in (service of ) the female slave PN, compensation shall be given ring
for ring.^449 (Made) before many witnesses.”^450
Of some interest, too, is the mode of expressing the possibility of
human interference with the work of the slaves, if the expression
“to be hot” is not taken literally.^451 At the end of P. Berlin 9784,
there may be an actual sale of a female slave, transacted before two
witnesses.^4527.1.2 Most Deir el-Medina court cases concern “non-payment for
goods and services.”^453 Goods are generally paid for by objects, but
these are often given a value in terms of copper or some other stan-
dard.^454 A person might become indebted to another individual
through borrowing an item to “pay” another party for a desired
object.^455
The Deir el-Medina material offers numerous examples of trans-
fers or sales. O. Gardiner 152 may record the purchase (or barter?)
of an ox in return for a donkey. On day 22, A gives B an ox. One
week later B brings the donkey in exchange, and states, apparently
in the presence of witnesses: “Look, this donkey is for the compen-
sation of your ox.”^456 A buyer has the right to expect a defect-free
object or animal. In O. DeM 73, a man complains that he has been
sold a poor-quality donkey, which the seller thereupon replaces with
one of more satisfactory quality.^4577.1.3 There are many Late period cession documents (called “doc-
uments of being far”), by means of which a person relinquishes any
claim to property or rights. One possible New Kingdom specimen
is O. Gardiner 104 (Twentieth Dynasty). Allam understands this to
be the earliest example of a cession document, drawn up either in(^449) This enigmatic expression has not yet been convincingly explained.
(^450) Gardiner, “Four Papyri.. .,” 32.
(^451) Ibid., 33. See now Navailles, “Qu’entendait-on...”
(^452) Gardiner, “Four Papyri.. .,” 32.
(^453) Bierbrier, Tomb-builders.. ., 103.
(^454) Helck, Wirtschaftsgeschichte.. ., 270. See Janssen, Commodity Prices.. ., 101–11,
494–509; Castle, “Shipping.. .,” 256–71.
(^455) Janssen, “Debts and Credit.. .,” 135.
(^456) Allam, Hieratische Ostraka.. ., 181–82, and Verfahrensrecht.. ., 20.
(^457) Allam, Hieratische Ostraka.. ., 88–89, and Verfahrensrecht.. ., 107. Cf. also
O. Gardiner 165 (Allam, Hieratische Ostraka.. ., 184); O. Petrie 14 (Théodoridès,
“Ouvriers.. .,” 117–19).
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