The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-04-19
ACCOUNT BOOKS IN EGYPT.

Philadelphia Press.

Philadelphia Press.
1t will be remembered that Professor Hill
precht discovered for us an epstolary lover
in ancient Babylonia. Now, it appears
there were also bookkeepers in those days.
Egyptian bookkeepers two and three hun
dred years before the beginning of the
Christian era, clerks in the transcription
of whose moldering old ledgers a strange
modern light is let in upon the daily life
of the darkest past and In the items of
whose day books lay strange hints of
existence led by men who show themselves
the very brothers of us, struggling to read
their words 1000 more years after they
were written.
1t is in the ledgers of an unknown temple
to an unknown god sixteen months of
daily debit and credit account. kept in the
thirty-second and thirty-third years of
king whose very name none may hazard,
that make up the larger part of the valu-
able papyri with which the museum of the
University of Pennsylvania has just been
enriched through the gift OF Mrs. Dillwyn
Parrish.
Indeed an element of true romance gath
ers about all the facts. For instance, the
very locality where the manuscripts were
found is matter of uncertainty, since the
rolls were purchased at Ghizeh by an agent
of the committee in charge from an Arab
dealer who, for obvious reasons, chose to
remain silent upon the place of their dis
covery.
But of the authenticity and Importance of
the rolls there is, of course, no doubt. The
series consists of Greek, demotic and
Arabic papyri and fragments, among which
eleven demotic papyri of the Ptolemaic pc
Rod, second or third century b. c., are par
ticularly worthy of notice.
These papyri have been successfully un-
rolled by Mrs. Cornelius Stevenson who
has submitted their contents to an expert
photographer, and, while the decipherment
of demotic texts offers such extreme diff
culties that ii is probable that some time
may elapse before the full report on the
may, however, now be stated that their
contents must prove of serious Importance
Conjecturally, although there is not evil
dence to determine the locality from which
they came, certain indications lend proba-
bility to the belief that they are from the
Fayum, and II is not unlikely that they
may form a part of the great find, most
of which made its way to Berlin and VII
emma
The contents of the Philadelphia docu-
ments show them to have borne close
relation TO one another. and to belong to
the archives of a temple. Indeed, taken
collectively. they form one long admins
trative record covering some sixteen
months. Several Greek examples of an
cient bookkeeping are known, but no de-
moic documents as complete as the present
have heretofore been discovered.
Moreover, certain entries in the accounts
throw invaluable light upon the ceremonial
and ritual of the temple. While several
well-known gods are alluded to in the text
! as worshipped In the sanctuary, three or
| four deities whose names have not yet
been identified appear, and these will prob
| ably turn out TO be entirely new TO the
| learned world. Their names. no doubt IA
miliar household words to the writer $500
years ago, are unfortunately abbreviated
| In such a way as TO be difficult of de-
| cipherment to the modern photographer.
1t is. therefore, only through the means of
| possible Greek transcriptions or of their
| occurrence spelled in full in other existing
manuscripts that they will become clear.
Many individuals are mentioned in the
| texts as having paid or received various
amounts Indeed, our Philadelphia papyri
| apparently only account for extra funds,
| collection for the institution in gifts as
sessments and such means as are commonly
resorted 10 at the present day, and outside
| its regular income which was derived from
| the products OF the temple lands. There
are items of expenditure for religious fes-
| tivals-wine, oil, incense, wreaths, crowns
| An often-recurring item Is "a new drink
| ing cup which may go To show that the
| Egyptian servant possessed the same en-
nifty toward the masters Lares and
Penates that characterIzes the modern do
mestic.
! They were easy livers in the temple. too.