A letter of protest from the Old Kingdom

Abstract

There has been a considerable focus on ancient Egyptian letters due to the recognition of their importance as primary sources of social and historical knowledge. The personal correspondence from ancient Egypt exemplifies the extra knowledge such letters are able to provide. Their importance lies in their additional information regarding ancient Egyptian society – daily life, religious affairs, military achievements – in comparison with other types of visual and textual evidence. To illustrate this point the following study focuses on one of the few surviving letters from the Old Kingdom. It concerns a commander of troops’ com plaint in response to a communication from the chief justice and vizier ordering him to bring his battalion to receive their clothing.

Keywords

• sender
• recipient
• reason for writing
• the problém
• historical context
• location