Harris I papyrus

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Great Harris Papyrus, column 76

The Harris I Papyrus (also Great Harris Papyrus ) is an ancient Egyptian papyrus from the 20th Dynasty . It is 40.5 m long, 42.5 cm wide, was built in 1855 near the mortuary temple of Ramses III. found in Medinet Habu and bought by the Englishman Anthony Charles Harris . Many other papyri were offered with this papyrus, including perhaps the Abbott papyrus and other papyri found by grave robbers. It has been in the British Museum since 1872 under the signature Papyrus British Museum 9999.

The Harris I papyrus is the most detailed of its kind, at 42 m also the longest preserved papyrus and consists of 5 parts with 117 columns of 12 to 13 lines and three vignettes . The document is dated to the 32nd (government) year and the 6th day of the month of Ipip , the day Ramses III died. , and was probably part of his funeral. The papyrus reveals 3 decades from the life of Ramses III (1194–1163) and was written by three scribes in hieratic script . This papyrus is of great importance for a scientific study of the economic situation in the Ramesside period .

content

The Harris I papyrus is a list of donations compiled by Ramses IV. His predecessor Ramses III. had sent the state stamps before his murder . The list was allegedly made by Ramses III. created, the individual sections ( Amun temple of Karnak , Re temple of Heliopolis , Ptah temple of Memphis and provincial temple) with a prayer to Ramses IV. In addition, the papyrus contains a historical section depicting the transition from the 19th to the 20th dynasty (collapse of the old dynasty, struggle of all against all, Syrian usurper , restoration of law by the new dynasty).

The first vignette shows Ramses III in front of the triad of Thebes (Karnak): Amun , Mut and Chons . Amun-Re was shown here in human form with a double feather crown. Mut is the wife of Amun and mother of the Chons. She is shown as a woman in a long, brightly colored dress adorned with a feather pattern; on her head she wears a vulture hood and the " white crown " of Upper Egypt . Chons is the moon god, whose name means "wanderer". He is depicted as a falcon. His headdress consists of a horizontal crescent moon and a full moon on it. The king's gifts to the temples, listed in the papyrus, were enormous. The list for Thebes alone contains 309,950 sacks of grain and large quantities of metals and semi-precious stones.

In Heliopolis , the Ennead or Ninth was worshiped. It consisted of the gods: Atum , Shu , Tefnut , Geb , Nut , Osiris , Isis , Nephthys and Seth .

The third vignette shows the king in worship of the triad of gods in Memphis , one of the cities of the main administration of Egypt. Ramses holds the crook and scourge and wears the clothing reserved for the king, ie the striped headscarf ("sash"), the triangular apron and the bull's tail. The creator god Ptah is depicted as a mummy , his hands sticking out of the mummy bandages and holding a staff made up of a Djed pillar, ankh symbol and what scepter. The shaved head is covered by a tight-fitting cap that leaves the ears free. He has a beard. Together with his wife, the lion goddess Sekhmet , and the lotus god Nefertem , they form the triad of Memphis.

The Egyptologist August Eisenlohr named the Harris I papyrus "The Great Harris Papyrus" to distinguish it from the papyrus translated by François Chabas in 1860 with the title Le papyrus magique Harris . Eisenlohr was the first to translate the ancient document into German. According to him, this consists of the following parts:

  • Introduction panel 1
  • I. Gifts to the gods of Thebes, Amun, Mut, Khonsu (panels 2–23) List of gifts (panels 10–21)
  • II. Offerings to the gods of Heliopolis, Tum, Ra, Hermachis, Juses, Nebhotep (plate 24–42) and the offerings to the house of Hapi (Nile) near Heliopolis (plate 37, 14–41). List of gifts (Plates 31–41).
  • III. Offerings to the gods of Memphis, Ptah, Sechet, Nefertum (plate 43–56b) and the offerings to Hapi (Nile) near Memphis (plate 54–56a). List of gifts (Plates 51–56a).
  • IV. Offerings to the gods and goddesses of the north and south (plates 57–66). List of gifts (Plates 61–66)
  • V. Compilation of the gifts. (Plate 67-74).
  • VI. Historical part and conclusion (plates 75-79)

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ninth of Heliopolis
  2. ↑ One of the 3 vignettes from the Great Harris Papyrus in the British Museum