The hieratic ritual books of Pawerem (P. BM EA 10252 and P. BM EA 10081) from the late 4th century BC

• Main Author: Gill, Ann-Katrin
• Other Authors: Smith, Mark
• Published: University of Oxford 2016
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.729960

The following thesis submitted for the DPhil in Oriental Studies (Egyptology) is the editio princeps of the ritual texts preserved on two hieratic papyri from the British Museum, P. BM EA 10252 and P. BM EA 10081. In the first part of the thesis, overall questions concerning the textual corpus are answered. These deal with the information concerning the acquisition of the papyri, the material aspects of the two manuscripts, the layout of the texts, the different hands and scribal divisions attested on them, the date and provenance of the papyri, their later owner including a discussion of information about him and his connection to the objects, a discussion of the content and context of the compositions, their grammar and orthography, and an investigation of the translations and later added glosses. The second part is the edition of the ritual texts including the hieroglyphic transcription of the hieratic texts, transliteration, translation, and line-to-line commentary. In addition, a detailed palaeography as well as a synopsis for those compositions of which none exists so far is provided. It is concluded that what have previously been designated as two separate papyri containing liturgical texts for the god Osiris were originally a single papyrus roll (P. BM EA 10252 + 10081) that can be described as an Osirian ritual handbook for the performance of the Khoiak-festival in the temple of Karnak at Thebes, dated to 307/6 BC due to a colophon written by a priest called Pay.