By Jenny Cromwell In year 29 of the reign of Rameses III, the workmen of the village of Deir el-Medina – state workers who were responsible for the construction of the royal tombs – went on strike. Consistent late payments and poor working conditions forced them to lay down their tools and walk out ofContinue reading “The First Recorded Strike in History”
Author Archives: JCromwell
Love in an Orchard
Jennifer Cromwell The scene: young lovers escape the heat of the early afternoon soon for the shade of an orchard. Concealed among the shadows, sheltered under the trees, they lose themselves in each other. Nobody is present to witness their tryst, except for the trees. From the New Kingdom (ca. 1,539–1,075 BCE) survives a smallContinue reading “Love in an Orchard”
A Fake Patchwork of Genuine Fragments
Jennifer Cromwell At a quick glance, a Coptic document today in the collection of the Università di Genova (Italy) looks pretty standard. There is some damage at the edges and a few small holes in the middle. But, otherwise, it looks quite well preserved. However, on closer inspection, things aren’t as they seem. While theContinue reading “A Fake Patchwork of Genuine Fragments”
Nomads, Mercenaries, and Goldmines: Desert Politics in the Ramesside Period
Julien Cooper When we think of Egypt’s wealth, our mind often wanders to geological riches. Most of this wealth originated in the Eastern Desert: the gold of Tutankhamun’s mask, the famous Egyptian eye-paints of kohl or malachite, or even the majestic purple porphyry columns that today hold up the roof in the Hagia Sophia inContinue reading “Nomads, Mercenaries, and Goldmines: Desert Politics in the Ramesside Period”
Death of a Slave Boy
Jennifer Cromwell Cymbals struck as festival performers wound their way through the village’s streets . But then tragedy struck. Leaning over the balcony to view the players below, a young slave boy Epaphroditos fell and died. Was it an accident? Was it murder?This tragic event took place in year 23 of the reign of the emperor CommodusContinue reading “Death of a Slave Boy”
Ebony and Meretseger: On a New Kingdom Herd of Cows
Jennifer Cromwell A sale document from the Fayum showed us that Roman soldiers living here named their cows, as discussed in a previous post. But, they were not the first people in Egypt to do so – Egyptians had been naming their cows for millennia beforehand! On the back of a magical text from New Kingdom Thebes,Continue reading “Ebony and Meretseger: On a New Kingdom Herd of Cows”
A Cow by Any Other Name
Jennifer Cromwell An archive from the Fayum dated to the 340s CE opens a window onto the life of a Roman garrison commander in Egypt. Flavius Abinnaeus was appointed to the command of the cavalry unit (ala) at Dionysias in the western part of the Fayum, and his professional and private activities are known from a numberContinue reading “A Cow by Any Other Name”
A Woman Doing Business
Jennifer Cromwell A short letter from Antinoopolis (Sheikh Ibada) in central Egypt gives a glimpse into the life of a woman living in a major city sometime around the 7th century CE. In this letter, Tagape the daughter of Tromres (or possibly Tagape the woman from the south, as her mother’s name here could be readContinue reading “A Woman Doing Business”
Ancient Same Sex Love Spells
Jennifer Cromwell Magic in the ancient world provided one means to help people deal with what life threw at them, whether health, money, or love, among the whole gambit of human day-to-day experiences. In some cases, spells were written for certain people, with the object of the spell as well as the spell’s user namedContinue reading “Ancient Same Sex Love Spells”
Music for the Masses
Mark de Kreij In this time of social distancing, enjoying music in public seems a distant memory, and since social get-togethers and musical events are all currently off the table, the study of song and festival in the ancient world can at least provide us with vicarious cultural experiences! The following texts all offer glimpsesContinue reading “Music for the Masses”
Papyrus Stories 