Gutter Disputes, When It Rains in Egypt

Walk around my neighborhood and you’ll see workers precariously perched on ladders clearing out leaves from people’s gutters. Let those gutters backup and you’ll have trouble, possibly even with your neighbors. Apparently, some things never change. A legal papyrus from the Ptolemaic period in Egypt advises judges on how to handle cases where heavy rainfall has caused gutter disputes.

Gutters? What gutters?

At first this question of whose side to take when one neighbor’s gutters overflow onto another’s property puzzled the investigating archaeologist. She thought she had never seen evidence of Egyptian rain gutters. The upper portions of mud brick houses don’t usually survive. Nor do their roofs made of branches and leaves. Then she remembered some impressive lion heads that serve as decorative gutters on a temple. Further, she looked at a wooden house model found in a royal administrator’s tomb. There they were. Three small spouts that look a lot like the ones mentioned in the papyrus. (Photo at top is of this model of a house found in Meketre’s tomb, Metropolitan Museum, public domain)

The Egyptian solution to gutter disputes

The practical advice to judges that the papyrus gives? Dump some water into the gutters and see what trouble ensues. This seems a sensible way to see what caused the gutter disputes. That Egyptian houses were built of sun-dried mud makes a little rain potentially a lot of trouble.

Fortunately for me, my gutters are clear and functioning. I won’t get into any gutter disputes with my friendly neighborhood. That’s just as well since it looks like more rain any minute. However, simultaneously with the piling up of clouds, there are streaks of late afternoon sunlight streaking across the houses and yards as I look out. Brilliant light one minute, intimidating skies the next. Life really doesn’t change so much from one millenium to the next.

Further Reading

For the full article about rules for ancient Egyptian homeowners, you will enjoy reading “When It Rains It Pours” in Archaeology Magazine.

On the Topic of Egypt

If you’re interested in Egyptian daily life and concerns, you might enjoy my post “Lettuce, An Unlikely Divine Egyptian Aphrodisiac.”