Deir el-Medina Ptolemaic Papyri: the Archive of Totoes

The archive of Totoês and his wife Tatehathyris (TM Arch 248) was discovered in February 1905 by Ernesto Schiaparelliʼs "Missione Archeologica Italiana" in Deir el-Medina and is now kept in the Museo Egizio (Suppl. 6068-6125). It is comprised of 61 documents dated to the 2nd century BCE, for the most part legal acts of a priestly family. Written and photographic evidence in modern archives allows us to specify the circumstances of both the find and the opening of the two sealed jars that preserved them. The discovery occurred north of the enclosure wall of the Ptolemaic temple of Hathor in the recess of a wall of House H or a later structure on the same spot, probably by Roberto Paribeni. A few of the 33 or 34 rolls found were unwrapped on site soon after, but most were unrolled in Turin by October 1906 and some during the summer of 1948. The resulting 56 Demotic and Greek papyri, along with 5 inscribed linen strips, received labels indicating the roll of provenance, but unfortunately these have since been lost. Modern archives sometimes contain clues on how Totoêsʼ texts were arranged in ancient dossiers: this reconstruction helps us to understand the archive better. As an example, the fact that P.Tor.Botti 34 A, 34 B+C, 35 and 36 were wrapped together support the interpretation that they deal with the devolution, from father to sons, of the tasks of agent of Hathor and manager of the temple of Deir el-Medina in 100 BCE.