Some Remarks on the Trial of Mose *

Abstract

This inscription recounts the history of a lawsuit about the ownership of some fields inherited by various members of the family to which Mose belonged. At a certain point there appears a man called Khay who is apparently not related. According to Gardiner's interpretation, this Khay produced forged documents before the highest law-court, presided over by the Vizier, so that the Vizier pronounced in favour of Khay on the basis of forgeries. These forgeries came from the capital Piramesses, where the official registers of landed property were kept. Khay must then have succeeded in tampering with these registers through the complicity of officials. Upon close analysis of the inscription, however, the passages in question turn out to have been wholly misunderstood: Khay had in fact a legitimate title-deed favourable to his claim.