History and find spot:
The wooden panel BM EA 56918 was acquired in Luxor in 1926 by the contemporary Keeper of the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, Henry R.H. Hall, for the British Museum from the Egyptian antiquities dealer Mohammed Mohasseb Bey(1843-1928; Hagen / Ryholt, Antiquities TradeHagen, F. / Ryholt, K., The Antiquities Trade in Egypt 1880-1930. The H.O. Lange Papers (Scientia Danica:Series H, Humanistica, 4.8; Copenhagen, 1962)., 245-247; Vandorpe / Worp, CdÉ 88 Vandorpe, K. / Worp, K. A., 'Paying Prostimon for new Vineyard Land (T. BM inv.no. EA 56920). A Bilingual Set of Wooden Tablets from the Archive of Horos, son of Nechouthes', Chronique d'Égypte 88 (2013), 105-115., 106).
It belongs to the bilingual archive of the Horos son of Nechoutes (TM Arch 106), which was found at Pathyris and dates from 138 to 89 BC (Vandorpe / Waebens, Reconstructing Pathyris Vandorpe, K. / Waebens, S., Reconstructing Pathyris' archives. A multicultural community in Hellenistic Egypt (Collectanea Hellenistica 3; Brussel, 2010)., No. 40, 127-141).
Materiality:
It has a long rectangular shape (height: 6.0 cm; width: 18.8 cm; thickness: 1.2 cm; weight: 78 grammes). Seen from the recto, both corners on the right side have been cut away. The surface appears to be brushed on both sides.
Textlayout:
The tablet is inscribed on both sides. The main text, a r-rḫ⸗w - field work receipt for vineyard, on the 'recto' comprises 5 lines. The 'verso', turned vertically, shows 2 text lines with the confirmation.
Text summary and date
T. BM EA 56918 makes part of a bilingual set of three wooden tablet of the archive of the Horos son of Nechoutes, which can be dated in the reign of Cleopatra III and Ptolemy IX (both not named): T. BM EA 56919 (TM 44925: Demotic; year 9, BC 109 Sep 19 - 108 Sep 18), T. BM EA 56920 (TM 44926; Greek, year 10, BC 107 Mar 12) and T. BM EA 56918 (TM 44924 Demotic, year 14, BC 104 Sep 18 - 103 Sep 17, year 14 of Cleopatra III and year 11 of Ptolemaios X) (Vandorpe / Worp, CdÉ 88 Vandorpe, K. / Worp, K. A., 'Paying Prostimon for new Vineyard Land (T. BM inv.no. EA 56920). A Bilingual Set of Wooden Tablets from the Archive of Horos, son of Nechouthes', Chronique d'Égypte 88 (2013), 105-115., 106, no.5.)
These tablets are related to the same issue: They constitute a part of the annually renewed "land registers", during which the wasteland belonging to the domain of Pathyris was inspected. According to the land survey records, Horos, the son of Nechouthes, had planted a vineyard on this wasteland, probably illegally or at least not as an official tenant, for which he had to hand over the wine obtained from this vineyard to the temple of Pathyris and to pay a fine called prostimon or gns which in contrast to the P. BM EA 56919 is not explicitly mentioned here, but is calculated: "A prostimon was a fine charged for taking (extra) land.... When individuals took illegal possession of land, which was ownerless or derelict (usually dry land) and belonging to the Crown, a once-off fine or prostimon had to be paid. The fine was cashed through the bank and paid into the account of the Idios Logos, a special account of the Crown into which were deposited payments from the sale of royal property. The etymology of the Demotic word qns ('violence'; n qns means 'with violence, by force, illegally') and the circumstances in which prostima-payments were imposed suggest that, in general, an illegal act was involved and that the translation 'fine' is to be preferred to 'charge'" (cf. Vandorpe / Thompson, ZPE 190 Vandorpe, K. / Thompson, D. J., 'Prostima-Fines and Crop-Control under Ptolemy VIII BGU VI 1420 Reconsidered in Light of the New Schubart-Column to P.Haun. inv. 407', Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 190 (2014), 188-190., 188-189).
The texts of the Demotic tablets BM EA 56918 and BM EA 56919 belong to the group of so-called r-rḫ⸗w temple-receipt ("that which was measured"). These receipts originate from the greater Thebais area and date from the Ptolemaic to the Roman era. On the text genre: Kaplony-Heckel, in: Grund und Boden 46Kaplony-Heckel, U., 'Thebanische Acker- Amt-Quittungen ', in: Allam, S. (Hg.), Grund und Boden in Altägypten (rechtliche und sozio-ökonomische Verhältnisse). Akten des internationalen Symposions Tübingen 18.-20. Juni 1990 (Untersuchungen zum Rechtsleben im alten Ägypten 2; Tübingen, 1994), 189-197 (= Kaplony-Heckel, Land und Leute am Nil IIKaplony-Heckel, U., Land und Leute am Nil nach demotischen Inschriften, Papyri und Ostraka. Gesammelte Schriften I-II (Ägyptologische Abhandlungen 71.1-2; Wiesbaden, 2009)., 1007-1015); Vandorpe, AfP 46 Vandorpe, K., 'The Ptolemaic epigraphe or harvest tax (shemu)’, Archiv für Papyrusforschung 46 (2000), 169-232..
The scribe of the r-rḫ⸗w temple-receipt on the 'recto' of T. BM EA 56918 was Herakleides (TM Per 445326). The confirmation on the 'verso' was written by Peteharsemtheus (TM Per 445327).