Fragmentary sheet of papyrus with hieratic letter in black, in thick, large, clear signs, in one 'page' of one vertical and 22 (originally 33) horizontal lines on recto, vertical line of address on verso. Torn at bottom, with numerous insect-holes. Petrie lot No. XV.I. The letter is from Pepu, whose job or titles are not mentioned, to a woman called Sobekhotep, whose title is “Lady of the house”. Pepu is telling her that the herald, who is a high-ranking official, has gone beyond the remit he has in his capacity of a herald and has had authorisation from above to do so. Apparently, it had always been the case in the past that only the “overseer of disputes”, whose job it was to deal with criminals, could judge thieves but now the herald, whose job it is to relay messages from the palace, is judging them. Not only is the herald doing a job normally reserved for law and order professionals but he also has more powers than them by being allowed to judge thieves whom he hasn’t arrested himself. Nobody dares object because of his rank. It is not clear how the second section relates to the first as several rather important words are missing but if the first missing word is indeed “a dead man” it may mean that Pepu fears for his life if he complains about the situation. This letter seems almost certain to be related to UC32209 although the handwriting is different; the addressee is in both cases a woman, they both deal with a royal servant who has been arrested and both mention the royal herald.
