Hieratic Ostracon

Flake of limestone with nine lines of a hieratic inscription in ink on the recto and nine lines of a hieratic inscription in ink on the verso. On the recto is a copy from the start of the Prophecy of Neferti (corresponding to Papyrus Hermitage 1116b, lines 1-6). There is also a date in red (‘Month 1 of Shomu, day 8’) and underneath practice work on the wn-hare sign. On the verso a house census list fragment of a draftsman (sS qd), important evidence of the practice of keeping track of households in the village of Deir el Medina in the Nineteenth Dynasty. There is a transcription on the catalogue card made by Professor T. Eric Peet in 1922. In1873 Samuel Birch, of the British Museum, examined it and described it as "having 8 lines on one side and 7 on the other of hieratic writing. Part is marked off with red cloth. It is part of a statement addressed to a person and ends with lists of the family of the scribe Ta or Tsa comprising his wife and 5 children. It appears from the division to be part of a literary composition commenting 'it happened was the majesty of the good ... one of them ... of the ... were the goings and comings thou madest with (them) ... the things as thou didst so was the magistrates ... whom I love'. Etc." (MS 7 November 1873).