‘All that has been done to the Shabtis’: Some Considerations on the Decree for the Shabtis of Neskhons and P. Bm Ea 10800 *

Abstract

The article discusses two texts concerning the purchase of shabtis: the Decree for the Shabtis of Neskhons, and a quittance for the sale of a set of shabtis (P. BM EA 10800). The author reconsiders the view held by D. Warburton and several other scholars that, in both documents, it is the shabtis themselves who are the recipients of the payment, and proposes a new reading of a perplexing passage in the Decree for the Shabtis of Neskhons.