Djekhy & Son

Koenraad Donker Van Heel

Description

The story of a small family business revealed through ancient documents, in a new paperback edition
Djekhy & Son, two businessmen living 2500 years ago in the densely populated neighborhoods built around the great temple of Amun at Karnak, worked as funerary service providers in the necropolis on the western bank of the Nile. They were also successful agricultural entrepreneurs, cultivating flax and grain. In 1885, the German Egyptologist August Eisenlohr acquired a unique collection of papyri that turned out to be Djekhy's archive of mainly legal documents. Using this rich trove of evidence, augmented by many other sources, the author has painted a vivid picture of life in ancient Egypt between 570 and 534
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Chronology
1. People
The Family
2. Papyri
The Box of Muhammad Muhassib
3. Trust
Just a Businessman from Thebes
Trustee
A Letter from the North
Marital Property Arrangement
4. Water
A Hostile Takeover
5. Flax
Working the Land
Into the Flax Business
A Major Deal
A Late Payment?
6. Grain
The Second Generation
More than Ten Hectares of Land?
7. Trust
The Theban Choachytes' Association
A Complicated Deal
8. People
Iturech Buys a Son
9. Earth
A Cattle Keeper of Montu
Not a Real Land Lease
10. Water
New Mummies, New Opportunities
11. Cattle
Just a Priest from Thebes
12. Ink
Hieratic and Demotic: Why Bother?

Sujets

• Vie de famille
• Soutien psychologique et conseils familiaux
• Histoire
• Egypt
• Ancient
• History

Informations

• Publié par: The American University in Cairo Press
• Date de parution: 01 mars 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781617973451
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published in 2012 by
The American University in Cairo Press
113 Sharia Kasr el Aini, Cairo, Egypt
420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
www.aucpress.com

Copyright © 2012 by Koenraad Donker van Heel

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Dar el Kutub No. 24398/11
eISBN 978-1-6179-7345-1

Dar el Kutub Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Donker van Heel, Koenraad
    Djekhy & Son: Doing Business in Ancient Egypt/Koenraad Donker van Heel. —Cairo:
  The American University in Cairo Press, 2012
    p.  cm.
    ISBN 978 977 416 477 4
    1. Business—Egypt—Antiques  I. Title
    650.0932

1 2 3 4 5 6 14 13 12 15

Designed by Adam el-Sehemy
Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chronology
1. People
The Family
Papyrus Mattha
2. Papyri
The Box of Muhammad Muhassib
The Archive of Djekhy & Son
P. Louvre E 7834 and 7838
Between 675 and 572 BCE
Between 570 and 534 BCE
The Saite Restoration
3. Trust: Djekhy 570–549 BCE
Just a Businessman from Thebes
Trustee
Demotic Temple Oaths
A Letter from the North
Working with Papyri
Marital Property Arrangement
Papyrus Insinger: A Saite Wisdom Text?
The Teachings of Ankhsheshonqy
4. Water: Djekhy 559 BCE
A Hostile Takeover
A Five-thousand-year Tradition
5. Flax: Djekhy 556–552 BCE
Working the Land
The Palette of Khonsu
Papyrus Rylands 9
Into the Flax Business
Earlier Work
Lease, Harvest, and Tax
A Major Deal
A Late Payment?
The Hand of God
6. Grain: Iturech 550–536 BCE
The Second Generation
Your Grace or Dung?
More than Ten Hectares of Land?
The Scribe of the Mat
7. Trust: Iturech 542–535 BCE
The Theban Choachytes’ Association
The Patron Saint
Egyptian New Year
A Complicated Deal
8. People: Iturech 539 BCE
Iturech Buys a Son
9. Earth: Iturech 536–534 BCE
A Cattle Keeper of Montu
The Lamp Land of Khonsu
Not a Real Land Lease
The Besmut Family
10. Water: Iturech 536 BCE
New Mummies, New Opportunities
11. Cattle: Djekhy 533 BCE
Just a Priest from Thebes
12. Ink
Hieratic and Demotic: Why Bother?
Notes
Index
Illustrations
1.
Ancient Egypt
2.
Ancient Thebes: East and west banks
3.
The difference between abnormal hieratic and early demotic
4.
P. Louvre E 7861
5.
P. Louvre E 7861 verso
6.
The double signature in P. Louvre E 7847
7.
Signature of Iturech son of Djekhy on the back of P. Louvre E 7832
8.
What happens if you do not check the original papyrus
9.
O. Cairo CG 25752 verso?
10.
O. Turin N. 57033 recto
11.
O. Turin N. 57038 verso
12.
O. Turin N. 57047 recto ll. 4–7
13.
A new reed does wonders for the scribe’s handwriting
14.
P. Phillips ll. 2–3 (beginnings)
15.
P. Phillips ll. 7–8 (beginnings)
16.
P. Phillips l. 9 (middle)
17.
O. DeM 40 recto l. 6
18.
O. DeM 44 verso l. 3
19.
O. DeM 45 recto ll. 15–17
20.
Unpublished P. Leiden I 375 l. 2
Tables
1
Basic inventory of the Djekhy & Son archive
2
Revised inventory of the Djekhy & Son archive
3
Overseers of the necropolis mentioned in the Djekhy & Son archive
4
Tenants in P. BM EA 10432, in order
5
Harvest tax receipts
6
Parallel translation of two land lease contracts
7
Comparison of P. Louvre E 7833 and P. Louvre E 7837
8
Iturech’s tombs in the Theban necropolis
Preface
T his book was not primarily written for my colleagues, even though Egyptologists, demotists, and (legal) historians may think something of it and even use it to their advantage. The idea to rework my dissertation into a book for the general reader may be traced back to a question by a professor in Egyptology from Leuven, not long before his untimely death. He asked it some fifteen years ago, sporting a smile that has always stuck in my mind. In the course of time more people died and my wife and I became parents, an event that immediately answered any question one might have about the meaning of life. I also traded Egyptology for the communications business, so that my work (Egyptology) became my hobby and my hobby (writing) became my work. I now help people to sell things, but this never distracts me from those who are no longer with us. So goodbye August Eisenlohr, Eugène Revillout, Erick Schieferli Malix, Eugène Jansen, Jan Quaegebeur, Johan Govert Donker van Heel, and Wim ‘Guitar’ de Jonge. Let it be a comfort to you that 2,500 years ago there were Egyptians who would have turned your memory into a business case. This book is not about pyramids or Egyptian art and elevated religious concepts. This book is about ordinary businessmen from ancient Egypt.
The symbols used in the translations are as follows:
[ . . . ]  Papyrus is damaged or broken off
. . .   Omission by the Egyptian scribe
( . . . )  Translator’s remark
Acknowledgments
T his book has been in the making for some years, but it would never have appeared in print without the support of a great many people. Jean-Louis de Cenival, the late director of the Egyptian Department of the Louvre, gave me every opportunity to work on the original papyri of Djekhy & Son (and had me check all the loose demotic fragments while I was there), even temporarily assigning me to guard the Egyptian antiquities (and the telephone) in the Réserve of the Louvre while the staff went to lunch. His successor at the Louvre, Christiane Ziegler, has always been just as easygoing and supportive, being instrumental in the publication of some of the most difficult abnormal hieratic papyri the Louvre has to offer. Day-to-day assistance in the Louvre was given by Marie-France Aubert, Christophe Barbotin, Marc Etienne, Geneviève Pierrat, and Marie-Françoise de Rozières, all providing me with fond memories.
Maarten Raven of the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (Leiden) granted his usual kind permission to make any use of the unpublished demotic P. Leiden I 375 (and no, I haven’t forgotten that I promised to publish it). Permission to use some of the Turin ostraca recently published by Jesús López was secured through the courteous offices of Marilena Jerrobino, editor-in-chief of Cisalpino Istituto Editoriale Universitario (Milan). Nadine Cherpion and the Service des archives scientifiques of the Institut français d’archéologie orientale (Cairo) readily gave permission to use some of the documentary ostraca from Deir al-Medina published by Černý and part of Plate X from Vandier d’Abbadie, Deux tombes ramessides à Gournet-Mourraï (1954). Guillemette Andreu-Lanoë, the current director of the Egyptian Department of the Louvre, graciously authorized the use of the Louvre material. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, very kindly allowed me to use some material from the Catalogue Général . Editor-in-chief Roland Enmarch happily permitted me to use a number of quotes from various issues of the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology . I greatly appreciate the kindness shown by all of you.
Sound advice on how to proceed with this book was obtained from Michel Chauveau of the École pratique des hautes études IV (Paris), Richard Parkinson of the British Museum (London)—who also gave permission to use some material from P. Phillips—and Janet Johnson of the Oriental Institute (Chicago). Ben Haring (Leiden University) and Huub Pragt (egyptologie.nl) helped out in other ways. Thanks are also due to the late Pieter Willem Pestman (Leiden University) and Sven Vleeming (Trier University), who came up with this subject many years ago. Thank you very much.
My former editor at the Economische Voorlichtings Dienst, Karin Hakkenberg van Gaasbeek, and Paulien Retèl critically read the Dutch manuscript, suggesting this English edition. Hans Schoens kindly prepared the maps of Egypt and ancient Thebes. The story of Djekhy & Son also owes much to the efforts of Randi Danforth and Neil Hewison at the American University in Cairo Press. They accepted my manuscript without hesitation and successfully saw it through to press. So now it is a book. Thanks!
My friend (and demotist) Cary Martin of University College (London) worked his way through an earlier version of the manuscript, uncovering some disconcerting errors and discreetly getting these out of the way. Any mistakes or oversights in this book are, of course, my responsibility.
Acknowledgments should end with those closest to one’s heart. Constance, Lodewijk, and Emma: this is my book. I hope you like it!

Figure 1. Ancient Egypt [Courtesy Hans Schoens]
Chronology

Twenty-fifth (Kushite) Dynasty
Shabaka
712–698
Shebitku
698–690
Taharqa
690–664
Tantamani
664–657

Twenty-sixth (Saite) Dynasty
Necho I
672–664
Psamtik I
664–610
Necho II
610–595
Psamtik II
595–589
Apries
589–570
Amasis
570–526
Psamtik III
526–525

Twenty-seventh (Persian) Dynasty
Cambyses
525–522
Darius I
521–486
Xerxes I
486–466
Artaxerxes I
465–424
Darius II
424–404

All regnal years are BCE . Note that all datings before the seventh century BCE are uncertain and also the subject of fierce ongoing debate. The dates used in this book were derived from J. Baines and J. Malek, Atlas of Ancient Egypt .
1
People
The Family
Djekhy son of Tesmontu was born in Thebes (Karnak) somewhere around 590 BCE , in the deep south of Egypt. His full name was Djedkhonsuiufankh, which was a good Theban name. As happened so often with the ancient Egyptians, this was a theophoric name, meaning that it contained the name of a deity: ‘Khonsu says that he will live.’ But in daily life and official contracts he called himself Djekhy, just as Amunhotep was often shortened to Huy or Ipy, and—in the Dutch East Indies in the 1930s—my father Govert (Goofy) became Opy.
Egypt was not a stable country at