GOLD OF PRAISE STUDIES ON ANCIENT EGYPT IN HONOR OF EDWARD F. WENTE edited by EMILY TEETER and JOHN A. LARSON THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO STUDIES IN ANCIENT ORIENTAL CIVILIZATION + NO. 58 CHICAGO + ILLINOIS27 THE AUCTION OF PHARAOH J.G. MANNING Stanford University, California Iis a great pleasure to dedicate this paper to Professor Wente on the oc tional seminars on Late Egyptian texts will always be fondly remembered by me and I wish him well in his re- tirement.* sasion of his retirement. His inspira Sometime (the exact date is not stated) in the year 221/220 B.C., in the shadow of the newly begun temple dedicated to the falcon god Horus at Edfu, a herdsman (‘m) named Pa-ti.ary son of Pa-bir and ten of his col- Teagues made an agreement with five other people to purchase forty-five arouras of land and its ‘iw 1 hy “excess of measure.” The type of land is not specified, but it is designated as “the southern dr* in the tamarisk istand™ and, later in the text, ( miy.t “the island.” The agreement, known as P. Hauswaldt 16, was made before Mnesarchos (Msrgws) the Thebarch (Jiry Niw.1)? and other royal officials (n¥ rfav m pr-* rah”). It is interesting to note that although the Thebarch was an official in charge of the general finances of the Thebaid, he is found in contexts even where relatively small fines were collected, The Thebarel in the Hauswaldt agreement stuggests relatively firm Ptolemaic control of the Nile Valley in the third century B.C. Ina group of texts from Thebes, the official nominally in charge of auctions of derelict property was the vice-Thebarch who communicated with the komogrammateus as well as the topogrammateus, the local seribe in charge of translating Demotic texts into Greek for the benefit of the vice-Thebarch (Wilcken 1935, pp, 266-9 Criscuolo 1979). P. Hauswaldt 16 forms part of a family archive consisting of several marriage agreements as well as private conveyances of both royal and temple land within the divine endowment of Horus of Edfu (Jup-ntr Hr blu). ‘The sgreement itself, recording payment for the land in cash as well as grain,’ is the only known occurrence in a Demotic text of an arrangement to acquire land at public auction;* other examples listed in the tables occur in sale documents which mention that the property being conveyed had been initially acquired through public au tion, Source material is far more abundant in the Greek papyri from Hellenistic Egypt no doubt becituse the in stitution was a Greek invention introduced into Egypt by the Ptolemies and administered in Greek through the institution of the sha n pr-‘2 “royal bank.” nts of pha- "s presence ember 1995, ced with similar 1. ‘The context of the family archive in which this ageeement This paper was completed in De The Demotic writing here ap ‘writing in P. Berlin Elephantine 155 je i may be comp ‘was & part suggests that land involved in the transaetion was located in the southern part of the Edfu Nome, described as the so-called “Hauswaldt zone” (Mecks 1972, pp. 123 n. 254, 146). The term m:y.t may also be used in the sense of cultivable land, The term dr//* awwae (Erichsen 1954, P. Hayswalt 16,Jine 4 P. Berlin Blephantine 18522, tne 4 The officia 6685; Vycichl 1983, 325) isa Se root meaning “to gather, collect.” See Mecks 1972, pp. 113— 14, fora discussion of the term and Greek occurrences as place name rethapng, neoda; Ritner 1984, p. 179, n. 16. Is dla technical term used of land “collected together” for the purpose of auction? Its use in P. Cairo 30753, ine 5 (Sethe 1920, text 6), if an avetion i involved, implies so. tic Loan word and has as its ‘The title was previously read as mr(2) ip “overseer of ac: counts” (Spiegelberg 1913, p. $2) and subsequently hry ip Compare the translation of the ttle as “Oberrechnungsrat™ (Peremans and Van 't Dack 1950, no. 924). For the sug- ested reading hry rather than mr, see Thissen 1979, p. 65. an Gold of Praise: Studies on Ancient Egypt in Honor of Edward F. Wente Eulited by Emily Teeter and John A. Larson Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 58 Chicago: Oriental stitute, 1999) ‘©The University of Chicago. All Rights Reserved Mnesarchos also ccurs in P. Dem. Hlephan tine 18 and 28, P. Dem, Berlin 13537 (Zauzich 1993), and P Bon, to be republished by Lucia Criscuolo and Willy Clarysse. I owe the suggested new reading of the Demotic title to both Professor Karl-Theodor Zauzich and Sven Viceming. For the office of Thebarch, which was Prolemais, see Thomas 1975, pp. 69-70; Van *t Dick 1975, pp. 646-55. Perhaps because arrears were due in grain, For a similar ar- rangement, see PSB S865 (cited by Pringsheim 1949, p. 303), I leave out of the present discussion the problematic papyti published by Sethe (1920, texts 1-6). Some of the wording ased in278 u J. G.MANNING The various stages of the process of the auction are well known. The procedure w: | Public announcement of auction to be held 'as as follows: 2. Auction is held 4 Introduction is proclaimed by herald b. Midting begins, tasting several days © Highest bids posted for several more days dd. New overbidding is accepted - Knocking down tothe highest bidder ‘Transfer of goods auctioned to highest bidder is made c ete ighest bidder iy made upon receipt of taxes and payment of frst installe 2. Attransfer of goods (f, above stall ‘an order (5tcqppady) is given to royal bank to accept price in several in New overbidding is still accepted until frst installment is received + Within specified time limit, original owner of auctioned property a ae ws right to re-acquire goods by paying aue- the Hauswaldt papyrus records the payment of the first installment installments. P. Greek Elephantine 14, dated ca. 223 B.c. nouncing the auction itself) and may well be part of the sa event publicized in P. Greek Elephantine 14 is connected t Of priests in Edfu." ‘The amount of the land purchased in P. Hauswald and is probably a function of the nu bear the tithe ‘im b:k fr and a private agreement over the remaining Tecords the first stage in the auction process (an- 'me event that our papyrus records. In any case, the ‘the sale of derelict property belonging to a family Ey I 16 is striking (forty-five arouras; one aroura imber of people taking part in the agreement (sixteen),? hit “herdsman, servant of Horus of Edfu."* fecen)? Ao 0.66 acre) he parties Table 27.1. Purchase of Land at Auction in Demotic Papyri P. Hauswatdt 16% alt rae 1 so IRIE a was “The wn the sound 3 Tete IH 3S High and exces P. Strassburg 21° Krocodilopotis. 176 Be ca | ground cubit 22414 +41 1/2 arouras! Empty plot (writ) Island + high land + excess of mea sure in divine endowments of Hathor BM Haso1r a and Isis, sy 160s wc 112 arouras P.BMEA 38.20630° Deir cl-Ballas (Dendara) 175 ne Pasian An increase in measure (‘wn hy) * Spite 12. pp. The atte this ps prs is 14S, coos hat the pla od evions ing ‘eamfered wis riginllysegsired throug the pb 4 drous the publication thinyane years Sever pls of ln were pursed a ot 7: Maron: plo Jel 2 vo tle ee ely en one fom fhe (a paphonas pie of athe) his, ln & 22 Pe * the Kind way purchased jointly with ome. oF in the exse of plot 9, ovens in these texts may suggest that Cains TSN) Ser it an. I one text, number lunt and Edgar 1934, p, 233, . we a th Wthe word ‘Fin a lacuna, a term 7. Two othe Le Of public auctions, but itis far from certain that the trate a Of lind initially acquired at auction word in record transfers of thirty-six (Plots 4+ 7; P. BMFA 38.2063; Parker 1966) and shin sand thirty-five arouras (P. Mainz-€ + 8; Zauzich 1968, pp. 37-40, 85-87) ‘The text gives the title and fact occurs, Interestingly, the land inthis text ix sad lhe cocoa” in oner tobe ree dl" see note 1, above. ered: On the ream Psngy that she oo bore thee om ba ie ae Lay between the of the THE AUCTION OF PHARAOIL 279 While it cannot be proven that all parties to the agreement were related, nevertheless it seems likely that they were at least part of an extended family or status group associated with herding in the Edfu area. Although some scholars have assumed that the text records a lease of land (“Pachtvertrag”), there is no di- rect evidence that the document records a lease.” Whether the cquisition of land at auction was by lease or real le, there was little to distinguish the two in the auction process itself (Pringsheim 1949, p. 284, n. 3). It would be helpful if we knew whether crown or temple land was involved in the Hauswaldi example. Whatever the ex- act legal arrangements or status of the land, property acquired at auction was the subject of subsequent sale by private legal instrument. Second, the language of the Demotic regarding the transaction (in r-dbt hid hr pi ‘yin pr-‘4) is in some eases that of a sale not a lease. The notion that land was not freely bought and sold in Hellenis- tic Egypt but, rather, was let on long-term leases, goes back to Rostovizett"s rigid view of land tenure which has now been abandoned in favor of a system with much more variety in land-holding patterns." As P. Greek El- ephantine 14, lines 22-23, also makes clear, the variety of landholding patterns ned by the Ptolemies: s sancti wuptedcovow 6 KaBc Kal oi mpdtov KUpLOL ExExeHVTO ‘They will own the property in the same manner as those who held it formerly * declare to the In the Hauswaldt agreement, the first group, eleven “herdsman, servant of Horus of Edf second group, led by Pa-bht son of Pa-lhw, the principal figure in the Hauswaldt dossier, and four iry.wr “col- leagues," that they are responsible for the payment schedule of a certain plot of land termed “the southern ‘collection’ in the tamarisk island,” which the second group of people had “received,” or “accepted” (ip). at the auction of pharaoh.” Liiddeckens (1960, p. 234) assumed that the forty-five arouras would have been divided ‘among the five men forming party B to the transaction, but there is no mention in the agreement of the way in which the land was to be divided or used." Payment was to be made both in cash and in in-kind installments (15.w) to the royal bank, Payment by installment was a normal method of payment for mentioned in P. Greek Elephantine 14, lines 19-20: fioned property and is, [riic] fé tiping taGovtan napaxpiiper 10 5 pépog tO € Aormdy ev (tea) y ‘They (the buyers) shall pay one fourth of the price immediately, and the remainder in three years 1F either group of people defaulted on the purchase agreement, they were liable for the payment on which they agreed and the fine stated in the penalty clause, PUBLIC PURCHASE OF PROPERTY BY ROYAL AUCTION ‘proclamation of pharaoh”)"* is an institution that first appears in the Hellenistic period and its application as a method of disposing of derelict property is closely parallel to its use at Athens and elsewhere in the Hellenistic world. '* It is “certainly a Greek institution” (Pringsheim 1949, p. 288). The published Demotic evidence is at present limited to Upper Egypt and, except for two examples, to the second century B.C. (Zauzich 1971a, p. 80; P. BM 10828). The term derives from Egyptian ‘F meaning “to ery out, proclaim.”!® According to Pestman (1978, p. 64, n. 4), “au moyen de ‘y¥ ‘la erige’ le démotique désigne kt t en effet faite par un héraut: MpoKTipvétc,” ‘The auction of pharaoh (ym pr-“2, lit vente publique dont l'annonce ét 9. Delekat 1968, p. 104. Luddeckens (LA 4 “Papyri, Demoti auf eine Person, oder — woll richtiger — auf die Familie sche, Berlin,” col. 770), ina list of Berlin papyt, also places des einzelnen Bebauers entficlen.” The agreement is clearly the text under “Pacht.” between two groups totaling sixteen people and is not a ces ind Shelton 1976, p.7, sion by eleven people tothe other five, as Liddeekens sum 10. See the discussion in Keen marized the tex. 1. Compare P. Berlin 3146A, 6 (Grunert 1981), in which the holder ofthe plot to the west of the plot being sold is Pa-hnm 14. Zauzich (1971, pp. 79-82: 1990, pp. 161-62) gathers all known occurrences of the term, To this list must be added the Asyut archive examples discussed below, as well as the recently published P, BM 10828 (212 H.C, Thebes; Andrews sonet Pawst and his colleen” 12. I wonder whether the Demi is ransating form ofthe Ow poets bape ae Soke 1920, p-9.0n he Grcck 1990.00 17) and P. BM 1721 (INE, phraseology, see, for example, P. Gen. inv. no. | in Pestman 1990, text 9). 1978p 6 text 7 15, Sees in general, Pingo 1945 13, “Da eten elf Personen einen Acker von 45 Aruren an fi? 16. Wh 1227-1; oexp (Crum 1939, 257). This special we of Personen ab, soda nach AbschuS des Handels 9 Aruten “fas "auton mot sed in schon 1954, 71, The Grok tes 1969.260 JG. MANNING Asin the Greek examples, a wide ran; ge Of property was auctioned, from temple land to days of service in a temple (liturgy days), graves, and houses: * ne om tee leno days of service ing ble 27.2. Purchase of Property Other Than Land at Auction in Demotie Papyri nts i ‘em taste P.BM 10K2K ‘Thebes 22 Be House ~ 12 share, “built and roofed" P.BM 1072 Thebes ORE Hse Desired, and everyth rye, and everything pertaining wit” P-Tarin 080° Thebes west 71H. Lay daya Turin Gk Wicheswest 15980. Chapel appurtenances? Tete te wn meen of eatin gy dayne Me sme dst we lear whether all heed le open wan purchase tain oy the ft ne the eet tm tr he ot ound sl The ext I rm sinh caiynkncm wm ey haw rinsed bd iors tk ee cnn in atink Hee to ye the pe ned sine oh rs he awetion of phiarath they making for us x dlagraphe for them, * “mean ‘The Greck evidence pertaining to auctions of property in Ptolemaic Egy ok poe len P e tolemaic Egypt suggests that proceeds fi a pitas peu the {810g A6yos (Swamey 1970, pp. 38-40). The Greek evidence also stuns Sena aeied of disposing of property of many kinds — property either confiscated because etiazlay 0 be “without owner” (GSéonot0s)."” Although the evidence for the institution of th '808 exists only from the reign of Ptolemy VI Philometor, public Es back to the end of the third century both in the Greek and in U Evidence for the confiscation and subsequent from both Upper Egypt and the Memphis region." In both cases is 16 Bootdtx6y “taken back to the crown” (S: p ‘might reflect land that was so reclaimed by the crown: auctions of derelict property extends the Demotic papyr.!* [teat (or wnensw) ob r pret “Hlandl| which is Jor ‘used to be"} assigned to pharaoh” Thave suggested Greek Elephantine 14, of auction found at Blephantine record one Papers is preserved the record of the financial The sons of Estpher he mh 1 et ‘nis acquired thirty arouras of land and made the 1% however, unable to make further pay; sim on te though the brothers did not own the ta their claim to the land could appa *' They were, Dionysius. Al- the remaining payments due to the ro ; s he royal bank (Pringsheim 1949, p. 302 Land falling into disuse is the most likely expl eee tracts of land at Pathyris beginning on 8 Novembe: gained from the rebellion that had caused widespr lanation for the seizure and sale by public auction of large t 187 B.C., at the time when the northern Thebaid was re- ead unrest in southern Upper Egypt (between 207 and 186 equiva Baordaxos, es a form of the verb @véowar + eK ¥e Pestman 1978, p, 60, For Theban sales of property, see Wileken 1935, pp. 266-95, Concerning the absolute date for the government receipts receive 19. As in the case of the seizure of the documented in the Milon known ! from such sales, Swamey (1970, p. 40) pam Ses "7 I, States that “a date for the establishment of the idios fogos can- 20, FBMFA 3820636, B I tine 37: B ciated See the net b not be exactly determined, Presumably it came at a time when Parker 1964, p. 98, who did not explain the phrase. For ihe the tumover of private property during the chaos of the mid Tunnel par Seri auch on faveur de gga,” sce ae cenluty B.C. necessitated a separate account for re- Malinine 1961, p. 159m, (e); Bet 1984, eee ‘ cording payments from confiscated and ” nay Miscated aad abandoned propery.” 21, P, Dem. Elephantine 2 THE AUCTION OF PIARAOI 281 B.C.) This upheaval probably resulted in many persons temporarily abandoning their land, which would have been sufficient grounds for the government to declare the land &8€on0t0¢, to seize the land, and to auction it to the highest bidder.” A bank diagraphe (Demotie tygrpw.* ty :grph:°*) was issued ordering the royal bank, to which payment ‘was made, to accept the price in several installments. This receipt. or “deposit slip" (Swarney 1970, p. 10), wats the means by which a party could prove legal title to a plot of land purchased at auction (Pestman 1978, p. 64. n. k). Asa proof of legal purchase, it was transferred at the time of sale along with any other important legal docu: ments.* Outside of the Hauswaldt example, the Demotic evidence is clustered around the years just after the cessa- tion of the Theban uprising. From Dendara we learn of an auction of two large plots acquired by a priest and conveyed to his son in the form of a will. One plot was located in the /up-nér of Hathor consisting of “ft my “is- land land” and +h q+y “high land,” along with an empty plot (1r/)27 and another plot of forty-one and one-half arouras was divided into two parcels, one of twenty-eight and one-half, the other of thirteen, also within the nity of Hathor. P. Mainz € + 6 is a record of the sale and cession of thirty-five arouras of high lind and its “excess of measure” in the /up-ner of Hathor, originally purchased at auction. Plots immediately adjacent to the south and north were also purchased at the public auction at the same time. At the other end of the spectrum, P. Strassburg 21 is the sale agreement for an empty plot (\sr/i) consisting of just one ground cubit (mh i 1) pur- chased thirty-one years previously at auction. The agreement over the installment payments contained in P. Hauswaldt 16 and the other texts discussed here proves that the public auction had a wider scope than the do- main of Hathor, despite Grunert’s proposal to the contrary (1979, p. 65, n. 33) Further evidence that the public auction extended to other temple estates has recently been brought to bear by Zauzich’s (1990, pp. 161-62) new reading in P. BM 10591 recio, vi, lines 16-17, the court record from the Asyut family dispute over ten arouras of land in the temple estate of the local god Wepwawet. At first sight the situation revolving around the public auction in the Asyut case appears to be unique. At the conclusion of the main part of the legal proceedings, after both parties had stated the evidence that they thought relevant to the ownership of the ten arouras, the judges asked Chratianch if there was a man who made her plea. The woman responded that in fact there was and he, a certain Oertes,™ proclaimed that: there is a diagraphe that was made to Tuot son of Petetum, the husband of Chratianeh on aecount of [the auc lf arouras of land as an increase of measure tion} of pharaoh in year eleven, Pharmuthi, for one and on which was found in relation to them, ‘Two things deserve comment here. The first is that there does not appear to be any relationship between the assertion that a diagraphe was found for one and one-half arouras of extra land and the dispute over the owner- ship of the ten arouras which was the subject of the legal dispute within the family. Could such a diagraphe-te~ ceipt over an excess amount of land act as at least partial proof of ownership for the entire plot? Secondly, what did the public auction have to do with an increase in the plot under dispute? There is evidence that in cases tthe when family property came up for public auction, other family members assumed a privileged positi 22. See Vandorpe 1986, p. 297. The land involved in the s0- known since nobody pays for this (lal) to the treasury called “Erbstreit” archive mentioned in the sale and cession But of the uncultivated area, nothing has been overlooked, documents P. Mainz € + 8, was originally acquired during because the land-messurement of what is sown happens ev this government seizure and sale. The Erbstreit archive is to ery year, and the taxes are being exaeted.” On this text, see bbe republished by Sven Vieeming and Katelijn Vandorpe. also the comments of Pestman 1995, pp. 121-22. ‘The most recent summary of the evidence for the Theban re- 24, P. BM 10591 recto, vi, line 13: Thompson 1934, p. 24. volt is that of Pestman 1995. 25. P. Torin 6081, line 21; Bot 1967, text 4. The reading was corrected from the editio princeps by Zauzich (1971b, p. 49). For a listing of Dematic occurrences, see Clarysse 1987, pp. 22-23, 26, P. Mainz €, line 5; Zauzich 1968, p. 38. 27. P. BMFA 38.2063b, line ALO; Parker 1964, 23. For another example ofthis procedure, see Swarney 1970, pp. 28-29. Clarysse (1979, pp. 101-06) published a text from Trinity College, Dublin (P. Gr. Dublin ined. ef. Pesiman 1995, p. 121, text ww), that reports some of the negative effects of the Thebsid revolt (the text is dated by the author to pos-187 B.C): “The land has gone dry. When 28. On he foreign name Wrts, see Thompson 1934, p. 24 1, 106, therefore, as is regular practice, the land which didnot have wherein it is suggested that this name is Armenian; loners was registered among the 7H &BEonot9G, some of _—_—Lilddeckens (1981, p. 122) also equates the name with the survivors enerouched upon the Land bordering their own —_Bdptag and got hold of more than was allowed. Their names are un- 29. ‘The seribe omitted yf.Be JG. MANNING bidding, but there ix no evidence that land had been seized by the government in the Asyut case. Rather, itis ap- Parent that government officials discovered that the plot in question was larger than previously recorded, and therefore a price was paid into the royal bank. The situation described here hes m ‘ny similarities to P. Amherst 31. in which a woman was found to have enclosed exira land to plant palm trees Although there is no mention Of an auction, royal officials intervened, resurveyed the land, and found that the woman ha a small excess (two cubits) of waste land (z€p60s) that was liable to 4 “fine” (xpSonAWOV), which became the purchase price of the and. Thus the Demotic term “auction of pharaoh,” like its Greek counterpart, has a wider Scope than “auction,” The Porating also financial payments to the crown for land that was technically in excess of the booked amount ‘The transaction was a government sale “without the formality of purchase” (Swarney 1970, pp. 15-16). As in the P. Amherst case, the extra land in the Asyut archive may have been ‘simply waste land which may not even have been recorded in the local scribe's office, but which nevertheless ‘might not be arbitrarily added to any nearby property” (Swarney 1970, p. 17), A different interpretation of the Asyut ¢ has recently been suggested by Bogaert (1988), although it nust be stressed that the author was presumably unaware of Zauzich's new Feading. In his new interpretation, Bogaert claims that the one and one-half arouras of extra land mae “terre royale concédée par bail emphytéotique au plaignant” (1988, p. 214). There is, however, absolutely no reason to assume that this extra {and was royal land since the land involved in the case is elsewhere deseribed as being in the divine endowment of Wepwawet, Payment of the price along with the taxes in kind (wr w) was paid to the royal bank, but this was the standard procedure in purchase at auction, whether tenure was acquired through lease or sale,” Rowlandson (1996, pp. 48-53) has outlined the evidence for public auctions of land in Roman Egypt, most of which accords well with the Ptolemaic material. The auctions were Publicly advertised and were of two Uypes. The first involved land that was unproductive (iméRoy0<). In thie case, the price was fixed at a very low cided benefit of being tax-free for the first three years as an added incentive to bring ie Second type of auction, when land had been returned to the state either because Is owners did not have an heir oF because the land was in tax arrears, Fequired the submission of tender offers ind ihe price could go as high as the market would bear. The successlel bidder acquired full ownership of the land. Rowlandson (1996, p. 53) concludes that: We should expect land avaiable forsale at auction to have been most abundant at limes of demographic or ceases fess when more people died without heirs or were unable to meet their obligations. But the “xelence isso sparse tht it provides no scope for determining Muctuations inthe n lability of the land. Although it is, of course, dangerous to make sweeping conclusions from a handful of texts, the clustering of the Pemotic evidence, such as it is, for the auctioning of property in the second century is concordant with the eco. raat Mess well known during this period throughout Egypt.” All but the Hauswaldt example and P. BM 10828 dlate to the post-Theban revolt era when the Piolemies made a Special effort to reassert control of the Thebuid. {tis generally argued that the origins of the Ptolem, ic idios logos, the “privy purse” of the crown into which was Paid the proceeds of sales of derelict or ownerless land, lay in the second century B.C. (Rathbone 1993, pp. 105. 06). The basis for thermore, that the origins for the idias fogos may lie in the thied rather than the second century B.C There is.a growing consensus that, in contradiction to Karl Polanyi and Moses Finley’s views, markets were 8 feature of ancient economic life."" One place where markets existed was in the public auction during Ptole- mined eek: More work needs to be done on just how extensive was this market and on how prices were deter- inined. This paper has addressed the issue of the Demotic evidence for such public auctions of property. I have Ptkened that government intervention is an indication of fitm Ptolemare control of the countryside, even in Upper Fj ‘ypt on temple estates. Tis paper cannot be the last word on the subject, Integration with the much more abundant Greek material 30. Soe the remarks by Swamey 1970, pp. 14-18, 32. Reckmuns 1949. On the development of the Ptotemaic idfos Mo “The government sale wax a true sale, aut a lease logos, See Swarney 1970, pp. 33-40, Swamey 1970, p. 34). 2 See, for example, Silver 1995, pp. 95-152, 283 THE AUCTION OF PHARAOH 28 a Greek innovation and was lent with the view that the institution of public auction was a Greek q so far, however, is consi administered directly by the crown, References Keenan. J.G., and J. C, Shelton 1976 The Tebtunis Papyri, Volume 4, Graeco-Roman Memoirs 64, London: Egypt Exploration Society Andrews. © 1950 Catloue of Demoe Papin the British Mascon Volume 4: Piotemaic Leg Tests rom the Then Ave, London: Brish Museu auc wc 1960 Anise Ehesermig, Aeyp oe Viesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. ‘ cdemotiche iP. Ge. Ames 31 gen Wiesbate ~ eee cia orne a 1981 Demotisches Namenbuch, Band | Licferang 2: fIri.ir ther Wiesbaden Ladi ihe Vr. ische Abhandlun- Egitto e Vicino Oriente 7: 41-60. 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Abhandlungen der 28 SEMI-LITERACY IN EGYPT: SOME ERASURES FROM THE AMARNA PERIOD PETER DER MANUELIAN Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Few Egyptologists have done as much to unlock the writings and thought processes of the as the scholar honored in this volume. His many contributions include years devoted to the Epigraphic Survey's distinguished projects, grammatical es: 1d unsurpassed translations. Less tangible, yet equally impressive, is the number of students he has enlightened on all stages of the Egyptian language. They bear testimony to his unique combination of academic astuteness and kind encouragement, May this note on a topie and era he knows, far better than I be of some interest and amusement to him.! Ina recent article on texts and images in Egyptian art, Betsy M. Bryan (1995, pp. 28-29: 1996) explored how discrete portions of a scene or image might speak to different audiences or segments of the ancient Exyp- tian population. This raises in a new form the question of literacy in ancient Egypt and, more specifically, levels or degrees of literacy. For example, the impression conveyed to an ancient viewer by the image alone of a seated-pair statue might differ significantly from that conveyed by the image combined with all of its identifying inscriptions and prayers. The key variable is the perception of the viewer in question, and whether the viewer could appreciate the two human figures by themselves, the figures and the simple Jup di’ nsw formula provided for the viewer, or both of these plus a long and perhaps complicated text with administrative titles, family gene- alogy, and biographical narrative, In each of these instances, the viewer would walk away with a different per- ception of the object in question. In the case of monumental works of art, such as propagandistic battle reliefs on tcraple walls, the state could reach multitude of individuals on a multitude of levels (Bryan 1996; Simpson 1982; idem 1996). In short, not all Egyptian monuments spoke to their audiences with the same voice; the vary- ing potential meanings were in the “mind’s eye” of the ancient beholder. Assessing the literacy rate of an ancient people is a formidable task. In the Egyptiain case, estimates cur rently run at less than five percent of the population (Baines 1983, pp. 584-86; Baines and Eyre 1983, pp. 65~ 96; Lesko 1990, pp. 656-67; Bryan 1996, n. 14). How much more difficult must it be to assess the various levels of ancient literacy?? John Baines summarized several possible levels, which I have condensed and portrayed in the chart in fig. 28.1 Modern text-critical analyses of Egyptian inscriptions have long been contributing to our understanding of the competence of the literate Egyptian, noting dependence on tradition, both oral and written, and examples of s dittographies, auditory mistakes, etc. Most of these analyses focus on an elite class of es even research and repro- scribal errors, such Egyptians already so well schooled as to be able to compose texts and in some duce earlier stages of the language (Manuelian 1994). But what about further “down” the literacy ladder? It may be possible to gain a brief glimpse into some of these levels with a look, not at what the Egyptians in- scribed on a wall, but, ironically, what they scratched out. In other words, erasures of portions of an Egyptian in- than the writings themselves. scription might tell us more about Egyptian literacy level Usurpations, recarvings, and willful destruction of inscribed materials have long histories and multiple causes (LA 6 “Usurpator” and “Usurpierung,” cols, 90406). Redirecting the mortuary benefits of another, alter- (new edition in preparation by H.-W. Fischer-Elfert); Otto 1956, pp. 41-48. On schoolboy education, see now Janssen and Janssen 1990, pp. 67-89 (for this reference 1 thank Christian E. Loeben). 1, For their helpful comments on earlier versions ofthis paper 1 1m indebted to John Baines and Christian E, Loeben, 2. The subject receives relatively little attention in LA 1 “Ausbildung,” esp. cols. $7274; compare also Brunner 1957 285 Gold of Praise: Studies on Ancient Egypt in Honor of Edward F. Wente Edited by Emily Teeter and John A. Larson Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 58 Chicago: Oriental institute, 1999 ‘The University of Chicago. All Rights Reserved