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A Bibliography of Heqanakht Papyri Studies (2nd ed.)
compiled by Mattias Karlsson in June 2021
An overview
A century has passed since the discovery of the Heqanakht papyri in the Deir el-Bahri
necropolis of ancient Thebes by the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Theban Expedition in the
excavation season of 1921-22.1
With this in mind, what could be more fitting than to paint a
picture of the research done on these papyri so far? In this bibliography paper, I will firstly
give an outline of earlier research (in chronological order), state the methods used in my
compilation, and lastly present the bibliography in list form. It is my hope that this
bibliography paper will play a part in facilitating further studies on the Heqanakht papyri.
The papyri consist of five letters and four to nine accounts,2
and they were written by and
for a man named Heqanakht. He is described as a “ka-priest”, which means that he was a
“mortuary priest” in charge of a mortuary endowment.3
The papyri concern the administration
of his domestic and economic affairs. Letters I and II (the most famous texts) were written by
Heqankaht (who was away from home at the time of the writing of these letters) to his
household. The insights into the family life and the personal tone conveyed by the said letters,
as well as the detailed information on economic issues and agricultural practices in ancient
Egypt around 2000 BCE (more precisely, the early part of Middle Kingdom Egypt) that are
conveyed in the letters and accounts, have inspired much research (Allen 2002b: 3-21).4
Starting from the discovery of the papyri, the leader of the archaeological expedition in
question, H.E. Winlock, early on published a report on the papyri in a scholarly journal
(Winlock 1922), as well as an article titled “Hekanakht Writes to His Household” in a popular
magazine (Winlock 1923). These works were based on the preliminary translations of B.
Gunn. A scholarly edition of the papyri and other similar documents was prepared by Gunn,
and a preface and introduction to this planned edition were written by Winlock ([1927?],
[1936]). Due to Gunn’s death in 1950, the work on the edition of the papyri was temporarily
halted, but was taken up and completed by T.G.H. James (1962) through his book (Allen
2002b: xv-xvii). This long-awaited work also contains notes on society, geography,
agriculture, and economy based on the texts of the papyri. A number of reviews of this book
followed in the 1960’s, telling of its impact in Egyptology (Spaull 1962, Simpson 1963, de
1
This paper is a revised version of the ones still available at http://academia.edu and at http://uu.diva-portal.org
(publication database of Uppsala University Library), both with “1922-2015” added to the title.
2
Or of eight complete documents and five fragments (MMA 22.3.516-523 and Papyrus Purches). The
documents and fragments (including Papyrus Purches) were found in the tomb of Meseh (a man not spoken of in
the papyri), a secondary burial in the tomb complex of the vizier Ipi (Allen 2002: 3).
3
A ka-priest took care of the mortuary cult of a deceased person in exchange e.g. for land. This official then was
a landowner and businessman as much as a religious, ritual specialist (Golovina 1992).
4
The former traits of the papyri have even inspired popular culture, as expressed e.g. through the novel “Death
Comes as the End” by Agatha Christie (Glasgow: Fontana/Collins, 1989 [1945]).

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Cénival 1963, Derchain 1963, Helck 1963, Théodoridès 1966, Winter 1967). In a subsequent
paper, James (1968) was able to add another papyrus to the text corpus in question.
Minor studies on specific aspects of the Heqanakht papyri could then be made. A few of
these dealt with the language of the papyri (Callender 1975, Depuydt 1988, Allen 1994),
others focused on agriculture and economy (Baer 1962, Shore 1990, Golovina 1995), some of
them centered on socio-cultural aspects (Menu 1970, Golovina 1976, 1992), others had a
literary-philological angle (Kaplony 1969, Goldwasser 1980), and another one dealt with
calendrical issues on the basis of the papyri (Spalinger 1996). Especially the article by K.
Baer (1963) on economical aspects and the book by H. Goedicke (1984) on the papyri as a
whole stand out. Goedicke’s study, which contains discussions on many aspects of the texts,
led to a review by S. Quirke (1988). A translation is included in this study, and translations
are also available in the later text anthologies of E. Wente (1990) and R. Parkinson (1991).
Another important stage in the research on the Heqanakht papyri was when J.P. Allen
(2002b / 2004) published his edition of these texts. Besides giving a new edition of the papyri,
his monograph also includes studies on the language, people, toponyms, and archaeological
context of the papyri. This book has then been reviewed a number of times (Silver 2004, Tait
2005, Clayton 2005). After that, various studies on specific aspects of the papyri have kept on
coming, mainly focusing on agricultural economy (e.g. Ezzamel 2002, Nutz 2014, Menu
2018), socio-cultural dimensions (e.g. Cardoso 2003, O’Neill 2012, Köhler 2018), and
literary-philological angles (e.g. Collier 2005, Brose 2012). The study of M.C. Tetley (2014)
brings up calendrical-chronological issues, and the paper by L. Morenz (2005) centres on
popular religion. No doubt, the research on these fascinating letters and accounts will go on.
As for the including or excluding of texts to the bibliography, I have largely followed the
principle of Allen (2002b: 261-70), who marks the works that “are or contain extensive
studies or translations of the Heqanakht papyri” by asterisks in his bibliography.5
The papyri
are referred to in many studies, but often just in passing. Upon meticuluosly searching
through various databases (notably the “Online Egyptological Bibliography”, available at
oeb.griffith.ox.ac.uk), I have added a few works to Allen’s bibliography (for example
Simpson 1963 and Winter 1967 - both reviews of James 1962) and added a number of works
published from 2001 onwards. Article entries on Heqanakht and the Heqanakht papyri in
reference works (such as the “Lexikon der Ägyptologie”) have been omitted, due to their brief
and summarizing tendencies. The list given below concludes this bibliography paper.
5
My aim has been to collect works that contain critical, annotated translations of the papyri and works that to a
significant degree centre on the papyri. Admittedly, the boundaries are not always clear-cut.

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The bibliography
▪ Winlock, H.E. 1922. “Excavations at Thebes”. Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
17/2: 19-48.
▪ Winlock, H.E. 1923. “Hekanakht Writes to His Household”. Scribners Magazine 73/3: 288-
296.
▪ Winlock, H.E. 2002a [1927?]. “B. Introduction”. Published in Allen 2002b: 245-255.
▪ Winlock, H.E. 2002b [1936]. “A. Preface”. Published in Allen 2002b: 243-244.
⁕ Baer, K. 1962. “The Low Price of Land in Ancient Egypt”. Journal of the American
Research Center in Egypt 1: 25-45.
⁕ James, T.G.H. 1962. The Ḥeḳanakhte Papers and Other Early Middle Kingdom Documents.
Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition 19. New York: The
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
⁕ Baer, K. 1963. “An Eleventh Dynasty Farmer’s Letters to His Family”. Journal of the
American Oriental Society 83: 1-19.
⁕ de Cénival, J.-L. 1963. Review of James 1962. Revue d’Égyptologie 15: 138-143.
⁕ Derchain, P. 1963. Review of James 1962. Bibliotheca Orientalis 20: 154-156.
▪ Simpson, W. 1963. Review of James 1962. American Journal of Archaeology 67/4: 423.
⁕ Spaull, C.H.S. 1963. Review of James 1962. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 49: 184-186.
⁕ Helck, W. 1964. Review of James 1962. Orientalische Literaturzeitung 59: 29-33.
⁕ Théodoridès, A. 1966. Review of James 1962. Chronique d’Égypte 41: 295-302.
▪ Winter, E. 1967. Review of James 1962. Wiener Zeitschrift für das Kunde des
Morgenlandes 61: 127-129.
⁕ James, T.G.H. 1968. “An Early Middle Kingdom Account”. Journal of Egyptian
Archaeology 54: 51-56.
⁕ Kaplony, P. 1969. “Bemerkungen zu fünf Texten der Ersten Zwischenzeit und der späteren
11. Dynastie, V.”. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo
25/4: 27-32.
⁕ Menu, B. 1970. “La gestion du ‛patrimoine’ foncier d’Hekanakhte”. Revue d’Égyptologie
22: 111-129.
⁕ Callender, J.B. 1975. Middle Egyptian. Afroasiatic Dialects 2. Malibu: Undena
Publications.
⁕ Golovina, V. 1976. “The Social Structure of the Farm of the Soul-Priest Ḥḳ3-nḫt (in
translation)”. VDI - Весмнuк Дреөнеŭ Исморuu 1976/2: 122-142.

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⁕ Goldwasser, O. 1980. “Ḥeḳanakhte and the ‛Boat Metaphor’ (Ḥeḳanakhte Papers, I, vs. 2-
3)”. Göttinger Miszellen 40: 21-22.
⁕ Goedicke, H. 1984. Studies in the Hekanakhte Papers. Baltimore: Halgo.
⁕ Depuydt, L. 1988. “The End of ḫr.f sḏm.f in the Heqanakhte Letters”. Revue d’Égyptologie
39: 204-208.
⁕ Quirke, S. 1988. Review of Goedicke 1984. Discussions in Egyptology 12: 97-102.
⁕ Shore, A.F. 1990. “Smash Not Sieve: Heqanakhte II, rt. 30”. Journal of Egyptian
Archaeology 76: 164-166.
⁕ Wente, E. 1990. Letters from Ancient Egypt. Writings from the Ancient World 1. Atlanta:
Scholars Press, Society of Biblical Literature.
⁕ Parkinson, R. 1991. Voices from Ancient Egypt: an Anthology of Middle Kingdom Writings.
Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture 9. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
⁕ Golovina, V. 1992. “The Institution of ḥmw-k3 in Ancient Egypt of the Middle Kingdom (in
translation)”. VDI - Весмнuк Дреөнеŭ Исморuu 1992/1: 3-20.
⁕ Allen, J.P. 1994. “Colloquial Middle Egyptian: Some Observations on the Language of
Heqanakht”. Lingua Aegyptia 4: 1-12.
⁕ Golovina, V. 1995. “Ḳdb: a Special Type of the Lease of Land in Egypt of the Early Middle
Kingdom (in translation)”. VDI - Весмнuк Дреөнеŭ Исморuu 1995/2: 4-27.
⁕ Spalinger, A.J. 1996. “Calendrical Evidence and Hekanakhte”. Zeitschrift für Ägyptische
Sprache und Altertumskunde 123: 85-96.
▪ Landgráfová, R. 2001. “Focusing on the Topic: Some Perspectives in the Functional
Generative Description of Middle Egyptian”. Pp. 69-79 in J. Popielska-Grzybowska (ed.),
Proceedings of the First Central European Conference of Young Egyptologists. Warsaw:
Institute of Archaeology, Warsaw University.
▪ Sabek, Y. 2001. “Bemerkungen zu zwei ägyptischen Wörtern”. Pp. 431-442 in C.-B. Arnst,
I. Hafemann, and A. Lohwasser (eds.), Begegnungen: Antike Kulturen im Niltal. Leipzig:
Wodtke und Stegbauer.
▪ Ezzamel, M. 2002. “Accounting for Private Estates and the Household in the Twentieth
Century BC Middle Kingdom, Ancient Egypt”. Abacus 38/2: 235-262.
▪ Allen, J.P. 2002a. “Letters”. Pp. 5-17 in W.W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger Jr. (eds.), The
Context of Scripture III: Archival Documents from the Biblical World. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
▪ Allen, J.P. 2002b / 2004. The Heqanakht Papyri. Publications of the Metropolitan Museum
of Art 27. London / New Haven and London: The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Yale
University Press.
▪ Cardoso, C.F. 2003. “Uma casa e uma família no antigo Egito”. Phoínix 9: 65-97.
▪ Vymazalová, H. 2003. “Hekanachtova korespondence a hospodářský vyvoj Egyptá před
počátkern střední řiše”. Pražské Egyptologické studie suplementa 1: 47-55.

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▪ Silver, M. 2004. Review of Allen 2002b / 2004. Online at http://www.eh.net (Tucson: The
Economic History Association).
▪ Collier, M. 2005. “Reading ir wnn Conditionals in the Heqanakhte Documents”. Lingua
Aegyptia 13: 1-29.
▪ Clayton, P.A. 2005. Review of Allen 2002b / 2004. Minerva 16/1: 55.
▪ Morenz, L. 2005. “Die Sobeks: Spuren von Volksreligion im ägyptischen Mittleren Reich”.
Pp. 83-97 in M. Fitzenreiter (ed.), Tierkulte im pharaonischen Ägypten und im
Kulturvergleich. London: Golden House.
▪ Tait, J. 2005. Review of Allen 2002b / 2004. Antiquity 79/304: 464-465.
▪ Markiewicz, T. 2006. “Heqanakhte and the Origins of ‛Hemiolion’”. Journal of Juristic
Papyrology 36: 125-136.
▪ Cardoso, C.F. 2009. “Las unidades domésticas en el Egipto antiguo”. Pp. 87-106 in M.
Campagno (ed.), Parentesco, patronazgo y estado en las sociedades antiguas. Buenos Aires:
Universidad de Buenos Aires.
▪ Brose, M. 2012. “‛Hierarchien’ in den Briefformeln des Mittleren Reiches”. Pp. 35-43 in G.
Neunert, K. Gabler, and A. Verbovsek (eds.), Sozialisationen: Individuum – Gruppe –
Gesellschaft. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
▪ Donnat, S. 2012. “Gestion in absentia du domaine familial: À propos des lettres aux morts
et des documents d’Héqanakht”. Pp. 227-242 in A. Gasse, F. Servajean, and C. Thiers (eds.),
Et in Aegypto et ad Aegyptum. Montpellier: Université Paul Valéry.
▪ O’Neill, B. 2012. “The Papyri of Heqanakht and the Emergence of a Middle Class in Middle
Kingdom Egypt”. Egyptological Journal 5 (online publisher).
▪ Gayubas, A. 2013. “On Hekanakht Papers: Brief Reflections as a Homage to Ciro Cardoso
(1942-2013)”. Damqātum 9: 14-16.
▪ O’Neill, B. 2013. “Revisiting Heqanakht”. Egyptological Magazine 8 (online publisher).
▪ Castro Córdoba, E. 2014. “Cultiva con energía: Un egipcio del siglo XXI a.C. replica a Karl
Polanyi”. Encrucijadas: Revista crítica de ciencias sociales 7: 36-40.
▪ Nutz, R. 2014. Ägyptens wirtschaftliche Grundlagen in der mittleren Bronzezeit (see section
C: Case study: Heqanakht). Archaeopress Egyptology 4. Oxford: Archaeopress.
▪ Tetley, M.C. 2014. The Reconstructed Chronology of the Egyptian Kings (see chapter
“Reading Hekanakhte’s Letters”, pp. 347-52). Onerahi: B.W. Tetley.
▪ Karlsson, M. 2015. “The Composition and Hierarchies of the Household of Heqanakht”.
Online at http://uu.diva-portal.org; permanent link: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-253651 (Uppsala:
Uppsala University Library).
▪ Wilkinson, T. 2016. Writings from Ancient Egypt (see section 6.1 “Selections from the
Heqanakht Letters”, pp. 143-47). Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books.

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▪ Köhler, I. 2018. “Mr. and Mrs. Heqanachte und ein erfolgreiches Familienunternehmen.
Zum Status der beteiligten in einem familialen Netzwerk”. Pp. 249-265 in A.I. Blöbaum, M.
Eaton-Krauss, and A. Wüthrich (eds.), Pérégrinations avec Erhart Graefe. Münster: Zaphon.
▪ Menu, B. 2018. Les fondements de l’économie: Les bases structurelles de l’économie (see
chapter “Le Moyen Empire et la gestion des biens fonciers par un vivant (Heqanakhte) et par
un mort (Hâpidjéfaï)”). Histoire économique et sociale de l’ancienne Égypte 1. Paris: CNRS.