The Moses Legacy - Adam Palmer [115]
‘Could be a reference to Moses’ brother Aaron.’
‘Go on,’ she prompted.
The wife of Mernepteh bore a son without the spirit of life and he asked the priests of Amun what sin he had committed that he be punished in this way and they told him that it was not his sin but that of Shifra the woman who brought the baby out of its mother for she was an Israelite woman and she worshipped false gods. And he had her put to death and he decreed that for one year all the male children of Israel shall be put to death.
They looked at each other, astonished.
‘The slaying of the firstborn son,’ she said. ‘Just like on that papyrus that was found at the same site as the Mernepteh stele.’
‘Not quite,’ said Daniel. ‘The slaying of the firstborn Egyptian son was the last of the ten plagues. However, this refers to Pharaoh’s decree that all the male Israelite babies be put to death – hence the incident with Moses being hidden in the bulrushes. But of course there is an approximate symmetry between the two events and also, I guess, a certain poetic irony.’
‘So it could be that this one event was the source material for both those biblical legends?’
‘I suppose. But does this fit the Egyptian record?’
‘Only that papyrus Mansoor showed us, which was written in Proto-Sinaitic. There’s nothing specific in the annals to confirm it, but that doesn’t rule it out. If you take the line in the Mernepteh stele about “Israel is laid waste, nought of seed” and combine it with the papyrus and now this, then I suppose it counts as a record. How does it continue?’
Daniel read aloud.
An Israelite man had been adopted into the household of the chief of works in the Place of Truth and he was brought before the judge for punishment and the judge decreed that he shall be beaten. And so he begged to put his plea to me. And I heard his plea and I remembered the pain that my brother had inflicted upon his people. So I spared him and I dismissed the judge.
‘Papyrus Salt 124!’ Gabrielle blurted out, letting the excitement get the better of her academic reserve.
‘What’s that?’
‘Remember what we talked about when you were released on bail after my visit to the British Museum? The Place of Truth is the village where the artisans and craftsmen who worked in the necropolis lived.’
‘I remember, but what has—’
‘Wait! Let me explain. Henry Salt was a contemporary of William John Bankes. He was one of that whole crowd of Victorian British explorers and adventurers from the great age of Empire who travelled to Egypt and the Middle East in search of the treasures of the ancient world. He was a wealthy man and during the course of his travels he acquired a papyrus now known as Papyrus Salt 124. It was one of a number of papyri that he donated to the British Museum.’
‘And what made you think of that just now?’
‘Because that’s what this is about! It refers to the same events.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘The papyrus consists of a complaint by the brother of someone called Neferhotep. Neferhotep was the works foreman for the necropolis. And the complaint is mainly against someone called Paneb, but also partly against someone called Mossy or Mussi.’
‘And who were they?’
‘Paneb was Neferhotep’s adopted son. Mossy or Mussi was someone in a position of authority who took Paneb’s side when the case against Paneb was brought to judgement. And Mossy or Mussi also appears to be the author of this text.’
‘But I thought you said that the man who wrote this text was called Amenmesse.’
‘Yes, but there has long been speculation and debate as to whether Amenmesse and Mossy were one and the same. And the problem is compounded by the almost biblical use of ambiguous pronouns.’
‘So wait a minute – what exactly happened? I mean, who judged who and what was the outcome?’
‘That’s what I’m trying to explain. The complaint makes all manner of accusations, some of them quite possibly exaggerated. It starts off by saying that Neferhotep, the complainant’s brother, was killed by some unspecified “enemy” – a term usually reserved