The Papyrus Boulaq 18 is an Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

ian document found in 1860 AD in the tomb of the scribe of the great enclosure Neferhotep

Neferhotep (scribe of the great enclosure)

Neferhotep was an Ancient Egyptian official with the title scribe of the great enclosure. He lived during the 13th Dynasty, around 1750 BC. His tomb was found in 1860 by Auguste Mariette in Dra Abu el-Naga and contained an important range of objects, most notably of which was the Papyrus Boulaq 18...

. It is now in the Egyptian Museum

Egyptian Museum

The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display, the remainder in storerooms....

 in Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

.

It contains an account of the Theban

Thebes, Egypt

Thebes is the Greek name for a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the river Nile within the modern city of Luxor. The Theban Necropolis is situated nearby on the west bank of the Nile.-History:...

 palace dating to the 13th Dynasty (around 1750 BC). The papyrus lists the palace officials and the rations they received day by day. Important officials mentioned are, for example, the vizier Ankhu

Ankhu

Ankhu was an Egyptian vizier who lived in the 13th Dynasty around 1750 BC.Ankhu is known from several monuments dating to the reigns of the 13th Dynasty kings Khendjer and Sobekhotep II, attesting that he served several kings. Ankhu appears in the Papyrus Boulaq 18 as the head of the court...

, but also the queen Aya

Aya (Queen)

Aya was an Ancient Egyptian king's wife of the Thirteenth Dynasty.She is known from two sources. Aya appears on a stela now in Würzburg. From this source it is clear that she was part of an influential family of high court officials and was related to the Vizier Ankhu.She also appears in the...

. Therefore the document is of great historical importance. It also reports the journey of the king to the temple at Medamud

Medamud

Medamud was a settlement in Ancient Egypt. Its present-day territory is located about 8 km east-north from Luxor. The temple was excavated by Fernand Bisson de la Roque in 1925, who identified several structures dedicated to the war-god Monthu....

 and reports the arrival of a delegation of Nubia

Nubia

Nubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...

ns.

The exact dating of the document is disputed. The name of the king is heavily destroyed. Formerly scholars identified the remains with Sobekhotep II

Sobekhotep II

birth name: Sobekhotep throne name: Sekhemre KhutawySobekhotep II was an Egyptian king of the 13th Dynasty.He is known from several monuments, including a statue, several Nile level records in Nubia and from building works at Medamud and Luxor...

.

Literature

• A. Mariette: Les papyrus egyptiens du Musee de Boulaq vol. II, Paris 1872
• A. Scharff: Ein Rechnungsbuch des königlichen Hofes aus der 13. Dynastie, In Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 57 (1922), S. 51-68, Tafeln 1**–24**