Given the wealth of knowledge we have about the lives of the ancient Egyptians, we sometimes take for granted that from Egyptian texts (as opposed to graphic depictions) this has only been available to us for the past two centuries, since hieroglyphics were first decoded by Jean-François Champollion, who published his translation of the Rosetta Stone hieroglyphs in 1822. What most of us are unfamiliar with is the later and specialised work in Egyptology, specifically in demotic studies that deal with native script and culture of the late little-known Saite period, the twenty-sixth dynasty (624 to 525 BCE) up to and including the Roman period. Hieratic papyrus texts and engraved stelae and ostraca are the sources of Koenraad Donker van Heel, the author of Djekhy & Son �" Doing Business in Ancient Egypt, AUC Press, 2013. The scripts are early demotic and what has been termed abnormal hieratic, a shorthand form of the cursive hieratic derived from hieroglyphs, which are illustrated in the book. The author's first engagement with Djekhy & Son, ‘ordinary businessmen from ancient Egypt' was in researching and writing his PhD dissertation. Djekhy's full name was Djedkhonsuiufankh 'Khonsu says that he will live' but in daily life and work he called himself Djekhy. He was born in c.590 BCE, and the son of the business, Iturech, was born about 20 years later, succeeding his father in the family business c.550 BCE. They lived in the populous quarters surrounding the great temples of Amun, Mut and Khonsu in Karnak on the east bank of the Nile and worked as funerary priests (funerary service providers) on the west bank. Following the Greek rendering of their occupation they are referred to as choachytes (water-pourers) libations of water being essential in funerary cults. Away from their duties of tending to the needs of the mummified dead, Djekhy & Son were also astute agricultural entrepreneurs and acted as trustees for some of their colleagues. They were paid to ‘bring offerings to the mummies in the Theban necropolis probably once a week, on festival days, on the birthdays of the deceased, and maybe even on the anniversaries of their deaths.' The choachytes also helped to prepare the funerals. Most of the choachytes' archives have been found in the necropolis ‘because the dark, dry tombs were perfect for storing important papers.' Underlying the accounts of Djekhy & Son and their contemporaries and the societal context is a no less fascinating story that permeates the book. It tells of the discovery and acquisition of the source texts, the scattered collections that now house them and the work, methodology and pitfalls of Donker van Heel and a small select band of Egyptologists who have deciphered for our edification a world from 2,500 years that often seems surprisingly familiar. In the personal and business archive of Djekhy and Iturech ‘from 546 BCE is a contract for a Mrs Tsendjehuty that lays down the specific (and favourable) marital property arrangements she will enjoy in the event of a divorce.... For an Egyptian woman in the sixth century BCE, this contract was the equivalent of an old age pension. In it, her husband had committed himself to maintaining her, even if the marriage failed, for instance if another woman pleased him better. The only condition was that she did not commit adultery ... Mrs Tsendjehuty �" however, much she may have loved her husband �" probably felt it safer to give this vital document to a trustee for safekeeping. This would explain how it came to be in the Djekhy & Son archive.' Now in the holdings of the Louvre, the contract shows that the ancient Egyptians were a highly practical people and affords insight into the status and rights of women. Djekhy & Son �" Doing Business in Ancient Egypt Koenraad Donker van Heel American University in Cairo Press, 2013 Hardback, LE 120. It is also available as an AUC Press e-book, one of the selected AUCP-Digital new titles and backlist available on the AUC Press e-Store: ebooks.aucpress.com
