Papyrus Anastasi I (officially designated papyrus

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

10247) is an ancient Egyptian

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

containing a

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

text used for the training of scribes during the Ramesside Period (i.e. Nineteenth and Twentieth dynasties). One scribe, an army scribe, Hori, writes to his fellow scribe, Amenemope, in such a way as to ridicule the irresponsible and second-rate nature of Amenemope's work. The papyrus was originally purchased from Giovanni Anastasi in 1839.

Content and importance to modern scholarship

The

letter Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

gives examples of what a scribe was supposed to be able to do: calculating the number of rations which have to be doled out to a certain number of soldiers digging a lake, or the quantity of bricks needed to erect a ramp of given dimensions, assessing the number of men needed to move an obelisk or erect a statue, and organizing the supply of provisions for an army. In a long section Hori discusses the geography of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

coast as far north as the

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

and the troubles which might beset a traveler there. This papyrus is important to historians and Bible scholars above all for the information it supplies about towns in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

during the

New Kingdom New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. There is a long list of towns which run along the northern border of the ''

djadi Djahi, Djahy or Tjahi (Egyptian: ''ḏhj'', ''ḏꜣhy'') was the Egyptian designation for southern Retjenu. It ran from approximately Ashkelon in Israel to Lebanon and inland as far as Galilee.Steindorff, George. ''When Egypt Ruled the East.'' ...

'' or watershed of the

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

in Canaan, which bound Lebanon along the Litani River and upper '' retnu'' and Syria along the Orontes. The border lands of Egypt's province of Caanan with

Kadesh Qadesh, Qedesh, Qetesh, Kadesh, Kedesh, Kadeš and Qades come from the common Semitic root "Q-D-Š", which means "sacred." Kadesh and variations may refer to: Ancient/biblical places * Kadesh (Syria) or Qadesh, an ancient city of the Levant, on ...

are defined on page XIX:

An example of the satire in the text

Hori goes on to show that Amenemope is not skilled in the role of a ''maher''. The word ''maher'' is found frequently in this papyrus, but nowhere else. Gardiner suggests it must be the technical name of the Egyptian emissary in Syria. Hori then relates an imagined anecdote where Amenemope experiences an adventure of a ''maher''. It contains a lot of detail reflecting discreditably on his name and comparing him to Qedjerdi, the chief of Isser: "Thy name becomes like (that of) Qedjerdi, the chief of Isser, when the hyena found him in the balsam-tree." The composition of the satirical interchange between the scribes comes across as quite well written especially where Hori describes Amenemope as incompetent toward the end, giving as an example his poor management of not just his chariot but his character. Ancient carving - Shasu spies being beaten by Egyptians

Ancient carving - Shasu spies being beaten by Egyptians

Amenemope traverses a mountain pass. Hori makes clear that these involve routes that should be well known to the scribes operating as ''mahers'' or messengers and scouts. Illustrations from the

Battle of Kadesh The Battle of Kadesh or Battle of Qadesh took place between the forces of the New Kingdom of Egypt under Ramesses II and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II at the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River, just upstream of Lake Homs near the mod ...

provide an excellent background for Hori's tale showing the form of the chariots, and the size of the

Shashu The Shasu ( from Egyptian ''šꜣsw'', probably pronounced ''Shasw'') were Semitic-speaking cattle nomads in the Southern Levant from the late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age or the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt. They were organized in cla ...

. Hori sets this up as an incident in which the incompetence, inexperience and fear of Amenemope results in damage to his chariot. Amenemope's lack of experience causes him not to be apprehensive when he should be and then panicking when he should remain calm. Hori piles on the results of Amenemope's inexperience and lack of expertise to show his state of mind clearly, including the part where he releases his pain and fear by forcing his way to the maiden who keeps watch over the gardens when he reaches Joppa:

British Museum registration numbers

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References

Bibliography

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External links