The so-called "Stato Civile"
Deir el-Medina has even yielded census records, which is quite exceptional in Egypt before the Graeco-Roman period, most notably a manuscript kept at the Museo Egizio in Turin known as “Stato civile”, consisting of lists of households and their members. This document demonstrates not only the complexity of the legal and taxation system in Ramesside Thebes, but also the complexity of working with the Turin papyri. The manuscript, which is part of the Drovetti collection, consists of hundreds of fragments. It was rediscovered by G. Botti in 1923 and drew the attention of J. Černý in the 1930s. Using the notes of these earlier scholars as a starting point, R.J. Demarée and D. Valbelle found additional fragments among the undocumented material. Over a period of nearly 20 years they managed to reassemble this manuscript and published it in a ground-breaking monograph.
The registers of households and names is written in the hieratic script on the recto (front) of the originally long manuscript, which is now preserved only in many fragments, today framed in 23 glass frames (image here of the frame on display). Whereas the verso (back) bears various administrative texts containing information about the administration of the community of workmen in Deir el-Medina, which are mentioned on the front. The structure of the “Stato civile” is rather simple, the formula is: “House of X, son of Y, his mother Z”, followed by other family members such as wife, son(s) and daughter(s). The expression “House of” is written in red ink to make the separation between the household clear.
New Kingdom (1539-1077 BC)
Dynasty 20 (1190-1077 BC)
Ramesses IX (Neferkare Setepenre)
Thebes/Deir el-Medina (?)
Acquisition: Drovetti, Bernardino
Acquisition Date: 1824
Eleonora Mander (EM)
hieratic
Census list
house, names, workmen
Deir el-Medina (s.t mAa.t)
New Kingdom (1539-1077 BC)
Dynasty 20 (1190-1077 BC)
Ramesses IX (Neferkare Setepenre)
No
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