Poverty in ancient Egypt remains a rarely-studied subject. For decades Egyptologists have focused their attention mainly on the so-called ‘elite’, while the poor, their housing, their possessions, their diet, or their cultural values, remain largely in the shadows. Although they are much less visible archaeologically, they were much more numerous than the wealthy. Despite these circumstances, ancient Egypt provides a good starting point for discussing how to approach poverty during antiquity, as there are archaeological and textual records that can shed light on this complex issue. This article aims to stimulate reflection on the issue of poverty in the Nile valley and how it can be explored. It seeks also to add nuance to the idea of a strict dichotomy opposing the poor to the elite. In so doing, this paper will present discussion of the definition of poverty.
The study of the textual and archaeological evidence shows that the water supply of the settlements of ancient Egypt seems to have worked on a simple and a relatively equitable scheme, at least from the Old Kingdom until the New Kingdom (ca. 2543–1077). The water supply of the inhabitants was completely managed by the state, through the local administration which was charged to bring the water, in general from a rural area, into towns and cities and to redistribute it to the inhabitants. The method of supply is illustrated by several sources of evidence, in particular by the well known case of the “water-carriers” of the village of Deir el-Medina. Thus, drawing together text and archaeology, this paper will demonstrate that over an extended period, even when the city was far from a water source, the state did not set up complex installations such as pipe networks or wells to bring water, but preferred a simpler system using the manpower available.
This article provides a brief summary of archaeological fieldwork conducted by the University of Vienna Middle Egypt Project at el-Sheikh Fadl Umm Raqaba with a special focus on one particular Late Period tomb, A2 T1. Having been discovered by Flinders Petrie in the early 20th century, this rock-cut tomb is of special interest because of a lengthy Aramaic dipinto inscription with a literary text telling the tale of the Egyptian rebel Inaros who fought against the Assyrian occupation during the 7th century BCE. The tomb was fully excavated for the first time by the Austrian mission in 2016 and 2017. Significant and substantial new evidence was uncovered including large quantities of human remains and artefacts that provide insights into the ancient occupation of the tomb as well as its dating. Importantly, the Aramaic inscription and the underlying original painted decoration of the tomb were subject to intensive new study that included first-hand confirmation of the reading of the rebel's name as ynḥrw being the Aramaic form of the Egyptian name 'ir.t-ḥr-r.r=w (Greek Ináros). Further, the inscription and decorations were recorded with the assistance of Multispectral Imaging (MSI) technology which enabled to counterbalance degeneration and modern graffiti to enhance better reading. The first results of this new archaeological work would suggest that the tomb itself probably dates somewhat later than had been previously suggested, which, nevertheless, opens up new possibilities to explain the significance and provide an interpretation for this unusual inscription as well as for the tomb, the site and the region surrounding el-Sheikh Fadl.
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