Pap. Berlin P. 8869

TEI-XML-File: https://p612399.webspaceconfig.de/xml/elephantine_erc_db_400009.tei.xml

Metadata

Collection

Collection	Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, SPK (P)
Inventory Number	Pap. Berlin P. 8869
Current Location	magazine \| papyrus depository
Publication Permission Status	(unknown)
Publication Status	published

Origin / Provenance

Ancient Provenance Site	Elephantine (Ꜣbw; Yb; YbꜢ; YbꜤ; Ἐλεφαντίνη, יב , ⲉⲓⲏⲃ) [Trismegistos] Certainty:
Ancient Provenance District	Upper Egypt, 1st nome (Ombites) [Trismegistos]
Type of Discovery	purchase Certainty:
Location of Find / Purchase in Egypt	Luxor
District of Find / Purchase in Egypt	Upper Egypt, 1st nome (Ombites) [Trismegistos]
Type of Acquisition for the Intitution	purchase
Date of Acquisition for the Intitution	between 1896 and 1896
Buyer (Currently Housing Institution)	Borchardt, Ludwig Certainty:

Object

Object Type	papyrus
Color	papyrus, dark
Range of Preservation	incomplete
State of Preservation	The papyrus is preserved in some fragments without direct joins, but their positioning relative to each other is clear.

Text Basic Information

Localization of Text on Object	recto/verso
Inks and Pigments	carbon ink monochrome black
Range of Preservation (Text)	incomplete
Script, Primary	Old Hieratic
Language, Primary	Old Egyptian
Comments on Handwriting	The space between the columns and the width of the quadrats are irregular. The columns do not run straight.
Comments on Text Layout	The scribe drew a short black line to separate the indication of the sender from the rest of the text on the recto. Only the name and titles of the addresser above the letter on the recto and on the verso were written in a horizontal line. In column 1 on the recto, the scribe did not write two land names consecutively in the vertical line of text, but rather next to one another horizontally.
	recto	verso
Quantity of Lines	1	2
Quantity of Columns	10	3
Height of Line / Letter
Line Distance	170x200	40x185

Text Content

Modern Title	Letter
Ancient Archives	private archive \| family archive of nomarchs
Text Types	documentary \| letter
Summary of Content	"Iru wrote to his colleague, the "general" Merirenakht, in reply to a previous letter whose details are not mentioned. He was afraid that the "general" might hush up the criminal actions of Count Sabni, of which Iru himself has been a victim. So, while reminding the addressee of his former goodwill in a juridical matter, Iru tried to win him over for joint proceedings against Sabni." (According to Vittmann, Hieratic Texts (1996), 32)
Location of Composition	Thebes-West, Memnoneia Upper Egypt, 4th nome Egypt (Certainty: )
Multilingualism	Monolingual
Gender	Man
Religion	Polytheism (Egyptian)

Text

Transcription

Translation

Pictures

I	ḥꜣ.tj-ꜥ ḫtm.tj-bj.tj smr-wꜥ.tj ḫtm.tj-nṯr Jrw ¹Manassa, The Crimes of Count Sabni (2006), 133 with n. a reads Jr.w-rḥ.w. Wente, Ramesside Letters (1990), 58 and Strudwick, Writings from the Ancient World (2005), 178 read Iruremetju.
1	smr-wꜥ.tj ẖr.j-ḥꜣb Sbk-ḥtp-j Kꜣ-ḥtp-j²Ramesside Wente (1990), 58 reads H̱nm.w-ḥtp-ı͗. jm.j-rꜣ-mšꜥ Mr.y-Rꜥ-nḫt
II	jw rḏı͗.n sn=k-jm ꜥ.wj=fj tp-rꜣ n wpw.t hꜣb.t n sẖꜣ.w=k smr-wꜥ.tjjm.j-rꜣ-pr Ḥtp ḥr=s n-mrw.t
III	nfr-n jrr sn=k-jm j ḫ.t nb.t msḏı͗.t sẖꜣ.w=k jr wnn hꜣb js sẖꜣ.w=k n sn=k-jm
IV	ḏı͗ sẖꜣ.w=k srḫ.t ꜥwꜣ jry r sn=k-jm j ḫ.t m s.t jr swt wnn jrr js
V	sẖꜣ.w=k nn r sḏ ꜥḥꜣ ḥr mꜣꜣ sẖꜣ.w=k ḫꜣs.tj sn=k-jm
VI	mꜣꜣ rf sn=k-jm m mrr rf sẖꜣ.w=k ḥꜣ.tj-ꜥ ḫtm.tj-bj.tj smr-wꜥ.tj jm.j-rꜣ-sẖꜣ.w-ꜥpr.w ³According to: Manassa, The Crimes of Count Sabni (2006), 152 with reference. Sꜣb.n-j
VII	r sn=k-jm nfr swt mrı͗.t mꜣꜥ-ḫrw r ẖꜣb.t ꜣw sp ⁴According to: Manassa, The Crimes of Count Sabni (2006), 152. swt nn-n ꜥḥꜥ
VIII	ḥr thı͗.t nb n.t ḥꜣ.tj-ꜥ pn nn swt wnm ḥr jšt=f sbꜣqq.n swt
IX	sẖꜣ.w=k n sn=k-jm m wsḫ.t n.t Ḥr mj n.tt wnn js sẖꜣ.w=k sn=k-jm
X	m j ḫ.t wꜥ nfr-n wꜣḥ ḥꜣ.tj-ꜥ pn ꜥwꜣ jrı͗.n=f r tꜣ

¹ Manassa, The Crimes of Count Sabni (2006), 133 with n. a reads Jr.w-rḥ.w. Wente, Ramesside Letters (1990), 58 and Strudwick, Writings from the Ancient World (2005), 178 read Iruremetju.
² Ramesside Wente (1990), 58 reads H̱nm.w-ḥtp-ı͗.
³ According to: Manassa, The Crimes of Count Sabni (2006), 152 with reference.
⁴ According to: Manassa, The Crimes of Count Sabni (2006), 152.

vso. I	jw gr mꜣ.n smr-wꜥ.tj jm.j-rꜣ-pr Ḥtp nfr-n ꜥḥꜥ sn=k-jm n ṯꜣs.t n.t Mḏꜣ Wꜣwꜣ.t
vso. II	n-mrw.t nfr-n jrı͗ sn=k-jm msḏḏ sẖꜣ.w=k
vso. III	Jrw
vso. 1	ḥꜣ.tj-ꜥ smr-wꜥ.tj
vso. 2	jm.j-rꜣ-ḥm-nṯr Rꜥ ¹Interpretation of the third column and the two lines according to Wente, Ramesside Letters (1990), 58.

¹ Interpretation of the third column and the two lines according to Wente, Ramesside Letters (1990), 58.

I	The mayor, sealer of Lower Egypt, sole companion, and sealer of the god Iru (to)
1	the expedition leader Merrenakhte, (son of) [Kah]etep-i, (son of) the sole companion and lector priest Sobek-hetep-i
II	Your-brother-there ¹I. e. "I". gave his [\|attention\|] ²Lit. "his hands". to the text of the message concerning which your-scribe ³I. e. "you". sent the sole companion and overseer of the house Hetep in order that
III	your-brother-there ⁴I. e. "I". does not do anything which your-scribe ⁵I. e. "you". dislike. If your-scribe ⁶I. e. "you". has [sent] to your-brother-there ⁷I. e. "I".
IV	that [your]-scribe ⁸I. e. "you". wants to accuse the robbery which has been done against your-brother-there ⁹I. e. "me"., everything is right ¹⁰Lit. "the thing is in its place". But if your-scribe ¹¹I. e. "you". has done
V	this in order to begin ¹²Lit. "break up". the fighting because of [\|your-scribe\|] ¹³I. e. "you". seeing the foreign countries ¹⁴See line 12. [///] your-brother-[there] ¹⁵I. e. "I". [///],
VI	your-brother-there ¹⁶I. e. "I". will see whether your-scribe ¹⁷I. e. "you". loves the mayor, sealer of Lower Egypt, sole [\|companion and overseer of the scribes of the crews\|] Saben-i
VII	more than your-brother-there ¹⁸I. e. "me". However better is it to love the justification than the crookedness. This is [\|an occasion for taking\|] a stand
VIII	against every transgression of this mayor. He is not someone who [\|eats\|] his property. Your-scribe ¹⁹I. e. "you". vouched
IX	for your-[brother]-there ²⁰I. e. "me". in the hall of Horus accordingly [your]-scribe ²¹I. e. "you". and your-[brother]-there ²²I. e. "I".
X	were agreed ²³Lit. "to be as one thing"., (namely) that this mayor does not leave the robbery undone which he has brought upon the land.

¹ I. e. "I".
² Lit. "his hands".
³ I. e. "you".
⁴ I. e. "I".
⁵ I. e. "you".
⁶ I. e. "you".
⁷ I. e. "I".
⁸ I. e. "you".
⁹ I. e. "me".
¹⁰ Lit. "the thing is in its place".
¹¹ I. e. "you".
¹² Lit. "break up".
¹³ I. e. "you".
¹⁴ See line 12.
¹⁵ I. e. "I".
¹⁶ I. e. "I".
¹⁷ I. e. "you".
¹⁸ I. e. "me".
¹⁹ I. e. "you".
²⁰ I. e. "me".
²¹ I. e. "you".
²² I. e. "I".
²³ Lit. "to be as one thing".

vso. I	In addition, the sole companion and overseer of the house Hetep saw that your-brother-there ¹I. e. "I". does not oppose ²Lit. "stand up" for the troop of Medja and Wawat
vso. II	because your-brother-there ³I. e. "I". do [not] that what your-scribe ⁴I. e. "you". dislikes.
vso. III	Iru (to)
vso. 1	the mayor, sole companion,
vso. 2	overseer of ḥm-nṯr-priests of Re

¹ I. e. "I".
² Lit. "stand up"
³ I. e. "I".
⁴ I. e. "you".

P_08869_R

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P_08869_V

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Places (read out from edition)

(places.xml#s109)

ḏꜣ (places.xml#r51)

Wꜣwꜣ.t (places.xml#r45)

People mentioned in Text

ID	gender	en normiert	original	Language	Functions	in Texts
11415	man	Hetep (1)	Ḥtp	Egyptian

Dates

RulerID	Regnal Year	MonthID	Day Date of the Text	Gregorian Date	dating_comment
06th dynasty				-2347 BCE -2170 BCE	paleography; the mention of Old Kingdom royal names (Merenre, Pepi II.) on other fragments from this archive; Sneferu (4th dynasty) and Sekhemkare (8th dynasty) are also mentioned - Edel 1970, 117 dates this text in the 8th dynasty based on the titles and bureaucratic relationship between the addressee and sender. - Manassa, The Crimes of Count Sabni (2006), 154-156 dates the text earlier.;

Pictures

P_08869_R

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Literature

DatasetID	400009
last Change	29.07.2022
Author	Martina Grünhagen; Matthias Müller; Verena Lepper; Daniela C. Härtel
Dataset License	Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA)
Data set citation	Data set 400009 (= Pap. Berlin P. 8869), ERC-Project ELEPHANTINE: Martina Grünhagen; Matthias Müller; Verena Lepper; Daniela C. Härtel.