Letters

There are two ways in which Egyptian letters have been preserved in the archaeological record; sometimes the originals themselves have survived (in the form of papyri, ostraca and wooden boards), but in many other cases such commemorative documents as stelae, inscriptions or temple archives incorporate transcriptions of letters, whether real or imagined. The earliest known letters belong to the latter category, being hieroglyphic copies of letters sent by King Djedkara-lsesi (24H—2375 nc) to the officials Senedjemib and Shepsc. sra at abl. sir. Only a few other letters have survived from the Old Kingdom (2686-2181 nc), such as I larkhuf’s record of a letter sent to him by the young iMun ii (2278-2184 Itc). Most of those from the Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 lit;) are made up of an archive of eighty-six letters from Kahun (see i:i.-r. AiiL) and a set of eleven items of correspondence between Hekanakhie and his family, although an important specialized form of letter f rom this period has survived in the form of the. so-called ‘si;iA dispatches' (12ih-Dynasl military communications between Thebes and the Nubian l¦•ORTRi¦:.ssl•,.s),

.Many items of private and royal correspondence from the New Kingdom have sunived, including the simple hieratic notes on ostraca sent by the workmen at i>i;iR ki.-mi. oina, numerous late Ramesside private letters, and the royal diplomatic correspondence from el-.Amarna (see a.i\ i. kttkrs), which was written in cuneiform on clay tablets. A large number of actual items of correspondence written on papyri have survived, such as the two letters written bv an oil-boiler at el--Amarna. One of the most important texts used in scribal teaching during this period was the satirical Letter of Ilori in which one oftkial writes to a colleague, ridiculing his abilities and setting te. sts of his bureaucratic knowledge. 'Ellis document would have educated scribes in the protocol ofletter-wriiing.

G. .Iasi'i;ro, Du genre i'pislolaire chez les egyptiens de I'cpocjiie pharaoniijue (Pari. s, 1872).

T. G. 11. j wiKS, The l/ekanakhtepapers and other early Middle Kingdom documents (New York, 1962).

E. \'i;i;. Letters from ancient Egypt (.Atlanta,

1990).

J. Jans. si;, IaUc Ramesside letters and communications (hieratic papyri in the British Museum) (London, 1991).

R. B. PvRkiNSON, f owes from ancient Egypt (London, 1991), 89-95, 142-5.