Tebtunis archive

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The Tebtunis Papyri Archive, is the largest collection of texts on papyrus in the Americas. The Tebtunis papyri were found during a single expedition led by two British papyrologists in the winter of 1899/1900 at the village of ancient Tebtunis, Egypt.[1] The Papyri can be divided into three groups based on their provenance:

  1. Texts from the crocodile mummies
  2. Texts from the town and from the temple of Soknebtunis
  3. Texts from the cartonnage of human mummies

Contents

[edit] Texts from the crocodile mummies

A large portion of the Tebtunis crocodile mummies come from the archive of the komogrammateus or village scribe, of the nearby village, Kerkeosiris at the end of the second century BC. The Menches papers make up the biggest part of the Crocodile Papyri. These papers are divided into two groups, administrative documents and correspondence. The administrative documents are long reports that detail the state of affairs of every square meter of the Kerkeosiris’ area. The correspondence section essentially includes official letters that were addressed to Menches by his superiors and peers in the Ptolemaic bureaucracy.[2]

There also exists a separate group of texts made up of forty-five private documents from the first half of the first century BC. These texts were found in five crocodile mummies that had been buried next to each other.

[edit] Texts from the town and from the temple of Soknebtunis

The Papyri from the town are the most diverse, and they have provided us with literary fragments including contracts, petitions, declarations, and tax receipts. Most of these papyri concern the priests of crocodile god, Soknebtunis (Sobek of Tebtunis [3]), the central deity worshiped in the temples. These documents reveal what life was like for Tebtunis priests when Egypt was under Roman rule.

[edit] Texts from the cartonnage of human mummies

The Papyri from the cartonnage covering human mummies date from the third and second centuries BC. Most of these documents can be traced back to Oxyrhyncha, a small village to the north of Tebtunis. These texts are from village officials, the village scribe, and the guards.

[edit] Two new documents from the Tebtunis archive

Two papyri have been found that provide evidence regarding two officials, Apion and Kronion, who were in charge of the village record office in Tebtunis during the first half of the first century A.D. This provides us with more information about certain events in the village of Tebtunis. These documents have been published in two volumes of Papyri from Tebtunis. The village record was directed by Apion from 7 A.D to at least 25 A.D. and by 43 A.D it was under the direction of Kronion, son of Apion, until 52 A.D.[4]

[edit] References

  • A. M. F. W. Verhoogt, Menches, Komogrammateus of Kerkeosiris, Brill Archive 1998, ISBN 9004063250
  1. ^ Hickey, Todd M. "The Tebtunis Papyri Collection." The Center for the Tebtunis Papyri. University of California, Berkeley. [1] accessed 10 May-June 2007.
  2. ^ Hickey, Todd M. "Contents of Tebtunis Papyri." University of California Berkely. [2] accessed 11 May 2007.
  3. ^ David Frankfurter, Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance, Princeton University Press 1998, ISBN 0691070547 p.159
  4. ^ Elinor, Husselman M. "Two New Documents From Tebtunis Archive." University of Michigan. 11 May 2007 <www.jstor.org>.
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