The Provisions for Insurance of Private Funeral Cults in the Old Kingdom: Study for Three Textual Cases

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Archaeology, Assistant Professor of Egyptian Archaeology, Archaeology Department, Faculty of Arts, Damanhour University, Egypt Arts, Damanhour, Egypt.

Abstract

Some Old Kingdom inscriptions deal with the granting and donation as fields or other goods like clothing or barley in exchange for ensuring the invocation offering of the donor's funerary cult. and these texts have traditionally been interpreted as mere donation inscriptions or wills. However, In the light of a new translation of a bunch of them, the view will be held that they belong to the earliest witnesses in human history of legal insurance whose basic requirements—insurable interest, risk, coverage and payment for the coverage for the tomb and offerings in exchange for donation and grants guaranteed by the deceased to the payee. such as Penmeru’s, Tjenti’s and Kaeimnefret’s texts. There was a legal agreement made between the donor, "the insured" and "the insurer", as long as the former was alive, in which "the payment" was specified. The counterpart for the payee "the insurer," was the perpetual maintenance of the donor's funerary complex after their death. Typically, relatives and priests were responsible for maintaining the funerary complex. Accordingly, the insurance involved three elements: the donor "the insured" who received the funerary service; the payee "the insurer," who benefited from the donations provided by the donor before their death; the third element was the payment "premium" agreed upon between the two parties.

Keywords

References

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