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Pap. Berlin P. P 13446/A

TEI-XML-File: https://p612399.webspaceconfig.de/xml/elephantine_erc_db_308239.tei.xml

Metadata

Collection

Collection	Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, SPK (P)
Inventory Number	Pap. Berlin P. P 13446/A
Publication Number	TAD C.1.1; TAD C.3.7
Current Location	magazine | papyrus depository
Publication Status	published

Origin / Provenance

Ancient Provenance Site	Elephantine (Ꜣbw; Yb; YbꜢ; YbꜤ; Ἐλεφαντίνη, יב , ⲉⲓⲏⲃ) [Trismegistos] Certainty: high
Ancient Provenance District	Upper Egypt, 1st nome (Ombites) [Trismegistos]
Type of Discovery	archaeological excavation Certainty:
Date of Discovery Term. Ante / Post Quem Non	between 1 1 1907 and 16 1 1907
Finder (= First Purchaser)	Rubensohn, Otto / Zucker, Friedrich (excavation directors) Certainty:
Location of Find / Purchase in Egypt	Elephantine
District of Find / Purchase in Egypt	Upper Egypt, 1st nome (Ombites) [Trismegistos]
Type of Acquisition for the Intitution	partage

Object

Object Type	papyrus
Dating of Object	Before 475 BCE (date on underwritten palimpsest).
Criteria for Dating	Text: palimsest date.
Range of Preservation	(undecidable)
State of Preservation	Fragments arranged by Sachau and Zucker between 1907 (date of find) and 1911 (date of publication). One preserved papyrus join in the center of the upper and lower large fragments. Far right edge may is near a join, but no evidence remains. Joins are approximately 14.5 to 15 cm apart.
Mounting	glass plate

Text Basic Information

Localization of Text on Object	recto
Script-Fiber-Relation (for Payri)	parallel
Range of Preservation (Text)	incomplete
State of Preservation (Text)	Marks on verso. De lux layout on recto. Script is generally very legible. Much of the column survives.
Script, Primary	Aramaic, Imperial
Script, additional A	(none)
Language, Primary	Aramaic, Imperial
Comments on Handwriting	Elegant.
Comments on Text Layout	Superlinear additions to line 5
	recto	verso
Quantity of Lines	15	0
Quantity of Columns	1	0
Line Lenght (in mm)	2575
Column Height (in mm)	270
Height of Line / Letter

 

Text Content

Ancient Title	ספר מלי אחיקר ספר ומהיר
Modern Title	The Story of Ahiqar; The Legend of Ahiqar; Ahikar; Achikar; Achiqar; Aḥiqar; Aḥîqār; אחיקר
Text Types	literary literary | biography literary | historic literary | narrative literary | narrative | prose literary | wisdom | instruction
Summary of Content	Lines 1 and 2 are a biographical prologue. Lines 2b thru 15 are an autobiographical narrative told from Ahiqar's (ficticious) first-person perspective. See ID 306611 for text and translation.
Location of Composition	unknown unknown Egypt (Certainty: unknown)
Comments on Text	Plates A, B, C, and D contain narrative content, so too do the versos of plates H and L. The material of plates H.v and L.v does not belong to material of plates A–G, J, and K. Plates H.v and L.v. plus many lost fragments, may have contained one of the Vorlagen used to copy the de lux edition retained on the recto of the other surviving plates. The text of plate D.r.i.15 has no equivalent on pl. H.v. and may either be a gloss or a line supplied from another Vorlage. Sections of the narrative of Ahiqar survive in many ancient languages and manuscripts. The story is most well-known from the Syriac recension (S2, Camb. Cod. Add. 2020) edited by J. Rendell Harris in 1898 (revised 1913), though many other Syriac recensions exist. The earliest surviving Syriac manuscript (BM 7200, Harris' S1) is a unique recension and a fragmentary manuscript that dates from the 12th or 13th century CE. An early Greek edition must have survived and must have been the basis for the adaption of the narrative in a section of the Life of Aesop, the earliest surviving manuscripts of which date to the 3rd cent. CE (Oxyrh. Pap. 47 no. 3331 and 53 no. 3720). Early manuscripts of the narrative of Ahiqar, such as the Demotic Egyptian fragments (Berlin p. 23729 and Cairo Frag.) are composed in third person narration. Elephantine and Syriac retain an older first-person autobiographical narration (so too some later [and currently unpublished] Karshuni and Arabic manuscripts). The Elephantine edition of the narrative differs from the Syriac in wording and details, though the general narrative outline, settings, and central characters are the same. For a discussion of the maxims, see plates E–H, J–L.
Multilingualism	Script = Language
Gender	Child Man Woman
Comment on Gender	Training of a scribal student. In the Elephantine copy on the recto, but not the verso, Ahiqar is a eunuch (pl. D.i.15), and this is less apparent in later editions of the tale. The theme of adoption is present. Reference to Ahiqar's sister is made. Male/eunuch age and professional abilities. Syriac recensions (the literary core of which may date to the Persian Period) elevate the roles of women, specifically Ahiqar's sister and, especially, his wife. His wife is not know in the surviving Elephantine fragments, but may have appeared in the lacuna.
Religion	Syncretism
Comment on Religion	Assyrian/Aramean/Hebrew dieties ("gods" "Shamash") are mentioned in the proverbs. Found among "Judean" texts. Pl. A lines 1 and 2 may refer to a diety, but restoration is uncertain.

 

Text

 

People mentioned in Text

ID	gender	en normiert	original	Language	Functions	in Texts
3705		Ahikar	אחיקר	Aramaic, Imperial

 

Dates

RulerID	Regnal Year	MonthID	Day Date of the Text	Gregorian Date	dating_comment
Amenemnisu	23	Adar	05	-450 January 1 BCE	Palimpsest date of 475 BC. Terminus of Aramaic Papyri 399 BC. The palimpsest is an Egyptian Aramaic customs account. Presumably the roll remained in Egypt in antiquity. ;

 

Pictures

 

Literature

• Porten, Bezalel & Yardeni, Ada, Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt, 3: Literature, accounts, lists. (C1.1)
• Porten, Bezalel & Yardeni, Ada, Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt, 4: Ostraca & assorted inscriptions. (D5.54)

 

DatasetID	308239
last Change	29.07.2022
Trismegistos	89515
Author	James D. Moore
Dataset License	Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA)
Data set citation	Data set 308239 (= Pap. Berlin P. P 13446/A), ERC-Project ELEPHANTINE: James D. Moore.