Amherst Papyrus

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The ancient Egyptian Amherst Papyrus, now known as the Leopold II and Amherst Papyrus, is part of the original court records dealing with the tomb robberies under Ramesses IX. It contains the confessions of eight men who had broken into the tomb of Sebekemsaf and a description of the reconstruction of the crime. It throws light on the practices followed at ancient Egyptian courts: eliciting confessions by beating with a double rod, smiting their feet and hands, reconstructing the crime on site, imprisonment of suspects in the gatehouse of a temple.^[1]

[edit] Modern history of the papyrus

The lower half of the papyrus was bought in Egypt by Lord Amherst of Hackney in the middle of the 19th century, and sold to Pierpont Morgan in 1913. In 1935 the missing upper part was found by the Belgian Egyptologist Jean Capart in the Musée d'arts at Brussels, and given the name Leopold II papyrus. This fragment had been hidden inside a wooden statuette which had been acquired by the future Belgian king Leopold II during one of his visits to Egypt in 1854 or 1862.^[2]

[edit] References

J, H, Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Four, Chicago 1906
T. G. H. James, Pharaoh's People: Scenes from Life in Imperial Egypt, Tauris Parke Paperbacks 2007, ISBN 1845113357
M. L. Bierbrier, The Tomb-Builders of the Pharaohs, American Univ in Cairo Press 1993, ISBN 9774242106, pp.135ff.