PAST CRIMESCitizens could petition local officials to investigate crimes on their behalf.
One such petition tells of a crime‘perpetrated by the workmen of Nakhum
Maut. They went into my house, stole two large loaves and three cakes, spilt
my oil, opened my bin containing the corn, stole Northerndehucorn. They
went to the house in the wharf, stole half thekillesteis(a kind of acid bread)
yesterday [baked], spilt the oil. In the third month of the Shemuseason, the
12th day, during the crown feast of king Amenhotep, l.h.s., they went to the
granary, stole three great loaves, eightsabucakes of Rohusu berries ... They
drew a bottle of beer which was [cooling] in water, while I was staying in my
father’s room. My Lord, let whatsoever has been stolen be given back to me’.^3
Towards the later period of the Egyptian civilisation, the post of judge
became fixed and hereditary. Various texts show that judges were exhorted to
be honest and unbiased, but other records show that bribery and corruption
were not uncommon.
There were forms of police in ancient Egypt: at various times, men armed
with staves and dogs or trained monkeys were employed to guard public
places, and guards were recruited to prevent tomb robberies (Figure 7).
Tomb robbing was seen to be one of the worst crimes, because it not only
took the possessions of the dead from the grave, but also stole those
possessions from the deceased in the afterlife. The earliest recorded case
Figure 6. The judgement of Anubis–the deceased’s heart weighed against a
feather (from an Egyptian tomb painting)