The Elephantine Papyri. Robert Hutto. Through the nineteenth century and into the beginning of the twentieth, a collection of papyri was found at and around a. The Elephantine papyri are written in Aramaic, the lingua franca of the Persian period from Asia Minor to Arabia and Upper. Egypt. In vocabulary, phraseology. One of the oldest collections of Jewish manuscripts, dating from the fifth century BCE, the Elephantine papyri were written by the Jewish community at.

No interest is charged but there is a penalty for failing to repay the loan by the agreed date.

A Family Archive from the Nile Valley. In addition, special provision was made to free the couple’s son, also a slave to Meshullam; perhaps Ananiah consented to the small dowry of either 7 or 15 shekels the text is ambiguous in order to obtain his son’s freedom.

The Elephantine Papyri in English: Wikimedia Commons has media related to Elephantine papyri. Possibly because the clients were dissatisfied with something the scribe had written, at one point the text of the document breaks off and then starts over again, repeating what has gone on before with some additions.

They are a collection of ancient Jewish manuscripts dating from the 5th century BCE. The renovation of the house and its gradual transfers to family members are the central concerns of the next several documents in Ananiah’s family archive. They included an Egyptian who held the post of gardener of the Egyptian god Khnum and, on the other side, two Persian boatmen. The papyri have been grouped here by topic, such as marriage contract, real estate transaction, or loan agreement.

The Elephantine Papyri

By order of King Darius. During the Persian Period in Egypt, it was not uncommon to sell children, or even oneself, elephsntine slavery to pay debts. Your email address will not be published. Image of document in gallery below. As with all property transfers within a family, this gift was described as made “in love”.

Elephantine Papyri

University of California Press, The “Petition to Bagoas” Sayce-Cowley collection is a letter written in BCE to Bagoasthe Persian governor of Judea, appealing for assistance in rebuilding the Jewish temple in Elephantine, which had recently been badly damaged by an antisemitic rampage on the part of a segment of the Elephantine community. Ancient marriage documents generally formalized already existing relationships.

So do you count fou[rteen days of the month of Nisan and] obs[erve the passover ], and from the 15th to the 21st day of [Nisan observe the festival of unleavened bread]. Do not br]ing it into your dwellings but seal it up between these date[s. You may say in Egypt Jewish Life in Ancient Egypt: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This unique Jewish community possessed its own temple to Yahweh on the island, apparently functioning alongside the long-established cult shrine of the local ram-headed deity Khnum.

The community also appealed for aid to Sanballat Ia Samaritan potentate, and his sons Delaiah and Shelemiahas well as Johanan ben Eliashib. This document to the right describes a property purchased by Ananiah, twelve years after his marriage, from a Elephahtine soldier named Bagazust and his wife, Ubil.

Yahwehpapryi his wife, Tamut, who was previously an Egyptian slave owned by a Jewish master, Meshullam. Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: Excavation work done in revealed the remains of the Jewish colony centered on a small temple.

Elephantine papyri - Wikipedia

The ‘Passover letter’ of BCE discovered inwhich gives detailed instructions for properly keeping the passover is in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin. Webarchive template wayback links Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL Commons category link from Wikidata.

A multicultural couple marries, buys a house, raises kids. After lying in a warehouse for more than 50 years, elephantinr papyri were shipped to the Egyptian Department of the Brooklyn Museum.

In this case, Ananiah and Tamut already had a young son when the document was drawn up. A very defective strip of papyrus with writing on both sides. In contrast to Jewish documents like this elephantins, contemporaneous Egyptian marriage documents were negotiated between a husband and wife.