You have satisfied my heart with the money for the black cow, which is sturdy on her feet, branded on the neck, able to lie down and get up, and is unhurt by any fall. I have given her to you for money and she belongs to you from today for all future time…Written by Pebes son of Phibis, scribe of legal documents
-Sale contract, on papyrus, dated November 2, 106 BCE, Hermopolis, modern day Al-Ashmunim, half way between Minya and Asyut
I first met Hajj Bashir at the Cairo camel market in 1978. He was talking to the market’s founder Muhammad Abd al-Aziz, whose job was to decree a fair price for each animal and guarantee payment between buyer and seller. And much like Pebes, Abd al-Aziz’s scribe recorded each sale, the ledger book he carried around the paddock being so massive that the little man seemed always about to fall and hurt himself.
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