Author Description

The archive of el-Lahun, the most important temple-archive before the Greek-Roman Period, dates from the second half of the 12th dynasty. The find is divided in two parts that were found ten years apart in 1889/90 and 1899. The first part is now in the Petrie Museum London, the second one almost completely in the Berlin Museum. The London papyri are said to have come from el-Lahun, while the second find's origin was determined with almost complete certainy in a survey in 1899. The Berlin find concentrates fully on the process of the mortuary cult of the king Sesostris II while the London papyri comprise items of a more individual character like legal documents household lists, contracts, even literary pieces. The Berlin find comprises documents of the daily cult in the mortuary temple of the King such as letters, temple-diaries, supply and festival lists. The significance of the Berlin part is made even greater by the fact that the date of the Heliacal Rise of Sirius is recorded in the temple-diary of the 7th year of King Sesostris III.