This volume presents the twenty-seven limestone and hieratic ostraca
collected by the Reverend Colin Campbell in Egypt at the turn of the
century and donated by him to the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow. All but
one come from the New Kingdom community of Deir el-Medina, the exception
being a Ptolemaic copy of the Offering of the mnw-vase, hitherto known
only from inscriptions. The main group of ostraca contains hymns,
magical, literary, administrative, legal and economic texts.
Particularly interesting examples include a letter about the inheritance
of a group of slaves, and what appears to be record of a son's support
for his retired father. Many of these texts are published here for the
first time; they are presented in facsimiles and transcriptions, and
furnished with full translation and commentary. Indexes of personal
names and Egyptian words discussed in the commentary complete the book.