When P. BM EA 10405 (layout in transversa) was purchased by the British Museum in 1835, its provenance was not clear. It soon turned out, however, that the papyrus belonged to a bundle of six demotic letters in the possess of the British Museum, which were all addressed to the scribe of General Herianoupis and have to be attributed to an archive of this general that was localised in the Sacred Animal Necropolis, North Saqqara.
These letters came into the possession of the British Museum in different ways:
In 1835 the British Museum acquired three papyri at the auction of Henry Salt's collection at Sotherby's:
- P. BM EA 10406 (Salt 274; TM 43930; BC 160 Oct 2 - 159 Oct 1);
- P. BM EA 10405 (Salt 823; TM 43929; BC 159 Jan 1);
- P. BM EA 10231 (Salt 697; TM 43898; BC 159 Feb 27).
In 1837 the British Museum purchased one letter from the traditional London auction house Phillips, Son & Neale (together with P. BM EA 10225; Phillips 39; TM 50057; see digital edition in the corpus of the DPDP). But originally this papyrus in all probability also came from the auction of Henry Salt's collection at Sotherby's 1835 and then passed into the auction house Phillips, Son & Neale:
- P. BM EA 10242 (Phillips 40; TM 43930; BC 159 Jan 20).
Two letters are from the collection of Robert Curzon, 14^th Baron Zouche (1810-1873), and were given to the British Museum by Curzon's daughter Darea in 1917. Since Robert Curzon must have acquired these letters before 1849, it seems certain that these papyri were also originally acquired by Curzon at the above-mentioned auction of Sotherby's in 1835:
- P. BM EA 10786 (TM 46669; BC 160 Oct 13?);
- P. BM EA 10785 (TM 46668; BC 159 Feb 10?).
All these six letters were written in the 22^nd regnal year of Ptolemy VI Philometor (160/159 BC). From their contents (especially P. BM EA 10786 and P. BM EA 10785) it is clear that the general Herianoupis was ordered by Ptolemy VI from Memphis to the royal court at Alexandria in this year. Therefore, most of the letters were explicitly addressed to the general's scribe, who continued to manage the general's affairs at Memphis. Some of the senders of these letters were either directly from Memphis or from the near area. The letters P. BM EA 10405, P. BM EA 10785 and P. BM EA 10786 possess in their greeting formula the mention: "... to make blessings before Horus-Re, the Lord of Sachebu, (and) Geb, the prince of the gods...". The city of Sachebu has not been precisely located until now. However, there are inscriptional evidences that it was located in the 2^nd Lower Egyptian Nome Letopolites and to be identified with the modern city of Zat el-Kom, which is located just northwest of the ancient capital Letopolis (today's Ausim, about 13 km northwest of Memphis). Sachebu was directly connected to Memphis by a canal (Thissen, Serapis 6Thissen H.-J., 'Ein Demotischer Brief aus dem Anubeion', Serapis 6 (1980), 165-170., 166, note to line 2 with detailed literature). This bears the name "canal of the two mullets" (see, among others, P. Westcar, P. Berlin 3033, 9.9-11 / 9.16-19, and Merikare, P. Heremitage 1116A, §81-83) and is a secondary branch of the Nile which was a fast connection between Sachebou and Memphis. It runs in its beginnings almost horizontally from the Rossette-Branch of the Nile eastwards to el-Qatta on the edge of the western Delta. Then it led north to Merimde Beni Salama, on to Terenuthis (3^rd Lower Egyptian Nome) and finally to Lake Mareotis near Alexandria. At Sachebu (Zat el-Kom), another canal ran perpendicularly from the south into the canal of the "two mullets". This second channel ran parallel on the west side of the Nile from Memphis (1^st Lower Egptian Nome) to Ausim (2^nd Lower Egyptian Nome) and then flowed into the "canal of the two mullets". Sachebou was a cult center of Horus-Re, Lord of Sachebou to which were associated the cults of Harmachis and Geb, prince of the gods. The cults especially that of Re-Horus, were connected with Memphis by a personal union of priests. It therefore seems very likely that the writers of these three letters came from Sachebu, which in turn allows conclusions to be drawn about the scope of the administrative authority of General Herianoupis. (cf. in detail: Muhs, in: Honi Soit Qui Mal Y PenseMuhs, B., 'Two Demotic Letters from the Archive of Herianoupis, from the Curzon Collection now in the British Museum', in: Knuf, H. / Leitz, Ch. / Rechlinghausen, D. von (Hgg.), Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense. Studien zum pharaonischen, griechisch-römischen und spätantiken Ägypten zu Ehren von Heinz-Josef Thissen (Orientalia Lovniensia Analecta 194; Leuven, 1990), 397-404, Taf. 77-78., 397-400; Martin / Smith, in: Honi Soit Qui Mal Y PenseMartin, C. / Smith, H. S., 'Demotic Letters from the Sacred Animal Necropolis, North Saqqara, from the Curzon Collection now in the British Museum', in: Knuf, H. / Leitz, Ch. / Rechlinghausen, D. von (Hgg.), Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense. Studien zum pharaonischen, griechisch-römischen und spätantiken Ägypten zu Ehren von Heinz-Josef Thissen (Orientalia Lovniensia Analecta 194; Leuven, 1990), 85-97, Taf. 29-33).
Note: The digital editions of all the above-mentioned letters from the archive of Herianoupis can be found on the DPDP website.
The letter (P. BM EA 10405; BC 159 Jan 1; year 22 Ptolemy VI Philometor) of Petheus, son of Totoes, is addressed to the scribe of General Herianupis (through the above-mentioned letters P. BM EA 10786 and P. BM EA 10785 it is obvious that the general was ordered to Alexandria the 22^nd regnal year of Ptolemy VI Philometor (160/159 BC) and was not in Memphis at that time). It refers to discrepancies in the allocation of grain for the payment of fieldwork. Petheus informs in his letter that he had paid for the planting work to be done in his field, in consultation with the farmer Psenesis and in the presence of the planters, a fixed amount of barley and emmer valued at 1 silver(deben). This payment was handed over to the farmer Psenesis. Now, however, it seems that a dispute has developed concerning this matter, and Petheus is accused of having cheated in the apportionment of grain. At the time Petheus writes his letter, the farmer Psenesis had already sent a certain Pais north to Alexandria to complain directly to the general Herianoupis about Petheus' supposed fraud and to insist that Petheus had to make further payments for the fieldwork done. Petheus, however, has discovered this clever move by the farmer Psenesis and in his letter assures the correctness of his payment to the farmers and requests that the complainant be punished for the unlawful accusation.