Allam, Women As Holders of Rights in Ancient Egypt During The Late Period

Women as Holders of Rights in Ancient Egypt (During the Late Period)
Author(s): S. Allam
Source: Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 33, No. 1 (1990), pp. 1-
34
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Journalof the Economicand SocialHistoryof the Orient,Vol. XXXII
WOMEN AS HOLDERS OF RIGHTS IN

ANCIENT EGYPT
(DURING THE LATE PERIOD)*
BY
S. ALLAM
(Tiblngen)
Now that the so-called "legal code of Hermopolis" has been pub-
lished, we can eventually assess some aspects of ancient Egyptian
jurisprudence'). This text, however, does not particularly provide
illumination on female citizens as property owners. It is therefore
indispensable to tackle the subject by working our way through the
mass of documents published to date, such as private agreements and
official records. In so doing, we shall actually be better off, since we
will be brought into direct contact with situations primarily concern-
ing everyday undertakings; thus we shall be given more insight into
the daily affairs of the people. Nevertheless, I will consider in my
paper neither marriage settlements, nor documents relating to
inheritance, both categories being adequately discussed in the
literature2). The ultimate aim of my study is rather focus on other
texts, the bulk of which is written in demotic, with only a few in cur-
*) A summary of this paper was delivered in Cambridge on the 9th September

1987 at the 3rd International Conference of Demotic Studies.
1) Cf. my "Reflexions sur le 'Code legal' d'Hermopolis dans l'Egypte
ancienne", in: CdE vol. 61, 1986, p. 50 ff.
2) For marriage: E. Liiddeckens, Agyptische Ehevertrdge, 1960; P Pestman,
Marrzageand Matrimonial Propertyin Ancient Egypt, 1961, LdA, s.v Ehe; Allam, in:
JEA vol. 67, 1981, p. 116 ff. For inheritance: P Pestman, in: Essays on Oriental
Laws of Succession, edited by J Brugman et alii, 1969, p. 58 ff., idem, in: Aspects of
Demotic Lexicography,edited by S. Vleeming, 1987, p. 57 ff.
2 S. ALLAM
sive hieratic; the series of documents under review are largely self-
explanatory3).
Upon looking at our sources, which derive essentially from private
archives, we are left with the impression that women used to play a
considerable part when agreements about property rights were to be
negotiated by individuals4). In such agreements women could be
accorded not only a passive role, receiving items of property for
example, but could also themselves confer property rights on
others5). Here I should like to stress that comparison with men's
rights is not intended, as it is beyond the scope of the present study
to establish the extent of feminine activities in society or to investigate
the question of how extensively Egyptian society may have been
"feminized".
3) In contrast to my brief survey an analytic study has already appeared: S.

Pomeroy, Women in Hellenistic Egypt. From Alexanderto Cleopatra, 1984. The author
is a papyrologist, hence is working essentially with Greek records and therefore
focusing on Greek women or Hellenized Egyptians. She views the historical
elements primarily in a context of Greek mores; for her the most natural points of
comparison are with women of Classical Greece and eventually in contem-
poraneous Hellenistic societies. She stresses notably the fact that Hellenistic society
was different in many respects from any earlier Greek society and that the status
of women in Ptolemaic Egypt was higher than that of women in Classical Greece;
in their new environment Greek women had indeed increased opportunities and
freedom so that they could inter alia participate in the economy to a greater extent
than can be documented for any other Greek society But the author is not taking
into account the Egyptian cultural components that very likely helped Greek
women in Egypt avail themselves of their new status. For other recent studies vide
znfra, n. 121.
4) It seems useful to calculate the percentage of people who appear in our
records. In a recent study (J Johnson, in: EgyptologicalStudies in Honor of R. Parker,
1986, p. 74 f.) it has been observed that 160 sale contracts (K.-Th. Zauzich, Die
dgyptischeSchreibertraditionin Aufbau, Spracheund Schrift der demotischenKaufvertrdgeaus
ptolemdischerZezt, 1968) including 361 parties involve 128 women (both as buyers
and as sellers of property), and in 128 Theban documents with 258 contracting par-
ties there are 75 women.
5) With respect to the part played by women the demotic material hitherto pub-
lished is rather overwhelming; I am supporting my present survey with only a selec-
tion of examples. Also, I shall refer in brief notes to the main sources; for details
and further references regarding the study of individual documents the reader is
advised to consult the entries in Lexikon der Agyptologie, vol. IV (s.v Papyri, kur-
sivhieratische + demotische).
WOMEN AS HOLDERS OF RIGHTS IN ANCIENT EGYPT 3
It will clear the ground to deal first with deeds in which women
appear not as a negotiating party, but intervening to attest or approve
a matter already agreed upon by two other parties. We are here con-
cerned in most cases with property rights in immovables (such as
fields, grounds and houses). The following is one of numerous
examples. A horse-man (named 'Ioat8pos?) sells a parcel of land, and
his wife, a woman who is receiving alimony6), gives consent; she
assures the buyer that she is henceforth without claim against him
(i.e. the buyer)7). Equally, we have cases, where women acting as
sureties or guarantors make themselves responsible for stipulated
loans. To cite but one example8): A man takes a loan (the purchase
price of 14 artabae of fresh wheat) from a merchant to be paid off
within a set period, while the man's mother declares herself
(individually and jointly) liable for her son's debt9). To round off this
aspect, two further examples are particularly instructive. First, in a
transaction three brothers (priest-musicians who seem to belong to a
body of funerary priests) sell to a sealer-embalmer their right to six
liturgical days (li'.tpat XETroupylxat) yearly in the Anubieion at
6) She is described as shmt n sCnhnb db3-hd "woman of alimony, owner of a docu-

ment for money-payment" This indicates that at her marriage she had given to
her husband a sum of money (called sCnh);in return he had to pay her a set annual
sustenance, and as a security he sold to her his property by means of the said docu-
ment. For such a marriage settlement see Pestman, Marriage, p. 37 ff.
7) P Adler 2 (Gebeleln, 124 B.C.): Griffith, in: E. Adler et alii, The Adler Papyri,
1939, p. 72 ff. The text is followed by a Greek subscription attesting the payment
of the state tax; the names of 16 witnesses are on the verso.
8) P Brooklyn 37 1803 E (Memphis, 108 B C.): R. Pierce, ThreeDemotic Papyrz
in the BrooklynMuseum, 1972, p. 77 ff., P Pestman/J Quaegebeur/R. Vos, Recueil
de textesdemotiqueset bilingues, 1977, document no. 5 Our document comes from the
archive of a merchant who lived in a village near the Anubieion. The document
has a Greek docket attesting its registration in the Anubieion, where the
administrative centre probably lay; the verso gives a list of 12 witness names.
9) Legally speaking, one hesitates to consider the obligation in question as a
loan; it can otherwise be understood as a sale with deferred delivery of the wheat,
i.e. with advanced payment; cf. B. Menu, in: CIPEL vol. 4, 1976, p. 133 ff., my
remarks in: Revue hlstoriquede droztfrancazset etrangervol. 60, 1982, p. 379 regarding
records dating from the New Kingdom, where a distinction appears too difficult.
Such a distinction was certainly without importance for the parties themselves.
4 S. ALLAM
Hawara (i.e. priestly activities yielding an income) along with a

parcel of land in the town, and their transaction is approved by their
mother10). Second, by a deed of conveyance a woman sells to a
daughter a one-sixth share in a house (which devolved upon her from
her mother) as well as her right to stipends attached to some burial
places in the necropolis, whereas another daughter and a son give
joint consent to the agreement concluded1). These examples are
representativein as much as they disclose: 1. that it was generally the
mother or the wife and to a lesser extent one or some of the children
(daughter inclusive), who were invited from the other sex to join
while negotiating an agreement12), 2. that in such agreements mainly
10) P Ashmolean Museum 16+ 17 (Hawara, 69/8 B.C.): E. Reymond/J

Barns, Embalmers' Archivesfrom Hawara, 1973, p. 112 ff. We are concerned here
with an agreement for conveyance and another for cession; each closes with the
assent of the mother, who amongst other things says to the buyer: "Thou hast
claim upon the one thou wishest among us ..." The agreements are written side
by side on one roll of papyrus. They are followed by two subscriptions in Greek:
the.registration with the Registry at Ptolemais Euergetis, and the endorsement with
the local Record Office. Each contract was separately endorsed, and witnessed by
ten persons who signed on the verso of each deed. In my interpretation of con-
veyance and cession I am following E. Seldl; see my remarks, in: Enchortavol. 13,
1985, p. 2 f. Accordingly, the conveyance (sh db3-hd: writing for silver, money-
transfer, payment) represents a real sale; it could be accompanied by a cession (sh
n wt: writing for abandonment, renunclation or relinquishment of claim). By the
latter one of the contracting parties, namely the conveyor, acknowledges his part-
ner's position as if he, the conveyor, had gone to law and been defeated.
11) P. BM 10073 (Thebes, 219 B.C., a list of 16 witness names verso): N. Reich,
Papyrijurstischen Inhalts in hieratlscherund demotischerSchrift aus dem British Museum,
1914-17, p. 60 ff.
12) Distinction must be drawn between the consent and the liability of the per-
son adhering to a contracting party As to the above-mentioned loan, the mother
stands surety for the negotiated loan, while the wife's assent to the sale of the land
implies that she only withdraws any claim for the house. Similarly, in P BM 10525
(Thebes, 284 B.C., 16 witness names recto and verso): S. Glanville, Catalogue of
Demotic Papyri in the British Museum, vol. I, 1939, p. 33 ff.) a lector mortgages a
house for a loan of nine silver-kite to be repaid within a year to a divine-father; and
the lector's wife renounces in the divine-father's favour any claim for the house.
For further examples where such a distinction is readily demonstrated, see K.
Sethe/J. Partsch, Demotische Urkundenzum igypttschen Biirgschaftsrechtevorziiglichder
Ptolemderzeit,1920, pp. 683 ff. + 712 ff.
matters about immovables or loans/sales-with-deferred-delivery or

rights to some revenues were considered.
We go on to take into consideration texts where women, namely
wives, are dealing in their own capacity as a party. Here again we
are concerned generally with immovables and loans as well as titles
to emoluments. This state of affairs can be demonstrated by the
following examples. A text informs us of a man who is taking from
his wife a loan (three silver-pieces); he promises her to pay off his debt
including interest (five pieces and seven kite = 28 2 staters) in a
three-year period; if he is still in arrears at the set date, she can then
take possession of his half share in a house, in addition to his right
to sundry revenues from tomb-endowments (in exchange for
choachyte work)13). By another text, a deed of payment, we see a
woman trading to her husband a tomb as well as a tomb-chapel
(obviously with dead persons resting therein)14). The subject matter
of such a sale is no doubt her title to revenues deriving from some
tomb-endowments15). Apart from that, there is a group of deeds for
money-transfer by which some husbands sold their whole property,
movables and immovables, to their wives. In exchange the wife con-
cerned had to attend upon her husband during and after his life16).
13) P Louvre 2443 (Thebes, 249 B.C.): Zauzlch, Kaufvertrdge,p. 21 ff. As this
woman sells away the said rights to her husband's nephew in the year 243 B.C.
(P Louvre 2431. ibidem, p. 26 ff.), we may conclude that her husband could not
pay off his debt and she became indeed the owner of his rights; cf. Pestman, Mar-
riage, pp. 152 + 187
14) P Philadelphia 19 (Thebes, 240 B.C., with a Greek docket, 16 witness
signatures verso): M. El-Amir, A Family Archivefrom Thebes, 1959, Part I, p. 86 ff.,
Part II, pp. 40 + 111. I do not follow El-Amlr's view that this sale represents the
wife's will in favour of her husband.
15) Mention is made here of P Ox. Griffith 68 (Fayoum, 132 B.C.. E. Bres-
clanm, L'architvo demotico del tempio di Soknopaiu Nesos, vol. I, 1975, p. 94 f.): A
woman receives from some men five artabae of corn in the name of her husband.
16) W Spiegelberg, AgyptzscheVerpfrindungsvertrdge mit Vermdgensabtretungen,
1923
In these documents no family relationship between the woman and the man is
alluded to. From other deeds, however, it now appears that they were spouses;
Pestman, Marrage, p. 122 f. For P Louvre 2439 (Thebes, 330 B.C.) see Zauzich,
Kaufvertrdge,p. 10 ff., and for P Louvre 2429 bis (Thebes, 292 B.C.), ibidem, p.
14 f. See further infra at n. 21 and n. 118 n fine. In order to have an idea of the
6 S. ALLAM
Since a document of cession was issued by a husband to confirm such

a deed for money-transfer17), we can reasonably assume that all his
property did indeed devolve on his wife while he was still alive.
What about mothers dealing in a legal manner? As one might
expect, the transactions reveal that mothers were concerned with
their children regardless of sex. The matters they had to settle were
rights closely connected with land and houses, as well as titles to
revenues. Here are some illustrations. By means of a deed of payment
accompanied by another of cession a woman sells to her daughter a
house of two storeys in the Arsinoite nome18). Another deed of sale
was drawn up for a man by his mother ceding to him her one-half
share in a house at Thebes along with a similar share in emoluments
connected with various tombs in the necropolis; yet his mother
charged him with giving one third of the emoluments to his two
sisters, one of whom was a half sister19). In two separate titles (appor-
tionments: Teilungsurkurden)20) a woman choachyte undertakes a
division of all her property, movables and immovables, between two
heavy obligations with respect to the attendance upon a respectable person after his
death, see Shore, in: JEA vol. 54, 1968, p. 198.
17) P Marseille 298 + 299 (payment and cession: Thebes, 235 B.C.): Vittmann,
in: Enchoria vol. 10, 1980, p. 127 ff. Each document bears 16 names of witnesses
who signed verso, either shows recto the same Greek docket indicating the official
registration.
18) P Berlin 6857 + 30039 (payment + cession side by side, cession is however
hardly preserved) with a Greek docket (Dime: Socnopalou Nesos, 45 A.D ):
Zauzich, in: Enchoria vol. 4, 1974, p. 71 ff. Similarly, P Rylands 44 (money-
transfer + renunciation of claim + Greek abstract with signatures; Socnopaiou
Nesos, 29 A.D ): F Griffith, Catalogueof theDemotic Papyri in theJohn Rylands Library
Manchester, vol. III, 1909, p. 169 ff., E. Reymond, in: Bulletin of theJohn Rylands
Libraryvol. 49, 1967, p. 466 ff. This transaction, concluded by a mother in favour
of her daughter, bears upon the sale of two fifths of a house.
19) P Philadelphia 16 (Thebes, 251 B.C.): El-Amir, Family Archive, I, p. 70 ff.
On the bottom, right side, is the Greek tax receipt; 16 witnesses signed verso.
20) P Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris 216 + 217 (Thebes, about 516 B.C.): Cruz-
Uribe, in: Enchorza vol. 9, 1979, p. 33 ff., Pernlgotti, in: Scntti in onore di 0
Montevecchi, edited by E. Bresciani et alii, 1981, p. 289 ff. The witness list on the
verso of both documents consists of eight names each with the same witnesses in
identical order It cannot be inferred from these texts that the actual transfer of pro-
perty will take place only after the death of the mother
children: in one deed she transmits to her so-called eldest son (sr c3)
one half of everything which belongs to her and of everything which
will devolve upon her from her parents. In the other deed she
transfers likewise the other half of her property to her daughter (from
another marriage). Yet she stipulates that if she bears another child
its share shall come out of theirs. Reference is made lastly to a sale
document where a mother gives one of her two sons one half of her
house and of her rights to revenues from some tomb-endowments; he
in turn has to pay her 1/10 of the said revenues (evidently as
sustenance) during her lifetime, and to care for her after her death
during three years21).
Let us proceed to look for women playing their role as an indepen-
dent party, but still contracting with members of the own family. As
regards women negotiating with their father, several documents show
them receiving property rights from their father. We know, for
instance, of a document by which a man (bearing a double-name:
Greek and Egyptian) coveys to one of his two daughters a one-half
share in a plot of land with a house thereon and one fourth of 40
arouras of fields; the other daughter is mentioned as receiving an
equal share, whilst his son, who also assents to the conveyance in
question, is apportioned the other half of the fields22). Another docu-
ment refers to a woman whose father has given her an allotment of
land with a building on it. In the event of her alienating the land, the
woman is under obligation to offer it first to her brothers and sisters
at a certain price; if they are not disposed to buy, she can then
alienate the land and building to someone else23). One type of pro-
perty conveyance by a father to his daughter is attested in a deed of
21) P Louvre 2424 (Thebes, 267 B.C.) with abstracts written down by
witnesses: Zauzlch, Kaufvertrige, p. 17 ff. Cf. supra at n. 16 and tnfra n. 118 n fine.
22) P Oriental Institute, Chicago 10551 (Pathyrls/Gebeleln, 161 B.C., verso a
witness list of 16 names): Rltner, in: GrammataDemotika(FestschriftfiirE. Liiddeckens,
1984), p. 171 ff.
23) P Hauswaldt 13 (Edfou, 245-241 B.C.): W Spiegelberg, Die demotischen
Papyri Hauswaldt (Vertrageder erstenHalfte der Ptolemderzeitaus Apollinopolis), 1913, p.
43 ff.
8 S. ALLAM
apportionment which a father made for his daughter assigning her a

part of his present and future property, without stating any particular
items24). Apart from rights in immovables allocated by fathers to
daughters we are informed, through several records, of a scribe who
assigned to his daughter his titles to (revenues arising from) his
apparently inherited one-third share of the office of ship-scribe and
an equal share of the office of province-scribe25). It is noteworthy in
this connection that thus far I have not come across a deed of sale (sh
db3-hd)made by a father for his daughter. Such a deed, however,
seems to have been recurrent in negotiations between mothers and
daughters.
Thanks to numerous papyri we are well acquainted also with many
a woman negotiating property rights with her sisters and brothers.
An interesting papyrus discloses, for example, a lease of a house in
Thebes. This lease was made by a woman to her sister for a period
of one year26). Our texts contain on the other hand a wide range of
women's transactions with their brothers. In a sale, composed of a
deed for money-transfer and confirmed by a renunciation of claim,
a woman has conveyed to her by her brother the property right in a
room along with one third of the court-yard in a house27). By means
24) P. BM 10120 B (Thebes, about 517 B.C., signatures of eight witnesses
verso):Reich, Papynjur Inhalts,p. 29 ff. In P Turin 2126 (Thebes, 498 B.C., eight
witness names verso:Perngotti, in: Scntti tn onoredi 0 Monieveccht,p. 285 ff.) a
father assigns to his daughter one half of his property, whereas the other half goes
to her brother. Cf. P. BN, Pans 216 + 217 (supra,n. 20) where a son and a daughter
each receive a half of their mother's property.
25) P. Vienna 10150 + 10152 + 10153 (Elephantine, 413 B.C., with two iden-
tical lists of eight witness names each): W Erichsen, Eine demottsche
Schenkungsurkunde aus der Zeit des Darius, 1963. This title-deed is mentioned in
another transaction negotiated in 338 B.C.; E. Liiddeckens, P WienD 10151 - eine
neueUrkundezum dgyptischen Pfriindenhandeltn derPerserzeit,1965. Cf. P Rylands 9
col. IX (Griffith, Catalogue,III, p. 84) where it is related that the title to a share
of the priest-office of Khons was assigned by a man (named Peteesi) to his
daughter.
26) P. Philadelphia 12 (Thebes, 277 B.C., list of 12 witness names verso):El-
Amir, FamilyArchive,I, p. 53 ff.; II, p. 14; for notes on this lease see Hughes, in:
JNES vol. 32, 1973, p. 158.
27) P Dublin 1659 (Djeme/Thebes?, 198 B.C.): Pestman et alii, Recueilde textes
dimotiques et bilingues,doc. no. 8. Both deeds, written side by side on one sheet of
of another deed in money-transfer form two sisters sell to their half

brother some prebends deriving from the temple at Elephantine,
namely the right to the income of certain days of services, in addition
to revenues attached to certain offices28).
Three different agreements were drawn up on one day by a man
for his sister. 29). By the first he hires from her for the period of one
year 6 2/3 liturgical days in the temple of Hathor and 12 such days
in the chapel of Isis in Djeme (i.e. services to be carried out for
remuneration); in return he has to pay her one silver-piece (= five
staters) a month. By the second he rents for one year her one-third
share in a house, the other (two-thirds) share belonging already to
him; as total rent he has to pay her three silver-pieces (i.e. 2 1/2 kite
per month). By the third he takes on lease for one year her seven
arouras of arable land in the domain of the Amon temple; he then has
to pay a rental in addition to the state taxes. Five years later he
acknowledges that he received from her 1950 silver-pieces for a land
lease (of seven arouras) which he carried out on her behalf in the
domain of the Amon temple30).
Besides such transactions we possess in our material many renun-
ciations of claim (sh n wi) made by women. By such a deed a woman
can negotiate an agreement with her sisters and brothers, who are in
papyrus, were drawn up on the same day; each has a demotic subscription possibly
attesting the payment of the state tax as well as a witness list verso. Similarly, P
BM 10226 (Thebes, 185 B.C., with a demotic docket attesting the payment of the
tax and a list of 16 witness names verso): Reich, Papyr jur Inhalts, p. 73 ff.. A man
sells to his sister amongst other things a parcel of land that he acquired from
another woman.
28) P Moscow 135 (Elephantine, about 349 B.C.): Malinine, in: RdE vol. 26,
1974, p. 34 ff. The transaction text is copied by four witnesses.
29) P Turin 6077 A-C (Deir-el-Medineh/Thebes, 108 B.C.); G. Botti,
L'archivzodemoticoda Deir-el-Medineh, 1967, p. 135 ff. For text A see also Grunert,
in: ZAS vol. 106, 1979, p. 73 For C see idem, in: AltorzentalischeForschungenvol. 7,
1980, p. 61 f., Hughes, in: JNES vol. 32, 1973, p. 159 The three agreements are
written on one papyrus sheet; each has on the verso the same witness list with 16
names.
30) P Turin 6071 (Delr-el-Medineh/Thebes, 103 B.C.): Botti, op. czt., p.
164 ff., cf. Grunert, in: Altor Forsch. vol. 7, 1980, p. 66 f.
10 S. ALLAM
some cases half sisters and half brothers31). It is true that such a
renunciation might have been given in a situation relating, for
instance, to an inheritance. However, where this is not clearly hinted
at in the document, another agreement may underlie the given
renunciation. Hence some examples in our survey may not be amiss.
In one of these deeds a woman declares that she has no claim what-
soever against her half brother with respect to the property of their
father (houses, unbuilt grounds, serfs, money, etc.)32), apparently
after she had been given a share therefrom. In another deed two
brothers jointly allot their younger sister the monthly stipends of two
liturgical days connected with a certain chapel33). In a similar deed,
perhaps the longest contract preserved in Demotic, an embalmer
forfeits in favour of his half sister his claims regarding miscellaneous
buildings and stipends, which she obtained from their mother; by the
very text she is said to have likewise relinquished her claims to his
share which he had bought from their mother. Thus, both sister and
brother seem to have made a reciprocal agreement with regard to one
another's property34). An interesting document brings to our
knowledge an analogous case where a woman and her brother (an
embalmer) renounce mutually any right to one another's house.
Moreover, he disclaims any right to hinder her from making any
alterations or additions to her house, or from demolishing it etc. He
promises furthermore not to construct a window in the north wall of
his house35).
31) To my knowledge, no renunciation made by a woman for her sister is so far

attested.
32) P Philadelphia 9 (Thebes, 287 B.C., witness list comprises verso 16 names):
El-Amir, Family Archive, I, p. 42 ff.
33) P Cairo 30620 (Tebtynis, 100 B.C., with a Greek subscription and verso
signatures of four witnesses): W Spiegelberg, Die demotischenPapyrus (Catalogue
General des antiquites egyptiennes du Musee du Caire), 1908, p. 71 ff., Jelinkova-
Reymond, in: Revue Internationaledes Droits de l'Antiqute' (= RIDA) vol. 1, 1954, p.
38 ff.
34) P Louvre 3266 (Memphis, 197 B.C., a list of 16 witness names verso): F
de Cenival, in: BIFAO vol. 71, 1972, p. 11 f. Similarly, P Louvre 2408 (Memphis,
197 B.C.): Zauzlch, Kaufvertrdge,p. 108 ff.
35) P Leyden 378 (Memphis, 160 B.C.): Glanville, Catalogueof Demotic Papyri,
vol. I, p. 25 f.
Our documentation also includes deeds relating to women who are

negotiating with other relatives. By a deed of payment we know, for
example, of three brothers who, accompanied by their sister, sell to
a woman cousin a house, a mill and storehouses that they inherited
from their mother in Memphis36). By another sale a woman conveys
to her niece a one-sixth share of a court-yard in Memphis along with
a similar share in prebends deriving from some tomb-endowments37).
Women could be involved with their cousins by deeds of cession as
well. In so doing, they generally relinquish to one another their
claims on immovables and their rights in prebends. In one such deed
a woman undertakes, amongst other things, to wall in the door
overlooking her cousin's house and to open instead a new one giving
on to the street38).
Provided now with a fair idea about women dealing with members
of their immediate families, our attention is henceforth called to
agreements between women and individuals who are not relatives, as
far as we know, especially in that the corresponding text does not
indicate any family relationship. In fact we have in our records an
impressively large number of such agreements. They confirm on the
whole the aspects I have just elaborated. Let us point out by way of
illustration just a few of these agreements.
By means of a deed for money-transfer emphasized by another of
renunciation we get to know of a lady who had acquired from another
36) P BM 10075 (Memphis, 64 B.C.): Jelinkova, in: JEA vol. 43, 1957, p.
45 ff. + 45, 1959, p. 61 ff. This sale document bears a Greek registrar's docket; it
has on the versoa witness list of 12 names. The father of the four persons in question
(a merchant) gives his assent and declares himself (personally and collectively)
liable for the validity of his children's dealing.
37) P Louvre 2412 (Memphis, 316-304 B.C.): Zauzich, Kaufvertriige,p. 69 ff.
The eldest son (sr c3) of this woman joins her in the sale. In a recently published
deed of sale a woman conveys to her niece a one-sixth share of prebends connected
with some tombs in the necropolis of Memphis, whilst her eldest son (sr C3)gives
consent (P BN Paris 226a + P Louvre 2412, 305/04 B.C., Pezin, in: BIFAO vol.
87, 1987, p. 269 ff.).
38) P Louvre 2430 (Thebes, 334 B.C., with six copies written by six witnesses):
F De Cenival, in: RdE vol. 18, 1966, p. 7 ff.
12 S. ALLAM
woman an hereditary tenure, namely a half of a one-sixth share in

three fields (amounting in all to 16 arouras) in the estate of the Amon
temple at Thebes39). We are told in two other similar deeds that six
years later our lady alienated the same share of fields to a man40).
Analogous cases41) are forthcoming from Edfou where women on
their own are extensively buying and selling fields, some of which are
hereditary tenures located in the royal domain and the domain of the
Horus temple42). Elsewhere in the chorawe can observe the same kind
of dealings43). To quote but one example: From the seventh century
B.C. we possess in our material a document (written in cursive
hieratic) by which a woman and her brother sell a part of their landed
property (10 arouras of land in the domain of the Amon temple near
39) P Berlin 3142 + 3144 (Thebes, around 200 B.C., each has on the verso the
same witness list including 17 names): S. Grunert, ThebantscheKaufvertrigedes 3. und
2. Jahrhundertsv.u.Z., 1981, doc. nos. 15 + 16.
40) P Berlin 3146 A + B (Thebes, around 194 B.C.): Grunert, Kaufvertrage,doc.
nos. 17 + 18. Payment and cession are written side by side, and each has on the
verso.the same list with 16 witness names.
41) By way of comparison attention is drawn here to the fact that in Athens and
Delos, for example, only male citizens could own land; D. Schaps, EconomicRights
of Women in Ancient Greece, 1979, p. 4 f. Regarding Egypt prior to the Hellenistic
times see my contribution "Women as Owners of Immovables in Pharaonic
Egypt", in: Woman's Earliest Records-A Conference at Brown University, Pro-
vldence/R.I., 1987 (edited by B. Lesko).
42) P. Hauswaldt 3+7+8+9 (Edfou, 246-240 B.C.). Spiegelberg, Papyri
Hauswaldt, p. 13 ff. These transactions consist, each, of a payment document with
a corresponding cession. And each bears versoa witness list of 16 names; the pay-
ment and the cession of one and the same transaction show, however, the same list.
43) Examples: P Vindob. (Vienna) 6849 A + B (payment + cession; Socnopaiou
Nesos, 110 B.C., with Greek dockets, cession only provided with a witness list of
12 names verso): Liiddeckens, in: Festschrift Papyrus Erzherzog Rainer, 1983, p.
174 ff. P Rylands 15 A+B (payment + cession; Gebelein, 163 B.C., a Greek
docket attests the payment of the tax due); each document, though united in one
roll of papyrus, is separetely witnessed on the back, the same 16 witnesses signing
almost in the same order: Griffith, Catalogue,vol. III, p. 131 ff. The subject matter
is a land-sale by a man to a woman, he mentions that he acquired the land (9 1/2
arouras in the domain of Hathor-temple) 14 years earlier from a Greek
soldier/veteran; similarly, P Wiss. Gesell. Strasbourg 18 (Gebelein, 133 B.C.): O.
Gradenwitz/F. Preisigke/W. Spiegelberg, Ein Erbstreitaus demptolemdischenAgypten,
1912, p. 49 ff.
Hermonthis) to a temple chanter44). Their father took from this

chanter a loan apparently without being able to repay it in full, so that
our lady with her brother, now presumably as heirs, have to transmit
the ownership of the field to the creditor and receive from him merely
a small amount of money (3 silver-kzte).
In dealing with fields, women were able to negotiate other terms
as well. We know, for example, of a lady who gave on lease her field
(7 1/2 arouras) to a man for the period of two years, on condition that
it be cultivated in the second year with a certain plant. Owing to a
notarial record written in Greek and belonging to the same archive
this lease, however, did not last so long, since in the second year the
field was obviously let out by the husband to a woman; this lessee,
being non-Egyptian, is said to have been accompanied by a son as her
guardian (x6pto0: tutor)45). Further deeds deserve mention in this
connection. In one, an hereditary tenure of 35 arouras in the estate
of the Hathor temple at Pathyris/Gebelein is purchased by a lady
from a Greek landowner (katoikos)named Proitos46). A counterpart
to this incident can be derived from the copy of a deed of apportion-
44) P Turin 246 (=2118) (Thebes, 634 B.C.): M. Malinlne, Choix de textes
juridiques, 1953-1983, vol. I, p. 56 ff. +vol. II, p. 22 ff; Malinine/Pirenne, in:
Archives d'Histoire du Droit Oriental vol. 5 (Bruxelles 1950-51), p. 12 ff. The agree-
ment is followed by ten testimonial attestations, some of which comprise passages
of the agreement. The verso of the papyrus contains a declaration made by our
lady's cousin relinquishing any claim, as the field represented a part of the
hereditary landed property of their grandfather; Pernigottl, in: BIFAO vol. 75,
1975, p. 73 ff. Some years later the chanter's son sells away the field for five silver-
deben( = 50 kite) and refers to the preceding dealing in his new contract: P Turin
27 = 2120 (Thebes, 619 B.C.); Malinine, op.czt., I, p. 72 ff.+II, p. 33 ff.,
Malinine/Pirenne, op.clt., p. 19 ff.
45) P Turin 6107 (Memnonela/Thebes, 109 B.C.): E. Boswlnkel/P Pestman,
Textesgrecs, demotiqueset bilingues(P L. Bat. 19, 1978), p. 3 ff. For the Greek record,
ibidem, p. 19 ff.
46) P Mainz e + 8 (payment + cesslon, Thebes, 184 B.C., with a Greek docket):
Zauzlch, Kaufvertrdge,pp. 37 ff. + 85 ff. These documents belong to the famous
archive known as "Erbstrelt" From this archive we have a fragment (Wiss. Gesell.
Strasbourg 6, from Gebelein) of another land-sale drawn up in 140 B.C. between
two women: Gradenwltz/Prelslgke/Splegelberg, Erbstreit, p. 59 Cf. P Rylands
15 + P Wiss. Gesell. Strasbourg 18: supra, n. 43
14 S. ALLAM
ment: There is a Greek woman, who is reported to have sold a two-

thirds share in a (vine)yard and a one-quarter share of a lake to an
Egyptian man47). Through a recently published deed of sale we hear
finally of a lady who had bought a field (three arouras) from a Greek
man and disposed of it some years later in favour of another
Greek.47a).
Other records, namely deeds for money-transfer accompanied by
renunciations of claim, made by or for women are equally attested
with regard to houses. In such deeds the sale of a whole house or only
a share thereof could be agreed upon48). Here are a few examples.
By a group of deeds (payment and cession made by a woman vendor
as well as cession made by her father)49) we know of the sale of a
house in Thebes between two women; the vendor was a widow while
the vendee was apparently still unmarried50). By another group of
documents we hear of a man who sold to a woman a house, besides
another one but in ruins, as well as emoluments arising from some
97 tombs for men and 13 for women51). Two more examples,
47) P BM 10591 versocol. VI, 9-11 (Siut, 181 B.C.): Sir Herbert Thompson,
A Family Archve from Siut, 1934, p. 60
47a) P Louvre 9416 (Thebes, 214 B.C., with a witness list versocomprising 16
names): Devauchelle, in: BIFAO vol. 87, 1987, p. 161 ff.
48) For the sale of a whole house by a man to a woman see, for example, P
Louvre 2440+ 2427 (payment + renunciation; Thebes, 304 B.C.): Zauzich,
Kaufvertrdge,pp. 12 ff. + 74 ff.
49) P Rylands 12 + 13 + 14 (payment + cession by the vendor + cession by her
father; Thebes, 281 B.C.): Griffith, Catalogue, III, p. 124 ff. The verso of each
record has as usual the signatures of 16 witnesses, the witnesses in nos. 12 + 13
being identical and in the same order Besides, on the rectoof no. 12 there is also
a list of these witnesses written by a single scribe; the same document has moreover
six witness-copies, while no. 13 has only four On this archive see Pestman, Mar-
riage, pp. 87 f. + 186.
50) Cf. Thompson, Family Archive, p. XIII where a man made a gift of a half
of his share in a house and adjacent land to his daughter, who was probably still
an infant, as she was not married till 10 years later
51) P Louvre 3440 A + B (money-transfer + renunclation of claim; Thebes, 175
B.C.): Vittmann, in. Enchora vol. 15, 1987, p. 97 ff., Zauzich, Kaufvertrdge,p.
88 ff. The text for money-transfer is followed by a Greek subscription attesting the
payment of the tax; there is on the versoof both records a witness list with 16 names.
P Berlin 3112 is a copy of the document for money-transfer- Grunert, Kaufvertrdge,
no. 11
emanating from the Arsinoite nome, might be worth mentioning;

there appear persons probably of foreign origin. The first is a docu-
ment for money-transfer where a man alienates his part in a two-
storeyed house to a woman, both vendor and vendee bearing
Aramaic (?) names52). The second consists of a deed for money-
transfer and another for renunciation of claim, by which a "Persian"
woman sells her part in a two-storeyed house to a man53).
Further, two documents referring to house-construction could be
still of some interest for our investigation. The first is an arrangement
between two neighbours in Thebes, a man and a woman; its motive
was apparently to enable her to build her house against the west wall
of his house without inserting timber upon it; and she consented to
certain provisos relating inter alia to a light-well, to be left by her,
opposite his two windows54). The other document is known to come
from the family archive from Siut. There, two brothers after having
exchanged with a woman certain properties promise not to hinder
her, nor to cause her to be hindered, not to stand in her way, nor to
cause someone to stand in her way, on the day she wishes to build
or demolish her house. As the text clearly indicates, this woman gave
likewise a deed-of-not-hindering to both brothers concerning their
property; there was thus an exchange of guarantees not to interfere
in the future with each other's building operations on the properties
in question55).
52) P Berlin 7057 (Socnopalou Nesos, 47/8 A.D ): Zauzich, in: Studi in onoredi
E. Bresciani, edited by S. Bondi et alii, 1985, p. 607 ff.
53) P Vindob. (Vienna) 6933 (Socnopaiou Nesos, 47 A.D): Rey-
mond/Roberts, in: Bulletin of the John Rylands Library vol. 52, 1969, p. 218 ff.
Alongside there is endorsed on the same papyrus a Greek text which is no doubt
related to our individuals who are negotiating this time a loan. There the woman
is termed Persian, and her husband appears as her guardian. Cf. P Vienna 6934
(Socnopalou Nesos, 23 A.D., with a Greek docket): Herrauer/Vittmann, in:
Enchorzavol. 13, 1985, p. 67 ff., it is a writing of abandonment by a woman selling
a man her part in a one-storey house.
54) P BM 10524 (Thebes, 290/89 B.C., with a list of 16 witness names on the
verso):Glanville, Catalogueof Demotic Papyri, vol. I, p. 19 ff. On the rectothere is also
a long abstract in Demotic.
55) P BM 10589 (Siut, 175 B.C., a list of 16 witness names on the verso):
16 S. ALLAM
Besides, we often hear of tombs subject to business transactions

settled by women. For instance, by a deed of payment a woman
acquired from an embalmer-scribe two tombs of saints. There were,
no doubt, endowments and benefices associated with these tombs for
performing funerary services, so that the right thereto could be
transferred by sale56). In a similar transaction a woman acknowledges
that she has received from a man the price for four burial grounds
with mummies therein; evidently the man will receive emoluments
arising from some mortuary endowments in exchange for his
performing certain rites57). A significant transfer (written in cursive
hieratic) of a real estate holding was negotiated by a lady in Thebes.
Her husband had bought a plot of ten arouras (possibly as hereditary
tenure) in the temple domain of Amon near Hermonthis. Presumably
after his death his wife, accompanied by his sons, endowed a religious
service for him. Therefore she granted the land to the god Osiris of
Abydos, and a certain choachyte was appointed to take charge of the
endowment58).
In addition, we hear sometimes of benefices which one could be
entitled to draw from temple-offerings, cult-services, priestly
activities and the like; in exchange for such an income the beneficiary
had normally to perform whatever duties there were. In an agree-
ment with a man choachyte mainly over "rations of Osiris" a woman
sells to him for an unspecified amount of money the share which
Shore/Smith, in: JEA vol. 45, 1959, p. 52 ff. For the phrase tm sh "not to hinder
someone" see also P. BM 10528; cf. E. Seldl, Ptolemdische 1962, p.
Rechtsgeschtchte,
53 at n. 2.
56) P Philadelphia 26 (Thebes, 217 B.C., 16 witness names on the verso):El-
Amir, FamilyArchive,I, p. 120 ff.
57) P Louvre 2415 (Thebes, 225 B.C.): Zauzich, Kaufvertrdge, p. 31 ff. At the
end of the text, however, the tombs are specified as a share which he got in the
name of his mother
58) P Turin 248 (=2121) (Thebes, 617 B.C.): Malinlne, Choix, vol. I, p.
117 ff. Cf. P. Louvre 10935 (Thebes, 553, B.C., a list of 17 witness names verso):
ibidem,p. 125 ff. where an endowment was created by a man for his deceased
mother; for so doing, he bought a tenure of 11 arouras in the domain of Amon at
Coptos and entrusted it a year later to a choachyte.
accrued to her in the name of her mother59). In other agreements

similar benefices and charges are itemized as liturgical days (days of
endowment: hrw sCnh6)60). From the demotic archive of Deir-el-
Medineh we are well informed about women dealing with such
affairs. The first example to be quoted is a record where a woman
alienates her 15 1/5 days per year in the Hathor temple to a priest
of the goddess61). The very woman, if we are not misguided by her
parent's names, acquired some 40 years earlier from a priest of
Hathor one day monthly in the Hathor temple as well as 12 days
monthly in the Arensnuphis temple, along with a construction and a
share in a courtyard62). By a receipt a man acknowledges that he has
received fi-om a woman (the same woman?) the rental for eight days
of endowment; in turn she promises to give them up by the end of
the stipulated period so that he may hire them out to whomever he
likes63). This sort of business used to happen elsewhere in the coun-
try. Two deeds from the Arsinoite nome let us know of a transaction
where a woman, together with a sister and a brother, sells to another
woman 1 1/2 liturgical days connected with a chapel64). Reference is
59) P Louvre 9294 + P BM 10450 (the latter is a copy of the former; Thebes,
491 B.C.): Cruz-Uribe, in: JEA vol. 66, 1980, p. 120 ff. The Louvre record has
a witness list with eight names on the verso; there are no witness signatures on P
BM.
60) In P Ashmolean Museum 16 + 17 (supra, n. 10), however, such days are
defined as hrw sms "days of cult-service" The terms under review seem to replace
the old expression hrw n hwt-ntr "days of the temple" used in texts of Pharaonic
date. Identically the sole word hrw can occur; Reymond, Embalmers'Archzves,p. 123
n. 11, cf. Spiegelberg, in: ZAS vol. 49, 1911, p. 38 f.
61) P Turin 6072 A + B (payment and cession; Thebes, 104 B.C., each with an
identical list of 16 witness names on the verso): Botti, Archivio, p. 158 ff. Similarly,
P Turin 6073 A + B (payment + cession, Thebes, 103 B.C., each with an identical
witness list of 16 names on the verso): ibidem, p. 167 ff. Cf. Grunert, in: ZAS vol.
106, 1979, p. 74 f.
62) P Turin 6074 A + B (payment + cession, Thebes, 143 B.C.): Botti, Archivio,
p. 65 ff. Each has on the versoa witness list comprising 16 signatures, with a Greek
docket on the recto of A.
63) P Turin 6103 (Thebes, 111 B.C.): Botti, Archivzo, p. 120 f.
64) P Cairo 30617 (payment + cession; Tebtynis, 98/7 B.C., each record is pro-
vided identically with a Greek docket on the rectoand a witness list of 12 names on
the verso);Jelinkova-Reymond, in: RIDA vol. 1, 1954, p. 23 ff.
18 S. ALLAM
made once more to the family archive from Siut where is reported
znteralia a one-twelfth share of the office of lector (= scribe of the
divine rolls) of the necropolis of Siut as having been bought by a lec-
tor from a woman65).
Our documentation contains also a large number of agreements
settled by or for women about loans of money or of grain for profit66).
And in many cases attested so far the debtor turns out to be of the
gentle sex, yet not too gently dealt with. In one case a woman took
from a man seven artabae of wheat to be paid back increased by 50 %
within half a year67), in another case she owes him the total of 15
artabae of wheat (interest inclusive) to be delivered within 8
months68), in yet another transaction she received seed from him on
the understanding that she give it back as six artabae of wheat within
a determined period69). Through a document from the archive of a
merchant in Saqqarah we encounter a woman who acknowledges her
having received from the merchant the purchase price of 3 1/2
artabae of fresh wheat. As consideration she will pay him seed-grain
within four/five months. If she fails to do so, she has then to deliver
it increased by one half; apart from that she pledges all her property
as security 70). Sometimes we meet with two women in financial straits
taking together a loan from a man. In one document a woman with
her daughter-in-law acknowledge to a Greek horse-man a debt of 50
artabae of wheat, moreover they put in pledge all their property and
declare themselves (collectively and individually) liable for paying off
65) P BM 10575 + P BM 10591 versocol. V (deeds of apportionment; Siut, 181

B.C.): Thompson, Family Archive, pp. 38 + 45 + 59
66) No loan between sisters and brothers is so far known to me.
67) P Turin 6095 (Thebes, 114 B.C.): Botti, Archivio, p. 107 f.
68) P Turin 6108 (Thebes, 114 B.C.): ibidem, p. 105 f.
69) P Adler 3 (Gebelein, 116/15 B.C.): Griffith, in: E. Adler et alii, The Adler
Papyri, 1939, p. 76.
70) P Brooklyn 37 1802 E (Saqqarah, 108 B.C.): R. Pierce, Three Demotic
Papyri, p. 67 ff., Pestman et alii, Recueil, doc. no. 4. The subject matter could be
sale with deferred delivery (i.e. prepayment); vide supra, n. 9 The document has
a Greek docket bearing on its registration; there is on the versoa list of 12 witness
names.
the debt71). In another document two women cousins undertake to

give a scribe 15 staters within one month for the money he gave them,
while they give a house (inherited from their grandmother) in
mortgage72).
In an acknowledgement, delivered for a man, a widow declares
everything she owns and a house in particular as pledge for a loan of
three silver-pieces and six kzte(= 18 staters) to be repaid in a two-
year period. In view of the fact that this woman's property passed,
little more than a year later, into the hands of her loaner, it may well
be that this acknowledgement of debt on her part was intended as a
formal mortgage, the regular forms of which it follows very closely73).
A woman having cash-flow difficulties and therefore negotiating a
loan had sometimes recourse to a guarantor. This is reported, for
example, in one document where a woman promised to pay off her
debt (ten silver-pieces and five further pieces as interest = 75 staters)
within a year to her money-lender, who happened to be a "Greek
born in Egypt". In the agreement she had furthermoreto mortgage
five field-plots at Edfou; on top of that her daughter together with a
man (probably her son-in-law) had to join her and stand surety for
her mortgage loan. One year later, apparently because she could not
settle her debt, she had to write down a deed in cession form and
waive her rights in the mortgaged land74).
71) P Reinach 3 (Tehne/Acoris, 108 B.C., with a Greek subscription attesting

registration): E. Boswlnkel/P Pestman, Les archivesprzveesde Dionysios (P L. Bat.
22, 1982), p. 95 ff.
72) P Philadelphia 15 (Thebes, 259 B.C., with the names of 16 witnesses on the
verso): El-Amir, Family Archive, I, p. 65 ff.
73) P BM 10523 (Thebes, 296/5 B.C.): Glanville, Catalogue,vol. I, p. 9 ff., cf.
Pestman, Marriage, p. 87 The papyrus bears moreover an abstract of the main
record, and the verso contains as usual a list of 16 witnesses.
74) P Hauswaldt 18 (Edfou, 212/11 B.C.): Sethe/Partsch, Urk. zum Birgschafts-
rechte, p. 246 ff. The papyrus encompasses the acknowledgement of debt and the
renunciation of claim, however without witness names; both texts have been writ-
ten, side by side, by two different scribes. For women acting as sureties, cf. ibzdem,
p. 487 (P Strasbourg 288) + p. 463 (P Strasbourg 45, from Gebelein); vide supra,
at nn. 7-12 where a female guarantor is mostly the mother or the wife of the party
in question.
20 S. ALLAM
It goes without saying that not every woman who took a loan
turned out to be absolutely insolvent. In our documentation there are
namely deeds of renunciation which lenders had obviously to set out
upon satisfaction. Here, for example, a record where a divine-father
relinquishes for a lady his claim to the purchase-lien which she with
her husband made for him formerly with respect to two houses75).
Such a renunciation can very well be a discharge from a mortgage
which the woman raised on the houses when taking a loan from the
divine-father.
As is commonly known, (money) lending was a particularly brisk
business; this activity attracted also female investors, as is illustrated
by a series of separate agreements in our material. By the first a man
(a soldier or veteran) received from a Greek woman (with an Egyp-
tian name)76) a loan of corn to be paid back in her house at
Pathyris77). In another agreement a peasant declares unto a woman
his debt of 45 artabae of wheat (interest inclusive)78). If he fails to
deliver it at term he has to give it then at a higher rate; furthermore,
he puts everything he possesses in pledge until the wheat is given in
full. Yet a guarantor might still be required to stand by the borrower.
Thus, a man negotiating a loan (4 1/2 artabae of wheat + 200 silver-
75) P Philadelphia 20 (Thebes, 237 B.C., with a Greek docket, and on the verso
a witness list of 15 names): El-Amir, Family Archive, I, p. 91 ff., II, p. 111. Cf. P
Turin 2136 (Thebes, 126 B.C.): P Pestman, L 'archiviodi Amenothesfiglio di Horos,
1981, p. 123 ff.
76) In our documents persons of foreign origin can bear double names. Greek
women with ethnic and demotic names (for examples see P Wiss. Gesell.
Strasbourg 16, Gebelein, about 135 B.C.: Gradenwitz/Prelslgke/Splegelberg, Erb-
streit, p. 41 ff. + P BM 10075, Memphis, 64 B.C.: vide supra, n. 36 where a double
named woman is listed with her mother's name, but without her father's; vide infra
n. 99) used to opt for Egyptian law when it was to their advantage (e.g. in order
to negotiate without a guardian; vide supra, nn. 45 and 53). We have, however,
examples for men as well (P Adler 2: supra, n. 7 + P O I. Chicago 10551. supra,
n. 22 + Pestman, in: Festschrift Papyrus Erzherzog Rainer, 1983, p. 132;
Boswinkel/Pestman, Les archzvesprivees de Dionysios, p. 3 ff.).
77) P. Heidelberg 739a (Gebelein, 2nd century B.C.): U Kaplony-Heckel, Die
demotischenGebelen-Urkundender HeidelbergerPapyrus-Sammlung, 1964, p. 57 ff.
78) P Field Museum, Chicago (Thebes, 109/8 B.C., a witness list of 16 names
on the verso): Reich, in: Mizrazm vol. 2, 1936, p. 36 ff.
pieces, interest inclusive) from a woman promises to pay it off within

a year in her house at Thebes; another woman (possibly his wife) has
then to join him and warrant fulfilment within the stipulated time,
and she declares herself (personally and collectively) responsible79).
The terms of a loan taken from a woman could be more severe, as
shows the following case. A herdsman who owes a woman 22 1/2
artabae of wheat had to give her in mortgage his shares in fields and
in a house80). Lastly, we have a discharge from mortgage drawn up
by a woman and her mother for seven men who, as debtors, had
engaged themselves in an obligation relative to wheat (loan?) with the
woman's father81).
Let us now review some deeds (three are written in cursive hieratic)
dealing with serf trade82). In these deeds namely-all come from
Thebes and encompass the period between 726 and 516 B.C.-
women are conspicuously involved83). Some appear as serf owners
and are surrendering for money their male serf: one woman is acting
together with her daughter, another with her brother, the third on her
own. In two cases it is a woman (one is chantress of Amon) who is
acquiring the services of the male serf in question and paying the
79) P Leyden 376 (Thebes, 127 B.C., a list of 16 witness names on the verso):
Sethe/Partsch, Urk. zum Biirgschaftsrechte,p. 205 ff.
80) P Strasbourg 44 (Pathyrls, 95/4 B.C., 16 witness names on the verso):
Splegelberg, in: Recueil de travaux vol. 31, 1909, p. 98 ff.
81) P Adler 22 (Gebeleln, 90 B.C.): Griffith, in: Adler et alii, Adler Papyri, p.
101 f.
82) I am deliberately not using the term "slave", since it automatically evokes
the notion of absolute property based upon the relationship between a master and
an unfree person; note that not every unfree person in Egypt was identical with a
slave in the Roman sense. It would appear that in Egypt unfree persons, despite
the fact that some might be bought and sold, were recognized by the society to the
effect that many an unfree person could hold indeed a good deal of rights. Note
furthermore that in Egypt a serf was not necessarily attached to agricultural labour;
cf. Cruz-Uribe, in: RIDA vol. 29, 1982, p. 47 ff.
83) P BN, Paris 223 (516 B.C.) with signatures of six witnesses verso+ P
Louvre 3228 d (688 B.C.) copied out by five witnesses + P Louvre 3228 e (707
B.C.) with four witness copies + P Vatican 10574 (726 B.C.) with seven witness
copies. The last three texts are written in cursive hieratic: Malinine, Choix, vol. I,
p. 35 ff., cf. Menu, in: RdE vol. 36, 1985, p. 73 ff.
22 S. ALLAM
price thereof. In most cases, however, the ceding party has to take an
oath, thus assuring that nobody would contest the right of the new
right's owner.
While we are on the subject of labour, it might be fitting to con-
sider other types of agreements bearing on women's work; such
records offer a glimpse of women at domestic and industrial jobs84).
In one record a man, a choachyte, cedes in favour of a lady a quarter
of the revenues which accrues from choachyte work for the dead of
a soldier family, on the understanding that she shall carry out a corre-
sponding part of this work85). In another record (oddly written down
on a flat circular dish) a woman acknowledges receipt of cash from
a man for becoming his serf; moreover she reinforces her undertaking
by an oath86). Visibly this woman is placing all her potential work at
the disposal of her new master.
On the other hand, several papyri reveal free women working at
different economic levels; such women can negotiate with men about
a specified piece of work such as food preparation, clothing manufac-
ture and wet nursing. A significant contract for wet nursing has come
down to us. A woman agrees with a man about her occupation as a
wet nurse for his son during three years; she will get full board with
the family and shall earn a monthly salary as well as yearly cash for
clothing; the text also lays down heavy fines for her and for him in
case of any breach of the contract87). By another document (in cur-
84) For an outline limited to earlier Pharaonic times see Betro, in: Stato,
Economza,Lavoro nel Vicino Orienteantico, edited by Istituto Gramscl Toscano, 1988,
p. 44 ff., see also Eyre, in: Labor in theAncientNear East, edited by M. Powell, 1987,
p. 37 f+ p. 200 f. For women's role in the economy as reflected in Greek papyri,
see Pomeroy, Women in Hellenistic Egypt, p. 148 ff.
85) P Turin 2127 (Thebes, 491 B.C.): Pernigotti, in: Scntti in onore di 0
Montevecchi, p. 292 ff.
86) Bowl Louvre 706 (592 B.C.): Pirenne, in: Bulletin de l'Acadimie royale des
sciences, des lettreset des beaux-artsde Belgique - Classe des sczencesmoraleset politiques,
tome 34, 1948, p. 581 ff., Malinlne/Pirenne, in: Archivesd'Histoire du Droit Oriental,
tome 5, Bruxelles 1950-51, p. 73 f. For doubts about the interpretation of this
record, see E. Seldl, Rechtsgeschichteder Satten- und Perserzeit, 1968, pp. 54 + 62.
87) P Cairo 30604 (Tebtynis, 232 B.C., with a Greek docket and a list of eight
witness names verso): Betro, in: M. Mascladrl/O Montevecchl, I contrattz di
baliatico, 1984, p. 39 ff., Thissen, in: GrammataDemotika (Fs. Liddeckens), p. 235 ff.
sive hieratic) a woman charges a choachyte 2 1/4 silver-kite (and a

quantity of corn) for thread delivered to him, evidently for her weav-
ing it (the text underlines this sort of handicraft)88). Two of our
documents, despite their character as warranties, are revealing in this
respect. In.the first, a soldier guarantees unto two officials that a cer-
tain female brewer shall regularly be at work for roughly one year89).
By the second, a man insures, doubtless before officials, that a certain
woman will be running the beer shop in question for 13 months90).
Although both warranties are silent over the remuneration for the
working women, we can nevertheless assume that they were somehow
paid, as the responsible guarantor would incur a heavy penalty (in
money) in case of the woman's absence from work.
In our documentation there is a genre of texts (dating from the 3rd
and 2nd century B.C.) which by their main features can be described
as self-dedications ([epo6ouXot)undertaken by individuals towards a
god in his temple; some are preserved from the archives of the Sobek
temple at Tebtynis and Socnopaiou Nesos, while others mentioning
a different deity suggest another provenance. By such a document the
suppliant undertakes to become (together with his descendants) the
god's servant and to pay a monthly sum of money to the priests, and
he binds himself not to quit the precincts of the temple; in return for
these terms he requests that the god shall keep him safe and protect
him from malevolent beings and miscellaneous supernatural influ-
ences. As these documents are drawn up by a scribe on the lines of
a legal contract, they must have had binding character. We are not
going astray then when we consider them in the course of our survey.
For our purposes it is remarkable that many a woman could negotiate
88) P Louvre 3168 (Thebes, 674 B.C.): Malinme/Pirenne, op.czt., p. 54 f., for
the transcription see now Malinine, in: RdE vol. 34, 1982-83, p. 98.
89) P Lille 41 (Fayoum, 229 B.C.) - a so-called double document: F. de
Cenival, Cautionnementsdemotiquesdu debutde l'epoqueptolemazque,1973, p. 34 ff. Cf.
P Lille 6: ibzdem, p. 16 f.
90) P Lille 52 (Fayoum): ibzdem, p. 54 ff. The object of our deed, like the
preceding one, might be comparable to that specified in Greek agreements by the
term paramone.
24 S. ALLAM
on her own with the priests such a contract and agree amongst other
things to pay them monthly a considerable sum of money (mostly 2
1/2 kite, and in one case 10 kzte)91).
This provisional list of rights, to which women could be entitled
can be further enlarged by a newly published document. It records
a sale by which two individuals, a man and a woman, are acquiring
a cow; the previous owner of the animal has then to acknowledge
receipt of its purchase price and to confirm the absolute ownership of
his partners92). A similar matter is settled through an acknowledge-
ment given by a woman: She relinquishes her right to a cow and an
ass for a man who in exchange gives her a she-donkey93).
A sketch of women as holders of rights would be imperfect if we
disregard them while enforcing their claims and rights in courts of
law. In this respect we are utterly fortunate to have in our material
records pertaining to a family archive of officials (all Egyptian
natives) who were connected with the necropolis of Siut as lectors in
the reigns of Ptolemy Epiphanes and Philometor. We have here an
almost complete series of documents on which a lawsuit was based,
with an official copy of the proceedings at the trial itself and the deci-
sion of the judges. This principal document is a papyrus (originally
32 cm in height by 285 cm in length) with the most important legal
report (in the careful handwriting of a single scribe) which has ever
come down to us in Egyptian language94). Indeed, it contains the
91) P BM 10622 (Tebtynis, 137 B.C.): Thompson, n: JEA vol. 26, 1940, p.
68 ff. P Milan 3 + 4 (Tebtynls, 2nd century B.C.): Bresclanl/Pestman, in: Papiri
della Universita degli studi di Milano ( = P Mil. Vogliano III), 1965, p. 188 ff. where
both suppliants are of anonymous paternity and described only by their named
mother P Ox. Griffith 57 (Socnopaiou Nesos, 138 B.C.): Bresciani, Archivio, vol.
I, p. 78 f. P Freiburg 72 + 73 (Saqqarah?, 270/69 B.C.): Thissen, in: R. Daniel
et alii, Griechischeund demotischePapyri der UnmversitdtFreiburg, 1986, p. 80 ff. with a
general account of the papyri hitherto published. Note that such agreements
usually do without witnesses.
92) P Michigan 3525 A (Edfou?, 501/500 B.C.): E. Cruz-Uribe, Saite and Per-
sian Cattle Documents, 1985, p. 17 ff.
93) P Turin 6113 (Thebes, 112 B.C.): Botti, Archivio, p. 115 ff.
94) P BM 10591 (Siut, 170 B.C.): Sir Herbert Thompson, A Family Archivefrom
Siut, 1934, Seidl/Strlcker, in: Zeitschriftder Savigny-Stiftungfiir Rechtsgeschichte(Rom.
most elaborate record of judicial proceedings that we know of to date

from the whole ancient world.
A series of family arrangements made in 181/80 B.C. by one
Petetum among the offspring of his two succesive marriages gave rise
to litigation among the children upon his death, which culminated in
a lawsuit before a native law-court with a woman being the plaintiff
in the trial. After Petetum had passed away, there was at first no divi-
sion of his real estate among his two sons. The elder son, Tuot, seems
to have kept control of it all in his hands. Six years later (174/3), how-
ever, his younger brother, Tefhape, made a petition to the royal
epzstatescomplaining of Tuot and asking for a division of the land; he
wanted to have his share handed over to him. Quarrels arose, and his
elder brother's wife, Chratiankh, countered by starting legal pro-
ceedings against him and claiming the whole of the land (10 arouras),
with the result that the case was taken to court (the official report
thereof is set out in our papyrus). Her claim to the ownership of the
land was mainly based on her marriage settlement made by her hus-
band and confirmed by his father who, as she alleged, pledged the
land to her as security. She claimed the land in the name of her son
(by Tuot), who was then under age and upon whom the land should
devolve in the future. This trial was held in 170 B.C. at Siut before
the priests of the chief god Wepwoi (these might have been acting as
laocrztae).There the procedure was that the two parties delivered two
pleas each, namely a written statement of claim and a defence
respectively and a further reply on either side.
A striking feature of this legal contest is that the action was brought
by Chratiankh as plaintiff in her own name in the lifetime of her hus-
band and without a guardian (x6ptog). It is true that she was given
legal assistance by a man (an advocate?) before the judges. If this
man had been a kyrtos,he would very probably have been mentioned
Abteilung) vol. 57, 1937, p. 272 ff., Seidl, in: RIDA vol. 9, 1962, p. 239 ff., cf.
idem, PtolemiiischeRechtsgeschzchte,Index p. 191 f., idem, in: Zeztschriftfir verglezchende
Rechtswzssenschaft(eznschliefJlichder ethnologzschenRechtsforschung)vol. 69, 1968, p.
96 ff.
26 S. ALLAM
as such either at the outset of the trial or in the judgement. In fact

his appearance at the court was very brief and confined to one or two
special points only, and then no more is heard of him.
In the main Chratiankh stated emphatically that the land in
dispute was hers as belonging to her children since it was a pledge for
her marriage settlement. As to the defendant, he denied various
statements made by her and asserted the justification of his claim;
furthermore, he produced a deed of apportionment made to him by
his elder brother and also confirmed by her as his elder brother's wife.
The judges accordingly decreed that the younger brother, Tefhape,
should be put forthwith in possession of all the property claimed by
him. Thus, peace was restored. We hear from other related texts,
however, that proceedings were afoot again in connection with the
land which was the bone of contention. Chratiankh must have
addressed in the meantime a new court for a retrial, this time at Psoi
(Ptolemais), where the priests of Onuris at This were presumably
called upon to do justice. Apparently she wanted to have the decision
in the trial, which had been held at Siut, reversed in her favour.
Particularly noteworthy among the extant records we know of to
date are several renunciations of claim by which a given party relin-
quishes his claim and acknowledges the claim of another party to
rights (relating to serfs, houses, fields, cattle, etc.) after a trial before
judges. Here we find many a woman involved either as plaintiff or
defendant, always without the assistance of any guardian whatsoever.
And whenever a conflict was not resolved in her favour, she had to
acknowledge the right of her opponent and declare that she entirely
abandoned the property in dispute. The well-known lady Chratiankh
who as plaintiff played a great part in the trial at Siut, but lost her
case, is said also to have been compelled to make such a written deed
of withdrawal in favour of her brother-in-law95). Had a woman on
the contrary won a lawsuit, her adversary, regardless of sex, would
evidently have had to attest his withdrawal with regard to the right
95) Thompson, op.czt., p. 55 (P BM 10591 verso IV, 7).

or property in dispute. Two examples may illustrate this state of

affairs. A papyrus (in cursive hieratic) informs us of a man (soldier?)
with his wife who lost their cause (bearing on the payment for a serf-
peasant they ceded to their partner) before the Great Court at
Thebes; they had then to take an oath and renounce their claims;
nine persons (three men and six women) joining them had to do the
same96). After a trial in which a woman was involved with a man97),
he undertook in the presence of four witnesses not to interfere any
more with the rights pertaining to her and her family98).
Attention has been repeatedly called to the fact that Egyptian
women did not need a guardian (x6pto0: tsi)99) in order to transact
legal or business matters under native law. Yet, sporadic texts could
przmafacie throw some doubt upon this point. For example, a deed
records the abandonment of a man with regard to rights arising from
a writing (sh rC-wh9)100)which his partner together with a woman (lat-
96) P Louvre 3228 c (Thebes, 685 B.C., with six testimonial attestations):
Malinine, in: RdE vol. 6, 1951, p. 157 ff., cf. Menu, in: RdEvol. 36, 1985, p. 78 f.
97) Ostr BM 26352 (3rd-2nd century B.C.): Kaplony-Heckel, in: Acta Orientalia
25 (FestschriftErzchsen, 1960), p. 230 ff.
98) Further examples where women are involved: P BM 10079 D (Thebes,
202/1 B.C.): Reich, Papyrz jur Inhalts, p. 70 ff. with signatures of four
witnesses + P BM 10446 (Thebes, 231/30 B.C.): Revillout, in: Revue egyptologzque
vol. 3, 1885, p. 15 + P Wiss. Gesell. Strasbourg 18. vide supra, n. 43 Comparable
examples where only men appear- P Berlin 3113 (Thebes, 141 B.C., with
signatures of 16 witnesses on the verso): Erichsen, in: ZAS vol. 77, 1942, p. 92 ff.,
cf. P BM 10526 + 10527 (both from Thebes, 288 B.C., each with a list of 16
witness names on the verso, almost identical for the two papyri): Glanville, Cata-
logue, vol. I, p. 27 ff.
99) This demotic term (not entered in Erichsen, DemotzschesGlossar)occurs in the
fragmentary contract P Michigan 253 (Tebtynis, 30 A.D ): Edgerton, in: E.
Husselman et alii, Papyrifrom Tebtunis, Part II (Michigan Papyri, vol. V, 1944), p.
135 ff. There is a woman who sells to her elder son a half share of two rooms
belonging to her by inheritance from her mother In the Greek subscription she is
reported to be accompanied by another son as her kyrzos, who also wrote for her
because she is illiterate. We know, however, of several members of this family
drawing up various transactions mostly in Greek language (ibidem, p. 20 f); this
points then to Greek moresdominating among this family, who after all might have
been Greek, negotiating now and then in Demotic fashion.
100) Such a deed can be drawn up, for example, by a loan-taker for his lender;
Pestman et alii, Recueil, vol. II, p. 46 f.
28 S. ALLAM
ter's wife?) had previously set out for him; in the present deed, how-
ever, this woman, although mentioned, does not take any active
part?01). In another papyrus a man appeals alone to a law-court in
a dispute over a house which his wife purchased formerly; in his peti-
tion he is apparently acting at her bidding102).
Such isolated cases, if their appearances are not deceptive after all,
by no means disprove the general principle which the multitude of
our transactions set out clearly; they are moreover inconsistent with
the bulk of our records. We have also to remember that particular cir-
cumstances, of which we are now ignorant, might have prevailed
then. A fragmentary text reveals, for instance, a husband selling the
house of his wife; the circumstances are now explained by new
fragments which reveal the course of events: The sale was effected in
order that the husband might defray the cost of the interment of his
deceased wife 103). Some further examples might be needed to support
our view. Two sisters whose two brothers acquired a field from a man
(soldier/veteran) relinquish jointly towards the vendor any claims to
the field104); this puts the capacity of the sisters beyond any doubt,
as they are proceeding separately. By a deed of payment a woman
alienates her house to another woman, and both act independently;
.furthermore, the vendor mentions her having sold to two sons an
adjacent ground 105). At another transaction a woman cedes to a man
her right to a quarter-part share in a house in the western district of
Dime, while her husband gives consent to her dealing; were her
capacity placed under any restraint, her husband would play the
101) P Turin 2136 (Thebes, 126 B.C., with 16 witness names on the verso):
Pestman, L'archzvzodi Amenothes, p. 123 ff.
102) P. Louvre 2434+2437 (Thebes, 277 B.C.): Sethe/Partsch, Urk. zum
Burgschaftsrechte,p. 756 ff.
103) P Brussels 2 (=6032) (Thebes, 301/300 B.C.): Shore, in: JEA vol. 54,
1968, p. 193 ff. (witness copy type of document). The deed was fully copied out
by at least six witnesses.
104) P Rylands 24 (Gebelein, 113 B.C., with signatures of eight witnesses on
the verso): Griffith, Catalogue, vol. III, p. 153 ff.
105) P Philadelphia 2 (Thebes, 314 B.C., with a witness copy in full rectoand
a list of 16 witness names on the verso): El-Amir, Family Archzve, I, p. 7 ff.
main role in the dealing while she would confine herself to merely
giving consent106).
The same picture is readily developed in the records relating to
legal actions. Through a petition addressed to an official we hear of
two sisters who had a dispute with their uncle over a plot of land;
apparently their uncle had taken possession of the land. As the two
women were alleging an inheritance from their father, they filed
independently a complaint against their uncle107). Another record
demonstrates that after a litigation between two women had been
judged at court, the defeated party had to acknowledge the rights of
the winner concerning a house with its equipment108). Reviewing all
the facts above adduced, we safely conclude that there is no serious
reason for disbelieving that women were generally capable of handl-
ing their own affairs. Consequently, if we read in a memorandum
(not an authentic transaction) about "the field of a citizeness, which
a male kinsman of hers sold" 109), we should therefore be cautious
with our interpretation of such a lapidary style; it would be idle to
speculate on the point.
I propose now taking into consideration the instruments that could
be drawn up for or by women as holders of rights. From the
preceding outline it would have already emerged that the instrument
of payment (writing for silver, money-transfer: sh db3-hd: auyypoay'
rpa&aoes)was quite recurrent, be it attested in our material by itself
or accompanied/emphasized by a deed of cession (writing for aban-
donment, renunciation or relinquishment of claim: sh n wi: auyypacpil
106) P Berlin 7058 (money-transfer + renunciation of claim, endorsed side by

side, only the text of the latter has been preserved complete, followed by an abstract
in Greek; Socnopalou Nesos, 30 A.D ): Reymond, in: Bulletin of theJohn Rylands
Library vol. 49, 1967, p. 480 ff.
107) P Brussels 4 (=6034) (Thebes, 259/8 B.C.): Sethe/Partsch, Urk. zum
Burgschaftsrechte,p. 676 ff.
108) P Elephantine 12 (= Berlin 13554) (245 B.C., with a Greek docket on the
rectoand a list of 16 witness names on the verso): Sethe/Partsch, op.czt., p. 752 ff.
109) P Brooklyn 16.205 in hieratic (Thebes, 765 B.C.?): R. Parker, A Saite
OracularPapyrusfrom Thebes, 1962, p. 50
30 S. ALLAM
a&ooataatou); yet, a deed of cession was not necessarily restricted to the

documentation of such a conveyance. This sort of record was also in
use when women entered into agreements with members of their own
family. Whether the motive of such a conveyance between a woman
and one of her children, for example, was purely of an hereditary
nature is far from certain and we shall probably never know" 0). Our
opinion is supported by the fact that there are in our documentation
several deeds of apportionment/donation"'1). By such a deed a pro-
perty or an inheritance could be straightforward divided among the
members of a given family without resort to the specific instrument
of payment/sale, as the following examples demonstrate. A man
negotiates with his niece the partition (ps) of a field inherited from his
father, whereupon she is allotted the portion which would have gone
to her father (his brother) if he were still alive 12). By another deed
a father gives (di) the half part of his house to his elder daughter, her
younger sister being assigned the other half"3). In yet another deed
a pastophorosconfers (di) on his sister his title to (emoluments arising
from) some tomb-endowments as her share in their father's property
(who is apparently no longer alive)J14).
As for the instrument of apportionment (sh dnit ps: auyypacpTi
66acoS), women had certainly recourse to it. An agreement concluded
with a woman could be likewise drawn up in a simpler form (com-
parable to the cheirographon),using the verb "to give" (di) or the
phrase meaning "to have" (wn m-tw=f), thus conveying property
rights by others to her or by her to others115). Similarly, we have in
110) Cf. Seldl, PtolemdischeRechtsgeschichte,pp. 118 + 181.

111) For this type of documents in general see Seldl, in: MDIK vol. 8, 1939, p.
198 ff.
112) P Hauswaldt 5 (Edfou, 220/19 B.C., with a name-list of 16 witnesses
verso): Spiegelberg, P Hauswaldt, p. 18 ff.
113) P Philadelphia 1 (Thebes, 317 B.C., 16 witness signatures verso):El-Amir,
Family Archive, I, p. 1 ff.
114) P Philadelphia 18 (Thebes, 241 B.C., a list of 16 witness names verso): El-
Amir, Family Archive, I, p. 82 ff.
115) E.g. I have given to thee (such and such right/thing), or- Thou hast (such
and such claim) against me, etc.
our material also hybrid forms. For example, a man acknowledges to

a woman that he has received from her the rental for eight liturgical
days and promises not to withdraw from giving her the days in ques-
tion; she in turn undertakes to surrender the days by the end of the
stipulated period so that he can lease them to whomsoever he
wishes116). In the same fashion a deed of cession (without accompany-
ing writing for payment) could be drawn up for acknowledging a
woman's rights by others or others' rights by her. In our texts we
have met furthermore with specified agreements such as the contract
for wet nursing (auyypacp'p1 tpoqtqt) and the leases of houses and fields
(shn: auyypaopy'.it0aacwqo). The Greek symbolon (aUo6poXov)was
presumably also used in a demotic form, as this term occurs in the
fragments of an agreement between two women 117). Finally mention
is made of the deed-of-not-hindering the contracting parties when
building or demolishing their houses. Such wording, not commonly
known should remind us that there might still be other instruments
which have not yet come to our knowledge.
For the sake of intelligibility it should be pointed out after all that
the records, which are taken into consideration throughout this
paper, represent authentic deeds drawn up in different situations.
The great majority of them are consequently provided with a name-
list of witnesses, frequently sixteen in number, while few, earlier in
date, are even accompanied by copies (rather abstracts) of the body
of the agreement in question written in identical form by the
witnesses themselves. And sometimes the whole contract text is fol-
lowed by a subscription in Greek (rarely in demotic) attesting the
endorsement of the deed, the subscription (8taypa'cpi)being added
obviously in a registration office. Such a subscription can also attest
the payment by the contracting parties of a tax at the state bank.
116) P Turin 6103 (Thebes, 111 B.C.): Botti, Archzvzo,p. 120 f.

117) P Heidelberg 712a (Gebeleln, 128 B.C.): Kaplony-Heckel, Gebelen-
Urkunden,p. 49 For this kind of instrument see H. J Wolff, Das Recht der
Papyri Agyptens(in der Zeit der Ptolemaeerund des Prnnzipats), 1978, p. 75 ff.
grzechzschen
32 S. ALLAM
With respect to legal proceedings women could also make use of a

petition, in order to bring an action against someone, and equally of
a writing for abandonment when a litigant had to acknowledge in
court the opponent's rights. In general then, we do not see any dif-
ferentiation between the two sexes whenever a written instrument
was required. And it is perfectly clear that women could administer
the same instruments men used to apply.
To conclude, in the light of the broad spectrum of evidence many
Egyptian women emerge as holders of a wide range of rights. They
seem in general to have owned a significant amount of private pro-
perty; and their capacity to administer corresponding rights seems to
have been in theory at least as great as that of men, while the number
of their dealings and their potential liabilities may well have been con-
siderably fewer. From the abundance of relevant data available to
date it emanates that many variations of property rights could pass
through women's hands. In this respect we hear of real estate (fields,
grounds and houses), of serfs and cattle, of money and other
movables, also of benefices and emoluments arising from chapels,
tombs and offices. Our documents in no way cause us to suspect any
falsification of the identity of the real owners. The texts give to under-
stand that women's possessions were indeed their own; the basis of
their economic position was primarily their right to share in the pro-
perty of their families (through dowry, donation, inheritance conven-
tions, etc)"18).
118) In the light of some documents we can also get an idea of how a given
mother could obtain titles to permanent alimony from her children. By a title-deed
two men negotiating with their father engage themselves to give periodically a
specified quantity of wheat, oil and money to their mother If the stipulated quan-
tity is not timely delivered, they should give it increased by half in the five following
days; besides, they pledge their present and future property and declare themselves
(collectively and personally) liable. (P Cairo 50128, Hawara, 115/4 B.C., with a
Greek docket and four witness names verso: Spiegelberg, DemotischeInschriftenund
Papyri, CGC, 1932, p. 91 f). By another deed a man dealing with his mother obliges
himself, in case the inundation reaches the height of 18 cubits, to grant her yearly
ten artabae of wheat, the value of a half artaba of oil-seeds and a quarter artaba
of salt, in addition to a dress every two years; however, if the inundation is not so
high, she should be satisfied with the sustenance he normally provides. He pledges
When we set out to examine women's dealings with other citizens,

whether male or female, we unhesitatingly establish with certainty
that women really did function in their own capacity and in their own
economic interests. The ample evidence points clearly to the fact that
many women did extensively act as buyers and sellers, as lessors and
lessees, as lenders and borrowers, as mortgagors and mortgagees, in
brief as creditors and debtors. In sum, many women were liable to
different kinds of obligations, as were men in private business affairs.
It is notable furthermore that women could participate in various
business negotiations, not only with members of their own families,
but also with non-relatives, and in some isolated cases with Greeks.
Additional confirmation of the legitimacy and vitality of women's
dealings is supplied by the fact that Egyptian women (unlike Greeks)
could act in transactions on their own behalf and without any guar-
dian (x6plto) whatsoever; equally, women could come forward in law-
courts totally unaided as plaintiffs or defendants119). And it is quite
evident that women were capable of independent economic activities
regardless of marital status. Yet our records conspicuously do not
reveal women's names in the witness lists appended to the deeds
agreed upon by the contracting parties120). Against the background
furthermore his present and future property and sets up a fine (of one talent) to
be paid, should he be unwilling in the future to fulfil his obligation. (P Turin
2131 =238, Thebes, 145 B.C., 16 witness names verso: Pestman, Archzivo di
Amenothes,p. 31 ff). Through a family arrangement concerning a vineyard we are
told that four men "shall give two jars of wine from the vineyard .. for their father;
he being dead, they shall be for their mother until she also dies" (P Adler 9,
Gebelein, 102/01 B.C. Griffith, in: Adler et alii, Adler P, p. 84). By means of a
document for money-transfer a mother sells to her son a half-part of her house, the
other half being given to his elder brother; she assigns him also one half of the
prebends deriving from some tombs, on condition that he carries out choachyte-
work for the tombs in question. She stipulates moreover that he has to give her 1/10
of his choachyte-income during her lifetime, and after her passing away he shall
spend for her obsequies five silver-pieces (= 25 staters) for a period of three years.
(P Louvre 2424, cf. supra, n. 21).
119) Cf. Seldl, PtolemdischeRechtsgeschzchte,p. 88.
120) Cf. zdem,DemotzscheUrkundenlehre,1937, p. 5; idem, Rechtsgeschtchte derSazten-
und Perserzeit,p. 17 However, in the Greek abstract of P Rylands 44 (supra, n. 18)
there is a woman who has subscribed. On the other hand we have from the period
34 S. ALLAM
just sketched, it would then appear that women's individual par-

ticipation in business transactions was effectively required when their
own interests were involved.
We should very much like, finally, to examine also their social
standing through the records under discussion in order to get a more
comprehensive picture of their conditions. Our records are, however,
silent on the subject; they are all strictly business and about legal mat-
ters. All that we can do for the moment is surmise that the one who
was able to deal with such rights would hardly have been a feeble
character121).
of the New Kingdom definite evidence of women witnessing to a legal act: P

Ashmolean Museum 1945.96 (Adoption Papyrus): cf. my Hieratische Ostraka und
Papyri aus der Ramessidenzeit, 1973, p. 258 ff. For further references see my remarks
n: Bibliotheca Orzentalisvol. 26, 1969, p. 158 n. 22.
121) The Greek papyri dating from the Roman period have been recently
investigated to elaborate the economic position of female property owners particu-
larly in the village of Socnopalou Nesos (D Hobson, in: Transactionsof theAmerican
Philological Association vol. 113, 1983, p. 313-21) and in order to determine the
extent of women's capacity with respect to legal proceedings (B. Anagnostou-
Canas, in: Revue historiquede droitfranfazs et etrangervol. 62, 1984, p. 337-60). For
an overall view see P Pestman, Over Vrouwenen Voogdenin het Oude Egypte, 1969;
E. Brunner-Traut, in: Saeculum vol. 38, 1987, p. 312 ff.

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Women as Holders of Rights in Ancient Egypt (During the Late Period)

WOMEN AS HOLDERS OF RIGHTS IN

*) A summary of this paper was delivered in Cambridge on the 9th September

3) In contrast to my brief survey an analytic study has already appeared: S.

6) She is described as shmt n sCnhnb db3-hd "woman of alimony, owner of a docu-

Hawara (i.e. priestly activities yielding an income) along with a

10) P Ashmolean Museum 16+ 17 (Hawara, 69/8 B.C.): E. Reymond/J

matters about immovables or loans/sales-with-deferred-delivery or

Since a document of cession was issued by a husband to confirm such

apportionment which a father made for his daughter assigning her a

of another deed in money-transfer form two sisters sell to their half

31) To my knowledge, no renunciation made by a woman for her sister is so far

Our documentation also includes deeds relating to women who are

woman an hereditary tenure, namely a half of a one-sixth share in

Hermonthis) to a temple chanter44). Their father took from this

ment: There is a Greek woman, who is reported to have sold a two-

emanating from the Arsinoite nome, might be worth mentioning;

Besides, we often hear of tombs subject to business transactions

accrued to her in the name of her mother59). In other agreements

65) P BM 10575 + P BM 10591 versocol. V (deeds of apportionment; Siut, 181

the debt71). In another document two women cousins undertake to

71) P Reinach 3 (Tehne/Acoris, 108 B.C., with a Greek subscription attesting

pieces, interest inclusive) from a woman promises to pay it off within

sive hieratic) a woman charges a choachyte 2 1/4 silver-kite (and a

most elaborate record of judicial proceedings that we know of to date

as such either at the outset of the trial or in the judgement. In fact

95) Thompson, op.czt., p. 55 (P BM 10591 verso IV, 7).

or property in dispute. Two examples may illustrate this state of

106) P Berlin 7058 (money-transfer + renunciation of claim, endorsed side by

a&ooataatou); yet, a deed of cession was not necessarily restricted to the

110) Cf. Seldl, PtolemdischeRechtsgeschichte,pp. 118 + 181.

our material also hybrid forms. For example, a man acknowledges to

116) P Turin 6103 (Thebes, 111 B.C.): Botti, Archzvzo,p. 120 f.

With respect to legal proceedings women could also make use of a

When we set out to examine women's dealings with other citizens,

just sketched, it would then appear that women's individual par-

of the New Kingdom definite evidence of women witnessing to a legal act: P

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