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H 234 x W 156 mm

136 pages

Published Feb 2021

Archaeopress Archaeology

ISBN

Paperback: 9781789695076

Digital: 9781789695083

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Keywords
Ancient Egypt; personal letters; daily life; people; relationships; belief; custom; language

Related titles

Archaeopress Egyptology 32

Daily Life in Ancient Egyptian Personal Correspondence

By Susan Thorpe

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£20.00
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(personal use)
£16.00

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£20.00

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This book considers a selection of letters from the Old Kingdom up to and including the Twenty-first Dynasty. Under the topic headings of 'problems and issues', 'daily life', 'religious matters', 'military and police matters', it demonstrates the insight such texts can provide regarding aspects of belief, relationships, custom and behaviour.

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Contents

Introduction ;

Problems and issues ;
Letter 1 ;
Letter 2 ;
Letter 3 ;
Letter 4 ;

Domestic issues and responsibility ;
Letter 5 ;
Letter 6 ;
Provisioning ;
Letter 7 ;
Letter 8 ;

Personal and familial issues ;
Letter 9 ;
Letter 10 ;
Letter 11 ;
Letter 12 ;

Summary ;

Daily Life ;
Building work and labour ;
Letter 1 ;
Letter 2 ;

Husbandry ;
Letter 3 ;
Letter 4 ;
Letter 5 ;

Provisions ;
Letter 6 ;
Letter 7 ;

Personal topics ;
Letter 8 ;
Letter 9 ;
Letter 10 ;

Raw materials ;
Letter 11 ;
Letters 12 and 13 ;

Summary ;

Religious matters ;
Religious duties, festivals, and a divine offering problem ;
Letter 1 ;
Letter 2 ;
Letter 3 ;
Letter 4 ;
Letter 5 ;

The ‘God’s Father Priests of “He of the Camp”’ ;
Letter 6 ;
Letter 7 ;
Letter 8 ;
Letter 9 ;
Letter 10 ;
Letter 11 ;
Letter 12 ;
Letter 13 ;

Summary ;

Military and police matters ;
Military duties and responsibility ;
Letters 1, 2 and 3 ;
Letter 4 ;
Letter 5 ;
Letter 6 ;

An assassination plot ;
Letter 7 ;
Letter 8 ;
Letter 9 ;

Summary ;

Further analysis ;
Aspects of agricultural organisation and natural resources ;
Religious aspects ;
Aspects of feelings and emotion ;
The role of women ;
Delivery ;
Writers and recipients ;
Aspects regarding distinctiveness of data ;

Conclusion ;

Appendix ;
Letters within collections ;
Letters from a specific period ;
Letters grouped by topic ;
Letters grouped by same sender and/or recipient ;
Letters studied with respect to specific aspects of structure and focus ;
In conclusion: other categories of correspondence ;

References

About the Author

Susan Thorpe graduated from the University of Auckland in 2008, majoring in Ancient History. Specialising in Egyptology, she achieved BA Honours (First Class) in 2009 and Masters (First class) in 2010. She successfully defended her PhD in 2016. Since then, she has held the position of Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Auckland. She has attended and presented at conferences in Europe, the UK, Australia and New Zealand and had her work accepted for publication in conference proceedings and journals.

Reviews

This is a fascinating read that really brings ancient Egyptian people to life - from the standard-bearer Maiseti threatening a man with death while also asking him to provide more rope, to the horrified Khay sent a jar of fat instead of honey. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in Egyptology, with plenty of background notes and references to keep the academics happy.
In one letter a man demands his maidservant be returned, while in another a brother complains that his sister doesn’t write to him. Each provide a unique snapshot of what it was to live in the shadow of the pyramids. This work yields a fascinating glimpse of what it was to be a part of this long-vanished world.