Papyrus Anastasi I

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The papyrus Anastasi I , named after the Greek merchant and antique dealer Giovanni Anastasi , who acquired it in the first half of the 19th century, comes from ancient Egypt during the Ramesside period . It contains a New Egyptian satirical letter, fragments of which have also been preserved on four papyri and 73 ostracas , most of them from Deir el-Medina . It is unclear whether it is actually part of an exchange of letters or whether the letter was written specifically for teaching in schools. The Anastasi I papyrus has been kept in the British Museum in London since 1839 .

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First, Hori, the sender, praises himself and then congratulates the addressee Amenemope. He confirms receipt of the previous letter of Amenemope to Hori and accuses Amenemope of having asked six scribes to help write the previous letter. He advises him to turn away from writing and instead devote himself to the board game (?). Hori then has arithmetic problems that Amenemope cannot solve, such as calculating provisions for workers and the amount of bricks needed to build a ramp. After Hori Amenemopes has listed missing mathematical knowledge, information and questions about the geography of Palestine and Syria follow. It begins with the kingdom of the Hittites , followed by Upe , the northernmost Egyptian province in Syria, then the cities on the Phoenician coast and inland locations such as Megiddo , Hazor and the mountains of Shechem . The description concludes with Gaza and the Horus Way . The text is loosened up by the description of the impassability of Palestine and the constant danger from Bedouins and wild animals as well as anecdotes such as an allusion to the story of Prince Qḏrdj ( Qasirdija ) von Ascher and a sentence in a Western Semitic language.

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