status and exercising official functions, may often have been sup-
ported by usufruct of state- or temple-owned property.^239 There seems
to have also been private property in the Old Kingdom in the sense
that people felt able to alienate,^240 bequeath, or sell property with-
out explicit recourse to the state. Already Metjen (Third to Fourth
Dynasty) distinguishes between his paternal property and property
deriving from other sources.^241 This land may have originally derived
from the king but was ultimately considered personal property.^242
The ≈.tor pr-≈.twere apparently a “more personal” type of prop-
erty, which was not bound to any administrative function.^2436.1 Tenure
Officials take pains to assert that they built their tombs with their
own means on land belonging to themselves.^244 They emphasize,
moreover, that they properly compensated the tomb workers, who
depart ̇tp, “satisfied.”^245
Most land was presumably under royal or temple control,^246 cul-
tivated by persons effectively bound to the fields. There were large
landholdings designated ̇.wt, “mansions,” “manors,” and nfiw.wt, “vil-
lages,” throughout Egypt.^247 As already mentioned, high officials andAndrassy, “Überlegungen.. .”; Menu and Harari, “Propriété privée.. .”; Helck,
“Wege zum Eigentum...”(^239) Helck, Wirtschaftsgeschichte.. ., 59.
(^240) Gutgesell, “Entstehung.. .,” 76.
(^241) Harari and Menu, “Notion.. .,” 140, 145; Goedicke, Rechtsinschriften.. ., 191,
and Königliche Dokumente.. ., 217.
(^242) Boochs, “Zur Bedeutung der b3k(w)t“Leistungen,” 211; Roth, “Organization.. .,”
116.
(^243) Harari and Menu, “Notion.. .,” 142; Goedicke, Königliche Dokumente.. ., 208.
Goedicke, Rechtsinschriften.. ., 34–35, discusses the nature of the pr-≈.t. There are
other technical terms for kinds of property as well: e.g., Goedicke, Königliche
Dokumente.. ., 31–32 (sk3). See further Gödecken, Meten.. ., 304–25; Perepelkin,
Privateigentum...
(^244) E.g., Doret, Verbal System.. ., 28, 42 (= Urk. 1, 50, and 71).
(^245) Thus, part of their private property was used by the officials to pay crafts-
men; see Eichler, Untersuchungen.. ., 318–20; Eyre, “Work.. .,” 24–25. See further
Roth, “Practical Economics...”
(^246) See Menu, “Fondations...” 3 ̇.t-n∆r, for example, is perhaps land dedicated
to the god and tax-exempt (Goedicke, Königliche Dokumente.. ., 30). The royal edicts
can deal with the establishment of endowments, using royal land (Goedicke, Königliche
Dokumente.. ., 170).
(^247) See Eyre, “Work.. .,” 32–36, on land tenure, and 33 for ̇w.t (“manor,”
“mansions,” “estates”) and nfiw.t(“villages”).
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