The Ramesseum Papyri

Papyrus conservator Bridget Leach examining fragments of the medical text of P. Ramesseum 3.

Project leader: Richard B. Parkinson

Department: Ancient Egypt and Sudan

Project start: 2005

Other British Museum staff: Bridget Leach

Other departments: Coins and Medals, Conservation and Scientific Research

External partners:
Oriental Faculty, Oxford University
The Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, Berlin
Seminar for Egyptology and Coptology, University of Goettingen
CNRS, Ramesseum project

Description:

The Ramesseum papyri have been described as the ‘most precious single find of papyri’ from pharaonic Egypt. They were discovered by Flinders Petrie in 1895-6 in a plundered thirteenth Dynasty shaft-tomb (c. 1700 BC) that was part of a Middle Kingdom cemetery at Luxor, later covered by the funerary temple of Ramses II (the Ramesseum). The papyrus texts comprise the archive of the tomb-owner, who was probably a priest. The majority of the papyri (136 items) are now held in the British Museum, while several others reside in the Egyptian Museum, Berlin. The texts span a wide range of genres and dates, and include the best known Egyptian literary work, The Tale of Sinuhe. Most are liturgical texts or texts of healing that may reflect the priest’s professional activities and the collection was probably built up from various sources over three generations. The priest’s magical equipment which was found with the papyri is now in Cambridge and Manchester.

P. Ramesseum B, a dramatic liturgy in honour of King Senwosret I.The papyri are very fragmentary and fragile and because of this (together with the problematic nature of the original editions in the 1950s), they have been largely unstudied as a group. Inspired by the recent work of the French-Egyptian (CNRS) team under Mme Nelson who are re-excavating the Middle Kingdom cemetery, this Museum project is working towards a full re-evaluation and publication of the find, drawing on a range of international colleagues. The Museum’s role is largely that of commissioning, enabling and coordinating the necessary research from specialists in various institutions to enable a better understanding of this unique ancient library.

Objectives:

The project will further the publication of the Museum’s collections and provide new editions and translations of the archive. It will re-establish these texts within their associated material culture, social practices, archaeological contexts and landscapes, while aiming to highlight the museological issues concerning the analysis and display of texts, exploring both ancient and modern receptions of Ancient Egyptian writings. The find allows a unique social contextualisation of manuscripts and a detailed investigation of who would read such texts and why they were copied and transmitted. The project will also investigate the archive from a comparative literature perspective and explore the possibility of ‘subaltern studies’ for Ancient Egypt with such textual data. In association with University departments, it will assist in developing an integrated model for Ancient Egyptian philology for publication and teaching.

The Ramesseum temple, showing the Middle Kingdom cemetery to the right of the enclosure. The tomb with the papyri was under the mud-brick magazines at the top corner of the enclosure.Following a complete new digital photographic record of all the papyri, projected publications will include a monograph on the history of two of the texts from the time of their composition through to their modern reception by R. Parkinson. This will establish the theoretical and wider implications of the project; the first full publication of finds from the tomb, with Janine Bourriau (Cambridge); new editions of the magical texts as a doctoral thesis by Pierre Meyrat (Geneva),under Prof. Fischer-Elfert, Leipzig; new editions of the literary papyri by R. Parkinson (P. Berlin 10499 [with Frank Feder, Berlin], EA 10754-5). Related classes are being taught in Oxford and Goettingen.

Publications:

R. Parkinson, ‘The History of a Poem: Middle Kingdom Literary Manuscripts and Their Reception’ in G. Burkard et al. (ed.), Kon-Texte: Akten des Symposiums “Spurensuche – Altägypten im Spiegel seiner Texte” München 2. bis 4. Mai 2003 (ÄAT 2004), pp. 51-63

R. Parkinson, ‘Among the Temples of Millions of Years’, in E. MacTavish, Made in Egypt (Canterbury: E.L.C. MacTavish, 2005), pp. 59-62

B. Leach, ‘A Conservation History of the Ramesseum Papyri’, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 92 (2007), pp. 1-16

Images (from top):

  • Papyrus conservator Bridget Leach examining fragments of the medical text of P. Ramesseum 3.
  • P. Ramesseum B, a dramatic liturgy in honour of King Senwosret I.
  • The Ramesseum temple, showing the Middle Kingdom cemetery to the right of the enclosure. The tomb with the papyri was under the mud-brick magazines at the top corner of the enclosure.