Evading Conscription. Transgressions against the state were severely punished in ancient Egypt, with evading conscription being the most serious crime that peasants could commit. Papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446, Middle Kingdom (circa 1980-1630 B.C.E.) records from the Great Prison of Thebes, listed the specific crimes and punishments of those who evaded their work for the state. The Egyptians differentiated between failure to arrive at work and flight from a place of work. Two different crimes were recognized; four different laws were made regarding them. The four separate laws included "the law concerning deserters," "the law concerning deliberate desertion for six months, "the law concerning deliberate desertion from work," and "the law concerning the man who runs away without doing his duties." These crimes were so serious that they were investigated through the Office of the Vizier (prime minister). Whether the vizier himself gave judgments is not known. But a scribe of the vizier's.....
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