DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6444#0040
legal documents.
29
of Amenemliat III., i.e. about forty years
before.
I. 4. <§> ^ Jj (?)• K this were the title, it
would probably have been written in red iuk.
II. 4", 5°, and the dot below. These annota-
tions are faint, and perhaps do not belong to
this text (? palimpsest), since they are not
quite on the level of the line.
Kahun, VII. I.
[PL XL, 11. 10-27.]
Conveyance by Mery.
A sheet 12 in. = 30 cm. long X 7 in. = 18 cm.
wide ; lower end imperfect. Papyrus rather
coarse, pale, and in admirable preservation.
Recto.—A will.
Verso.—Endorsement on back of right-hand
edge, below the middle.
The writing is in black ink only.
11. 11-14.
Verso.
Title to property made by
the regulator of the corps, Antef 's son
Mery, to his son
Mery's son, Antef,
called Iusenb.
Recto.
15. Year 39, Khoiak, day 19.
16. Title to property made by the regulator of the
corps, Antef s son Mery, called Keba, for
17. his son, Mery's son Antef, called Iusenb. I am
giving my
18. regulatorship of priestly orders to my son, Mery's
son Antef, called Iusenb, as (?) " old man's staff,"
19. even as I grow old : let him be promoted (thereto)
at this instant.
20. As to that title to property that I made for his
mother before, it is annulled ;
21. as to my house that is in the territory (?) of Het
............, it is for my
22. children borne to me by the daughter of the
ami'so, of the henbeti'n'u
23. Sebekemhat, Nebt'Hunen'Seten, with all that is
in it.
24. Name-list of witnesses in whose presence this title
to property was made :
25. the regulator of the corps, Senu-Set's (?) son, of
the same name (?)
26. [the uab ?] Usertesen's son Senbubu
27.......................................................
I. 15. The date, "Year 39," can scarcely be-
long to the Xlllth Dynasty, the reigns in that
dynasty being presumably short. With hardly
a doubt it refers to Amenemhat III., from whose
time so many documents in the collection have
come down.
I. 16. 41- ^ xzr3 ' imit-pr, lit. "contents
u c iii
of the house," or " what is in the property "
—and hence the title thereto. It is a word
regularly used in the documents published on
Pis. xi.-xii. to denote a legal transfer between
relations: between father and son, husband
and wife, brother and brother; cf. also PL ix.,
1. 32. It appears often in mythological texts
relating to the transfer of the kingdom from
Keb to Osiris, or in reference to the gift of the
kingdom to Pharaoh by his paternal deities :
it is also used of the gift of a temple and its
belongings to a god. From a subsequent text
(PL xiii., 1. 20) it appears that it was not
always a deed of gift, but might sometimes,
perhaps usually, be the result of a bargain or
sale. Evidently, therefore, a deed conveying
property to persons quite unrelated to the
vendor would still be called -|J- ^,L~|—1 f t t.
We see, however, from the three examples at
Kahun, viz. vii. 1 and the two in i. 1 (PL xii.),
that the 41 ^
| ( is not always the title
merely to specific property. Each of them,
indeed, lays stress on and centres round a
particular gift, but the subsidiary clauses that
they contain are hardly in all cases mere modi-
fications of the main gift: see especially this
statement of the house being reserved to the
children of Nebt'Hunen'seten, which seems not
to affect the transfer of the priesthood; and, in
the next plate, the nomination of a guardian
for the son. To all appearance these documents
f 2
29
of Amenemliat III., i.e. about forty years
before.
I. 4. <§> ^ Jj (?)• K this were the title, it
would probably have been written in red iuk.
II. 4", 5°, and the dot below. These annota-
tions are faint, and perhaps do not belong to
this text (? palimpsest), since they are not
quite on the level of the line.
Kahun, VII. I.
[PL XL, 11. 10-27.]
Conveyance by Mery.
A sheet 12 in. = 30 cm. long X 7 in. = 18 cm.
wide ; lower end imperfect. Papyrus rather
coarse, pale, and in admirable preservation.
Recto.—A will.
Verso.—Endorsement on back of right-hand
edge, below the middle.
The writing is in black ink only.
11. 11-14.
Verso.
Title to property made by
the regulator of the corps, Antef 's son
Mery, to his son
Mery's son, Antef,
called Iusenb.
Recto.
15. Year 39, Khoiak, day 19.
16. Title to property made by the regulator of the
corps, Antef s son Mery, called Keba, for
17. his son, Mery's son Antef, called Iusenb. I am
giving my
18. regulatorship of priestly orders to my son, Mery's
son Antef, called Iusenb, as (?) " old man's staff,"
19. even as I grow old : let him be promoted (thereto)
at this instant.
20. As to that title to property that I made for his
mother before, it is annulled ;
21. as to my house that is in the territory (?) of Het
............, it is for my
22. children borne to me by the daughter of the
ami'so, of the henbeti'n'u
23. Sebekemhat, Nebt'Hunen'Seten, with all that is
in it.
24. Name-list of witnesses in whose presence this title
to property was made :
25. the regulator of the corps, Senu-Set's (?) son, of
the same name (?)
26. [the uab ?] Usertesen's son Senbubu
27.......................................................
I. 15. The date, "Year 39," can scarcely be-
long to the Xlllth Dynasty, the reigns in that
dynasty being presumably short. With hardly
a doubt it refers to Amenemhat III., from whose
time so many documents in the collection have
come down.
I. 16. 41- ^ xzr3 ' imit-pr, lit. "contents
u c iii
of the house," or " what is in the property "
—and hence the title thereto. It is a word
regularly used in the documents published on
Pis. xi.-xii. to denote a legal transfer between
relations: between father and son, husband
and wife, brother and brother; cf. also PL ix.,
1. 32. It appears often in mythological texts
relating to the transfer of the kingdom from
Keb to Osiris, or in reference to the gift of the
kingdom to Pharaoh by his paternal deities :
it is also used of the gift of a temple and its
belongings to a god. From a subsequent text
(PL xiii., 1. 20) it appears that it was not
always a deed of gift, but might sometimes,
perhaps usually, be the result of a bargain or
sale. Evidently, therefore, a deed conveying
property to persons quite unrelated to the
vendor would still be called -|J- ^,L~|—1 f t t.
We see, however, from the three examples at
Kahun, viz. vii. 1 and the two in i. 1 (PL xii.),
that the 41 ^
| ( is not always the title
merely to specific property. Each of them,
indeed, lays stress on and centres round a
particular gift, but the subsidiary clauses that
they contain are hardly in all cases mere modi-
fications of the main gift: see especially this
statement of the house being reserved to the
children of Nebt'Hunen'seten, which seems not
to affect the transfer of the priesthood; and, in
the next plate, the nomination of a guardian
for the son. To all appearance these documents
f 2