Hieratic Papyrus fragment

New Kingdom, Ramesside

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 124

Papyrus was a costly writing material in ancient Egypt. For this reason papyrus documents whose contents were no longer required were retained for further use as scratch paper. This papyrus contains a major and minor text on both the recto and verso. The major texts are a letter between two fan-bearers of the king and a fragmentary record of the cultivation of pharaonic lands in year 16 of Ramesses III; the smaller texts mention the arrival of a shipment of commodities and the quarrying of stone for a tomb. This papyrus joins P. Vienna 38 and belongs to the same archive as a cache of documents discovered at Memphis that record the construction of tombs for several high officials.

Hieratic Papyrus fragment, Papyrus, ink

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Hieratic Papyrus fragment, Papyrus, ink
Hieratic Papyrus fragment, Papyrus, ink

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