Tomb Robbery Papyrus (Papyrus Mayer B)

Papyrus Mayer B is part of a confession of robberies in the tomb of Ramesses VI (KV 9) in the late Ramesside era, probably during year 8 or 9 of Ramesses X (Khepermaatre) about 1118 BC. It consists of fourteen horizontal lines but is unfortunately no more than a fragment. The beginning and end are both incomplete, and it doubtless formed part of a long document of which no other portion has survived.


The script is a typical hieratic of the 20th Dynasty, with a tendency towards cursiveness, though not nearly as that shown in Papyrus Mayer A. Unfortunately it cannot be brought into historical connection with the papyri of any other group. Four (or five) persons are mentioned by name in it, the foreigners Pais and Nesamiin, the coppersmiths Pentehetnakht and Hori. The papyrus is part of the confession of a thief, who relates that he and his companion quarrelled as to the division of the spoil (silver, bronze, copper and linen) and were "given away" by a third man who had managed to surprise their secret. It records thefts in the tomb of Ramesses VI (KV 9 in the Valley of the Kings) and a graffito dated to regnal year 9 of Ramesses IX on the ceiling of the burial chamber J may refer to the inspection of the tomb after it was reported robbed.

The papyrus was unrolled and mounted on linen by Constantine Simonides (1820–1867) for Joseph Mayer (1803-1886) who purchased the papyrus in 1855 from Revd. Henry Stobart (1824-1895).