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Village Life in Ancient Egypt: Laundry Lists and Love Songs

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Andrea McDowell is Professor at the Seton Hall University School of Law, New Jersey, being specialized in legal history and property. One of her recent concerns is the American legal history. Let's remind some important data about her Egyptological career. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 with the thesis: "Jurisdiction in the Workmen's Community of Deir el-Medina". A. McDowell has taught Egyptology at Leiden, Oxford and The John Hopkins Universities, being considered one of the leading specialists on Ancient Egyptian legal and social history.
The "Village Life in Ancient Egypt. Laundry Lists and Love Songs" is one of the best sets of translation concerning the community from Deir el-Medina, a village where lived in the workers of the royal necropolis from Thebes. A short "Introduction" place in time, and contexts the written sources translated in the present book. The title is a bit misleading, because the rendered texts cover, as far as possible, the whole range of the activities performed by the villagers. The author grouping them in 6 separate chapters: family and friends; daily life; religion; education, learning, and literature; law and work on the royal tomb. Every translation is preceding by a succinct explanation. The translated texts are rendered in accurate English. Perhaps, some textual notes placed after each translation was expected especially by the average reader. Anyhow, this handsome book stands for a treasure of sources with regard to the understanding of the everyday life of the people leaved at Deir el-Medina.

A.G Mc Dowell has written a book about the workers who build the tombs of the kings and queens of Egypt's New Kingdom (circa 1550 - 1075 BCE). Those workers, whose daily lives we follow through a wealth of original written sources, lived in a village; today the ruins are called Deir el-Medina, back then the village was simply called "The Village".

The workers lived with their families in small houses in Deir el-Medina, and while their main concern was building the tomb of the Pharaoh, they also had all the problems and sorrows and joys as modern people have. We can read about their problems with superiors at work, their love life, marriage, kids, sickness and about their interest in suing each other for minor crimes!

While this book use the original sources, Mc Dowell explains each little text in a modern and easily understood language, and this book is for everyone who wants to know how the Ancient Egyptians lived more than 3000 years ago.

This is a great primary presentation of everyday life in Deir el-Medina. The translator takes advantage of the unique culture surrounding the construction of the pyramids and exploits it to great effect. McDowell presents something of a ancient, local newspaper, and his presentation is very satisfying.