Papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446 - Biblical Archaeology Encyclopedia

Overview

Papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446 is a late Middle Kingdom administrative papyrus written on both sides, published by W. C. Hayes in 1955 and recorded as coming from Thebes. It is not the only 'Brooklyn papyrus': the museum holds other famous papyri (e.g. the medical/snake papyrus), so the accession number matters.

The recto is an administrative register (Hayes 1955 pp. 19-66, pls. I-VII) with inserted documents: a letter dated Year 36 (assigned to Amenemhat III) and a text naming the vizier Ankhu. The verso, dated Year 1 of Sobekhotep III, is a legal list of dependents (Hayes pp. 87-125, pls. VIII-XIV). Each person is listed with a status word, often a work designation, and one or two names.

A large share of the verso's entries are labelled ꜥꜣm (Asiatic man) or ꜥꜣmt (Asiatic woman). Many carry a foreign (Northwest Semitic) name followed by an Egyptian name, e.g. 'ꜥꜣmt ... špr / snb-ḥnwt⸗s'. The list shows Asiatic men, women and children as household servants and textile workers in a Theban household of the 13th Dynasty.

What the text says (summary)

ꜥꜣmt, sḫt ḥꜣtjw, mnḥmj - 'Asiatic woman, weaver (?), Menahemi'; ꜥꜣmt, sḫt ḥꜣtjw, špr / snb-ḥnwt⸗s - 'Asiatic woman, weaver (?), Shipra, [Egyptian name] Seneb-henutes'Literal rendering (this encyclopedia) of entries 11 and 21 of the verso as transliterated in the Mainz PNM online edition (Ilin-Tomich), which follows Hayes 1955 pls. VIII-XIV. The work-title sḫt ḥꜣtjw is a textile-worker designation; its exact meaning is uncertain.

What the evidence shows

Verso date: Year 1 of Sobekhotep III (PNM record, citing Hayes 1955 pp. 87-125, pls. VIII-XIV).
Provenance: Thebes (PNM record).
Recto: administrative text, late 12th-early 13th Dynasty (Hayes 1955 pp. 19-66, pls. I-VII); inserted letter dated Year 36 (Amenemhat III) and a text naming the vizier Ankhu (PNM records 17754, 3892).
In the PNM edition, at least 36 preserved verso entries carry the label ꜥꜣm or ꜥꜣmt (Asiatic); many other entries are broken at that point.
Foreign names in the list include ꜥpr-ršpw (a name built on the god Reshef), mnḥmj, špr, jšr, ꜥqbj, ꜥqbtw, sk-r-tw, šmštw, bꜥꜣtwjj and hjjbjrw (PNM transliterations).
Many Asiatics carry double names: foreign name / Egyptian name (e.g. špr / snb-ḥnwt⸗s; ꜥpr-ršpw / [broken]).
Status words beside the Asiatic entries are household and textile-work designations (e.g. sḫt ḥꜣtjw, ḏꜣ šsr, ḥrj-pr 'house-servant/domestic'); none is a building or quarry designation.
Children are recorded with their mothers, e.g. an Asiatic woman's son named ꜥnḫw / pꜣ-ꜥꜣm ('the Asiatic') (PNM entries 56-58).

Open questions

How to read the names: W. F. Albright ('Northwest-Semitic Names in a List of Egyptian Slaves from the Eighteenth Century B.C.', JAOS 74, 1954) treated the foreign names as Northwest Semitic; S. H. Horn reviewed Hayes's edition in JNES 16 (1957). Individual equations with Hebrew names (e.g. špr = Shiphrah, mnḥmj = Menahem, ꜥqb- = the root of Jacob) are readings of consonants, not proven identities; I have not read Albright's article to state which equations he made.
Date in BCE: the text fixes a regnal year of Sobekhotep III; 13th-Dynasty absolute dates are poorly fixed, so any BCE figure (often given as 18th century BCE, as in Albright's title) is an estimate outside the document.

Since 2024

2025-07The Mainz PNM online edition of the verso was issued in version 6 (04.07.2025); the record consulted here is from that version. No other 2024-2026 development was checked (search quota exhausted). [2]

Sources

W. C. Hayes, A Papyrus of the Late Middle Kingdom in the Brooklyn Museum (Papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446) (Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum, 1955; reprinted 1972) link editio princeps
A. Ilin-Tomich, Persons and Names of the Middle Kingdom and early New Kingdom (PNM), 'P. Brooklyn 35.1446, verso (the list of dependents)', inscription 3893, version 6 (04.07.2025); dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.1411391 link museum record
W. F. Albright, 'Northwest-Semitic Names in a List of Egyptian Slaves from the Eighteenth Century B.C.,' Journal of the American Oriental Society 74 (1954) 222-233, DOI 10.2307/595513 link study
S. H. Horn, review of Hayes, A Papyrus of the Late Middle Kingdom in the Brooklyn Museum, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 16 (1957) 207-211, DOI 10.1086/371397 link study

Corrected from the earlier edition of this page

Old entry: 'a list of foreign laborers, specifically Semitic slaves, who were employed on various construction projects ... pyramid building.' The verso is a legal list of household dependents; the Asiatics carry domestic and textile-work designations, not construction ones (PNM record).
Old entry: names 'such as Asher, Jacob, and Joseph.' No Joseph-type name appears in the PNM list. There is a name jšr and names on the root ꜥqb (ꜥqbj, ꜥqbtw); equating these with Asher or Jacob is an interpretation of consonants, not what the text says.
Old entry: 'Discovery: Brooklyn Museum.' The papyrus was acquired in Egypt (not excavated) and is recorded as coming from Thebes; Hayes published it in 1955.
Old entry: 'Papyrus scroll ... approximately 30 cm width.' No source consulted here gives dimensions; the figure is removed.
Old entry: 'c. 1800 BCE' with no basis. The verso is dated Year 1 of Sobekhotep III (13th Dynasty); the BCE figure depends on the chronology used.
Old entry links Numbers 33 (the exodus itinerary); nothing in the papyrus corresponds to it.
Old entry titles the whole papyrus 'a list of Semitic slaves'. Only the verso is the servant list; the recto is a separate administrative register with inserted letters (Hayes 1955 pp. 19-86).

2024–2026 check incomplete: partial - the session's web-search quota ran out; only the PNM database version was checked