTexts,ReliefsandPaintings.
secondedition,Vol.I,Partsiandii,Oxford,1960-1964.
POSENER,Cat.desostracalitteraires:G.Posener,Cataloguedesostracahieratiques
litterairesdeDeirelMedineh,2Tomes(Nos1001-1213),LeCa ire,1938-1952.
PrimitiveMoney:PaulEinzig,PrimitiveMoneyinitsEthnological,Historicaland
EconomicAspects,London,1948. RAD.:Sir
AlanGardiner,RamessideAdministrativeDocuments,London,1948.
RdE.:Revued'Egyptologie. Rec.Trav.:RecueildeTravauxrelatifsa
laphilologieeta l'archeologieegyptiennes etassyriennes.
ReeueilChampol/ion:Recueild'etudesegyptologiquesdediesa
lamemoiredeJean-FrancoisChampolliona
I'occasionducentenairedelaLettrea M.Dacier,Paris, 1922. RIDA.
:Revueinternationaledesdroitsdel'antiquite,Bruxelles.
SCHIAPARELLI,Rela::ione:Relazionesuilavoridellamissionearcheologicaitalianain
Egitto(anni1903-1920),Volumeprimo:Esplorazionedella"ValledelleRegine"
nellanecropoli diTebe,Torino,[1923].
ScHIAPARELLI,Latombaintatta:Relazionesuilavoridellamissionearcheologica
italianainEgitto(anni1903-1920),Volumesecondo:Latombaintattadell'
architettoChanellanecropoli di Tebe,Torino, [19271.
SETHE,DramatischeTexte:KurtSethe,DramatischeTextezualtaegyptischenMys-terienspiele,Leipzig,1928=Unters.zurGesch.undAltertumsk.Aegyptens10.
SIMPSON,PapyrusRei.mer/I:WilliamKellySimpson,PapyrusReisner11.Accounts
of theDockyard Workshopat ThisintheReignof SesostrisI,Boston,1965.
SPELEERS,Reeueil:LouisSpeleers,RecueildesinscriptionsegyptiennesdesMusees
royauxduCinquamenaire a Bruxelles,Bruxelles,1923.
SPIEGELBERG,Reclmungen:WilhelmSpiegelberg,RechnungenausderZeitSetisI.(circa
\350v.Chr.)mitanderenRechnungendesNeuenReiches,2vols,Strassburg,
1896.
SPIEGELBERG,StudienundMaterialien:WilhelmSpiegelberg,StudienundMaterialien
zumRechtswesendesPharaonenreiches,Hannover,1892.
StudiesPolotsky:StudiesinEgyptologyandLinguisticsinHonourof
H.J.Polotsky, Jerusalem,1964. TOSI-RoCCATI,Stele:MarioTosi-
AlessandroRoccati,SteleeaItreepigrafidiDeirel Medinan.50001-
n.50262,Torino,1972=CatalogodelMuseoEgiziodi
Torino.Serieseconda.Collezioni.Volume I.
TradeandMarketintheEarlyEmpires:KarlPolanyi,ConradM.Arensbergand
HarryW.Pearson,TradeandMarketintheEarlyEmpires.Economiesin
Historyand Theory,Glencoe,Ill.,1957.
Turinstrikepapyrus:=Pap.Turin1880=RAD.45-58.
Urk.I:KurtSethe,UrkundendesAltenReichsI,Leipzig,1933.
Urk.IV:I)KurtSethe,Urkundender18.
Dynastie,2.verbesserteAuflage,4vols, Leipzig,1927-1930.
2)WolfgangHelck,Urkundender18. Dynastie,Heft17-22,Berlin,
-1955-1958.
VANDIER,Manuel:J.Vandier,Manueld'archeologieegyptienne,5vols,Paris,1952-1969.
WALLERT,DiePalmen:IngridWallert,DiePalmenimAltenAgypten.EineUnter-suchungihrerpraktischen,symbolischenundreligiosenBedeutung,Berlin,1962=
Miinchner AgyptologischeStudienI.
Wb.:AdolfErmanundHermannGrapow,WorterbuchderaegyptischenSprache,
Leipzig,1926-1953(5Biinde+ Belegstellen).
Wb.Med.:HildegardvonDeines[und]WolfhartWestendorf,Worterbuchdermedizi-schenTexte,2vols,Berlin,1961-1962=GrundrissderMedizinderaltenAgyp-terVII.
XXVILISTOFABBREVIATIONS
WENTE,LateRam.Letters:EdwardF.Wente,LateRamessideLetters,Chicago,
Illinois,1967=StudiesinAncientOrientalCivilizationNo.33.
WOLF,Bewaffnung:WaltherWolf,DieBewaffnungdesaltagyptischenHeeres,Leipzig,
1926.
WRESZINSKl,Atlas1:WaiterWreszinski,AtlaszuraltaegyptischenKulturgeschichte,
Leipzig,1923. WZKM. : WienerZeitschriftflirdieKundedesMorgenlandes.
z;fs. : ZeitschriftfliragyptischeSpracheundAltertumskunde. ZDMG. :
ZeitschriftderDeutschenMorgenHindischenGesellschaft. INTRODUCTION
Iln'estpasd'histoireeconomiquepossiblesansconnais-sanceassureedesprixetleursmouvements.
LucienLefebvre Sincethebeginningofthecenturythestudyofpriceshasbeen
recognizedasanessentialpartofeconomichistory.In1931itwas
givenfreshimpetuswiththeinitiation,throughthehelpofthe
RockefellerFoundation,of the'InternationalScientificCommitteeon
PriceHistory',underwhoseguidancetherehasbeenpublisheda seriesof
studiesconcerningthehistoryof pricesinseveralEuropean
countries,fromtheMiddleAgesuntilrecenttimes. 1 Theaimof these
studies hasbeento provide the economic historian withanucleus of
hardfacts,assembledwithoutanybiasconditionedbyeconomic theory.As
SIRWILLlAM(laterLORD)BEVERIDGE,theinitiatorof this
committeeandtheco-authorofoneofitsmajorstudies,saysof himself inthe
introductiontothebook,2 "I canhavenobiastowards
interpretingthepricesandwagestofitanypreconceivedviewof the
surroundings,tosupport ortorefuteanytheoryof
economicdevelop-ment.For Ihavenotheories;Ihavenot
learnedfromotherexplorers whatIought todiscover".
Asimilarabsenceoftheoryliesatthebaseofthepresentbook,
mypositionbeingalltheeasierinsofarasnoeconomichistoryof
ancientEgypthasyetbeenwritten.It isindeedtoprovidematerial
forsuchastudythat Ihaveundertakenthispublication.
ThebackgroundtothepricehistoryofancientEgyptisvery
differentfromthatformediaevalormodernEurope:therewere,for example,
no institutions such as Winchester College or the Royal Navy,
recordingfromdaytodaywithoutinterruptionforcenturiestheir
purchasesof foodandothercommodities,thusenablingscholarsto drawup
listsof priceswhichmaysometimesspanuptofivehundred
years.3However,thematerialstudiedhereisinthisrespectmore
1Listed(until1956)byH.VANDERWEE,Cahiersd'histoiredesprix,I,9ff.(Leuven,
1956).
2PricesandWagesinEngland,fromtheTwelfthtotheNineteenthCentury,vo!.I,
MercantileEra(London,1939).Thequotationisfromp.xii.
3TheBursarRollsandtheBooksof WinchesterCollegepresenta
seriesfrom1393 2INTRODUCTION satisfactorythananycollectionof
pricesbeforetheMiddle Ages,with thepossibleexceptionof
whatisavailablefromsomeMesopotamian cities(of whichalmostnothing
hasyetbeenpublished,sofarasIam
aware).Thereasonforthisisthatthe1250pricesanalysedcomefrom
onesinglevillageandfromwithinaperiodofabout150years.
Moreover,theyarenot'idealized'pricesfromliteraryorhistorical
sourcesnoraretheyartificiallyfixedasingovernmentordinances:
theyaretruepricespaid forrealobjectsintransactions whichactually
took place. Whileisolatedpricesof
anycommodityareoflittlesignificance,4
thepresentmaterialformsacoherentwhole,enablingusforthefirst
timetooutlinetheeconomiclifeofavillageinancientEgypt.
Admittedly,itisnotanordinaryvillagebutaratherexceptionalone,
aswillbeshowninPartIll;yet,thedataassembledfromitwill
provideameansof comparison forisolatedpricesfromotherpartsof
Egyptandotherperiods,throughwhichtoarriveatabetterunder-standingof
theirsignificance.5 Someinstancesof thiswillbecitedin thelast part
of thisstudy. Thereisafurtherreasonwhyoneshouldnotexpectfromthe
pricesof ancientEgyptresultscomparabletothoseobtainedfromthe
pricehistoryof latertimes.Tounderlinethisonecannotdobetter
thanquoteBEVERIDGEonceagain:"Themostgeneralandelusive
problemofall(is)thatofqualityanddescription.Eventhebasic articlesof
commerceintheirsimplestform-wheatorironorsaltor
beeforwool-areneitheruniformnorimmunetochange.Aswe
proceedfromthesebasicarticlestoarticlesinvolvingmanufacture,
howeversimple,varietyandchangebecomecommoner,andtheneed for precise
description grows ... ".6 The position isyet more complicated
forancientEgyptthanformorerecenttimes,sinceaquitecrucial
problemisaddedtothosereferredtobyBEVERIDGE,namelythe
onwards.ThenoteskeptbytheVictuallingBoardoftheRoyalNavyrunfrom1683
until1826,andthosefromtheNavalStoresfrom1566until1813.
4cr.BEVERIDGE,op.cit.,xxv-xxvii.
SDAUMAS,inhisbookLacivilisationdeI'Egyptepharaonique(Paris,1965),
remarksthat"
...lemanquetotaldepointsdecomparaisonconstitueunobstacle
majeuritI'intelligencedesfaits"andcontinues:"Sinoussavons,parexemple,le
prixdesrobesetdesparfumsd'unereinetoutaudebutdelaXVIII'dynastie,nous
ignoronstoutitfait- etprobablementsansrecours-
celuidesvetementsetdes
onguentsdontsecontenaitI'humblepaysanne,lacitadinedeconditionmodesteou
memelesdamesdelacour"(p.215).Hisscepticismisratherextreme,sincethe
presentstudyofferspreciselysuchmeansof comparison. b Op.cit.,xxxii.
INTRODUCTION 3 many deficienciesinour knowledgeof
theEgyptianlanguage.Though
understandingofithasdevelopedconsiderablysincethedaysof
CHAMPOLLION,aglance at any page of theWorterbuchder tRgyptischen
Spracherevealstheamountthatremainstobedone.Becauseof the natureof
hieroglyphicwriting,whichusesso-calleddeterminativesto
indicatethekindofwordintended-whether,forinstance,itisan
objectmadeof woodormetal,agarmentorabasket-itisusually
possibletoassignanamedcommoditytoaparticularcategory,but
whatpreciselyismeantisstillinmanycasesobscure.Norisamere
translationof anyassistanceforthepurposeof aneconomicstudy.
InthepassagequotedaboveBEVERIDGEspeaksof"theneedfor
precisedescription" :itisnotenoughtotranslateacertainwordas,
e.g.,'tunic'or'cloak',onehasalsotoknowwhattypeof garmentis meant,of
whatitwasmade,what wasitsuseindailylife,andsoon. In the present
work the reader willtherefore findthat almost every entry inPart
11dealingwithaparticularcommodityincludesastudyof its
precisemeaning,inwhich,asfaraspossible,thearchaeological
evidencefromactualobjectsandrepresentationsontombwallsis
takenintoaccount.Inmanyinstancestheresultswillappeardisap-pointing,againemphasizingthatlexicographicalstudiesandspecial
vocabulariesareamongthemosturgentneedsfortheprogressof
egyptology.7Thatithasinfactbeenpossibletomakecertaincontri-butionstolexicographyisincidental,andsuchresultsmustbeseen
asnomorethanaby-productof themaininvestigation,i.e.thestudy of
theprices. Thenon-egyptologicalreadermaybeinclinedtodoubtthevalueof
muchof theworkwhenheappreciatestheseriouslimitationsof our
knowledgeof theEgyptianlanguage.It maythusbeworthwhileto
pointoutthattosomeextentthesituationisbetterforancient Egypt than
formore recent periods.Acharacteristicfeatureof modern
lifeistheimmensevarietyof typesand qualitiesof mostcommodities,
incontrasttowhichtherangeof productsavailableinancientEgypt
wasgenerallyquitesimple.Inseveralareasofdailylifetherewere
onlyafewtypesof objectsof asinglequality,andthisiscertainly
trueinthecaseofthepeopleofthevillagetowhichthepresent
7cr.GARDINER,Onomastica,preface,particularlypp.xix-xx.Thoughwrittenin
1947,GARDINER'Sadmonitionstohiscolleaguesseemtometobejustasrelevant
nowastheywereovertwenty-fiveyearsago,notwithstandingthepublicationof
books
suchastheWorterbuchdermedizinischenTexte,theDrogenworterbuch,HARRIS'Lexico-graphicalStudiesinAncientEgyptianMinerals,andCAMINOS'LateEgyptianMiscel-lanies.
4INTRODUCTION
pricesrelate.Theirdress,forexample,consistedprincipallyof afew
garmentsof standard designandquality.8Infact,onehastoimagine
theirwayoflifeashavingbeenmorelikethatofareasonably
prosperousvillageinoneof themoredevelopedcountriesofAfrica
orAsiaatthebeginningofthiscentury,thanthatofamodern
villageinWesternEurope or theUnitedStates.Weshallreturnagain
tothissubjectinPartIll, whereitwillbeshownthattheeconomyto which
the pricesrelateismorelikethat of so-called'primitive'peoples
thanthat of themodernWestern world.
ThefirstattempttodrawupalistofpricesfromancientEgypt
appearedin1896,inanappendixtoSPIEGELBERG'SRechnungenaus
derZeitSetisI.(pp.87-93).It isentitled'VorstudienzueinemTarif
desneuenReiches',and SPIEGELBERGintendeditmorethananything
elseasanexhortationtootherstopublishalltheavailabledocu-mentationonthesubject.Hisownmaterialwasrestrictedtoafew
papyriandostraca,theformerdatingfromvariousreignswithinthe
NewKingdom.Sincenothingmorehadbeenpublishedatthattime,
itwasnotSPIEGELBERG'Sfaultthathisresultswerefarfrom satisfactory.
The extent of the advances made insubsequent yearsmaybegauged
fromthearticlepublishedbyCERNY 9inCahiersd'histoirernondiale
(I,1953-4,903-921),underthetitle'PricesandWagesinEgyptinthe
RamessidePeriod'.InthisCERNYsucceededinsolvingsomebasic problems
connected with prices,suchastherelationbetweenthevalue of
copperandthatof silver.Hewasalsothefirsttopointoutthe
threedifferentsystemsof price notation,thatindebenof copper,that
insniw('pieces')andhin,andthatinkharandoipe.10 Thematerial
onwhichthearticlewasbasedisinthemainthesameasthatused
forthepresentstudy,butitwasnotpossibleforCERNYtopublish
withinthescopeof anarticleallthepriceshehadassembled,andhe
thereforeselectedwhatheconsideredtobethehighestandlowest values,
and further restricted himself to a selected range of commodities.
Asanexampleonemayrefertop.909,wherehegivestheprices
forabed,statingthatitcosts"from21/2debento25deben,the
mostfrequentpricebeing15deben",andprovidingreferencesfrom 8
SeePartn, 59. 9
In1933tERNYhadpublishedFluctuationsinGrainPricesduringtheTwentieth
EgyptianDynasty(Arch.Or.,6,1933,173-178),inwhichhestudiedpartofthe
materialforgrainpricesusedbelow. 10SeePart11, 1-5. INTRODUCTION 5
theostracaforeachvalue.FromTableXVIIIbelowitemerges,
however,that15debenoccursin10out of 25instances,with20deben
in7,while21/2(infactforthewoodalone)isquiteexceptional.Such
shortcomingsareduetothelimitationsofanarticle,andcanbe overcome
only by publishingthe entirematerial.
Ontheotherhand,CERNYdealtwithmorethanprices,adding fundamental data
about the wagesof thenecropolisworkmen.PartIII ofthepresentwork~ i
l lincludeashortsurveyofthistopic,with
someenlargementonCERNY'Smaterial-thoughwithoutformingan
integralpart of the argument.
Asidefromanypossiblecriticism,itisclearthatCERNY'sarticle
wastherealstartingpointforthestudyofpricesinancientEgypt,
anditwillthusremainaconstantsourceofinspirationtoanyone
turningtothesubject,asmaybeseenfromthemanyquotations below.
Thethirdandmostrecentstudydevoted,atleastinpart,toprices
inancientEgypt,isHELCK'SMaterialienzurWirtschaftsgeschichtedes
NeuenReiches,particularlypartV,inwhichhedealswithfoodand
materials.Thispublicationcontainsallkindsof materialforeconomic
history, of which the pricesareonlyone aspect.That HELCK'Ssources
are lesscomprehensivethanthoseavailableforthepresentstudyisno
faultof his,but,unfortunately,hisworkbristleswitherrors,making
itinadvisabletouseitwithoutcarefullycheckingeverypoint.Asone
exampleof manyonemayturnagaintothepricesof beds(partV,
pp.909-910).Inthefirstline,forpricesof 25deben,HELCKcitesf ~ u r
instances,without noticing that the first(0.DeM.105)andthesecond
(0.Turin9765)areinfactthesametext.Thefourthexample,Hier.
Ostr.86,2,isqualifiedasrn/:!,whichHELCKtranslates'eingelegt',
,":hilebelowonthesamepageherendersrn/:!correctlyas'Bespannen
emesBettes'.Of thepricesof 20deben,thatof Hier.Ostr.86,3does
notexist,thewordbedbeingtherefollowedbyareferencetosome piecesof
wood,thefirstof whichisis'd20:"20logsof
tamarisk-wood".Underthepricesof15debenhegivesHier.Ostr.28,1and
O.Petrie51,whichagainare oneandthesametext.Hier.Ostr.56,5
containsnopricesatall,andGiornalepI.42nopriceofabed;
O.DeM.448andHier.Ostr.86,1vs.11,1,relatenottopricesbut tonumbersof
beds(inneitherinstanceisthere astroke for'one'and
thephraseiri.n,whichusuallyintroducesprices,isabsent).O ~the next
page HELCKstates that Giornale pI.42 and O.Cairo 25342 contain
pricesforthefeetof abed,but thesearenot tobefound. 6INTRODVCTION
Somanyerrorsinasingleentrymustmakeforcautioninusing
thepublication,althoughitcontainsagreatmanyusefulremarkson
allkindsof subjects.
Asstatedabove,theapproximately1250pricesherediscussedcome
fromtheonesamevillage.Thisisthesettlementof theworkmenof
theThebannecropoliswhocutanddecoratedtheroyaltombsof the
PharaohsintheValleyof theKings,those of theirwivesandchildren inthe
neighbouring Valley of theQueens,and alsotheso-calledtombs of
thenoblesalongthefringeof thecultivatedplain.Theworkmen
livedintheirowncommunity,situatedbehindthehillofQurnet
Mura'i,andoutofsightoftheNilevalleyproper.Whethertheir
settlementistobecalledatownoravillagedependsonhowmuch
importanceoneattachestoitshavingbeencompletelysurroundedby
awall.Therewere,however,nomorethansomeseventyhousesin
all,oneithersideofanarrow,windingalleyandtwoside-turnings. For
suchaunittheterm villageseemsmostappropriate.ll The
villageissituatedinadesertvalleyrunning roughlyfromnorth
tosouth,andparalleltothecourseof theNile.Thisvalley,usually known
asDeir el-Medina after a Coptic monasterythatformerlystood
there,has been excavatedinitsentirety-partly, beforethefirstWorld
War,byanItalianandaGermanexpedition,andthencompletely,
from1921to1951,bytheFrencharchaeologicalinstituteinCairo.
Theresultsof thelatterexcavationshavebeenpublishedatlengthin
aseriesof volumes,anditisthereforepossibleto'know'thevillage and
itsimmediatesurroundingsinawaythatfewsuchsettlementsof
theancientNearEastcaneverbeknown.Forwhatevertheeconomic
positionoftheworkmencomparedwiththatofotherlabourersin
Egypt,-aquestiondiscussedbelowinPartIll-the villageremained
acommunityof artisans. Sinceafulldescriptionof
thevillageistobefoundinthepublica-tionscited,12thereislittleneedtodiscussthelayouthere,themore
sointhatitisof minorimportanceinthepresentcontext.Of greater
interestiswhatthevillagewascalledbyitsinhabitants.PEETonce
suggested 13thatitsnamewasMaiunehes,anameoccurringina
11Cf.SMITH,inMan,SettlementandUrban ism(ed.byP.J.VCKO,R.TRINGHAM
and G. W.DIMBLEBY),718,noteI.
12ParticularlyinthevolumebyB.BRUYEREentitledRapportsurlesfouillesde
DeirelMedineh(1934-1935),withtheadditionTroisiemepartie:levillage,les
dechargespub/iques,lastationdereposducoldelaValleedesRois(Cairo,1939).
13PEET,TombRobberies,84. \ INTRODVCTION7 papyrusasthatof
anareawheretherewerehousesinthesouthern part of what was Western
Thebes,but the word doesnotseemtooccur
elsewhere,eitherinotherpapyriorintheostraca.Inseveraltexts
however,thereappearsthetermdmi,14whichreferstoaplaceof
habitationandisgenerallytranslatedaseither'town'or'village' .15
Inthiscaseitwasclearlyusedtoindicatethehomeof theworkmen,
andweshalltherefore callthesettlement'the Village'. The workmenof
theVillageappeartohavebeenlessilliteratethan
theircontemporaries.Fromtheirhouses,bothwithinandoutsidethe
walls,fromtheirtombsintheValleyofDeirel-Medina,fromthe
refuseheapsouthof theVillage,fromthegreatwelldugjustoutside
theValleytothenorth(probablyinavainsearchforwater),from
theirplacesof workintheValleysof theKingsandQueens,indeed
fromeverywheretheywent,therehascomeamassofostraca 16on
whichtheysketchedandwrotetextsofeverykind.Somebear
fragmentaryexcerptsfromliteraryorreligiousworks,whileonmany others
are jotted avariety of accounts,receipts,lists,contracts,etc.-a
wholerangeof documentstodowiththeirdailylife.It isfromthese
lattertextsthat thebulkof thepresentmaterialisderived.
Theidentityof thescribeswhowrotethetextsisinmostinstances
unknown,thoughitmaybeassumedthatusuallytheywerethework of one of
the professional scribesof the Village.Yet theworkmen,who
spentmuchof theirtimeneartheirplaceofworkandduringtheir leisure
hourswillhavewanderedinthedesert,leftontherocksthere
numerousgraffitiinwhichtheysoughttoimmortalizetheirnames.
Thesegraffitiareclearlynotfromthehandofprofessionalscribes,
andthereforeonemayconcludethatsomeof theworkmenpossessed at
leastanelementaryknowledgeof hieroglyphs,asmight,indeed,be
expectedofdraughtsmenwhodecoratedthewallsoftombswith
picturesandtexts.Whetheranyofthemwerealsoabletowrite
completetextssuchasthoseontheostracaisuncertain,thoughit
seemsprobable.
Farfewerpricesoccurinthepapyri,whichwerecertainlywritten
14E.g.O.Cairo25670,2;O.Cairo25785,vs.I;O.DeM.297,6;O.DeM.339,
vs.1-2;Hier.Ostr.46,2,vs.7ff.;O.BerlinII260vs.(unpubl.).Forthestatueof
KingAmenophis(pJnb)pJdmi,whichresidedinoneofthesanctuariesofthe
Village,cf.CERNY,BIFAO.27,1927,167.
15AsGARDINERnotes(Onom.,11,1*)itsCopticformtHEisusedtotranslate
KWIl:'1. while'town'isexpressedbyTT OJ'.. I C.
16Theword'ostracon'isusedbyegyptologistsnotonlyforpotsherds(theliteral
meaning),but alsoforflakesof limestoneonwhichtextshavebeenwritten.
8INTRODUCTION
bytheofficialscribes;inoneortwocases,however,thenumberof
pricesislargerthanonanysingleostracon.Andwhileitisclear,if
onlyfromtheirprovenanceandfromthenamesoccurringinthem,
thatalmostalltheostracacomefrominhabitants of theVillage, I7the
provenanceofmanyofthepapyriislessevident.Thosefoundin
modernexcavationspresentnoproblem,butotherswhichpassedto
museumsandcollectionsatanearlierdate,mostlyfromclandestine
excavators and antiquities dealers-and which constitute the
majority-canbeascribedtotheVillageonlyuponinternalevidence.It maybe
that two maingroupsof papyri,thosedealingwiththetombrobberies
andthoseconstitutingthe'journalof thenecropolis',camefromthe
templeof MedinetHabu,whichwastheadministrativecentreof the
necropolisfromthemidTwentiethDynastyonwards.Anothertext
containingnumerousprices,Pap.Turin1907/8,wasclearlyalso written
inthe neighbourhood, asshown bythe names and geographical
indications,andthesamewillapplytootherpapyriintheTurin
museum.Ofcertaintexts,however,theoriginislikelytoremain obscure.
The textsonostraca,whichconstitute mostof ourmaterial,present their
own difficulties.The writing,acursiveformof hieratic,isseldom
really clear, andthespellingof wordsissometimesratherunorthodox,
aswillbeshownbelow. ISMoreover,inseveralinstancestheostraca
havebeenbrokenwiththepassageoftime,whileinotherstheink
hasfaded,particularlyoverthelastdecadessincetheyhavebeenkept
inwetterclimatesinthemuseumsof EuropeandAmerica.Inmany
casestheywillbeseentohavebecomeillegiblepreciselywhereone
wouldexpecttofindapricewhichmighthavebeenoftheutmost value.
Afurtherproblemisourlackofknowledgeofthecircumstances
inwhichthetextswerewritten,forevenwhenthepricesthemselves are
clearthecontextoftenremainsobscure.Ostracawerewrittenfor,
useineverydaylife,andwerenotgenerallyintendedforofficial
purposes,forwhichpapyruswasproperlyemployed.Anyonereading
themknewthebackground,and therewasthusnoreasontodwellon
itatlength.Thesituationissimilartothatwhichoccursinthecase
17Ostraca fromelsewhereinEgyptareextremelyrareat thisperiod.
18IntheJaarberichtExOrienteLux19,1965-66,443fT.Ihavediscussedsome
ofthesewritings,andpointedattheinconsequentuseoftheso-calledsyllabic
orthography. INTRODUCTION
oflettersfromearliertimes;therecipientusuallyunderstoodthem
perfectly,whereasweare hardlyabletoguesswhattheyareabout.
Grammatically,thenon-literaryostracapresentveryfewproblems.
Theforminwhichthepricesareexpressedissimple.Theonly
difficultyistheomissionof thewordfor'and',whichmaymakeit
hardtodecidewhethertwoormorecommoditiestogetheraremeant
tocostagivenprice,orwhetherthevalueshouldbeassignedtothe
lastoneonly.Comparisonwithothersimilarpriceswillusually,
however,suggestthe correctinterpretation.
Inordertohelpthosereaderswhohavenotasufficientknowledge
oftheEgyptianlanguagetoenablethemtoconsultthesourcesat
firsthand,itmaybeusefultogiveanimpressionofthewayin
whichpricesoccurinthetexts,bytranslatinghereafewtypical
examples,andaddingsomenotestofacilitatetheirunderstanding. The
firstisHier.Ostr.16,3 (= O.Petrie 3),arather simple instance,
whichrunsasfollows: recto1.Year 4,thethirdmonthof
summer,day1.Thisday,buying the ox 2.of workmanPenamunbypoliceman
3.Amenmose.Giveninexchangeforit:fat(?) 19 4.1 'S')-jar,makes
2030deben;2 mss-garments, 5.makes10(deben);copper,5 deben;
verso1.mrbt-oil,10hin,makes5 deben. 2.Total,money 21whichhe
gaveforit:50debenof copper.
Exceptforthelastwordofrt.3thisisaclearlylegibleand
straightforwardtext.It appearstobeareceiptforthesaleof anox,
andexhibitsthegeneralcharacteristicsofmostpricetexts,namely
thatacommodityisexchangedforothercommodities,thoughtheir
valuesarereckonedindebenofcopper.Forthemeaningofthe
differentwordsonemayrefertoPart11;theeconomicimplications of
theuseof 'money'asstandardof valuearediscussedinPartIll. Another
exampleisfromtheversoof O.DeM.73.Therecto,dated
inayear20,undoubtedlyofthereignofRamessesIll,referstoa
suitconcerningthesaleof adonkeywhichwasapparentlyinferior,
19Seep.340.
,.20iri.n,lit.'makes',istheusualwayofindicatingpricesandhasthesenseof
IS equalto'.Inorder toavoidambiguityIwilltranslateitliterally.
21i)f/:cf.p.103,n.12. 10INTRODUCTION
butthistextseemstobearnorelationtothatoftheverso.22The latter
reads: 1.Giventohiminexchangeforthecoffin: 2.81/2 debenof
copper;further,5 debenof copper;
3.Ipig,makes5deben;1goat,23makes3deben;goat,makes [2deben];
4.2(logsof)syc.omorewood,makes2deben.Total,251/2deben.
Thepriceattheendof line3islost,butcanberestoredfromthe
total.Theremainderiseasilylegibleandpresentsnoproblems.This
textalsoconstitutesareceipt,thistimeforthedeliveryofacoffin, and
the'money'againconsistsof commodities,foreachof whichthe
valueisnotedindebenof copper.
Inordertoillustratehowdisappointingthepresentstateofsome ostraca
canbe,Iaddasathirdexamplethebrokenandunpublished O.Gardiner 238.
1.To makeknown ... 2.theseat(f$:nlw).1 mss-garmentof .,. 3.1
leathersack,makes3 deben... 4.Ikbs-basketfullof emmer,makes1 (+
x)deben... 5.emmer,2(?)o i p ~ ,makes1 deben.. . 6.1
(pairof)sandals,makes2 deben .. . 7.1 dnit-basket,makes2 deben ...
8.mrht-oil,2hin,makes... 9.?? Since there are no surviving
names-though the first line may originally have contained one-the
ostracon isnot datable.Nor doweknowfor
certainthekindofobjectforwhichthecommoditiesweregivenin
exchange:itmayhavebeentheseat(f$:ni)of line2,sincethatisnot
followedbyaprice,but thisisnomorethanalikelyguess.Theprice
inline4ispartlybroken,onlyasinglestroke('one')beingleft:it
mayhavebeen2,3or4,andthoughparallelsmaysuggest224one
cannotbesure.Themeaningof line5isequallyuncertain,sincethe
22ThisisnotunderstoodbyHELCK(MaterialienIll,499),whotranslatesboth
textsasif theyrelatedtoone andthesamematter.
23on!;:'goat'or'sheep'; cf.p.165. 24Seep.116. INTRODUCTION 11
signforthequantityof emmerisbadlylegible:possiblyitwas2o i p ~
(=1/2khar).Thepriceinline7lookstobecomplete,thoughaloss of
oneortwostrokesisnotimpossible. Such are the problems
foundinseveral,if notinmostof theostraca onwhichthisstudyisbased.2
5
2SThatnotallostracacontainingpricesarereceiptsforsalesmaybeseenfrom
PartIII,chapter11. CHAPTERONE THEDATINGOFTHEMATERIAL
Theinitialprobleminattemptingastudyof pricesistodatethe documents
inwhichthe notations occur and toarrange theminamore
orlesschronologicalseries.Sincethegreaterpartoftheostraca
concerned,andabouthalfthepapyrihavenoactualdates,theonly meansof
arrangingthem 1isthroughtheoccurrenceof namesinthe
texts.Bynaturethesenamesbelongalmostwithoutexceptionto workmen of
the Village,anditwasthereforeessentialtoestablishwith thehelpof
other datedmaterialalistof theworkmen,inordertouse theoccurrenceof
namesasabasisforgroupingundateddocuments. As wellas
papyriandostracathereareother sourcesof information
abouttheworkmen,notablytheinnumerablestelaesetupinthe
housesandinthesanctuariesoftheVillage,andthetextsonthe
wallsoftheneighbouringtombs.2 Thesetellusmuchaboutthe compositionof
families,but theyareof littleassistanceinplacingthe
texts,sinceneitherstelaenorwalltextsareeverdated.Moreover,the
greaterpartof thembelongtotheNineteenthDynasty,whereasthe
relevantostracacanbeshowntobelongmostlytotheTwentieth.
Asforthegraffitiontherocksintheneighbourhoodof theVillage, 3
1SinceIhaveseenonlyaportionoftheostracaintheoriginalandonlya
portionarepublishedinfacsimile,Ididnotthinkitadvisabletoattempttodatethem
fromthewriting,asCERN\'hasdoneinhispublicationsoftheCairoostracaand
thoseofDeirel-Medina- themoresointhatnopalaeographicalstudiesof
ostracaorbusinesspapyrioftheNewKingdomareyetavailable.Itwasonly
CERNY'Slifelongexperiencethatmadethis- forhim-
areliablebasisfordating.
Inalmosteverycase,however,myownconclusions,drawnfromthenames,concur
withthose of CERNY,basedonthewriting.
2Themainsourcesforthesedocumentsare:G.MASPERO,Rapportsurunemission
en!talie(Rec.Trav.,2-4,1880-1883);B.BRUYERE,RapportsurlesfouillesdeDeir
el
Medineh(17vols.,1924-1953);B.BRUYERE,MertSegerdDeirelMedineh(lItemoires
IFAO.,t.28,1929-1930);HieroglyphicTextsfromEgyptianStelaeetc.intheBritish
Museum,(9vols.,1911-1970);J.CERNY,EgyptianStelaeintheBankesCollection
(1958);MARIOTosl-
ALESSANDROROCCATI,SteleealtreepigrafidiDeirelMedina n.50001-
n.50262(1972). 3W.SPIEGELBERG,AegyptischeundandereGraffitiaus
-derthebanischenNekropolis (2vols.,1921);
1.CERN\"Graffitihieroglyphiquesethieratiquesdelamicropolethebaine
(DocumentsdefouillesdeI'IFAO.,t.9,1956);1.CERN\'etA.A.SADEK,Graffiti
delamontagnethebaine(4vols.,1969-1971). 16SOURCES themajorityof
themarealsoundated,and,further,thepublication of SPIEGELBERGisnot
alwaysreliable.Theytooarethusmoreuseful forgenealogicalstudiesthan
fordating. In working out this approach I encountered twoprincipal
difficulties. Thefirstwasthefrequentuseof
thesamenamewithintheclosed
communityoftheVillage.Weknow,forexample,ofatleastfive
differentpeoplecalled eachofwhomisinsomeinstances
mentionedwiththenameof hisfather,thoughwherethisisnotthe
caseitishardlypossibletochoosebetweenthem.Inparticularthere
isatendencyforthesamenametobeusedatagivenperiodfor persons who were
apparently unrelated-at least asfarasthat wasever
possibleintheVillage.Therearethustwo.mencalledKasaatthe
closeoftheNineteenthDynasty,whilethreenamedAmennakhte
acquiredaplaceinthedutyroster(seebelow)inthesamemonthof year1 of
RamessesIV.4Sometimesthementionof thefather'sname
oraprofession(e.g.,draughtsman,doorkeeper,policeman)mayhelp
todistinguishbetweennamesakes,but thisisbynomeansusual.
Theseconddifficultyinvolvedthelengthoftimeduringwhicha particular
workmanmayappearinthetexts.Asone exampleof many
IwouldherementiontheworkmanUsil).e,whoisfoundforthefirst
timeinO.Berlin1268of year18of RamessesIII(seebelow)andfor
thelasttimeinthewillof Naunakhte 5of year3ofRamessesV-a spanof
nearly25yearsinall.Anotherinstanceisthatofthechief
policemanMentmose,whooccursfromthelastyearofSethos11
(Hier.Ostr.46,2,vs.6=O.Nash1)downtoyear6 of RamessesIV
(Pap.GenevaMAH15274,VII,10),6i.e.overaperiodofalmost fiftyyears.
For thepresent purposeitseemedbothreasonableandsufficientto
dividetheentirerangeof namesintoeightgroups,asfollows: I.thoseof
thereignsof Ramesses11andMerenptal).; 11.thoseof thereignof
Amermesse; Ill.those of the later yearsof
St.hOs11andthefirstyearsof Siptal).;
IV.thoseoftheperiodoftransitionfromtheNineteenthtothe
TwentiethDynasty; V.thoseof thefirsthalf of thereignof RamessesIll;
VI.those of thesecond half of the reign of RamessesIIIandthefirst
yearsof RamessesIV; 4Cf.CERNY,ZAS.72,1936,116.
5Cf.CERNY.lEA.31,1945,29ff.
6PublishedbyMASSART,MDAIK.15,1957,172ff.andpis.24-38.
THEDATINGOFTHEMATERIAL17 VII.thoseof
midTwentiethDynasty,fromRamessesIVtoRames-sesIX; VIII.thoseof
thelate TwentiethDynasty. Thestarting point of thisdivision,and
atthesametimethenucleus of
ourknowledgeconcerningtherelevantnames,isthecollectionof ostraca
7containingtheso-called'journalof thenecropolis'.Someof
thesegivethedaysof absencefromworkof certainlabourers,while
othersmentionthemore-or-lessdailydistributionofrationsamong
them.Most of thetextsarepreciselydated,andtogethertheyfurnish
afairlycomprehensivelistofnamesformostoftheabovegroups.
FortheperiodofRamesses11andMerenptal).thereisonlyone extant
document of this kind:Hier.Ostr.83-4 (= O.Brit.Mus.5634),
fromyear40ofRamesses11,containingnolessthan38namesof
workmenwiththeirdaysofabsence,andsometimesthereasons
therefor.Althoughthisdocumentisasyetuniquefortheearlyperiod
itisinfactsufficienttoseparatethenamesofthefirstgroupfrom thoseof
thesecond. Although some names occur inalmost every division,there
isagreat difference between those of Hier.Ostr.83-4 and those of
the documents ofgroup11,consistingofO.Cairo25779-785,O.DeM.209,and
O.Varille26(unpubl.),datedfromyear1 toyear4of areignwhich isnever
specified.There isalsoacleardistinctionbetweenthesenames andthoseof
thelateryearsofSethos11andthefirstof Siptal).(0.
Cairo25509etc.,seebelow).Nofewerthanninenamesthatappear
frequentlyingroup11arecompletelyabsentfromtheonefollowing,
amongthemthatofthefamousscribe moreover, Neferl).otpe remains chief
workman, and Pneb, his replacement according
toPap.Salt124,1,1-4,andchief workmaningroupIll,isstillan ordinary
workman. It followsthenthat thisgroupof textsbelongstoa
periodearlierthanyear5 of Sethos11,8theonlypossibleconclusion
beingthattheybelongtothemuchdiscussedreignof Amenmesse9-which in
consequence hastobe placedbeforethatof SethosII,assug-7For the
lastgroup(VIII)therearemostlypapyri.
8Unless,thatis,oneweretosuggestapurgeofthecrewduringthereignof
SethosH,forwhich,sofarasIknow,thereisnottheslightestevidence.Thatthe
crewof year5wasthesameasintheyearsfollowingisshownbyO.Cairo25556.
9vonBECKERATH,ZDMG.106,1956,241f.;HELCK,Ana/eclabiblica12,1959,
12lf.;CERNY,Le
fonliindirette,39;FAULKNER.CAH.2,ch.23,22f.Seenowalso V
ANDIER,RdE.23,1971,165 ff.,particularly187 f. 18SOURCES
gestedbyHELCKfromotherarguments.ThatHier.Os!r.64,1(=
O.Metr.Mus.14.6.217),announcingtheaccessionof
Sethos11,con-tainsatleasttwonamesbelongingtogroup11(chiefworkman
Neferl)otpe and workman Pl)amniite),andpossiblyalsoathird(Baki).
isconsistentwiththisreconstruction.Theonlyproblemisthatno
ostracawithnamesareknownfromyear1toyear4ofSethos11, sothat
nochangesinthe crewcanbetraced,thoughsuch agapinthe
documentationisnotunique.ThatthefourknownyearsofAmen-messecouldsoconvenientlybeinsertedintothisapparentgapisnot
sufficient reason forpostulating this,and althoughHELCK'Sarguments
tothecontraryseemtomeratherinconclusive 10Iagreewithhis judgment
thatAmenmessereignedbeforeSethosn. Tothethirdgroupbelonganumberof
ostracadatedinyear6of Sethos n and inthefirstandsecondyearsof
Siptal),namelyO.Cairo
25509,25511-512,25515-521,andO.DeM.611YInthelasttext there occurs
the earliest instance of the name Ptal)shedu, whichisfound
alsoinO.Gardiner111(unpubl.)of ayear4,probablyofSiptal). From
acomparison ofO. Cairo 25515-521withanother closelyunited
groupconsistingofHier.Os!r.51,I(=O.Gardiner57),O.Cairo
25522-523,1225593and 25796-797,it appears that after the firstyears
of Siptal)somenewmemberswereaddedtothecrew,e.g.Pubekh, Ruta
andKha'emope,13butsincenoostraconof thislattergroupIV
isdated,itisimpossibletosaywheneachof thenewcomersappeared.
Inviewof thealmosttotallackof databledocumentsfromthefirst yearsof
theTwentiethDynasty 14itmayevenbethatsomeofthe ostraca noted
aretobeascribedtotheselater years.Asforthenames,
10AlthoughHier.Oslr.64,Imentionstheannouncementtotheworkmenofthe
accessionof
Sethos11,itisnotcertainthatitwasdatedinyearIofhisownreign,
sinceitcouldalsohavebeenassignedtothatofAmenmesse.Thisweakenshis
argument(Anal.bibl.12,1959,122)astothedifferenceinreignbetweenO.Cairo25
779(yearIof Amenmesse)andthe presenttext.
11TothisgroupmayalsobeascribedO.Cairo25556,whichdatesfromayear5,
clearlyofSethos11,althoughitcontainsareportaboutalawsuitanddoesnot
belongtothe'journalof thenecropolis'.
12HerebelongalsoO.Cairo25526and,possibly,O.Cairo25525,of ayear1.
13Kha'emopeisstillfoundinthedutyroster(seebelow)inyear24of
RamessesIII
(0.DeM.173,4),butisreplacedbyNakhtmininthefollowingyear(0.DeM.32,I).
Rutaoccursforthelasttimeinthesameyear24(0.Turin5651and5677,the
firstpublishedbySCHIAPARELLI,Relazione,I,thesecondunpublished).Pubekhoccurs
onlyingroupIll. 14cr.
tERN'\',lEA.IS,1929,255.TheonlyexceptionsIknowof are:O.University
College,ofyear2of
Sethnakhte(seebelow),andHier.Oslr.26,4(=O.LeipzigI) of year2of
RamessesIll. THEDATINGOFTHEMATERIAL 19
theyappeartoconstituteafairlyhomogeneousgroup,althoughitis
curiousthatinHier.Os!r.51,1afewnamesusuallylistedonthe 'leftside'
15arefoundontheotherside,orevenonboth,16whileas
betweentheentire.groupandO.Cairo25521(ofyear1-2of
Siptal)}-theonlyoneof theformergrouponwhichthe'sides'are
separated-thereareonlytwocasesof menhavingchangedsides. 17
Wemaythereforeconcludethatthereisaslightdiscontinuitybetween
groupIII(thefirstyearsof Siptal)andgroupIV,andthatthelatter
ostracaeitherbelongtothereignofTwosreorcarryoverintothe reigns of
Sethnakhte andRamessesIll-the probability beingthatthey
coverthewholeperiodoftransitionfromtheNineteenthtothe
TwentiethDynasty.
Asmentionedalready,theearlyyearsofRamessesIII(groupV) seldom occur
on dated ostraca, but itwouldseempossiblenevertheless
toreconstructatleastpartof thecrewof thatperiod.InHier.Os!r.
24,2(=O.Gardiner16)andHier.Os!r.45,2(=O.Petrie23) deliveries made
tothe crew are each day the responsibility of adifferent
workman,aslateringroupVI(seebelow),andnot,aspreviously,
oftwoofthem(cf.note15),thenamesofthesemen,however,
beingpartlythesameasearlierinO.Cairo25796and797,though
withsomenewadditions.Italsoisnotablethatthenewroster 18 consistsof
nineteenmen,sothat every20thdaythefirstnamerecurs,
againasinlateryears.ThedifferencesbetweengroupIVandthetwo ostracaof
groupVpointtoarearrangementintheorganisationof thecrew,thoughsome
of theoldermenremainedintheserviceof the necropolis.Certainof
thesenamesstilloccurintheTurinostracaof years 23-4(seebelow),sothat
itisdifficulttodetermineat whatpoint thereorganisation took
place.Most probably it wasintheearlieryears of
RamessesIll,andHier.Ostr.24,2and45,2maythenrepresent
thesituationshortlyafterwards,perhaps justbeforeoraboutyear10,
sincethedifferencebetweenthedutyrosterthereandthelaterone
15GroupIVistheonlyoneinwhichthetwo'sides'ordivisionsofthecreware
distinguishedthroughout.Atthistime,accordingtoO.Cairo25796and797,two
men,onefromeither'side',actedeachdayaswrsw;cf.HELCKZDMG.1051955
32f.'" 16cr.HELCK,MalerialienIV,607.
17cr.HELCK,Anal.bibl.12,1959,124;rt.:rightside,vs.:leftside.
18FortheEgyptiannameofthe'duty-roster',Ip-n-sl:m,seetheTurinstrike
papyrus,vs.3,2 (=RAD.46,7);cf.WILSON,lNES.10,1951,142,n.40.
20SOURCES of year24andafter 19isalmosttotal.InO.DeM.406of year1520
onlytwoof thethirteennamesof theearlierdutyrosterappear,as
againstelevenof thelaterroster(fourof themquiteunknownbefore
year14of RamessesIll),andthismayalsoindicateanearlydatefor group V.
ThefollowinggroupVIisthebestdocumentedofall.Forthis
periodthereisalongandalmostcontinuousseriesof ostracanoting
deliveriesof fish,wood,etc.madetothecrew,theresponsibilityeach
dayof adifferentworkman,asingroupVabove.Sinceseveralof
theselistsaredated,thefixedorderof themencanbereconstructed,
anditistherebypossibletodrawupatableof theroster,inwhich
theundatedtextscanalsobeplacedwhenonlythemonth-andnot theyear-is
given. 21. The series coverstheperiodfromyear24of RamessesIII(0.
DeM. 164)toyear2 of RamessesIV(0. DeM.401),morethantenyearsin
all.It isclearthattheorderof theworkmenisfarfromconstant,the
greatestchange-anenlargementof theoldergroupof nineteenmen
withelevennewnames-havingtakenplaceinthesecondmonthof year1 of
Ramesses IV(0. DeM. 41).22That there were more workmen
thanthoseappearingintheroster 23isprovedbyotherostracadated
tothissame period,andthereplacementof onenamebyanotherdoes not
meanthat the firstman had died.The seriesof ostracanevertheless
providesafirmbasisof knowledgefortheperiodconcerned;itcan
evenbesomewhatextendedbackintoyears24and23withthehelp
ofthegroupofostracafromTurinmentionedabove(0.Turin 19Cf.O.DeM.164of
year24,thefirstof groupVI(HELCK,ZDMG.105,1955,34).
20Thisostracondoesnotbelong,however,totheseriesof rostertexts.
21Forwhatfollowscf.HELCK,ZDMG.105,1955,28-38.Thisarticleisan
enormousimprovementonCHRISTOPHE'SstudyinBIFAO.52,1953,113-144.The
tablesdrawnupbyHELCKcontainonlyminormistakes,e.g.inthecaseof
O.DeM.167(p.35),whichisplacedfivelinestoohigh(inthe9thmonthinstead
ofthe2nd,asthetextexplicitlystates).ThecorrectnessofHELCK'Sdeductions
(p.30)concerningtheostracaprevioustoyear28- asagainstCHRISTOPHE- is
provedcompletelybyO.ColinCampbell2(unpubJ.),actuallydatedinyear25,
whichwasunknowntoHELCKandfitsintohistables.
22FirstnoticedbyCERNY,ZAS.72,1936,1I5ff.
23Theusualnumberofthecrewwasaboutsixty.RamessesIVincreaseditto
120inordertoshortenthetimeforthecuttingofhistomb(Pap.Turin1891=
PLEYTE-RoSSI,pI.49;cf.CERNY,CAH2.,ch.35,4);heprobablyenlistedsixtymen
of
theso-calledsmdt-n-bnr(water-carriers,fishermen,gar!ieners,etc.;cf.RAD.46,7).
Thecrewwasagainreducedto60inyear2ofRamessesVI(0.Berlin12654,
unpubJ.,wherethenowsuperfluousworkmenaresaidto"carry(supplies)";cf
CERNY,op.cit.,10);seealsoO.Cairo25234,5-6(BIFAO.27,1927,184),where
sixtyworkmenoftheVillage(?)andsixtyfromoutside(nbnr)arementioned.
THEDATINGOFTHEMATERIAL21
5649,5651,5652,5666,5677),24whichcontainthe'journalofthe
necropolis'fortheseyears. Forthemiddleyearsof
RamessesIVtherearesomedatedostraca (Hier.Ostr.48,2=O.Gardiner56,of
year3;Hier.Ostr.77=O.
Or.Inst.Chicago12073,ofyear3-4),butinnearlyallthetexts
fromthesucceedingreignsthenameof thePharaohisnotgiven.No
ostracawiththe'journalofthenecropolis'orthedutyrosterare
knowntoexist.Theonlyimportant indicationsaretobefoundinthe
so-calledwillof Naunakhte of years3 and4of RamessesV,25andin
O.Brit.Mus.50730 (unpubl.)of year1 of RamessesVIand O.Berlin
12654(unpubl.)of thefollowingyear,26bothof whichcontainmany
names,thoughnotthesameones.Afewnamesalsooccurin
O.StrasbourgH84(seebelow)of year7of RamessesVII.Owingto
theshortnessof thereignsof theselaterRamessidsitisverydifficult
todetermineinwhichparticularreignagiventextistobedated,
caseswheretheyearismentioned.27Inthesucceeding
dISCUSSIOnthereaderwillthereforefrequentlyfindthevaguenotation 'mid
XXthDynasty'. Fortheendof
theTwentiethDynasty(groupVIII)thematerialis
againabundant,particularlyfrompapyri,themostimportantbeing
thoseconstitutingthe'journalofthenecropolis'28andthetomb
robberydocuments,29theformerdatingfromthereignof Ramesses
IX,whilethelatteraremostlyfromthatofRamessesXI.Tothese
maybeaddeddata fromO.Cairo25574,25575(of ayear7),25576
and2.5577(ofayear13or14),allofwhichprobablybelongto the reignof
Ramesses XI. It willbe seen, however,that onlyaveryfew of
thepriceostracawerewrittenduringthisperiod. Withtheaidof
thismaterialIhavetriedtoestablishapproximate
datesforallthepriceostraca whichcontainpropernames.Thereader
.24Cf.SCHIAPARELLl,Relazione,I(p.169=O.Turin5649vs.,nottobedated
III year 21but III year 23; p.175=O.Turin 5651rt.;p.174=O.Turin
5652);theother twoareunpUblished. :: Four
documents,publishedbyCERNY,JEA.31,1945,29ff. Cf.n.23above.
27HELCK'Sdating(e.g.,MaterialienIV,618)isnotreliable,sincehedoesnot
forthefrequentuseof thesamenamefordifferentpersons.
G.BOTT!andT.E.PEET,IlgiornaledellanecropolidiTebe(1928).Asurvey of
workmenisfoundon pis.8-11. 19T. E.PEET,TheGreatTombRobberiesof
theTwentiethEgyptianDynasty(2vols.,
M30)andTheMayerPapyriAandB,Nos.11162and11186oftheFreePublic
.Liverpool (1920).The absenceof anindexof
namesintheformerpublication IS asenous handicap. 22SOURCES
shouldbearinmindthatthesedatesarenotclaimedtobeexact;
theyrepresentwhatismoreorlesstheaverageineachcase.If ina
giventextthereoccurtwopeoplebothof whomareknown 30from themiddleof
thereignof RamessesIIIuntilthatof RamessesV,it
isequallypossiblethatitbelongstotheearliestortothelatestyears of
theperiod,oreventhatitwaswrittensometimebeforeorafter.
Statistically,however,theonlysolutionistoascribeittothemiddle
years.The conclusionsdrawnbelowarethereforevalidonlyinrespect of
thepricesstudied,andcannotwithsafetybeappliedtosuchother
factsastheostracamayrecord.Moreover,itmaybeassumedthat
deviationswillcompensate oneanother,at leastinthecaseof afuller
seriesof pricesrelating toone particular commodity.
Inthefollowingpagesthedateofeachseparateostraconand papyrus
isdiscussed.Theostraca
andpapyriarearrangedinalphabe-ticalorderaccordingtothecollectionsinwhichtheyarenow
preserved,3!exceptforthose publishedinCERNy-GARDINER,Hieratic
Ostraca,whichareorderedastheyoccurinthebook,andare
throughoutquotedbyreferencetoit.Apartfromthefourgroupsof
O.Cairo,32O.DeM.,33Hier.Ostr.34andO.Michae1.35 mostof the
ostracaareasyetunpublished,36thoughwheneverapublicationis
knowntomethisisindicated.
30Thus,ratherthan'bothofwhomlived',sincebythenatureofthetextsitis
veryimprobablethatpeoplearementionedintheostracabeforetheywereadult.
31Inafewinstancesthetextiscommonlyknownbyanothername,having
formerlybeeninaprivatecollection,as,forexample,O.ColinCampbell,nowin
theHunterianMuseum,Glasgow.Inthesecasestheostracaarementionedunderboth
headings,withappropiatecross-references.
J;CERNY,Ostracahieratiques(nos.25501-832)=Cataloguegeneraldesanti-qUltesegyptlennesduMuseeduCaire,2vols.,1935.Seealsotheolderpublicationby
G. Ostraca(nos.25001-385)=Cataloguegeneral etc.,1901.
33J.CERNY,CataloguedesostracahieratiquesnonlitterairesdeDeirelMedineh
(nos.1-456),5vols.,1935-51=DocumentsdeJouil/espublMspar/esmembresde
I'IFAO,tomes3-7; byS.SAUNERON(nos.550-623),Ivol.,1959(=
tome13),andagainbyJ.CERNY(nos.624-705),Ivol.,1970. 34J.CERNYandA.
H.GARDINER,HieraticOstraca,vol.I(allthatispublished) 1957.'
35H.GOEOICKEandE.F.WENTE,OstrakaMichaelides,1962.
36Themostimportantexceptionisthepublicationofsome(butbynomeans
allor eventhemajority)of
theBerlinostracainHieratischePapyrusausdenkoniglichen
MuseenzuBerlin,Bd.rn,2=Heft10,1911.Thedatingoftheostracainthis
publicationprovestobe whollyincorrect. CHAPTERTWO OSTRACA N.B.In
the followingnotescross-referencestodocumentsincludedinthecatalogue
are markedwithanasterisk. o. Aberdeen1317:seeHier.Ostr.61,2
O.AshmoleanMuseum1945.36[unpubl.] Nodate Names:J:!ry-m'q3yMntw-msw
iry- '3lj'-m-w3st RamessesIll/mid XXth Dyn. For
thispoliceofficercf.Hier.Ostr.24,1*,andforthedoorkeeper
Hier.Ostr.54,2*.BothnamesoccurinPap.GenevaMAH15274 and
areusedbyMASSARTtodatethat text.!
O.AshmoleanMuseum1945.39:seeHier.Ostr.72,1 O.
Berlin1121(=Hier.Pap.Ill,pI.35) 2 Dated:year28RamessesIII
Names:B3k-n-wrnwr in-mwPn-t3-wrt Pn-nlwt The three names here
mentioned, Bekenwernero (cf. Hier. Ostr. 60, 5*), thewater-carrier
Pentwere(cf.O.Gardiner 288*)andPenne(cf.Hier.
Ostr.18,3*)makeitcertainthatthereignof RamessesIIIismeant. O.
Berlin 1268 [unpubl.) Dated:year14RamessesIII
Names:rml-istWsr-J:!3t In-mwWsr-J:!3t-nbtw ss-*d Ifri ss P3-sr
ForthescribePsiiir cf.O.DeM.105*,andfortheworkmanUsihe
Hier.Ostr.19,3*. Undated ostraca apart, the water-carrier
Usihenakhte isfoundonlyinyear29ofRamessesIII(Turinstrikepapyrus,vs.
3,8=RAD.46,12; O.Gardiner154,2(unpubl.]).Thedraughtsman
1MAssART,MDAIK.15,1957,173.
2Translation:HELCK,MaterialienIll,500;MALl
NINE,BIFAO.46,1947,119ff. 24SOURCES H6rithefatherof
Amenwa',HarminandNebnufe(cf.Hier.Ostr.
86,occursagaininyear13-14(0.Cairo25555,3). O.Berlin10626 [unpubl.]
No dateXIXthDyn. Names:... , sonof 'Imn-m-lpt bmwwSj- Wjgyt
Ij'-m-vdst SbJ ForSiwadjycf.Hier.Ostr.86,3*andO.Brooklyn37.1880E*.
ThenameoccursinthelateXIXthtoXXthDynastiesaswellas
underRamessesII(cf.Hier.Ostr.83,4of year40;O.DeM.338,13,
undated-but,fromthewriting,ofthesameperiod).ForSbacf.
O.DeM.31*.ThenameKha'emweseisfrequentundertheXXth
Dynasty(cf.Hier.Ostr.54,2*),butalso' existsatanearlierdate;
cf.O.DeM.338,5,mentionedimmediatelyabove.3 Altogetherit
seemsbesttoascribethisostracontotheXIXthDynasty.
O.Berlin10629(=Hier.Pap.Ill,pI.37) 4 No date ? Name:ssPn-tj-wrt
AscribePentwereoccursinthetimeof SethOsII(cf.Hier.Ostr.
46,1,vs.6),but thereisalsooneunderRamessesIII(e.g.Hier.Ostr.
26,4,5of year2;Hier.Ostr.47,3,6of year31).Moreover,oneof thesonsof
thescribeAmennakhte,thesonof Ipuy,iscalled'scribe'
(sometimeseven'scribeof thenecropolis')Pentwere.Thedatingof
thisostracontoeithertheXIXthortheXXthDynastyisthus impossible. O.
Berlin10643 [unpubl.] Dated:year1midXXth Dyn. Names:'Imn-msw
hisfather'Imn-m-lpt AlthoughthesenamesarebothverycommonIknowof
onlyone textbywhichthedateof thesepersonsmaybefixed,viz.O.Cairo
25598,7of ayear4,probablyofthereignofRamessesV,where 3
AKha'emweseoccurs,e.g.,inconnectionwithacertainPenamiin,theowner of
Thebantombno.213(cf.BRUYERE,RapportDeM.1924-25,186,fig.124;Cairo
stelano.43564=BRUYERE,ASAE.25,1925,80-81andpI.I,2),andanother(or
perhaps thesame withNakhtamiin(Thebantomb
no.335),cf.BRUYERE,RapportDeM. 1924-25,132andfig.89.
4Translation:CERNY,BIFAO.27,1927,177. OSTRACA 25 Amenmose,sonof
Amenemopeismentioned.Thisplacesthepresent ostraconinthemiddleof
theXXthDynasty. O.Berlin10665 (=Hier.Pap.1II,pI.38)
Dated:yearImidXXthDyn. Names:rml-istJ::n,sonof Pj-R'-btpw
bmwwJ::d-3btwj rml-lstB thesonof
Pra'l:lOtpe--caIJedisO.DeM.415,2-is not datable
withanycertainty,sincethenameitselfiscommon;cf.Hier. Ostr.65,2*and
O.DeM.556*. occursseveraltimesbetweenyear23ofRamessesIII
(0.Turin5649,6)5andyear7 of RamessesIX(Pap.Turin1881,V,
1*).6Forhisfamilyrelationscf.BRUYERE,RapportDeM.1934-35, Ill,
208,n.3. The workman To,usuaIJy caJIed To-shIre
(asdistinctfromvizierTo,
afterwhomhewascaJIed;cf.Hier.Ostr.59,4*),isthesonofthe
scribeAmennakhte,thesonofIpuy.Heoccursinthedutyroster
fromthefirstyear of RamessesIV(0. DeM.41,vs.10)onwards.
O.Berlin11259[unpubI.] No dateXXth Dyn. ? Nonames
Thereseemstobenocluetothedatingof thistextexceptforthe prices
themselves.Anr-jar of fatisalsomentionedinO.DeM.410*,
whereitcosts31deben,andtwojarsoccurinO.Turin9753*,where
theyareeach30deben,ashere.BothostracabelongtotheXXth
Dynasty,andthepresenttextmaythereforehavetobedatedtothe sameperiod.
O.Berlin11260[unpubI.] No date Names:Ifr-Mnw J::3IJj midXXth Dyn.
Forl:Iarmincf.O.DeM.434*andHier.Ostr.86,4*.Thename
belongstotwopersons,oneattheendof theXIXthDynasty .
andoneinthemiddleof theXXthDynasty;forthelattercf.,e.g.,
O.DeM.398,3,of ayear3,andHier.Ostr.27,3,1,of ayear5.
5cr.SCHIAPARELLl,RelazioneI,169.
6Othertextsdate,e.g.,fromayear7,ofRamessesVIorVII(0.Gardiner181,
2;O.Turin9745,4[unpubl.]).Furtherdatesarefixedinyears2and3of
RamessesV (graff.1252and thewillof Naunakhte,Doc.IV,I). 26SOURCES
O.Berlin12343(=Hier.Pap.Ill,pI.34) Nodate Names:rml-istBjki-n-wrnwr
'n(t) fr.dpj- 'j-m-int B5kt-n-Sti(t) ss [-fr.d]7Ifri-sri
Nb-nfr,"his son" midXXth Dyn.
ForBekenwerneroandthetwowomencf.Hier.Ostr.60,5*. Nebnufe is called
"his son", probably meaning the son of Bekenwernero.
Thetwoarealsomentionedonthebaseofastela(cf.BRUYERE,
RapportDeM.1935-40,11,94,no.149),whereNebnUfeiscalled
Ijy-mgjt.Thess-fr.dJ:Iar-shireisthelaterscribeof thenecropolis,the
sonof thescribe Amennakhte,the son of Ipuy(cf.Hier.Ostr.16,2*). The
builder 8P'oemone isnot known to mefromothertexts:however,
inHier.Ostr.47,3,1-2,of year31ofRamessesIll,awater-carrier
P'oemtone (= P'oemone?)ismentioned. O.Berlin12405 [unpubl.] Nodate
Names: mlnlw'1ry-nfr P3-sny-ngm (?) m 'g3y late XXth Dyn. The name
of the third person isveryuncertain.AherdsmanErenUfe
occursinthehouse-listof Pap.Brit.Mus.10068(vs.4,4),9dated
inayear12,probablyof
RamessesXI.Psennudjem,thesonofRa'-mery,isfoundintheGiornaledell'anno17A,1,11(=BOTTI-PEET,
pI.8),ofyear17ofRamessesIX.ThepolicemanAmenl;lOtpeis
possiblythesamepersonasoccurswiththedesignation3tw 10in Pap. Turin
2021,4,19(= lEA.13,1927,pI.XV),fromtheend of the XXth Dynasty. O.
Berlin12647 [unpubl.] Dated:year19(or29or 39)Ramesses11
7Thepublicationreads4 (sic);prob.M Moreover,thenameisl;Iar-snire,
notl:larmose,asgiveninthetranscription. 8For *d,cf.p.40,n.48.
9PEET,TombRobberies,pI.XV.
10Intheheadingthegroupofitw.wiscalledniI:zry.w-m'giynpibr.Forthe
transcriptionof cf.POSENER,RdE.15,1963,127f.,andBERLEV,RdE.23,
1971,31 ff. OSTRACA 27 Nonames.
Sincenolegiblenamesareleft,eitherthereignofRamesses11or
thatofRamessesIIIispossible,butfromtheuseofthe'piece'the
formerismoreprobable.It maybethatthefewremainingtracesin
lines1representthenameSiwadjy,whichisknownfrom thetimeof
Ramesses11(cf.Hier.Ostr.83,4*). O. Berlin12652[unpubI.] Dated:year6
Names:rmI-ist'Imn-w' pj-mdw-nbtw mid XXthDyn. For Amenwa'
cf.Hier.Ostr.86,4*.Pmedunakhte,the son of J:Iay,ll
occursforthefirsttimeinthedutyrosterof year1of RamessesIV
(0.DeM.47,14)and ismentionedseveraltimesthereafter. O. Berlin14
214[unpubI.] Nodate Names:In-mw ss /:lwt-nIrPy13y lry- '3n
p3brIj'-m-w3st in-mwin-mw'Iwf-r-ib RamessesIII/mid XXth Dyn. The
lastthree personsarementionedinthe Turinstrike papyrus,of year29of
RamessesIII(vs.2,8;vs.3,8;vs.1,5).Forthedoor-keeperKha'emwesecf.Hier.Ostr.54,2*,forUsil).enakhteO.Berlin
1268*,andforEferikhO.Cairo25597*.The"scribeof thetemple"
Pyayisunknowntome,andtherestorationof thefirstnameisvery uncertain.
O. Berlin14260 [unpubI.] Nodate Names:rmI-istM33-nbtwf '3-p3-13w
midXXth Dyn. ForMaanakhtef
cf.Hier.Ostr.59,4*,andfor'OpatjewHier.Ostr.
63,1*.AlthoughthefirstnameoccursalsointheXIXthDynasty,
thesecondexcludesthispossibility. O. Berlin14271[unpubI.]
Averysmallfragmentwithoutdate or names. ? 11cr.Bankesstelano.11. 28
O. Berlin14365[unpubl.] Nodate Name:Wsr-I:zjt SOURCES midXXthDyn.
ForUsil).ecf.Hier.Ostr.19,3*.Thesametransactionreferredto
here,viz.thesaleofabed,isalsofoundinO.Berlin[C]*andin
O.Berlin14262[unpubl.].Thelatterisbroken,sothatnoprices
survive:asinO.Berlin[C]*,Usil)eandMaanakhtef arementioned. o.
Berlin14366 [unpubl.] Nodate Nonames O. Berlin(q [unpubl.] 12
Nodate Names:rml-istWsr-/:lit rml-istMii-nbtwf 7 midXXthDyn.
ef.O.Berlin14365*,andforMaanakhtef alsoO.Berlin14260*. O. BerlinIDI
[unpubl.] 12 NodateXXthDyn.7 Name:Niwt-nbtl(7) Although
CERNY'Stranscriptionshowsthedeterminativeof aman,
itmaybethatthefamousNaunakhte,the wifeofand Kha'emniin,ismeant
13(cf.lEA.31,1945,29ff.).Nootherperson with this name is known from
the Village-assuming that the Naunakhte of
O.DeM.134,I,5(lateXIXthDynasty,accordingtoCERNY)is thesamewoman. O.
Brit.Mus.5633:seeHier.Ostr.86,1 O.Brit.Mus.5636 : seeHier.Ostr.86,4
O. Brit.Mus.5643:seeHier.Ostr.85,2 O.
Brit.Mus.5644:seeHier.Os!r.86,3 O. Brit.Mus.5649:seeHier.Os!r.86,2
O. Brit.Mus.29555 [unpubl.] Nodate Names:'nb-n-nlwtSr(7) B-pi-ym
(sic!forPn-pi-ymorPi-ym) 14 XIXthDyn.?
12Nonumberknown.AfewostracafromBerlinhavebeennumberedprovisionally
byCERN),asA,B,C,etc. 13SheoccursalsoinHier.Ostr.7,3,5.
14t3writtenoverp3,withp3againfollowing. n-dl:zrl Wbht1S OSTRACA29
TheSer(?)andTdaIJriareunknownfromelsewhere;the readingof
bothisdoubtful.Penpy6m,if thatiswhatistoberead,is
knownasadoorkeeperfromyear24ofRamessesIII(0.Gardiner
140,2[unpubl.))untilthemiddleoftheXXthDynasty(Hier.Ostr. 77,12*,of
year4 of RamessesIV);cf.alsoO.DeM.410*.Itmaybe, however,that
thenameshouldbereadPyom,whichoccursattheend
oftheXIXthDynasty(e.g.Pap.Salt124,2,12;O.Cairo25519, vs.2,of
year1ofSiptaIJ),andagainunderRamessesIII(0.DeM. 424,2, of year19;
O.DeM.222,IV,7,of year22;O.Turin5651,3,
ofyear24).ThislattermightbeashorteningforAmenpy6m(cf.
O.DeM.413,2and3).Webekhtisacommonname,asof thewives
ofthechiefworkmenNeferIJotpeandNekhemmiittheelder(cf.
O.Gardiner272*).It pointstotheXIXth orearlyXXthDynasty(cf.
Hier.Ostr. 86,1*), and the present ostracon may therefore
betentatively ascribedtothisperiod. o. Brit.Mus.50 736[unpubl.]
Dated:year4midXXth Dyn.7 Names:R'-mry "myfather"Nfr-[I:ztpw?] For
thenamesRa'meryandNeferl:lOtpecf.Hier.Ostr.58,3*.It is
farfromcertain,however,thatthisRa'mery(withoutthedesignation
/:zmww!)isthesameasthecarpenterofHier.Ostr.22,2*;58,3*;
86,3*.Theyear4couldbelongeithertothelateXIXthDynastyor
tothemidXXth:butcf.O.DeM.398,2,of ayear3(ofRamesses
IV7),whereaRa'mery,sonof NeferIJotpe,ismentioned.Thewriting
seemsalsotoindicatethelatteralternative,16thoughthereremains
roomfordoubt. O.Brit.Mus.50737 [unpubl.] NodatemidXXthDyn.
Names:n'!mn/j'-nwb(t) [rml-]ist.{(n-/:zr-Upsf The chantress Kha'
< t > nub and are both children of . Naunakhte and her second
husband Kha'emniin; cf.lEA.31,1945,48. Forcf.alsoO.DeM.399*. 1 S
The determinativeismissing,butfromthetit iscertainlyawoman.
16Iwasabletostudythisostraconin1962. 30SOURCES o. Brit.Mus.65935:
seeHier.Ostr.56,2 O. Brit.Mus.65941: seeHier.Ostr.57,1
O.Brit.Mus.65956:seeHier.Ostr.47,1 o BrooklynMus.37.1880E[unpubl.]
Nodate Names: rml-1st'!mn-[m-]lpt R'-mry
Sj- WMyt late XIXth Dyn.
Cf.Hier.Ostr.86,3*,whichcontainsapartialversionof thesame text. O.
BrusselsE31117 Nodate Nonames XIXthDyn.? Theuseof
the'piece'pointstoadateinthe XIXthDynasty. O.
BrusselsE6339[unpubl.] Nodate ? Nonames O. Cairo 25242
Dated:year29RamessesIII Names:rml-lst/j'-m-wjst rmt-lstKnnj,sonof
Rwtl Theostr;conisstudied byCERNY,B!FAO.27,1927,179f.
O.Cairo2536218 Nodate mid/late XXthDyn. Name:ss
Thisscribemayormaynotbeidenticalwiththedraughtsman Amenbotpe,sonof
thescribeof thenecropolisAmennakhte,theson of
Ipuy.19Heissometimescalledssinthegraffiti(e.g.,nos.298and 1081
),20butthisprovesnothing,sinceingraffitithedesignationssis
usedveryloosely.AscribeAmenbotpeoccurs,however,inthepapyri
17Published:SPELEERS,Recueil(no.192).Ihaveusedanimprovedtranscription
bytERN'\'andmyowncollation. 18From atranscriptionbytERN'\'.
19Calledhrvss-kd ingraff.1288,1289and1355. 20Cf.als;
the'dipinto'inThebantombno.1338(BRUYERE,RapportDeM.1933-34,
76).In0DeM.46,18ssisprobablyamistakeforss-lsd,sincetheAmenl:lOtpeIn
thispositioninthedutyrosteriselsewherecalledss-Isd(0.DeM.44,vs.16).
OSTRACA31 andostraca(e.g.,Pap.Turin1881,IV,3*,of year7of
RamessesIX; O.Gardiner181,vs.2*,alsoof ayear7;O.Ermitage2973,2,of a
year1421),inagraffitointhetombof RamessesVI,datedinyear9
ofRamessesIX(CHAMPOLLION,Noticesdescriptives,11,635=
SPIEGELBERG,Graffiti,92),andinsomeundatedostracaof theperiod
(e.g.,O.Cairo25534,I,5and25642,I,3;O.Gardiner171 *).
InHier.Ostr.43,4,12acertainAmenbotpeiscalledssnpj br.This might
suggest the familyof Amennakhte, son of Ipuy,severalmembers of
which are sometimes saidtobe'scribe of thenecropolis'.It therefore
seemspossiblethatinmost,or evenalltheinstancesmentionedabove
thesamemanisreferredto.22 O.Cairo25543 Dated (onverso):year5
Names:ssIfrl /jjrw,(sonof ?)BJsjy '!mn-tJy-nbtw [ss]pr-M Hr-nfr
late XIXthDyn.? It iscuriousthatsomeof
thepersonsherementionedareunknown
fromotherostraca,althoughthetextisdatedbyCERNYtotheend
oftheXIXthDynasty.Thenameofthescribe1:16rialoneis
common-toocommontospecifythemanandhisperiod.Forthe
namesKh6reandBescf.O.Gardiner134*.Theuseof debenand kitl! of
silverisalsounusual. O.Cairo25572 No date Names:rml-lst/j'-m-sbj
rml-1stIfwy 'nb-n-niwtM'bm 'j-n-lstIfjy Nbw-m-Mwt Ifri-nfr 111n...
23 Pn-'!mn Nb-nfr,sonof Njby Tnwr-Mntw
21PublishedbytERN'\'inArch.Or.3,1931,395f. late XIXth Dyn.
22Forseveralreasonswhichcannotherebediscussed,Idonotagreewiththe
reconstructionof thefamilytreebyCHRISTOPHE,BIFAO.56,1957,173 ff.
23ThenameistentativelyreadbytERN'\'asMnit/:m';coulditbeMinl:lOtpe?
(cf.O.DeM.322,I). 32SOURCES I:Iaywaschief
workmanunderAmenmesse(0.Cairo25779,6 etc., of
year1,andlateryears),underSeth6sIIandSiptai:1,24anduntil
year17ofRamessesIII(0.Cairo25584,1,1).Alltheothermen
occurduringthelastyearsoftheXIXthDynasty,butexceptfor
TenromontandNebnUfenot withanycertainty underRamesses11125
(PenamunonlyinO.DeM.406,10,ofyear15;cf.Hier.Ostr.16,
3*).TheladyMa'khaiaappearsnottobeknownfromotherostraca,
butthenameoccursontomb wallsandstelae.2 6 O. Cairo25583 Nodate
Name:rmJ-istNl;t-Mni lateXIXthDyn. ? Severalpersonsof
thisnameareknown:atleasttwoattheendof
theXIXthDynasty(occurringtogetherinHier.Ostr.51,1,n,4and
vs.11,10andinO.DeM.243,1and2),27oneunderRamesses11
(Hier.Ostr.83,10,of year40)andMerenptai)(0.DeM.621,vs.3,
ofyear2),andoneunderRamessesIIIandlater(fromyear22:
O.Turin5681,vs.2[unpubl.Juntilayear7:Pap.Turin2070,vs.11,
1).28Thedateof theostraconisthusuncertain,thoughCERNYhas
ascribedittotheendof theXIXthDynasty. O.Cairo 25585 NodateXXthDyn.?
Nonamessurviving
Fromthewriting(CERNY)itshouldbelongtotheXXthDynasty. O. Cairo25587
NodateXIXthDyn.? Name:rmu-ist'I]puy A common name under the XIXth
Dynasty, but rare under Ramesses
Ill,andseldomfoundthereafter(e.g.,O.DeM.214*).Thewriting isof
theXIXth Dynasty(CERNY). O.Cairo25588 Dated:year2midXXthDyn.
24cr.Hier.Ostr.47,I*' 25For Nekhemmiit,the later chief workinan
Nekhemmiit (the elder),cf.p.70,n.127.
26E.g.Brit.Mus.stela1388=Guide(Sculpture),188(no.676)andTurinstela
Sup.6168.Cr.alsoBRUYERE,RapportDeM.1924-25,125and1926,17,fig.8;
PORTER-MosS2,I.ii,716.Thewifeandthedaughterof
PsheduarecalledMa'khayib
(cf.,e.g.,Brit.Mus.stela262=JAMES,Hierogl.Texts,part9,pI.35,I;also
TOSI-RoCCATI,Stele,115).
27cr.alsoPap.Salt124,2,11and12(JEA.15,1929,pI.XLIV).
28cr.SPIEGELBERG,StudienundMaterialien,33f. OSTRACA
Names:Nb-smn,sonof Pi-birw '/mn-hr Afntw-msw Piy-sdt '/mn-msw(=
m'g3y'/mn-msw,1.13) Sbk-msw Ifri,sonof Mntw-msw PtIJ-Sdw 'Imn-I;'w
Pn-t3-wrt Pn-pi-ym 'IJ3w-'3 33 Of
thesetwelvepersonsAmenmosealoneiscalled'policeman',and
onlyonce,29butseveraloftheothersareknowntohavehadthe
sameoccupation:Amenkhew(cf.O.DeM.369*),Peysad=Psad(cf.
Hier.Ostr.18,3*),3()Mentmose-frequentlymentionedaschief
policeman(cf.Hier.Oslr.24,1*)---,hissonl:l6ri(cf.O.Cairo25
597*),andNebsmen(calledchiefpolicemaninO.DeM.37,17,of year31of
RamessesIll; cf.O.Gardiner162*).Of theothersonecan ~ a
ynomorethanthattheyoccurinthemidXXthDynasty,butnot
10thelaterGiornale,of thetimeof RamessesIX. O.Cairo 25590 No date
Name:P3-i[d]IJti midXXth Dyn. Thisman occursalsoinayear5
(0.Brit.Mus.50744,6[unpubl.],
underthevizierNeferronpe),andinyear6ofRamessesIV(Pap.
GenevaMARIS274,vs.Ill, 2). O.Cairo25596 Nodate Nonames XIXth Dyn.?
Thewritingandtheuseof the'piece'pointtotheXIXthDynasty. O.Cairo
25597 Dated:year 2of ...(nameof the Pharaoh lost) Names:Ptb-nbtw ~
dHrw-nfr 'Iwf-r-ib midXXth Dyn. 29For him,cf.Hier.Ostr.16,3*.
30ProbablythesameasthePeysad,sonofAmenmose,ofO.Cairo25597*.
34SOURCES Ny-sw-'Imn,sonof 'Imn-I)'w pjy-s[dt],sonof 'Imn-msw
TJ-kjmn Ijri,sonof Alntw-msw
ForPeysadand1:l6ricf.O.Cairo25588*.ThebuilderHernufe
occursalsoinO.DeM.73,2*,of year20ofRamessesIll.Eferikh
thewater-carrierismentionedintheTurinstrikepapyrus(vs.1,5=
RAD.45,5),andinostracaof laterreigns.Nesamunoccursinthe
dutyrosterfromyear28onwards(cf.O.DeM.579*).Tkamenis
alsofoundinO.BrusselsE305,4-5,ofthemidXXthDynasty,31 andinother
Cairoostracafromthisperiod. O.Cairo25601 Nodate No names
CERNYdatesthe writing totheXXth Dynasty. O.Cairo25602 No date No
names XXth Dyn.? RamessesIll? From the writing CERNY dates tothe
firsthalf of the XXthDynasty. O.Cairo25606 Nodate
RamessesIII/midXXth Dyn. Names:rml-istIfri bmwwPn-tJ-wrt Mn-b'w For
thecarpenterPentwerecf.O.DeM.195*,andforMinkhewO.
DeM.241*.Thenamel;I6riistoocommonforanyconclusionstobe
drawnfromit.Allthreenamesoccur,however,inthedutyroster.
O.Cairo25618 Nodate Nonames CERNYdatesthewritingtotheXIXth Dynasty.
XIXthDyn.? O.Cairo25654 Dated:yearI midXXth Dyn. Name:In-mwljjry
Forthiswater-carriercf.Hier.Ostr.86,4*.CERNYdatesthis
ostracontotheendoftheXIXthDynastyorthebeginningofthe XXth,but
thenamesuggestsalater period. 31SPELEERS,Recueil,50,no.186.
OSTRACA35 O.Cairo25655 Nodate RamessesIII Name:Ijjy It
isuncertainwhichI:layismeant.Boththesonofl;Iuy(cf.Hier.
OSlr.65,4*)andthesonof Sbabelongtothereignsof RamessesIII
andhissuccessor,whilethesonof SiwadjyisfoundunderSetnakhte
(cf.O.Univ.Coll.*).Sincenotitleismentioneditislesslikelytobe
thechief workmanl;Iay,thesonof (cf.O.Cairo25572*).The writingpoints
totheXXthDynasty(CERNY),anditisthusprobable
thatthel;Iayreferredtoisone of thetwofirstmentioned. O.Cairo25682
Nodate RamessesIII? Name:Ijjy Cf.thepreceding ostracon.The
textcontainsonlyonepriceinwhat remainsof theverso. O.Cairo25684
Nodate Nonames RamessesIII? CERNYdatesthewritingtothefirsthalf of
theXXth Dynasty. O.Cairo25692 Nodate Nonames
CERNYdatesthewritingtotheXIXthDynasty. O.Cairo25701 Nodate Nonames
XIXth Dyn.? RamessesIII?
CERNYdatesthewritingtotheXXthDynasty.Theuseofthe
'piece'suggeststhereignof RamessesIll. O. Cairo2572532 Nodate
lateXIXth Dyn. Names: Nb-'Imn
