The Inscription of Mes
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The Inscription of Mes: A Recapitulation by P. Piccionne
The family of Mes traced itself back to the Egyptian admiral, Neshi, who distinguished himself in the wars of liberation against the Hyksos at the beginning of the 18th Dynasty. His name is mentioned at the end of the Second Kamose Stela. As a reward for his services, King Ahmose I granted Neshi a large tract of land south of Memphis, perhaps somewhere near Medum. This area came to be called the "District (i.e., hwnpt) of Neshi" and the town therein, the "Village of Neshì." When Neshi bequeathed his estate to his family in hìs will, he evidently stipulated the property could not be subdivided, but had to be maintained intact. His heirs were to hold joint ownership and to share in its income. However, the estate was to be managed by only one of the heirs, who was to act as its trustee This trusteeship was a hereditary position, and it included the income of 8-2/3 acres of the property which was set aside solely for the trustee.
Apparently mid-way through the Eighteenth Dynasty, the family separated into two collateral branches, one branch which seemed to have had total control over the estate and the other branch which was, in effect, disinherited from the trusteeship and joint ownership. The first branch was seemingly headed by a trustee named Prehotep who perhaps lived in the reigns of Kings Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III. A prominent member of the other branch was a woman named Sheritre, who lived later during the reign of Akhenaten. The matter came to dispute between the two branches during the reign of King Horemheb, when Werenra, a daughter of Sheritre, filed suit in the high court of the vizier. She proved her direct descent from Neshi through the testimony of four recognized legal heirs of Neshi. She won her case and was declared a legitimate heir and trustee of the land. This act disenfranchised the other branch of the family, which apparently was only indirectly descended from Neshi.
Ultimately, Werenra's siblings began to quarrel over the disposition of the land. In Year 59 of Horemheb, Werenra's sister, Takharu, filed suit in court demanding the breakup and division of the estate among the six heirs. That case was tried and found in favor of Takharu, after which the estate was divided and parcelled among all the heirs. Werenra and her son, Hui, appealed the vizier's verdict on the basis that it was improper to divide the property. The struggle for control of the land lasted for years in both the local court of Memphis and the vizier's court. When Werenra died, Hui stood alone against Takharu and her son, Sementawi. After Takharu died, Hui ultimately won the case against Sementawi. The property was re-consolidated, and he was appointed trustee. However, he died sometime thereafter, and his wife, Nubnefret, inherited the trusteeship. She, too, was almost certainly a descendant of Werenra, since she claimed to be a "daughter of Neshi," i.e., a direct female descendant, which was the identical claim made by Werenra years earlier. Thus, she was a member of the family in her own right and probably a cousin of her husband. Nubnefret had a son named Mes.
In Year 18 of Ramesses II, even before she could begin cultivating the land, Nubnefret was physically dispossessed of the property by Khay from the rival branch of the family. In the court of the vizier at Heliopolis, Nubnefret sued Khay, appealing to the royal tax register and the record of the royal granary, which would have recorded the names of the owners and legitimate trustees of the property. Khay counter-sued Nubnefret by petitioning the vizier, who referred the case to his court. Khay traced his claim back to his great-grandfather, Prehotep. He alleged that Nubnefret and her husband, Hui, had actually seized the trusteeship from him, which he inherited from his own father previously in the reign of Horemheb, and which he claimed to have held unbroken since that time. (It was probably Khay or his father from whom Werenra won the trusteeship 32+Years earlier). The Vizïer sent a court official, named Amemenopet, together with Khay (the plaintiff) to the royal capital at Per-Ramessu to fetch the tax records. Along the way, Khay bribed Amenemopet to replace the original records with forgeries naming him as the tax-payer and trustee. With these documents, Nubnefret and her son were disinherited, and the trusteeship was awarded to Khay by the vizier's agent before the court of Memphis.
Sometime later, Nubnefret's son, Mes re-appealed the case to the vizier, producing the authentic documents of the royal tax and grain records. He also brought many witnesses from his home district who swore that it was his family since the time of Werenra which traditionally held the trusteeship of the estate. The vizier reopened the case, and his court reversed its decision for the final time, awarding Mes and his family the control of Neshi s estate.
EPILOGUE: This account is recorded on the walls of Mes' tomb at Saqqara. It is presented as a series of depositions and testimonies of the plaintiffs and witnesses forming the actual court records of this case. It was carved in stone inside the tomb as proof of Mes's claim by right of inheritance and law, as well as insurance against any future claims. It gives new meaning to the expression, "carved in granite."
[edit] References
- G. A Gaballa: The Memphite tomb-chapel of Mose, Warminster: Aris and Phillips 1977 (the publication of the tomb chapel)
- NOTE: All information from 'The Inscription of Mes' was derived from Peter Piccione's commentary in the official 'Friends of Egyptology in Argentina' or "Amigos de la Egiptología en Argentina (AEA)" web site here The Inscription of Mes: A Recapitulation
