A New Demotic Private Letter from Hermopolis *

Abstract

Publication of a Demotic papyrus, now in the al-Ashmunein magazine (Inv. No. 1455), found in the necropolis of Tuna al-Gebel during excavations by the Cairo University mission. The document is a private letter and dates to the Ptolemaic period. The writer of the letter and the addressee are probably officials in the ibis administration of the necropolis. The letter concerns income received by one of the officials in the local community and reports problems that have arisen between some individuals, possibly members of the ibis community, concerning the distribution of an amount of money that might be salaries or daily allowances.