The Sociology of the Tomb and Temple Robbers of the Late 20th Dynasty: Part I, Who Were the Robbers, What Did They Rob and Why?

Abstract

Tomb and temple robberies were an endemic concern throughout ancient Egyptian history. With the exception of the thefts recorded in the so-called Great Tomb Robbery Papyri of the 20th Dynasty, we have almost no direct information on those who committed them. These texts provide important details on the sociology of robbers that, thus far, has not been fully explored. For this article, a database containing the almost 400 individuals involved in temple and tomb robberies was created. This article is the first half of this study and addresses the questions of who the robbers were, what they robbed, and why. [Formula: see text]