A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

   803

6.1.3 A very significant group of texts are the Donation Stelai (esp.

the Twenty-second to Twenty-third Dynasties; 945–715).^227 The king

gives to the temples thereby the economic means to maintain them-

selves, generally in the form of land. These donations are sometimes

given by the king through the agency of a high official, for exam-

ple, the “Great Chief of the May.”^228 The status of these lands before

being donated is seldom known;^229 in some cases, they may have

been given to the donor in return for military service.^230 It is often

difficult to determine the motives behind such donations.^231

6.1.4 The Great Dakhla Stela records a dispute concerning the owner-

ship of a well in the oasis.^232 This text is important because the “court”

is presented with the copy from the royal registry (dny.w pr-' 3 ). The

ancestors of the plaintiffare shown to have had a claim to the well

more than a hundred years earlier, and consequently ownership rights

for him are validated. This verdict is confirmed by an oracular divine

statement.^233

6.1.5 Boundary stelae are erected, inscribed with texts placing the

land under the protection of a god.^234

6.2 Inheritance

6.2.1 Some texts, phrased in religious terms, provide for the dispersal

of property after a person’s death. The “will” of Iuwelot (Osorkon

III) is a conveyance by a High Priest of his estate to his son.^235 This

“will” may in fact be a donatio inter vivos, but this is not certain.^236

In Statue Cairo 42.208 (Twenty-second Dynasty) a man asserts that

one daughter, to the exclusion of her siblings, will inherit his property

(^227) Meeks, “Donations.. .,” 607.
(^228) Ibid., 633. Meeks points out that the local chiefs thus had considerable admin-
istrative, military, and economic power (639).
(^229) Ibid., 640.
(^230) Ibid., 641.
(^231) Ibid., 649. He further remarks that the private donations may have been con-
nected with the funerary cult (651). See also Helck, “Tempelwirtschaft,” col. 419.
(^232) Gardiner, “Dakhleh Stela...”
(^233) The procedure is reminiscent of the Mes court case several hundred years
earlier.
(^234) Meeks, “Une borne...”
(^235) Breasted, Ancient Records.. ., vol. 4, 405.
(^236) Menu, “La stèle dite de l’apanage,” 189. Donation documents are not attested
in abnormal hieratic (Donker van Heel, “Land Leases.. .,” 342).
westbrook_f22_775-818 8/27/03 1:34 PM Page 803