DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6442#0014
( 11 )
and brothers outside the harem." These rela-
tives of the harem inmates were ordered to
excite the people and goad on their friends to
begin hostilities against the king. That they
had much sympathy from the outside seems
certain, as the captain of the Ethiopian troops
and several other high officials are mentioned
as having been won over to the conspiracy.
They thought it right to use every means
to do harm to the sovereign and even magic
arts were invoked. It is to the trial of one
of these magicians that the Amherst Papyrus
No. V refers. A certain "overseer of the
cattle," named Penhuiban, procured a magical
roll from the king's own library, and according
to directions in it he made certain wax figures
and love charms which were smuggled into
the palace in order to cause blindness and
paralyze certain of its unfriendly inmates.
Fortunately another page of this interesting-
document is preserved in Paris. It states
that the individual who received the wax
figures and charms was the Chief Steward
Pai-bak-kamen. His examination before the
police court is given, and it is further stated
that sentence of death was passed upon him—
death by his own hand. It is very interesting
to note the impartiality of Pharaoh, in this
case against his own person. He held alto-
gether aloof from the trial, and as he says in
the opening of the case, " as to the talk which
men hold I know it not." He ordered the
judges however to find out the truth, and to
punish the guilty, but to beware of inflicting
chastisement upon those who did not deserve it.
A study of all documents relating to the
trial was published by M. Deveria in the
Journal Asiatique for 1865,'" but this transla-
* Reprinted in Maspero'a Bibliotheque Egyptologique,
Tome 5, pp. 97-251.
tion of the Turin papyrus referring to the case
has been considerably improved by Prof. Renonf
in the eighth volume of the Records of the Past
(1st Series). An account of the conspiracy has
also appeared from the pen of Dr. Adolf Erman
in the jEgyptische Zeitschrift, 1879, 76 ff. (cf.
! his JEgypten, p. 142).
III.
Another great trial of a somewhat later
j period is referred to in the Amherst Papyrus
i No. VI. Towards the end of the XXth
dynasty (about 1100 b.c.), it appears that the
j police authorities of Thebes had great diffi-
culty in preventing the tombs of the western
' necropolis from being entered by bands of
robbers, and their contents from being stolen.
1 Several documents relating to the work of
the police at the time are preserved, which
j throw considerable light upon the way crime
was tracked, and how the trials of suspected
persons were conducted. Among them the
i most interesting is that known as the Abbott
Papyrus, in the British Museum, which was
purchased in 1856 by the Trustees of that
1 institution from Dr. Abbott of Cairo. It is
of a fine quality, almost white in colour, and in
j excellent condition ; the handwriting is also
! very clear and bold. It records a certain official
examination consequent on injuries or thefts
perpetrated in the tombs or chapels of ten
monarchs of the Xlth, XHIth and XVIIIth
j dynasties. Out of these ten royal tombs nine
were found uninjured; the tenth, belonging
; to a monarch of the XHIth dynasty, was found
broken into and looted. The result of the
examination of this tomb is recorded in full
by the scribe and is given here :—
B 2
and brothers outside the harem." These rela-
tives of the harem inmates were ordered to
excite the people and goad on their friends to
begin hostilities against the king. That they
had much sympathy from the outside seems
certain, as the captain of the Ethiopian troops
and several other high officials are mentioned
as having been won over to the conspiracy.
They thought it right to use every means
to do harm to the sovereign and even magic
arts were invoked. It is to the trial of one
of these magicians that the Amherst Papyrus
No. V refers. A certain "overseer of the
cattle," named Penhuiban, procured a magical
roll from the king's own library, and according
to directions in it he made certain wax figures
and love charms which were smuggled into
the palace in order to cause blindness and
paralyze certain of its unfriendly inmates.
Fortunately another page of this interesting-
document is preserved in Paris. It states
that the individual who received the wax
figures and charms was the Chief Steward
Pai-bak-kamen. His examination before the
police court is given, and it is further stated
that sentence of death was passed upon him—
death by his own hand. It is very interesting
to note the impartiality of Pharaoh, in this
case against his own person. He held alto-
gether aloof from the trial, and as he says in
the opening of the case, " as to the talk which
men hold I know it not." He ordered the
judges however to find out the truth, and to
punish the guilty, but to beware of inflicting
chastisement upon those who did not deserve it.
A study of all documents relating to the
trial was published by M. Deveria in the
Journal Asiatique for 1865,'" but this transla-
* Reprinted in Maspero'a Bibliotheque Egyptologique,
Tome 5, pp. 97-251.
tion of the Turin papyrus referring to the case
has been considerably improved by Prof. Renonf
in the eighth volume of the Records of the Past
(1st Series). An account of the conspiracy has
also appeared from the pen of Dr. Adolf Erman
in the jEgyptische Zeitschrift, 1879, 76 ff. (cf.
! his JEgypten, p. 142).
III.
Another great trial of a somewhat later
j period is referred to in the Amherst Papyrus
i No. VI. Towards the end of the XXth
dynasty (about 1100 b.c.), it appears that the
j police authorities of Thebes had great diffi-
culty in preventing the tombs of the western
' necropolis from being entered by bands of
robbers, and their contents from being stolen.
1 Several documents relating to the work of
the police at the time are preserved, which
j throw considerable light upon the way crime
was tracked, and how the trials of suspected
persons were conducted. Among them the
i most interesting is that known as the Abbott
Papyrus, in the British Museum, which was
purchased in 1856 by the Trustees of that
1 institution from Dr. Abbott of Cairo. It is
of a fine quality, almost white in colour, and in
j excellent condition ; the handwriting is also
! very clear and bold. It records a certain official
examination consequent on injuries or thefts
perpetrated in the tombs or chapels of ten
monarchs of the Xlth, XHIth and XVIIIth
j dynasties. Out of these ten royal tombs nine
were found uninjured; the tenth, belonging
; to a monarch of the XHIth dynasty, was found
broken into and looted. The result of the
examination of this tomb is recorded in full
by the scribe and is given here :—
B 2