List of papyri from ancient Egypt

This list of papyri from ancient Egypt includes some of the better known individual papyri written in hieroglyphs, hieratic, demotic or in ancient Greek. Excluded are papyri found abroad or containing Biblical texts which are listed in separate lists.

Photo of ancient papyrus document, showing vertical and horizontal striations from the strips of pith of the papyrus plant.

The content descriptions are preceded by a letter in bold font, indicating the literary genre it belongs to. In the case of collections of texts of various kinds, the first letter refers to the most important text on the papyrus.

• B : biographical
• D : drawings: cartoons, maps
• F : funerary: Books of the Dead
• L : literary texts: tales, poems
• O : official records
• P : private papyri, correspondence, contracts
• R : religious, myths
• S : scientific: mathematical, medical
• T : teachings, instructions
• W : wordlists

Name	Date: century BCE	Content	Institution	Ref #	City	Country
Diary of Merer	26th	O - stone transport to the Great Pyramid of Giza	Egyptian Museum	[1]	Cairo	Egypt
Abusir Papyri	25th or later	O - about Neferirkare Kakai
Moscow Mathematical Papyrus	21st	S - Mathematical problems and solutions	Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts		Moscow	Russia
Berlin Papyrus	21st or later	S - Medical and mathematical topics	Egyptian Museum of Berlin	P. Berlin 6619	Berlin	Germany
Dramatic Ramesseum Papyrus	20th	R - Religious drama	British Museum	P. BM EA 10610,2	London	UK
Westcar Papyrus	20th	L - Tales of Magic	Egyptian Museum of Berlin	P. Berlin 3033	Berlin	Germany
Heqanakht Papyri	20th	P - Private Correspondence of Heqanakht	Metropolitan Museum of Art	22.3	New York City	United States
Papyrus Hermitage 1116A Papyrus Moscow, Papyrus Carlsberg 6	20th or later	T - Instruction of Merikare
P. Leningrad 1115	20th or later	L - Tale of the shipwrecked sailor	Russian Museum	P. Leningrad 1115	Moscow	Russia
Prisse Papyrus	20th or later	T - Instruction addressed to Kagemni The Maxims of Ptahhotep	Bibliothèque Nationale		Paris	France
Papyrus Berlin 3023 Papyrus Berlin 3025 Papyrus Berlin 10499	20th or later	L - The Eloquent Peasant		P. Berlin 3023 P. Berlin 3025 P. Berlin 10499	Berlin	Germany
Papyrus Butler 527	20th or later	L - The Eloquent Peasant	British Museum	P. BM 10274	London	UK
Papyrus Berlin 3024	20th or later	L - Dispute between a man and his Ba, Herdsman's Tale		P. Berlin 3024	Berlin	Germany
Hearst Papyrus	20th or later	S - Medical texts	University of California, Berkeley		Berkeley, CA	United States
Rhind Mathematical Papyrus	19th or later	S - Mathematical problems and solutions	British Museum	pBM 10057, pBM 10058	London	UK
Kahun Papyri	19th	S - Mathematical and medical topics	University College London		London	UK
Papyrus Berlin 3022	19th	B (?)- Story of Sinuhe		P. Berlin 3022	Berlin	Germany
Ramesseum medical papyri	18th	S - Medical texts
Papyrus Boulaq 18	18th	O - palace administration			Cairo	Egypt
London Medical Papyrus	18th	S - Medical texts	British Museum	pBM 10059	London	UK
Reisner Papyrus	18th	O - official records
Ipuwer Papyrus	17th	T - The Admonitions of Ipuwer	Rijksmuseum van Oudheden	Papyrus Leiden I 344	Leiden	Netherlands
Papyrus Golenischeff	17th	R - Hymn to the Red Crown
Edwin Smith Papyrus	16th or earlier	S - Medical	New York Academy of Medicine		New York City	United States
Ebers Papyrus	16th	S - Medical	University of Leipzig		Leipzig	Germany
Millingen Papyrus (now lost)	16th or later	T - Instructions of Amenemhat
Carlsberg Papyrus VIII	15th (ca. 1400 BC) or later (perhaps Ramesside: 1292-1077 BC)	S - Medical texts	University of Copenhagen	VIII	Copenhagen	Denmark
Turin King List	13th (1292-1077 BC; Ramesside)	O - Kinglist	Museo Egizio		Turin	Italy
Papyrus of Ani	13th or later (ca. 1250 BC)	F - Book of the Dead	Egyptian Museum	P. Boulaq 4	Cairo	Egypt
Papyrus Sallier II	13th or later	T - The Satire of the Trades	British Museum		London	UK
Papyrus Anastasi I	13th or later (1292-1077 BC; Ramesside)	T - Satirical letter	British Museum	pBM 10247	London	UK
Papyrus Harris I	12th (1155–1149 BC)	O - Lists of endowments	British Museum	P. BM 9999.	London	UK
Judicial Papyrus of Turin	12th	O - Report on the Harem conspiracy against Ramesses III
Turin Papyrus Map	12th (ca. 1150 BC)	D - Map	Museo Egizio		Turin	Italy
Abbott Papyrus	12th (ca. 1100 BC)	O - Investigation of crimes	British Museum	10221	London	UK
Leopold II and Amherst Papyrus	12th (1113 BC)	O - Investigation of crimes	Musée d'arts		Brussels	Belgium
Mayer Papyri	12th and later (A: 1083-1080 BC; B: 1118 BC)	O - Investigation of crimes	World Museum	M11162, M11186	Liverpool	UK
Chester Beatty Medical Papyrus	12th	S - Medical texts	British Museum		London	UK
Papyrus British Museum 10474	12th	T - Instructions of Amenemopet	British Museum	P. BM 10474	London	UK
Papyrus Lansing	12th	T - Schoolbook	British Museum	P. BM 9994	London	UK
Papyrus Chester Beatty IV	12th	T - The Immortality of Writers	British Museum	P. BM 10684	London	UK
Papyrus D’Orbiney	12th	L - Tale of Two Brothers	British Museum	P. BM 10183	London	UK
Papyrus Chester Beatty II	12th	L - Tale of Truth and Falsehood	British Museum	P. BM 10682	London	UK
Papyrus Chester Beatty I	12th	L - Love poetry Contention between Horus and Seth
Turin Erotic Papyrus	12th (ca. 1150 BC)	D - Animal and erotic cartoons		P. Turin 55001	Turin	Italy
Papyrus Harris 500	12th or later	L - Tale of the doomed prince, The Taking of Joppa, love poems, the Harper's Song	British Museum	P. BM 10060	London	UK
Papyrus Pushkin I	12th or later	L - Moscow literary letter		P. Pushkin I
Greenfield Papyrus	11th	F - Book of the Dead	British Museum	BM EA 10554	London	UK
Papyrus Moscow 120	11th or later	L - Story of Wenamun		P. Moscow 120
Papyrus Hood	10th	W - Onomasticon of Amenope	British Museum	P. BM EA 10202	London	UK
Papyrus Berlin 3048	8th	P - Marriage contract		P. Berlin 3048	Berlin	Germany
Papyrus Rylands 9	6th	P - The petition of Pediese	John Rylands Library	P. Rylands 9	Manchester	UK
Brooklyn Papyrus	5th (450 BC)	S - Medical texts	Brooklyn Museum		Brooklyn	United States
Papyrus Bremner–Rhind	4th	R - The Songs of Isis and Nephthys.	British Museum	P. BM 10188	London	UK
British Museum Papyrus 10508	4th or later	T - Instruction of Ankhsheshonq	British Museum	P. BM 10508	London	UK
Papyrus Berlin 3008	4th or later	R - The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys		P.Berlin 3008	Berlin	Germany
Cairo Museum Papyrus No. 30646	4th or later	L - Setne I	Egyptian Museum	Cairo Museum Papyrus No. 30646	Cairo	Egypt
Cairo Museum Papyrus No. 30692	4th or later	L - Setne I	Egyptian Museum	Cairo Museum Papyrus No. 30692	Cairo	Egypt
Vienna Demotic Papyrus 6165	4th or later	L - Story-cycle of King Petubastis		Vienna Demotic Papyrus 6165	Vienna	Austria
Leiden Demotic Papyrus I 384	4th or later	R - The Myth of the Eye of the Sun	Rijksmuseum van Oudheden	P.Leid.Dem. I 384	Leiden	Netherlands
Papyrus Milbank	4th or later (332-30 BC)	F - Book of the Dead	Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures	E10486[2]	Chicago	United States
Zenon Papyri	3rd (250-230 BC)	O/P: legal and financial transactions, architectural descriptions	dispersed	[3][4]	various
Waziri Papyrus I	3rd or later	F - Book of the Dead	Egyptian Museum		Cairo	Egypt
Milan Papyrus	3rd or later (ca. 220 BC)	L - Poetry in Greek	University of Milan	P.Mil.Vogl. VIII 309	Milan	Italy
Insinger Papyrus	1st or later	T - Instruction of Papyrus Insinger	Rijksmuseum van Oudheden	F 95 / 5.1	Leiden	Netherlands
Dryton and Apollonia Archive	1st or later (174-94 BCE; Ptolemaic)	P - family papers	dispersed	[5]
British Museum Papyrus 604	1st AD (39 AD)	L - Setne II	British Museum	P. BM 604[6]	London	UK

See also

• Amherst papyri
• Elephantine papyri
• List of New Testament papyri
• Oxyrhynchus Papyri
• Saite Oracle Papyrus

References

1. "Egypt Displays Oldest Papyrus, Accounts on Pyramid-Builders - The New York Times". www.nytimes.com. Archived from the original on 2016-07-14.
2. "Papyrus Milbank". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
3. McKenzie, McKenzie & Moorey 2007.
4. "About the Zenon Papyri". apps.lib.umich.edu. University of Michigan. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
5. Lewis, N: “Greeks in Ptolemaic Egypt”, pp 88–103. Oxford University Press, 1986
6. "papyrus (Previous P.Lond.3.604B) | British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 2023-11-16.

Sources

• Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol. 1 to 3 https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/07/14/world/middleeast/ap-ml-egypt-antiquities.html Archived 2016-07-18 at the Wayback Machine
• McKenzie, Judith; McKenzie, Rhys-Davids Junior Research Fellow in Archaeology Judith; Moorey, Peter Roger Stuart (2007). The Architecture of Alexandria and Egypt, C. 300 B.C. to A.D. 700. Yale University Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-300-11555-0. Retrieved 21 April 2021.