ABSTRACT
Text A of P. Wilbour records what appears to be the assessment of approximately 2800 plots of agricultural land in Middle Egypt during year 4 of Ramesses V. (1) The fields therein described extended somewhere to the north of Crocodilopolis (Medlnet elFayyum) and southwards almost to Tihna just short of El-Minyah. Thus, the fields extended over a distance of about 140 kilometers and were owned (or virtually owned) and administered by a wide variety of secular and religious institutions.(2)
Text A of P. Wilbour is a unique register of institutionally owned landholdings consisting of no less than 4500 lines in 102 columns. The register is divided into 279 stereotyped paragraphs organized into four sections corresponding to four consecutive periods of assessment-roughly from July 2 to 24 (Gregorian). (3) Each paragraph begins with the identification of what is apparently the land-owning institution, religious or secular, under which are ordered a series of assessment lines enumerating plots of varying sizes measured in either land-cubits 3 (ml.i-t3) or arouras ^ ( s£3t). Each paragraph specifies the geographic location of each plot, two or more plots usually enumerated under the same location. Measurement lines begin with the rubricized phrase: "MEASUREMENT made in...," or "MEASUREMENT m a d e to the north (south, etc.) of..." The assessment lines which follow provide details concerning each plot in question, listing the name and occupation of the responsible party, the size of the plot, and the assessment (if any) levied on the land calculated as a share in the harvest.
