Egyptian Literature and Babylonian-Assyrian Literature

1. Presented by:
Ma. Jessabeth Aluba
Pop Canata
Aleile Dela Rosa
Krystel Mae Lariosa
Kristine Oracoy

2. .Ancient Egyptian literature was written in the
Egyptian language from Ancient Egypt's
pharaonic period until the end of Roman
domination.
along with Sumerian literature, it is considered
the world's earliest literature.
The earliest remains are those carved on the
durable stone of monuments. Had it not been
for the importance attached by the Egyptians
to a life after death, the most ancient
literature would never have been studied.

3. • The great tombs were the libraries in which
the numerous writings were preserved, either
as inscriptions on the walls or written on
papyrus.
-this substance from which our word
“paper” is derived was made from a certain
kind of seed growing in the Nile. It is a curious
fact that long after the living plant became
extinct in the Nile Valley, the dried pressed
leaves bore silent witness to the ancient
civilization.

4. -Many of these papyri are now
scattered in libraries and museums throughout
the world, some of the most important being
in London, Berlin, and Leningrad.

5. • Limited in scope and in style. It is limited in
type, largely epitaphs, hymns in praise of
monarchs and gods, religious and moral
teachings, records, ledgers and letters.
• The most extensive work is The Book of the
Dead.
-consisting of religious formulas for the
conduct of the soul after death.

6. • Laments, discourses, dialogues,
and prophecies
• Poems, songs, hymns, and
afterlife texts
• Private letters, model letters, and
epistles
• instructions and teachings

7. There are 31 dynasties of kings that reigned in
Egypt up to the conquest by Alexander the
Great in 332 B.C may be divided into 3 main
groups:
1) The Old Kingdom (to 3000 B.C.)
i) Which left stone inscriptions
ii) One of the most interesting is a letter
of thanks written by a boy Pharaoh to a
general who had sent him a captive
Ethiopian dwarf dancer.
2) The Middle Kingdom (3000-1600 B.C.)
i) Introduced the use of papyrus and
has left many documents.

8. ii) One of the finest poems is the “Hymn
to Usertesen III.
Hymn to Usertesen III
This hymn is the most remarkable example of
Egyptian poetry known to
us. It was found by Mr. Flinders Petrie near the
pyramid and temple of Usertesen II.,
in the town which was founded there for the
accommodation of the workmen
employed upon these buildings, and for the
priestly staff who performed the
servnces for the dead Pharaoh in his chapel.
The hymn is addressed to the son and
successor of that king — to Usertesen III., —

9. an active and warlike prince, who, as the poet
also testifies, used his power for the benefit of
his country and the pious support of its
institutions. It is a marvel that the delicate
papyrus on which the hymn is written should
have been preserved for nearly 5,000 years. It
has not, however, resisted the attacks of time
without suffering injury; and the lacunae,
together with the peculiar language em-ployed
by the scribe, are baffling to the
decipherer. Four stanzas only can be read with
comparative completeness and certainty.

10. • Major narrative works from the
Middle Kingdom include the Tale
of the Court of King Cheops,
King Neferkare and General
Sasenet, The Eloquent Peasant,
Story of Sinuhe, and Tale of the
shipwrecked sailor.

11. 3) The New Kingdom (1600-332 B.C.)
i) Which included the time of the
Exodus of the Israelites under Moses,
about 1300 B.C. up to the death-struggles
with the eastern conquering
nations, Assyria, Persia, and Greece.
ii) This period produced the greatest
body of literature.
iii) After Alexander the Great, Egypt
became just a Greek province. Her glory
had become merely a tradition of the
past.

12. The New Kingdom corpus of tales
includes the Quarrel of Apepi and
Seqenenre, Taking of Joppa, Tale
of the doomed prince, Tale of Two
Brothers, and the Report of
Wenamun.

14. While the Egyptian Kingdom dominated the
valley of the Nile, there was gradually
developing another civilization in the fertile
valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
• Assyro-Babylonian literature (also
Akkadian literature) is the ancient
literature written in the Akkadian
language (Assyrian and Babylonian
languages) written in Mesopotamia
(Assyria and Babylonia) during the
period spanning the Middle Bronze Age
to the Iron Age (roughly the 23rd to 6th
centuries BC).

15. • Drawing on the traditions of Sumerian
literature, the Babylonians compiled a
substantial textual tradition of
mythological narrative, legal texts,
scientific works, letters and other
literary forms.
The Great Babylonian and Assyrian empires
that left a voluminous literature behind
them.
1. The Ancient Sumerians
-the earliest race, conquered about
2900 B.C. by Senitic tribes, and united
under Sargon I. This great Babylonian
empire reached the height of its power
under the Dynasty of Hammurapi.

16. - the laws issued by him are among the
the most important remains of the time
comparing favourably with the Mosaic
law in high moral standard.
-had an aboriginal language with
written symbols composed of wedge-shaped
characters.
-the reason of the wedge shape was
that clay tablets pressed by the sharp
edge of a stylus were used for written
records.
2. The Assyrians
-swept down the Babylonians and made
them tributary.

17. 3. The Assurbanipal
-an Assyrian monarch of the7th century
B.C. assembled at Nineveh a
tremendous library of about 22,000 clay
tablets.
• Great epics record lives of the gods. The
great “Creation Epic of Babylon” centers
around the sun-god Marduk who battled with
Trainat, the salt-water ocean, from whose slain
body he created heaven and earth. Later
Marduk created man from the blood of
another rebellious god. The other dieties built
a sanctuary to Marduk and hailed him lord
with a list of fifty honorary titles. The recital of

18. of the epic was part of the annual New Year’s
festival of the Babylonians.
• Isthar, goddess of love, identified with the
planet Venus, figures in manyof the epics.
-one of her story is “descent into Hades”
resembles the greek myth Persephone, in
symbolizing the death of vegetation during
winter and its revival with the return of the
goddess in the spring.

19. Epic of Gilgamesh
- the most important of all the Babylonian
epics.
- Gilgamesh is a two-thirds god and one third
human.
The first half of the story discusses Gilgamesh,
king of Uruk, and Enkidu, a wild man created
by the gods to stop him oppressing the people
of Uruk. After an initial fight, Gilgamesh and
Enkidu become close friends. Together, they
journey to the Cedar Mountain and defeat
Humbaba, its monstrous guardian. Later they
kill the bull of heaven, which the goddess

20. Ishtar sends to punish Gilgamesh for spurning
her advances. As a punishment for these
actions, the gods sentence Enkidu to death.
In the second half of the epic, Gilgamesh's
distress at Enkidu's death causes him to
undertake a long and perilous journey to
discover the secret of eternal life. He
eventually learns that "Life, which you look for,
you will never find. For when the gods created
man, they let death be his share, and life
withheld in their own hands". However,
because of his great building projects, his

21. account of Siduri's advice, and what the
immortal man Utnapishtim told him about the
Great Flood, Gilgamesh's fame survived his
death. His story has been translated into many
languages, and in recent years has featured in
works of popular fiction.
-The epic ends on a tragic note.
Utnapishthism, the ancestor he consulted, was
the Babylonian Noah, and in telling his
experiences he gave us a version of the
DELUGE which resembles in many of its details
that of the Bible.

22. The story of the deluge
-based from tablet XI of the epic.
-this story actually a narration of Utnapishtim
to Gilgamesh of how he became immortal.
-He tells first that after the gods have decided
to send a flood to the earth, Ea, one of the
leaders of the gods, mysteriously conveys to
the mind of the mortal the coming event and
instructs him to save himself and all life in a
ship which he is to build according to the god’s
instructions.

24. • Enlil or Ashur - god of the wind
and divine ruler of the Earth and
its human inhabitants, head of
the Assyrian pantheon
• Adad or Ishkur - god of storms,
venerated as a supreme power
especially in Syria and Lebanon

25. • Inanna or Ishtar - goddess of fertility, love, and
war
• Ereshkigal - goddess of Irkalla, the Underworld
• Enki or Ea - god of the Abzu, crafts, water,
intelligence, mischief and creation
• Anu or An - god of heaven and the sky, lord of
constellations, and father of the gods
• Nabu - god of wisdom and writing
• Marduk - patron deity of Babylon who
eventually became regarded as the head of the
Babylonian pantheon

26. Tammuz or Dumuzi - god of food and
vegetation
• Sin or Nanna - god of the moon
• Shamash or Utu - god of the sun, arbiter
of justice and patron of travellers
• Ninurta - champion of the gods, the
epitome of youthful vigour, and god of
agriculture
• Ninlil - goddess of the air; consort of Enlil

27. • Ninhursag or Mami, Belet-Ili, Ki,
Ninmah, Nintu, or Aruru - earth
and mother goddess
• Nergal - god of plague, war, and
the sun in its destructive
capacity; later husband of
Ereshkigal
• Nanshe - goddess of social
justice, prophecy, fertility and
fishing

28. Thank
You!!