Note 200 — Chapter XXI · THEBES.

The “Great Harris Papyrus” is described by Dr. Birch as “one of the finest, best written and best preserved that has been discovered in Egypt. It measures one hundred and thirty-three feet long by sixteen and three-quarter inches broad, and was found with several others in a tomb behind Medinet Habu. Purchased soon after by the late A. C. Harris of Alexandria, it was subsequently unrolled and divided into seventy-nine leaves and laid down on cardboard. With the exception of some small portions which are wanting in the first leaf, the text is complete throughout.” The papyrus purports to be a post mortem address of the king, Rameses III, recounting the benefits he had conferred upon Egypt by his administration, and by his delivery of the country from foreign subjection. It also records the immense gifts which he had conferred on the temples of Egypt, of Amen at Thebes, Tum at Heliopolis, and Ptah at Memphis, etc. “The last part is addressed to the officers of the army, consisting partly of Sardinian and Libyan mercenaries, and to the people of Egypt, in the thirty-second year of his reign, and is a kind of posthumous panegyrical discourse, or political will, like that of Augustus discovered by Ancyra. The papyrus itself consists of the following divisions, three of which are preceded by large colored plates or vignettes: Introduction; donations to the Thebau deities; donations to the gods of Heliopolis; donations to the gods of Memphis; donations to the gods of the north and south; summary of donations; historical speech and conclusion. Throughout the monarch speaks in the first person, the list excepted.” Introduction to “Annals of Rameses III;” S. Birch. “Records of the Past,” vol. vi, p. 21; 1876.