A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

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received orders directly from the “office of the Vizier.” They also

were responsible for ensuring that communications from that office

reached the proper persons, the desired action was performed, and

the communication was filed away.^69 The w ̇mw, “herald” is the next

most powerful administrator after the mayor ( ̇3ty-', see 2.1.3.3

below).^70 Public records are kept in his archive.^71 The case of a tem-

porary labor agreement regarding a servant woman, for example, is

considered in the office of the Vizier and the Bureau of the Reporter

in Elephantine.^72 One of the royal herald’s other functions was appar-

ently to summon persons to court. Sinuhe boasts of his good repu-

tation in Egypt: “No one had spat in my face. I had not heard a

reproach; my name had not been heard in the mouth of the herald.”^73

2.1.3.2.1 The vizier sent scribes to the provinces as agents and

observers to ensure that his directives were being followed.^74 The

∆3w official was “responsible for the material arrangements of a scribe

away from his office; he may have been attached more to the doc-

uments or scribal business than to the person of the scribe.”^75

2.1.3.2.2 The “overseer of fields” officiates in the case recorded in

P. Kahun II.1. He may have been involved as a witness and been

in charge of cases dealing with the recovery of debts in grain.^76

2.1.3.2.3 Several other possibly significant epithets or titles are com-

pounded with hp, “law.” In a text from the time of Sesostris I, a

man calls himself “one who knew the procedure of the laws (hp.w)

of inflicting punishment in judging (w≈') two men.”^77 A fimy-r hp,

“overseer of law,” is also attested.^78 An expedition leader from the

time of Sesostris II describes himself as “one who knows the laws,”

(^69) Hayes, Papyrus.. ., 139–40.
(^70) On the w ̇m.w, see Parent, L’Affaire.. ., 81–85; Spalinger, “Will of Senimose...,”
641; Quirke, Administration.. ., 206.
(^71) Vittmann, “Hieratic Texts,” 36. Cf. further Ward, “Middle Egyptian Sm3y.t.”
(^72) Vittmann, “Hieratic Texts,” 34.
(^73) Lichtheim, AEL1, 225.
(^74) Hayes, Papyrus.. ., 140.
(^75) Quirke, “Regular Titles.. .,” 130.
(^76) So Goedicke, Hekanakhte.. ., 77, 80.
(^77) Lorton, “King and the Law.. .,” 56.
(^78) So rendered in Wb. 2, 488/26 (title of the Middle Kingdom). On this title,
see Lorton, “King and the Law.. .,” 55–56.
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