Find spot:
P. ME Torino Suppl. 6085 (= P. Tor. Botti 36; TM 45108) belongs to the archive of Totoes and Tatehathyris, discovered in 1905 during excavations of the Museo Egizio Torino, in two sealed jars in a house near the Hathor temple at Deir el-Medina ("House G"). The sealed jars were opened in the Museo Egizio. Inside, several papyrus scrolls were found, wrapped by linen or papyri, some of which had archival notes and/or seals. Unfortunately, when the jars and papyrus scrolls were opened, the arrangement of the individual papyri within the jars was not noted, so that an exact assignment of the individual documents to the jars, the scrolls and the linen or seals is not assured completely until now. In total, there were 53 papyri in approximately 33 to 35 scrolls (on the discovery and history of the archive in detail: Uggetti, Archives Totoès et TatéhathyrisUggetti, L., Les archives bilingues de Totoès et de Tatéhathyris I-II (Archive ouverte HAL; Paris, 2018)., 2-55). P. ME Torino Supp. 6085 (= P. Tor. Botti 36, BC 100 Apr 17) is assigned to scroll 11 that also contained the papyri P. ME Torino Supp. 6102 (= P. Tor. Botti 34 A; TM 45106; Demotic contract consent with document drawn up for father of declarants concerning financial matters of the temple, BC 100 Jan 15) and P. ME Torino Supp. 6100 (= P. Tor. Botti 34 B+C; TM 47146; Demotic contract temple oath, BC 100 Jan 15). Around this papyrus convolute of the scroll 11 P. ME Torino Supp. 6109 (= P. Tor. Botti 35; TM 45107; Demotic archival note, after BC 100 Apr 17) was wrapped. Preservation:
The papyrus is in an excellent state of preservation. All edges of the papyrus are undamaged. Its dimensions are 33.5 cm wide and 32.5 cm high. The papyrus consists of 2 kollemata (1 kollesis right on left). The visible width of the kollemata measured from the right edge of the recto: (1) 19 cm; (2) 14.5 cm.
Textlayout:
P. ME Torino Suppl. 6085 (= P. Tor. Botti 36; TM 45108) is inscribed on both sides. The recto shows a lease contract for three chests (line 1-27). The distances between this inscription panel and the papyrus edges are almost uniform (top 6.5 cm, bottom 4.5 cm, right 7.5 cm, left 4 cm). Centred below this text field are four witness signatures (line 28-31). On the left edge of the verso a single-line archival note can be found, which is written perpendicular to the verso fibres. The distances between this note and the papyrus edges are: top 0.5 cm, bottom 31 cm, right 4 cm, left 1.5 cm. The spatium (ca. 3 cm) in the middle of the wording pꜣ rd □□□□ n Ḥw.t-Ḥr is intended by the scribe. It provides space for the seal on the outside of the rolled and bound papyrus scroll, which would otherwise cover up the writing. Based on the positioning of the archival note, the recto of the document was rolled up from left to right.
Dating and scribe of the contract and the archival note:
The papyrus dates to BC 100 Apr 17, the 14^th regnal year of Ptolemy X Alexander I, who was at the time in a coregency with Cleopatra Berenice III. and her son Alexander. Amenothes (P158), son of Chestephnachthes (B; P155), is not only the scribe of this lease contract but also the contracting party of the above-mentioned six eldest priests (presbyteroi) of the temple of Hathor (in this text edition, the Pers ID’s of Uggetti, Archives Totoès et TatéhathyrisUggetti, L., Les archives bilingues de Totoès et de Tatéhathyris I-II (Archive ouverte HAL; Paris, 2018)., I. 194-404, are given for all persons mentioned; see there especially for the scribe family Chestephnachthes: I. 404-421). The archival note will have been made on the verso a short time later. For palaeographic reasons, the scribe was probably not Amenothes (P158), son of Chestephnachthes (B; P155).
Parties and subjects of the contract:
As Uggetti, BIFAO 121Uggetti, L., 'The Agents of Hathor in P.Tor.Botti and the Ptolemaic Temple of Deir el-Medina', Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 121 (2021), 475-509., 475-479, points out, P. ME Torino Supp. 6085 (= P. Tor. Botti 36; TM 45108), BC 100 Apr 17) and the above-mentioned papyri P. ME Torino Supp. 6102 (= P. Tor. Botti 34 A; TM 45106) and P. ME Torino Supp. 6100 (= P. Tor. Botti 34 B+C; TM 47146) constitute a content-related set of agreements made between the six eldest priests (presbyteroi) of the temple of Hathor (Z.13) and the three sons of the scribe Chestephnachthes (B; P155), Harsiesis (B; P157) (alias Harpaesis), Amenothes (P158) and Pikos (P159) in BC 100. All three sons of Chestephnachthis (B; P155) hold the titles 'scribe, pastophoros of Amun of Djeme, prophet of Hathor, mistress of the West, prophet, wꜥb-priest, pastophoros of every office (and) administrative affair of the king's scribe Amenophis, son of Hapu, agent of Hathor, the great goddess mistress of the West at Djeme', and were responsible for the entire financial administration of the sanctuary of Hathor at Deir el-Medina, including the ordinary and extraordinary levies and payments of the priests. Even though P. ME Torino Suppl. 6096 (= P. Tor. Botti 40; TM 45111; Demotic temple oath of the six presbyteroi, without date) belonged to the papyrus scroll 18, it must, for reasons of content, be included in this set of papyri and, like P. ME Torino Suppl. 6109 (= P. Tor. Botti 35; TM 45107), dated around BC 100 Apr 17. It should be briefly pointed out that P. ME Torino Suppl. 6096 (= P. Tor. Botti 40) was originally bound together by P. ME Torino Provv. 5057 (= P. Tor. Botti lin. 3; TM 48936).
As mentioned above, Amenothes (P158), son of Chestephnachthes (B; P155), is not only the contracting party (1) but also the scribe of this document. Contracting parties (2) are the six eldest priests (presbyteroi) of the sanctuary of Hathor at Deir el-Medina: Esnachomneus the elder (P238), son of Chesthotes (P236), Totoes (P21), son of Zmanres (D; P10), Zmanres (P250), son of Pikos (P249), Amenothes (P246), son of Teos (245), Onnophris (P272), son of Psenminis, (P243/271) and Pagonis (P242), son of Amenothes (P240) (Uggetti, Archives Totoès et Tatéhathyris, I. 305-317, 429-434).
The subject concerns a lease contract for three offering chests (ꜥfṱ.wt), one in the forecourt of the temple of Hathor, the other two in the city, which Amenothes (P158) leases from the six eldest priests for the period of five years.