Receipt

Description

On one side three lines are preserved written in black carbon ink with a brush. The text is Demotic and was published by Spiegelberg (1930, 39) and republished by Zauzich (1987, 99-100). The translation is as follows: �ǣHarsiesis the elder, son of Kolanthes, alias Se, priest, who died 67 (?) years old, who had lived in the 10th district�ǥ. The difficulty arises form the word mr(.t)-iwe.t, which was so far not found in Demotic and is comparable only with the Coptic ____, ____, which means district of a city. The name of the area is not named here, but it could be Pr-nb-wt, which is found in another Michigan label, inv. no 4535.10, line 2 and in P.Harkness, line 4, and it uncertain whether it is a name of a city or a necropolis.;In both editions, however, there is no mention of the Greek text on the other side, and it is certain that it was not communicated to the editors at the time of the publication. It is a receipt for the payment of _________ to the government for entering hereditary offices of the priests. It is dated in September 3, A.D. 139. The fee was called �ǣeiskritikon�ǥ (Wallace 1938, 249-252). The area declared in l. 1 is �ǣPheneb( )�ǥ, which only point to Phenebythis, a village or a toparchy of the Panopolite nome (P.Panop.Beatty, p. xxxvii; Calderini 1987, 67, s.v.). There was a discussion concerning the possibility that the Demotic place name Pr-nb-wt, mentioned above, could be identified with Phenebythis (Quegebeur 1978, 251; Zauzich 1987, 97, 6n.; Chauveau 1992, 108), which was rejected. The reference, however, of the Greek text to this place name should shed new light to this problem.; The receipt is issued in the name of Harsies, the third son of Kolanthos and Senpeteminis, grandson of Orsenouphis, for entering into the priesthhod in the temple of Aphrodite and Apollon and the other associated gods in the same temple. The amount paid is 20 drachmae and the payment is made through another person, Ploutog( ), son of Ket( ).;The scribe of the receipt took into consideration the angular ear of the right hand side, which means that he did not write on a rectangular board, which was later cut to form a label, but on an already formed label, a shape well known to be used as a label and not as a board. Also, when the hole was drilled, a lengthwise split of wood in the surface was made and the scribe wrote on top of it. Two scenarios are possible concerning which side was written first, and I am proceeding having in mind H. Youtie's criticism to L. Youtie when she published the mummy labels in P.Coll. Youtie II 97-120 . First and the most probable scenario is that the receipt was written first on an unwritten at this time wooden mummy label when the young Harsies paid his fee for entering the priesthood. Writing a receipt on a wooden tablet is not the commonest practice in Egypt, even though there are some examples (Brashear and Hoogendijk 1990, 21-22; Worp 1997, 1014-1015 = SB XXIV 15919). This receipt could be issued any time, either before or after his elder brother's death. One could say that the most probable is the latter, because this is justified by the known heredirary type of the offices in the Egyptian temples. Thus, when Harsies the elder died, the younger brother used this label for the purpose it was made: a mummy label. If we exclude the possibility that he could not find another label to use for his brother, -since certainly the temple should offer many, and he was a priest, not whoever person- we must assume that he did it with purpose. This receipt was one of the most valuable documents of his livehood. He had paid a considerable sum, it was issued once, and he should have to keep it for a life time. It is not the annual payment of a mere tax, it is one of his the most important documents, by which he could declare or denote his job. We know from other examples in Egypt that valuable documents were kept in tombs by the priests of a temple, since this could be considered as a safe place . Also, the mummy label itself was so religiously and superstitiously charged, that no Egyptian could ever dare to destroy it or separate it from the mummy for any other reason. Harsies the third knew that by writing it there and then hung in the neck of his brother mummy, the receipt was safe. ;The scenario that the mummy label was written first and then taken from the mummy to be recycled cannot work for the reasons mentioned above. On the other hand nobody can exclude the possibility that for a certain and unknown to us reason -e.g. wrong details written concering the dead (?)- the label for the mummy of Harsies was not hung from the neck of the mummy, and instead of throwing it away or wash away the text, the other side was used for writing the receipt.;;;For the cult of Aphrodites (= Hathor) in Egypt see Rȭbsam 1974, 53. In P.Oxy. XXIV 2415, 48 (III A.D.) a boat has as an ensign the two gods. Note that Harsies became a priest of the temple of two Greek gods, Aphrodite and Apollo, who were identified with the two Egyptian gods that his name consisted of, Isis and Horus respectively. For Isis-Aphrodite see Dunand 1979, 68, and n. 124.;The name Senpeteminis is attested mainly in mummy lables from the Panopolite nome; e.g. the first edition of P.Mich. inv. 4533 (3) (see footnote 2 above); T.Mom.Louvre 1175, A, 2; The name means �ǣthe daughter of Peteminis�ǥ (Peteminis means �ǣThe one who has been given by the god Min�ǥ); cf. Lȭddeckens 1992, 1124, s.v.