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Pap. London, BM EA 10752

TEI-XML-File: https://p612399.webspaceconfig.de/xml/elephantine_erc_db_310461.tei.xml

Metadata

Collection

Collection London, British Museum
Inventory Number Pap. London, BM EA 10752
Current Location (unknown)
Comments on Inventory The papyrus is distributed on five glass plates.
Publication Status published

Origin / Provenance

Ancient Provenance Site Thebes-West, Memnoneia (Memnoneia) [Trismegistos]
Certainty:
Ancient Provenance Details Ramesseum
Ancient Provenance District Upper Egypt, 4th nome (Pathyrites / Peri Thebas) [Trismegistos]
Type of Discovery archaeological excavation
Certainty:
Finder (= First Purchaser) Petrie, W. M. Flinders
Certainty:
District of Find / Purchase in Egypt Upper Egypt, 4th nome (Pathyrites / Peri Thebas) [Trismegistos]
Type of Acquisition for the Intitution donation
Date of Acquisition for the Intitution between 1956 and 1956
Transferor (Seller, Previous Owner) Gardiner, Alan Henderson / British School of Archaeology, Egypt
Certainty:
Buyer (Currently Housing Institution) Junker, Hermann
Certainty:

Object

Object Type papyrus
Range of Preservation incomplete
State of Preservation The papyrus is very fragile due to the moisture in the tomb in which this object was found. The length is nearly complete so that the order of the plates is certain. The upper part of each page is damaged to a large extent.
Mounting Fragments of Plate: 1: Backed: gelatin; Sandwich: glass; Binding: cloth 2: Backed: gelatin; Sandwich: glass; Binding: magic tape, copydex self-adhesive carpet tape 3: Sandwich: glass; Binding: magic tape, copydex self-adhesive carpet tape 4: Backed: gelatin (cockled); Sandwich: glass; Binding: cloth; refused for loan to Germany 2003 5: Backed: gelatin (cockled); Sandwich: glass; Binding: cloth (information according to: Parkinson, Papyrus Ramesseum C) - first treats in Berlin by Ibscher in 1906 - for information about the conservation see Leach, A Conservation History, esp. 232-233 and 236-237.
Comments on Object This papyrus was a full-height roll. (According to: Parkinson, Parkinson, Reading Ancient Egyptian Poetry (2009), 152) Pap. London, BM 10771 (Pap. Ramesseum 18) and Pap. London, BM 10772.2 are parts of the same papyrus.

Text Basic Information

Localization of Text on Object recto
Inks and Pigments carbon ink polychrome black and red
State of Preservation (Text) According to Smither, Semnah Dispatches (1945), 9), three lines are lost at the top of each page. Parkinson, Parkinson, Reading Ancient Egyptian Poetry (2009), 152), notes that this object is a full-height roll. Because of that, the height of the text is complete in some parts. The third line of dispatch no. 4 on Pl. 3 is indented. The first visible lines are damaged in form of large holes. On Pl. 2, the text is bloom.
Script, Primary Middle Hieratic
Language, Primary Middle Egyptian, Classical
Comments on Handwriting - handwriting of a practiced scribe - "it resembles the writing of several of the El-Lahim business documents" (According to: ... in: Smither, Semnah Dispatches (1945), 9).
Comments on Text Layout Recto col. I on Pl. 1: dispatch no. 1 (lines 1 to 13) col. II on Pl. 2: dispatch no. 2 (lines 1 to 6) and no. 3 (lines 7 to 14) col. III on Pl. 3: dispatches no. 3 (lines 1 to 6) and no. 4 (lines 7 to 14) col. IV on Pl. 4: dispatches no. 4 (lines 1 to 5) and no. 5 (lines 6 to 12) col. V on Pl. 4: dispatch no. 6 (lines x+4 to 13), and on Pl. 5: dispatch no. 6 (lines 1 to 13) col. VI on Pl. 5: dispatch no. 7 (lines 1 to 7) and no. 8 (lines 8 to 13) Verso col. I on Pl. 5, and the ends of lines on Pl. 4 col. II on Pl. 4 col. III on Pl. 3 col. IV on Pl. 2, and the end on Pl. 1 col. V on Pl. 1 Only dispatch 5, which is separated from the dispatch 4 before by a space, is connected with Elephantine. The first line of this text is written in red. The same structure shows the second dispatch of the third plate. In addition, there are texts with large rubra which contain more than one line (see column V on Pl. 4 and the first text on Pl. 5). The last two lines of dispatch no. 1 are separated from the rest of this text by a space. The large uninscribed lower margin on each fragment shows that the fragments contain the ends of columns.
  recto verso
Quantity of Lines dispatch 5: 6(+y(?))
Line Lenght (in mm) 167
Column Height (in mm) 66

 

Text Content

Modern Title letter-book
Ancient Scribe(s) of Text
Text Types
  • documentary | letter
  • religious | polytheistic Egyptian | magical
Summary of Content This papyrus is a letter-book which contains copies of dispatches on the recto. These reports were sent to the authorities of Thebes and record the trades of Nehesiu and Medjay. The fifth from eight dispatches was sent from Elephantine. It is reported that Medjays came in order to serve the Palace. They informed the guard about the bad conditions of the desert, but they were sent back. Based on a secondary use of this object, magical texts including an incantation against ghosts and strengthening strip with accounts are on the verso.
Location of Composition Elephantine Upper Egypt, 1st nome Egypt (Certainty: high)
Multilingualism Monolingual Script = Language
Gender Man Woman Child
Comment on Gender Two Medja-women and two infants came from Nubia to Elephantine to work there.

 

Text

Transcription Translation Pictures
R
I
x+6mj.tj n snn jnı͗.t n=f m jnı͗.yt m mn.w n ꜣbw m ḏḏ mn.w n mn.w
x+7swḏꜣ jb=k snb.t j ꜥnḫ.tj r-n.tt mḏꜣ.y 2 mḏꜣ.yt 3 ḥr.j-ꜥ 2
x+8hꜣ .w ḥr ḫꜣs.t m rnp.t-sp 3 ꜣbd 3 pr.t sw 27 ḏd.n=sn jy.n=n r bꜣk
x+9n pr Pr-ꜥꜣ ꜥnḫ wḏꜣ snb wšd ḥr sḫr ḫꜣs.t ꜥḥꜥ.n ḏd.n=sn n sḏm=n j ḫ.wt nb. w t
x+10jw tꜣ ḫꜣs.t ḥr mw.t m-ꜥ ḥqr ḫr=fj st ꜥḥꜥ.n rḏı͗.n bꜣk-jm ḫd=tw r ḫꜣs.t=sn
x+11m hrw pn ꜥḥꜥ.n ḏd.n wꜥ.t m nꜣ-n mḏꜣ.yt ḥꜣ rḏı͗.tw n=j 1Smither, The Semnah Dispatches (1945), 9, reads: rḏı͗.tw.n=j "O let me be given"

1 Smither, The Semnah Dispatches (1945), 9, reads: rḏı͗.tw.n=j "O let me be given"
x+12 pꜣy=j mḏꜣ.y m tn ꜥḥꜥ.n ḏd.n pꜣ mḏꜣ.y jn jnı͗ sw swn
R
I
x+6The copy of a record which was brought to him which was brought from the fortress of Elephantine as (something) sent by a fortress [to] (another) fortress.
x+7Be informed 1Lit. "Gladdening of your heart“, if you please 2Lit.: "may you be healthy and living“, as follows: Two Medja-men, three Medja-women and two infants

1 Lit. "Gladdening of your heart“
2 Lit.: "may you be healthy and living“
x+8descended from the desert in the regnal year 3, month 3 of the peret-season, [day] 27. They said: "We come in order to serve
x+9the Palace, life, health, and prosperity.“ It was asked about the condition of the desert. Then they said: "We did not hear anything,
x+10(but) the desert is dying of hunger:“, so they said. Then the servant-there caused that (they) dismissed to their desert
x+11on this day. Then one of these Medja-women said: "Would that be given to me
x+12my Medja-man in [///]" Then the Medja-man [said]: "It is (only) the one who has brought himself who (is able to) barter.“ 1According to Vittmann, Hieratic texts (1996), 42 n. 15. The translation of this passage is unclear, because it is unsure if there is text loss. Hafemann, pBM 10752, reads this sentence as a question: „Ist nur der, der sich darbringt einer, der Handel treiben (darf?)…?“ Smither, The Semnah Dispatches (1945), 9, translates: "Does one who trades bring himself?’(?)“

1 According to Vittmann, Hieratic texts (1996), 42 n. 15. The translation of this passage is unclear, because it is unsure if there is text loss. Hafemann, pBM 10752, reads this sentence as a question: „Ist nur der, der sich darbringt einer, der Handel treiben (darf?)…?“ Smither, The Semnah Dispatches (1945), 9, translates: "Does one who trades bring himself?’(?)“
GRO_London_BM_EA10752-
Reserved Copyright
GRO_London_BM_EA10752-
Reserved Copyright
GRO_London_BM_EA10752-
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Places (read out from edition)
  • ꜣbw (places.xml#s3)
    		•

     

     

    Dates

    RulerID Regnal Year MonthID Day Date of the Text Gregorian Date dating_comment
    Middle Kingdom -2120 BCE -1794 BCE The third regnal year of an unnamed kind is mentioned. The person Simontu is noted in dispatch 5 whose name and titles are famous from rock inscriptions at Semnah which contain a date: the 6th and 9th regnal year of Amenemhet III. (According to: Smither, Semnah Dispatches (1945), 9);

     

    Pictures

    GRO_London_BM_EA10752-
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    GRO_London_BM_EA10752-
    Reserved Copyright
    GRO_London_BM_EA10752-
    Reserved Copyright
    GRO_London_BM_EA10752-
    Reserved Copyright
    GRO_London_BM_EA10752-
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    Literature

     

    DatasetID 310461
    last Change 29.07.2022
    Trismegistos 381290
    Author Martina Grünhagen; Verena Lepper
    Dataset License Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
    (CC BY-NC-SA)
    Data set citation Data set 310461 (= Pap. London, BM EA 10752 ), ERC-Project ELEPHANTINE: Martina Grünhagen; Verena Lepper.