Egyptian Literature

2. Guess what’s the picture.
A. Memorial
B. Pyramid
C. Cone

3. EGYPTIAN LITERATURE
Chapter ii

4. Objectives:
At the end of this chapter, you must
have:
Characterized Egyptian Literature by tracing
its historical background;
Enumerated and identified the different
forms of Egyptian literature;
Discussed religious literature and shown
appreciation in reading and analyzing literary
pieces.
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6. Content
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 text”; poems; biographical and historical
texts; and scientific treatise, including
mathematical and medical texts.

7. Historical Background
Old Kingdom
Very few literary texts survived from the
Old Kingdom. Among the most important works
of the period were: Pyramid Texts which include
nonliterary and highly poetic spells; Cannibal
Texts, a vivid bits of poetry representing the
dead kings attaining power in the afterlife by
devouring the gods; and the Proverbs of
Ptahotep, a book of sound but worldly advice.

8. Historical Background
Middle Kingdom
This is the classic age of Egyptian
literature which saw the flourishing of works
which became popular for hundreds of years.
Among these are: Tale of Sinuhe, which relates
the flight of a refugee courtier, Sinuhe, from
Egypt to Syria for political reasons, his life in
exile and his homecoming; the Shipwrecked
Sailor, a simple folk tale of a sailor who meets
an old fatherly serpent on an island; and King
Cheops and the Magicians, several folk tales given
in a frame work story.

9. Historical Background
New Kingdom
During this period, the style of writing changed and the
language of the day was used, which brought forth a more natural
manner of writing, replacing the artificialities of the Middle Kingdom.
Among the famous writings of this period were: The Story of King
Apohis and Sekenenre, which concerns war expelling the Hykos;
Voyage of Wenamon, a tale of an official sent to Lebanon for cedar
wood; The Tale of the Two Brothers; the Enchanted Prince; Hymn
to the Sun, Contending of Horus and Seth, etc. The New Kingdom
saw increased concern over the dangers after death and many spells
and rituals were composed for use of the dead.

10. Historical Background
Late Period
The literature of the late period differs greatly from
that of the earlier time because it was written in
demotic, the simplified Egyptian language of that time.
Works like The Lamentations of Isis and Nephtys and
Setna and The Magic Book were popular during this period.

11. TYPES OF EGYTIAN
LITERATURE
Most of the Egyptian writings fall into
one of the five types: wisdom literature,
religious literature, tales, love lyrics, and
pessimistic literature.

12. RELIGIOUS LITERATURE
Religious literature predominates in Egypt. This is always the
case when the priests are the only persons who can write and make
records and it is rare that any secular literature survives from an
early period. In Egypt, the earliest body of texts that can be
called literature is entirely religious and compromises a series of
hymns and spells sculptured on the walls of the burial chambers in
the pyramids of the five kings of the sixth dynasty. These are now
known as the Pyramid Texts. They have clearly been copied and
recopied so many times that often the language is too corrupt to
be comprehensible. It is, however, possible to translate the greater
part of the inscription though many of the illusions are baffling.

13. RELIGIOUS LITERATURE
The Pyramid Texts consist of hymns and spells for
the benefit of the dead, and as they are the earliest
literary liturgy and exposition of religion in the world,
they throw a great on the great light on the primitive
beliefs and official creeds. The knowledge of them was
handed down undoubtedly by word of mouth till the time
of the 12th dynasty when many of the texts appear on
the printed and sculptured coffins of that period. These
we now call the Coffin Texts.

14. RELIGIOUS LITERATURE
So much of Egypt’s literature perished under
the rule of the Hykosos that it is not surprising
to find no survival of the texts until the 18th
dynasty. Then a few of the early spells occur un
that interesting compilation of which the
misleading title of Book of the Dead was given
early Egyptologists.

15. RELIGIOUS LITERATURE
The Book of the Dead is a series of chapters (literary
divisions) written on papyrus and often illustrated with miniature
paintings, found in graves. The chapters are not necessarily
connected with one another or they are not consecutive and there
is no reason why they should be regarded as part of a book. For
convenience’s sake, the name Book of the Dead is retained and also
the numbering of the so-called chapters. This book was intended
for the exercise of magic for private individuals in the life
hereafter. This is what the Old Kingdom had hoped to derive from
carving the Pyramid Texts in their burial monuments.

16. RELIGIOUS LITERATURE
Another important religious work is the Hymns to
the Sun-God prepared by Amenhotep IV who later called
himself Akhenaton because he believed he was the
manifestation of the great Egyptian ruler who tried to
make his people believe in god, the Sun-god Ra, the
powerful, and the king creator. A characteristic piece of
devotional literature is the Hymn to Osiris whish begins
as a hymn and ends as a prayer.

17. RELIGIOUS LITERATURE
Besides hymns and spells for the dead there is
another type of religious literature also connected with
the dead. These are the good wishes of the relatives,
which when recited in the correct chant and with the
correct gestures, were believed to secure the happiness of
the dead man. A typical example of this is the one from
the tomb of the scribe Amonehat, who lived in the reign
of Thutmose III.

18. TALES
As Egyptian literature is the earliest in the world, it is
interesting to know how certain forms arose. There are many
stories of the Middle Kingdom, which almost amount to novels,
but they are so condensed as to be bald and dull in translation.
This appears to have been due to their being merely notes for the
guidance of a professional storyteller, who like the bands of our
early history, travelled about the country and made his living by
narrating interesting and amusing stories to the illiterate audience.
For such a man, especially for a beginner, notes would be useful if
not essential. The story could be lengthened or abridged at will,
conversation could be interpolated when necessary, and the tale
told with appropriate gestures.

19. During the Middle Kingdom the Egyptian short stories were
in bloom. Among them the Tale of Sinuhe is the most famous.
Other short stories are The Story of the Doomed Prince,
Misadventures of Wen-Amon, and others.
One of the stories is The Story of King Khufu and the
Magicians which tells a lively story of a miraculous happening at the
court of the monarch as a prelude to the no less miraculous birth
of triplets to the priestess, destined by prophecy to become
future kings. The story is probably political propaganda but it
contains the essential ingredients of a fairy story.

20. The Tale of Two Brothers is another story which is
similar to the Biblical story of Joseph and his brothers.
The story of The Shipwrecked Sailor is another fine
example which relates how a sailor was thrown on a
desert island where he conversed with a gigantic serpent.
The Story of the Eloquent Peasant tells the bad
and tedious complaints of a peasant who had been robbed
of his merchandise.

21. WISDOM LITERATURE
The so-called Maxims and Instructions belong to the
genre of didactic or wisdom literature, a popular form of
expression throughout ancient Egypt. Advice is put into
the mouth of an old man admonishing a younger man of
the rules of good behavior, or a king who gives advice on
wise rule. The Teaching of Amenomopet and others may
be learned by heart as part of a young man’s education.
These are widely quoted in conversation, and contain
many parallels of Hebrew Literature.

22. PESSIMISTIC LITERATURE
One of the many forms of literature that blossomed during
the Middle Kingdom is the pessimistic literature. An interesting
specimen of this type is the dialogue of a disappointed man with
his soul, Dialogue of a Pessimist with His Soul. The Admonitions of
an Egyptian Sage describes a topsy-turvy world in which everything
is awry, the poor usurping the land and place of the rich, the
foreigners invading the land, no respect and no virtue anywhere,
yet a redeemer is at hand. This is poor stuff from the literary
point of view but it is interesting early evidence of their cyclic
recurrence of revolutionary reversals of fortunes.

23. Thank You
Any question?