The Papyrus Harris 500, alt. pHarris 500 or P. British Museum 10060, contains copies of the ancient Egyptian tales of
The Doomed Prince and
The Taking of Joppa
"The Taking of Joppa" is an ancient Egyptian tale describing the conquest of the Canaanite town of Yapu ( Joppa) by Thutmose III's general Djehuty. The extant copy of the text is on the verso of Papyrus Harris 500.
This tale is traditionally rega ...
, of love poems and of the
Harper's Song from the tomb of
King Intef. The papyrus dates from the
Ramesside Period
The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XX, alternatively 20th Dynasty or Dynasty 20) is the third and last dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties furthermore togeth ...
(Dynasties 19 and 20, 1292–1077 BC).
Description
The papyrus is 19.5 centimeters in height, and 142.5 centimeters long.
Parts of the original papyrus are missing.
Fate after discovery
The papyrus was part of the collection of
Anthony Charles Harris
Anthony Charles Harris (1790–1869) was a noted collector of ancient Egyptian papyri. As antiquary, merchant, and official supplier of the army he was based in Alexandria, Egypt for the last four decades of his life. He made many journeys on the ...
(1790–1869) and was purchased after his death, in 1872 by the
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 ...
from Selima Harris, his natural daughter.
It is located in the British Museum’s Ancient Egypt and Sudan department, with the registration number 1872,1101.2.
According to reports the papyrus had been intact when discovered, but was damaged in an explosion which wrecked the house in Alexandria where it was kept.
[Baikie, p.65] The rumour that a copy of the complete document had been made by Harris before the explosion has never been verified.
[Maspero, p.185]
See also
*
List of ancient Egyptian papyri
This list of ancient Egyptian papyri includes some of the better known individual papyri written in hieroglyphs, hieratic, demotic or in Greek. Excluded are papyri found abroad or containing Biblical texts which are listed in separate lists.
...
*
Papyrus Harris I
Papyrus Harris I is also known as the Great Harris Papyrus and (less accurately) simply the Harris Papyrus (though there are a number of other papyri in the Harris collection). Its technical designation is ''Papyrus British Museum EA 9999''. At 41 ...
References
*
*James Baikie, ''Egyptian Papyri and Papyrus-Hunting'', Kessinger Publishing 2003
*Gaston C. Maspero, ''Popular Stories of Ancient Egypt'', Kessinger Publishing 2003
*
Miriam Lichtheim
Miriam Lichtheim (3 May 1914, Istanbul – 27 March 2004, Jerusalem) was a Turkish-born American-Israeli Egyptologist, known for her translations of ancient Egyptian texts.
Biography
Miriam was born in Istanbul on May 3, 1914, to Richard Lichtheim ...
, ''Ancient Egyptian Literature'', Vol.1, University of California Press 1973
Footnotes
Egyptian papyri
2nd-millennium BC manuscripts
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