TURIN PAPYRUS. A hieratic papyrus, preserved in the Museum of Turin, containing a dynastic list of the kings of Egypt. It formed part of the collection offered for sale to the French Government in 1818, by M. Dovretti, the French Consul-General in Egypt, and was at that. time perfectly preserved. The French Gov ernment declining to buy it, the papyrus after wards was acquired by the King of Sardinia, and was finally sent to Turin. It was, however, care lessly packed, and on its arrival it was found to be broken into 164 fragments. Champollion (q.v.) was the first to recognize its nature and value, and in 1824 collected from it between IGO and 180 royal prenomens, but, except in a very few cases, was unable to determine the order of succession. In 1826 Seyffarth (q.v.) attempted to piece together the broken fragments and reconstruct the papyrus- but his attempted restoration is altogether unreliable, partly on account of his limited knowledge of the hieratic character, and partly because a large proportion of the frag ments are so minute as to afford little or no indication of their proper order. Subsequent attempts to restore the text have met with little success. In its original condition the Turin
Papyrus contained a list of the kings of Egypt, beginning with the mythical period and ending with Dynasties XV. and XVI., with the exact duration of each monarch's reign in years, months, and days. It would supply. if complete, an invaluable guide for the earlier period of Egyptian history, but in its present mutilated state it is of little use for historical and chrono logical purposes except in the portions covering the thirteenth and fourteenth dynasties, where the text is somewhat better preserved. Else where, the papyrus serves at best to confirm data derived from other sources, and furnishes scarcely any independent information. The text is published in Lepsius. A uswahl der wiehtigsten Urkunden des egyptisehen Alterthums (Berlin. 1842). and in Wilkinson, The Fragments of the Hieratic Papyrus at Turin (London, 1S51). Con sult: Transactions of the Royal Society of Litera ture, 2d series. vol. i. (London. 1843) ; Revue archeologique, vol. vii. (Paris, 1850) ; Wiede mann, Aegyptisehe Oesehiehte (Gotha, 1884-88) ; Budge, A History of Egypt (New York, 1902).