Thutmose III (Part 6): Personal Correspondence in Thebes.
148 – 1460 BCE. Letters are a rare and exciting find in Egyptian archaeology. Imagine our good fortune to possess an entire corpus from one individual: Ahmose, “Peniaty’s man,” a middle-class Egyptian living and working in the Egypt of Thutmose III….
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The letter of Ptahu to Ahmose, concerning a maid-servant taken by Tetimose (British Museum)
Two letters of the Ahmose corpus, in transcription: (top) Teti writes to Ahmose concerning a house; (bottom) Ahmose writes to the treasurer Tey concerning a maid-servant.
A letter from Ahmose to an official, of which only the introduction survives (British Museum). Not discussed in episode.
A shabti (servant figurine) of Ahmose (Glanville 1928)
A kohl (charcoal eye-liner) box of Ahmose (Glanville 1928)
Bibliography
Edward F. Wente, Letters from Ancient Egypt, 1990.
S.R.K. Glanville, “The Letters of Aahmose of Peniati,”Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 14 (1928) JSTOR
T. Eric Peet, “Two Eighteenth Dynasty Letters,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 12 (1926) JSTOR
Elizabeth Frood, “Social Structure and Daily Life,” in Toby Wilkinson (ed.) The Egyptian World 2010.
