Recherches sur l'histoire juridique, economique et sociale de l'ancienne Egypte.

• Author: Leprohon, Ronald J.
• Position: Book Review

vol. 2. By BERNADETTE MENU. Cairo: INSTITUT FRANCAIS D'ARCHEOLOGIE ORIENTALE, 1998. Pp. viii + 423, illus. LE 170 (paper).

This is the second volume of such studies by this author (cf. a similarly titled book, privately published in 1982). Commissioned by the director of the Cairn-based Institut francais d'archrologie orientale (see N. Grimal's preface, p. viii), the present book is also a collection of previously published articles by Menu. As detailed in her introduction, Menu investigates a number of themes that particularly interest her: the constant dialectic between the static as well as dynamic concept of maat; the highly hierarchical, yet fluid, political system set in place in the Early Dynastic period when the principles of kingship were first established; as well as public and private law, where the first is defined as that which involves the state in one way or another and the second as being between individuals. These themes are then reiterated in the articles that follow.

The book is divided into three major sections. The first contains four articles, or chapters if you will, dealing with general matters. The second part contains fifteen articles on public law; this is further subdivided into four subsections dealing with pharaonic power, the juridical aspects of landed property ("le regime juridique des terres"), the organization of labor in the Old Kingdom, and the logistics of certain juridical issues. The third major section, on private law, consists of eleven chapters; these are subdivided into three categories concerned with sales, loans, and Coptic private law, respectively.

The first chapter, on fundamental principles of Egyptian law, is more in the nature of a series of observations on the various topics already broached in the introduction, Chapter 2, "La regle fiscale comme source du droit," deals with the terminology for land-surveying found in a Middle Kingdom text (Pap. Harage 3), where it is concluded that the word hp means "a rule (to be observed)" and that the usual translation "law" is too narrow. Note that a similar conclusion was reached by M. Bonnty, for which see The 51st Annual Meeting of the American Research Center in Egypt, April 28-30. 2000, University of California Berkeley: Program and Abstacts (Berkeley, 2000), p. 23, some thing the author of the book under review could not have seen at the time of printing.

Chapter 3, "Le serment dans les actes juridiques de l'ancienne Egypte," is a study of the terms for "(taking an) oath." Most common are the verbs nh and rk, while the more technical term sdf tr(yt) indicates an oath of loyalty in the sense of "making amends." For the latter, the point is made that no god is involved in the loyalty pledge; rather, the king is the power invoked. Additional remarks are made on the oath, e.g oaths uttered by the king himself, as well as the evolution and the nature of oaths in juridical contexts. The last chapter of the introductory section deals with the rights of women in pharaonic Egypt; after a quick survey of the topic as seen in texts from the earlier periods, the article concentrates mostly on the documents from the first millennium...