A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

officer, the vizier supervised the police officials charged with main-

taining public order: “It is he who appoints the overseer of police.”^111

Among the officials responsible for border security was the “judi-

cial (s3b) border official of all deserts(?).”^112

2.1.4.4 Imprisonment in the sense of our “jails” or prisons does

not figure very prominently in the sources. P. Brooklyn 35.1446 pro-

vides for life imprisonment for those who desert their work in a ¢nr.t,

a term often rendered “prison.”^113 P. Kahun XII.1, 21 records “the

turning over of a runaway slave” to the ¢nr.t n s≈m, rendered by

Griffith as “the prison of trial.”^114 This institution also appears in

the literary texts. In the Westcar Papyrus, for example, Khufu com-

mands that a prisoner (from the ¢nr.t) be executed.^115

There is little evidence for amnesty in Middle Kingdom Egypt.^116

2.2 Functions

2.2.1 Corvée

Corvée labor was essential for state projects. Men are designated

̇sb.w“counted,” and were dispatched to work, for example, in quar-

ries or in transporting stones.^117 Organized into labor batallions (∆sw),

under the authority of “leaders” (¢pr.w) and “scribes and “comman-

ders” (∆s.w), such workers could labor for a period of months.^118

Another prominent, but obscure term for a type of corvée worker

is mny.w.^119

2.2.2 Military

In the Middle Kingdom are the first indications for a military sup-

ported by land grants.^120

(^111) Ibid., 250.
(^112) Fischer, Egyptian Titles.. ., 32. See also Quirke, Administration.. ., 22.
(^113) Hayes, Papyrus.. ., 53, 137, and 142; Quirke, “Regular Titles.. .,” 111, 115.
See further Franke, “Beititel.. .,” 18; Van den Boorn, Vizier.. ., 127 and 136;
Ward, Titles.. ., and Essay.. ., 78–80.
(^114) Hayes, Papyrus.. ., 38; Van den Boorn, Vizier.. ., 142.
(^115) Lichtheim, AEL1, 219.
(^116) Théodoridès, “L’Amnistie.”
(^117) Helck, “Frondienst,” cols. 333–34. See Hafemann, “Arbeitspflicht im alten
Ägypten. II.”
(^118) P. Reisner 1 is especially informative concerning the provisioning of drafted
laborers.
(^119) Helck, “Frondienst,” col. 333.
(^120) Helck, “Militär,” col. 130.
266 
WESTBROOK_F8_252-288 8/27/03 1:43 PM Page 266