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BIBLICAL LIBRARIES


Another 100 years, from the expulsion of the Hyksos takes to the "received" date of the Exodus, 1491. Just before this had been the great "feud of the Thutmosids." Queen Hatshepsut and Thutmose III were on the throne. Senmuth, the prophet, was a follower of Queen Hatshepsut and he thought it worthy of record on his tomb "that he had access to all the writings of the prophets."

Rekhmire, too, is of this time and was Vizier of Thutmose III. In "the most important inscription known on the organization of the state under the eighteenth Dynasty," the "Duties of the vizier," Rekhmire gives several interesting library hints. It appears e.g. that documents may be loaned from the various archives if not confidential, and the matter of getting and returning under seal is described. Many of the other details suggest the archival practice of Graeco-

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