Letter
The addressees and the subject of the letter firmly connect it with the documentary texts left by the royal necropolis administration of the Ramesside Period, and therefore with the site of Deir el-Medina, where most of the Turin papyri from that period were probably found. It cannot be said with certainty to what events is actually referred to in P. Turin Cat. 2022. Yet the lack of food rations, and the men’s refusal to go to work in connection with the presence of foreign groups, may well be what our letter is hinting at. The mischievous young men mentioned on the recto were perhaps among the men ‘seized’ in years 9, 10 or 14 of Ramesses IX.
In papyrological terms the text is written on the recto side, where the fibers run horizontally, however, the text starts on the verso side that is why it is considered here as front side.
New Kingdom (1539-1077 BC)
Dynasty 20 (1190-1077 BC)
Ramesses IX/Ramesses X
Thebes/Deir el-Medina (?)
Acquisition: Drovetti, Bernardino
Acquisition Date: 1824
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(rt, 1) [...] ... (?) [...]
(rt, 2) [...] to the men of the Noble Tomb [...]
(rt, 3) [...] I heard: ‘We are afraid!’ ... (?)
(rt, 4) [...] the young men of evil (?) your mouth/speech. But I have not heard
(rt, 5) [...] afraid of what? Who is going to attack you?
(rt, 6) [...] Pharaoh – life, prosperity, health – searches for them. But look
(text continuous on the verso)
(BH)
Ben Haring (BH)
Susanne Töpfer (ST)
hieratic
Letter
attack, Pharaoh, transgressor, workmen, evil
New Kingdom (1539-1077 BC)
Dynasty 20 (1190-1077 BC)
Ramesses IX/Ramesses X
No
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Haring, in: Festschrift Francisca A.J. Hoogendijk (2021), pp. 3-12
(vs, 1) [...] one attacks you, the servants of Pharaoh – life, prosperity, health – my Lord (?)
(vs, 2) [...] where I am. And I shall reach out and seize his
(vs, 3) [...] Do carry out this order of Pharaoh – life, prosperity, health – your
(vs, 4) [Good Lord ...] ... (?) for you to receive your food rations which they used to
(vs, 5) [...] previously (?) from the agents who used to give[...]
(vs, 6) [...] ... (?) for you to do it. Do not (?) [...]’
(vs, 7) ‘[...] day 26, having arrived/being done ... (?) [...]’
(text is a continuation of the recto)
(BH)
Ben Haring (BH)
Susanne Töpfer (ST)
hieratic
Letter
Pharaoh, servant, food ration, attack
New Kingdom (1539-1077 BC)
Dynasty 20 (1190-1077 BC)
Ramesses IX/Ramesses X
No
---
Haring, in: Festschrift Francisca A.J. Hoogendijk (2021), pp. 3-12
