INTRODUCTION |
Egyptian Literature, literature of ancient Egypt, recorded in inscriptions or written on papyrus. Ancient Egyptian literature is characterized by a wide diversity of types and subject matter. It dates from the Old Kingdom (about 2575-2134 bc) into the Greco-Roman period (after 332 bc), and the works employ such literary devices as simile, metaphor, alliteration, and punning. For information on later Egyptian literature, see Arabic Literature.
RANGE OF LITERARY FORMS |
The religious literature of ancient Egypt includes hymns to the gods, mythological and magical texts, and an extensive collection of mortuary texts. The range of secular literature includes stories; instructive literature, known as “wisdom texts”; poems; love songs; biographical and historical texts; and scientific treatises, including mathematical and medical texts. Although they are not strictly considered literature, the many legal, administrative, and economic texts and private documents such as letters are also notable. The individual authors of several compositions dating from the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 bc) were revered in later periods. They came from the educated class of priests and upper-level government officials, and their audience was largely educated people like themselves. Many literary compositions of the Middle Kingdom were composed as political propaganda, to teach students, who learned to read and write by copying them on tablets and ostraca (fragments of broken pottery), to be loyal to the ruling dynasty. Many of these same wisdom texts were still copied by schoolchildren of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 bc) more than 500 years later, along with more contemporary texts designed to undermine the glamour of the new military profession. Some of the stories include elements of mythology (see Egyptian Mythology) and may owe much to an oral storytelling tradition.
OLD KINGDOM |
The oldest literature preserved, the Pyramid Texts, are mortuary texts carved inside the pyramids of kings and queens of the later part of the Old Kingdom. They were designed to ensure the dead ruler's rightful place in the afterlife. These texts incorporate mythology, magical spells, hymns to the gods, and daily offering rituals. Many autobiographical inscriptions from private tombs recount the deceased's participation in historical events. Although no stories or wisdom texts are preserved from the Old Kingdom, some Middle Kingdom manuscripts may be copies of Old Kingdom originals—an example, “The Instruction of the Vizier Ptahhotep,” which is composed of maxims that illustrate basic virtues (such as moderation, truthfulness, and kindness) governing human relations and that describe the ideal person as a just administrator.
FIRST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD |
Following the decline of the Old Kingdom, the Pyramid Texts were appropriated by private individuals. Supplemented with new incantations, these texts were painted on coffins, from which the name Coffin Texts is derived. Private individuals also continued to have their tombs inscribed with autobiographical texts, which often recounted their exploits during this time of political unrest. To this First Intermediate period (about 2134-2040 bc) are attributed various laments over the chaotic state of affairs. One of these, “The Dialogue of a Man with his Ba” (soul), is a debate on suicide; another, the earliest example of the songs sung by harpists at funerary banquets, advises “Eat, drink, and be merry, before it's too late!”
MIDDLE KINGDOM |
In addition to Coffin Texts, Middle Kingdom religious literature comprises numerous hymns to the king and various deities—including a long hymn to the Nile River—and ritual texts. Private autobiographies containing historical information continued to be inscribed, and rulers began setting up stelae (stone slabs) on which their important deeds were recorded. From both the First Intermediate period and the Middle Kingdom come instructional texts, each written in the name of a reigning king telling his son and successor how various specific historic events influenced the kingship and how the son should profit by the father's mistakes. “The Satire on Trades” stresses the bad aspects of all possible occupations in contrast to the easy life of the scribe. The stories composed during the Middle Kingdom include “The Story of Sinuhe,” the story of a palace official who flees to Syria at the death of King Amenemhet I and becomes a rich and important man there; “The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant,” about a man who makes such eloquent pleas for the return of his stolen donkeys that he is kept in protective custody for some time so that the official in charge can record his orations for the king's enjoyment; “The Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor,” which recounts a fabulous encounter with a giant snake on a lush island; and “The Story of King Khufu and the Magicians.” The earliest preserved medical and mathematical papyri also date from this period.
Abū Simbel, 1250 BC |
New Kingdom mortuary texts, especially one called the Book of the Dead, were written on papyrus for inclusion in tombs. The most famous hymns from the period include those from the reign of Akhenaton that were dedicated to the sun god as sole deity. King Kamose, at the end of the Second Intermediate period (1640-1550 bc), recorded the early stages of driving the Hyksos out of Egypt in the mid-1500s bc. After the early New Kingdom, the number of such royal historical inscriptions increased greatly, while private autobiographical texts gave way to religious texts. Thutmose III recorded his various wars in Syria both on a freestanding stela (called the Poetical Stela) and on the walls of the temple at Al Karnak. Both records describe how the king calls in his advisers and apprises them of the difficulty of their situation. When he is advised to try the easy solution, he tells them that he is not afraid and will dare the more dangerous route, and he succeeds. Late New Kingdom rulers, especially Ramses II and Ramses III, also left extensive records of their military exploits. Both poetic accounts and chronicles of the deeds of Ramses II at the Battle of Kadesh against the Hittites have been preserved. The instructive texts, now directed at lower ranks in the bureaucracy, were no longer based on the assumption that correct thinking and just action automatically lead to wordly success. Instead, they counsel contemplation and endurance. The many stories that involve mythological characters include “The Contendings of Horus and Seth”; “The Destruction of Mankind,” in which human beings are spared from annihilation by having the goddess Hathor drink blood-colored beer; and “The Tale of the Two Brothers,” a story of a good younger brother betrayed by his suspicious elder brother. “The Report of Wenamun” recounts the tribulations of an envoy sent to purchase wood in Byblos. Several collections of love poems exist from this period as well.
LATE PERIOD |
From the subsequent centuries into the Greco-Roman period (after 332 bc), examples from the full range of Egyptian literary forms are known. These include new religious compositions, private and royal historical records, instructions, stories, and scientific treatises such as medical, mathematical, and astronomical papyri. “The Instructions of Onchsheshongy,” a collection of largely pragmatic maxims, many of which sound like proverbs, and “The Instructions of Papyrus Insinger,” which portrays the wise person as being moral and pious, contrast sharply with the earlier expressions of belief in rewards in life on earth. Stories were written in this period about the adventures of various magicians, as was a cycle recounting the exploits of a legendary king, Petubastis. One mythological tale consists of a series of animal fables. Contacts with contemporary Greek literature are evident both in the epic cycle and the fables, in Egyptian texts (including prophetic literature) translated into Greek, and in a range of magical texts known in both Greek and Egyptian.
“The Book of the Dead”
Book of the Dead, name generally given to a large collection of funerary texts of various dates, containing magical formulas, hymns, and prayers believed by the ancient Egyptians to guide and protect the soul (Ka) in its journey into the region of the dead (Amenti). Egyptians believed that the knowledge of these texts enabled the soul to ward off demons attempting to impede its progress, and to pass the tests set by the 42 judges in the hall of Osiris, god of the underworld. These texts also indicated that happiness in the afterlife was dependent on the deceased's having led a virtuous life on earth. The earliest religious (funerary) texts known were found cut in hieroglyphs on the walls inside the pyramids of the kings of the 5th and 6th Dynasties of the Old Kingdom; these became known as the Pyramid Texts. A famous example is found in the pyramid of Unas (reigned about 2356-2323 bc), the last king of the 5th Dynasty. In the first Intermediate Period and in the Middle Kingdom private individuals had these texts painted on coffins, from which the alternate name Coffin Texts is derived. By the 18th Dynasty the texts were inscribed on papyri placed in the mummy case; these papyri were frequently from 15 to 30 m (50 to 100 ft) long and illustrated in color.
This vast collection of mortuary texts has survived in three critical revisions, or recensions: the Heliopolitan Recension, edited by the priests of the College of Anu (Heliopolis), and containing texts in use between the 5th and the 12th Dynasties; the Theban Recension, used from the 18th to the 22nd Dynasties; and the Saite Recension, used from the 26th Dynasty, about 600 bc probably to the end of the Ptolemies, 31 bc. The title “Book of the Dead” is misleading; the texts do not form a single connected work and do not belong to one period. Egyptologists have usually given this title to the last two Recensions. Translations of some sections (chapters) were made under various titles; one celebrated English translation of the Book of the Dead was made by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge in 1895.
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