Papyrus Harkness: (Mma 31.9.7)

By Mark Smith

Papyrus Harkness (MMA 31.9.7) preserves a long, virtually undamaged textwritten in the demotic script. The original owner and beneficiary of thepapyrus was a woman called Tanaweruow. Born into a prietly family, shelived in the town of Pernebut in Middle Egypt. After her death, whichoccurred on 15 February 61 A.D., an elaborate series of mortuary ritualswere performed for her benefit by her father and others. PapyrusHarkness preserves a complete record of the words recited during theseceremonies, in which it would have been employed by those officiating.After its initial use, the papyrus was buried along with Tanaweruow inher tomb, where the reanimating and protective powers of the words withwhich it was inscribed were supposed to remain effective for alleternity.
The manuscript was disinterred by a person orpersons unknown, and made its way through untraced channels to the Cairoantiquities market where it was purchased by Howard Carter in the springof 1922, not too long before his discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun.In 1924, he sold it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, inwhose collection it has remained ever since.
The presentvolume is the first complete edition of Papyrus Harkness. Theintroduction describes the manuscript's appearance and state ofpreservation, summarises the available information concerning itsoriginal owner and her family, analyses the text's contents, theirstructure, composition, and ritual significance, and outlines its mostsalient grammatical and stylistic features. This is followed by atransliteration and translation of the papyrus and a parallel version ofpart of it preserved in another manuscript, P. BM 10507, a line by linecommentary, a bibliography of works cited, and a full glossaryreproducing all the words which occur in the text in facsimile. Thevolume concludes with a set of eight fold-out plates with photographs ofPapyrus Harkness.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 090041684X
• ISBN13: 9780900416842
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Griffith Institute
• Length: 386 Pages
• Weight: 3.89 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 8.5" x 11.9"