Ancient Egyptian Literature

8/9/2019 Ancient Egyptian literature - Wikipedia
Ancient Egyptian literature

Ancient Egyptian literature was written in the Egyptian
language from ancient Egypt's pharaonic period until the end
of Roman domination. It represents the oldest corpus of
Egyptian literature. Along with Sumerian literature, it is
considered the world's earliest literature.[1]
Writing in ancient Egypt—both hieroglyphic and hieratic—

first appeared in the late 4th millennium BC during the late
phase of predynastic Egypt. By the Old Kingdom (26th
century BC to 22nd century BC), literary works included
funerary texts, epistles and letters, hymns and poems, and
Egyptian hieroglyphs with cartouches for the
commemorative autobiographical texts recounting the
name "Ramesses II", from the Luxor Temple, New
careers of prominent administrative officials. It was not until Kingdom
the early Middle Kingdom (21st century BC to 17th century
BC) that a narrative Egyptian literature was created. This was
a "media revolution" which, according to Richard B. Parkinson, was the result of the rise of an intellectual class of
scribes, new cultural sensibilities about individuality, unprecedented levels of literacy, and mainstream access to
written materials.[2] However, it is possible that the overall literacy rate was less than one percent of the entire
population. The creation of literature was thus an elite exercise, monopolized by a scribal class attached to government
offices and the royal court of the ruling pharaoh. However, there is no full consensus among modern scholars
concerning the dependence of ancient Egyptian literature on the sociopolitical order of the royal courts.
Middle Egyptian, the spoken language of the Middle Kingdom, became a classical language during the New Kingdom
(16th century BC to 11th century BC), when the vernacular language known as Late Egyptian first appeared in writing.
Scribes of the New Kingdom canonized and copied many literary texts written in Middle Egyptian, which remained the
language used for oral readings of sacred hieroglyphic texts. Some genres of Middle Kingdom literature, such as
"teachings" and fictional tales, remained popular in the New Kingdom, although the genre of prophetic texts was not
revived until the Ptolemaic period (4th century BC to 1st century BC). Popular tales included the Story of Sinuhe and
The Eloquent Peasant, while important teaching texts include the Instructions of Amenemhat and The Loyalist
Teaching. By the New Kingdom period, the writing of commemorative graffiti on sacred temple and tomb walls
flourished as a unique genre of literature, yet it employed formulaic phrases similar to other genres. The
acknowledgment of rightful authorship remained important only in a few genres, while texts of the "teaching" genre
were pseudonymous and falsely attributed to prominent historical figures.
Ancient Egyptian literature has been preserved on a wide variety of media. This includes papyrus scrolls and packets,
limestone or ceramic ostraca, wooden writing boards, monumental stone edifices and coffins. Texts preserved and
unearthed by modern archaeologists represent a small fraction of ancient Egyptian literary material. The area of the
floodplain of the Nile is under-represented because the moist environment is unsuitable for the preservation of papyri
and ink inscriptions. On the other hand, hidden caches of literature, buried for thousands of years, have been
discovered in settlements on the dry desert margins of Egyptian civilization.
Contents
Scripts, media, and languages
Hieroglyphs, hieratic, and Demotic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_literature 1/19
Writing implements and materials

Preservation of written material
Classical, Middle, Late, and Demotic Egyptian language
Literary functions: social, religious and educational
Dating, setting, and authorship
Literary genres and subjects
Instructions and teachings
Narrative tales and stories
Laments, discourses, dialogues, and prophecies
Poems, songs, hymns, and afterlife texts
Private letters, model letters, and epistles
Biographical and autobiographical texts
Decrees, chronicles, king lists, and histories
Tomb and temple graffiti
Legacy, translation and interpretation
Notes
References
External links
Scripts, media, and languages
Hieroglyphs, hieratic, and Demotic

By the Early Dynastic Period in the late 4th millennium BC, Egyptian
hieroglyphs and their cursive form hieratic were well-established written
scripts.[4] Egyptian hieroglyphs are small artistic pictures of natural
objects.[5] For example, the hieroglyph for door-bolt, pronounced se,
produced the s sound; when this hieroglyph was combined with another or
multiple hieroglyphs, it produced a combination of sounds that could
represent abstract concepts like sorrow, happiness, beauty, and evil.[6] The
Narmer Palette, dated c. 3100 BC during the last phase of Predynastic
Egypt, combines the hieroglyphs for catfish and chisel to produce the name
The slab stela of the Old Kingdom
of King Narmer.[7] Egyptian princess Neferetiabet
(dated c. 2590–2565 BC), from her
The Egyptians called their hieroglyphs "words of god" and reserved their tomb at Giza, with hieroglyphs
use for exalted purposes, such as communicating with divinities and spirits carved and painted on limestone[3]
of the dead through funerary texts.[8] Each hieroglyphic word represented
both a specific object and embodied the essence of that object, recognizing
it as divinely made and belonging within the greater cosmos.[9] Through acts of priestly ritual, like burning incense,
the priest allowed spirits and deities to read the hieroglyphs decorating the surfaces of temples.[10] In funerary texts
beginning in and following the Twelfth dynasty, the Egyptians believed that disfiguring, and even omitting certain
hieroglyphs, brought consequences, either good or bad, for a deceased tomb occupant whose spirit relied on the texts
as a source of nourishment in the afterlife.[11] Mutilating the hieroglyph of a venomous snake, or other dangerous
animal, removed a potential threat.[11] However, removing every instance of the hieroglyphs representing a deceased
person's name would deprive his or her soul of the ability to read the funerary texts and condemn that soul to an
inanimate existence.[11]
Hieratic is a simplified, cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphs.[12] Like

hieroglyphs, hieratic was used in sacred and religious texts. By the 1st
millennium BC, calligraphic hieratic became the script predominantly used
in funerary papyri and temple rolls.[13] Whereas the writing of hieroglyphs
required the utmost precision and care, cursive hieratic could be written
much more quickly and was therefore more practical for scribal record-
Abbott Papyrus, a record written in keeping.[14] Its primary purpose was to serve as a shorthand script for non-
hieratic script; it describes an royal, non-monumental, and less formal writings such as private letters,
inspection of royal tombs in the
legal documents, poems, tax records, medical texts, mathematical treatises,
Theban Necropolis and is dated to
and instructional guides.[15] Hieratic could be written in two different
the 16th regnal year of Ramesses
IX, c. 1110 BC. styles; one was more calligraphic and usually reserved for government
records and literary manuscripts, the other was used for informal accounts
and letters.[16]
By the mid-1st millennium BC, hieroglyphs and hieratic were still used for royal, monumental, religious, and funerary
writings, while a new, even more cursive script was used for informal, day-to-day writing: Demotic.[13] The final script
adopted by the ancient Egyptians was the Coptic alphabet, a revised version of the Greek alphabet.[17] Coptic became
the standard in the 4th century AD when Christianity became the state religion throughout the Roman Empire;
hieroglyphs were discarded as idolatrous images of a pagan tradition, unfit for writing the Biblical canon.[17]
Writing implements and materials

Egyptian literature was produced on a variety of media. Along with the chisel,
necessary for making inscriptions on stone, the chief writing tool of ancient Egypt
was the reed pen, a reed fashioned into a stem with a bruised, brush-like end.[18]
With pigments of carbon black and red ochre, the reed pen was used to write on
scrolls of papyrus—a thin material made from beating together strips of pith from
the Cyperus papyrus plant—as well as on small ceramic or limestone potsherds
known as ostraca.[19] It is thought that papyrus rolls were moderately expensive
commercial items, since many are palimpsests, manuscripts that have had their
original contents erased to make room for new written works.[20] This, along with
the practice of tearing pieces off of larger papyrus documents to make smaller
letters, suggests that there were seasonal shortages caused by the limited growing
season of Cyperus papyrus.[20] It also explains the frequent use of ostraca and
limestone flakes as writing media for shorter written works.[21] In addition to stone,
ceramic ostraca, and papyrus, writing media also included wood, ivory, and
plaster.[22] An ostracon with hieratic
script mentioning officials
By the Roman Period of Egypt, the traditional Egyptian reed pen had been replaced involved in the inspection
by the chief writing tool of the Greco-Roman world: a shorter, thicker reed pen with and clearing of tombs
a cut nib.[23] Likewise, the original Egyptian pigments were discarded in favor of during the Twenty-first
dynasty of Egypt, c. 1070–
Greek lead-based inks.[23] The adoption of Greco-Roman writing tools influenced
945 BC
Egyptian handwriting, as hieratic signs became more spaced, had rounder
flourishes, and greater angular precision.[23]
Preservation of written material

Underground Egyptian tombs built in the desert provide possibly the most protective environment for the
preservation of papyrus documents. For example, there are many well-preserved Book of the Dead funerary papyri
placed in tombs to act as afterlife guides for the souls of the deceased tomb occupants.[24] However, it was only
customary during the late Middle Kingdom and first half of the New Kingdom to place non-religious papyri in burial
chambers. Thus, the majority of well-preserved literary papyri are dated to this period.[24]
Most settlements in ancient Egypt were situated on the alluvium of the Nile floodplain. This moist environment was
unfavorable for long-term preservation of papyrus documents. Archaeologists have discovered a larger quantity of
papyrus documents in desert settlements on land elevated above the floodplain,[25] and in settlements that lacked
irrigation works, such as Elephantine, El-Lahun, and El-Hiba.[26]
Writings on more permanent media have also been lost in several ways.
Stones with inscriptions were frequently re-used as building materials, and
ceramic ostraca require a dry environment to ensure the preservation of
the ink on their surfaces.[27] Whereas papyrus rolls and packets were
usually stored in boxes for safekeeping, ostraca were routinely discarded in
waste pits; one such pit was discovered by chance at the Ramesside-era
village of Deir el-Medina, and has yielded the majority of known private
letters on ostraca.[21] Documents found at this site include letters, hymns,
fictional narratives, recipes, business receipts, and wills and
testaments.[28] Penelope Wilson describes this archaeological find as the
Egyptian peasants harvesting equivalent of sifting through a modern landfill or waste container.[28] She
papyrus, from a mural painting in a notes that the inhabitants of Deir el-Medina were incredibly literate by
Deir el-Medina tomb dated to the
ancient Egyptian standards, and cautions that such finds only come "...in
early Ramesside Period (i.e.
Nineteenth dynasty) rarefied circumstances and in particular conditions."[29]
John W. Tait stresses, "Egyptian material survives in a very uneven

fashion ... the unevenness of survival comprises both time and space."[27] For instance, there is a dearth of written
material from all periods from the Nile Delta but an abundance at western Thebes, dating from its heyday.[27] He
notes that while some texts were copied numerous times, others survive from a single copy; for example, there is only
one complete surviving copy of the Tale of the shipwrecked sailor from the Middle Kingdom.[30] However, Tale of the
shipwrecked sailor also appears in fragments of texts on ostraca from the New Kingdom.[31] Many other literary works
survive only in fragments or through incomplete copies of lost originals.[32]
Classical, Middle, Late, and Demotic Egyptian language

Although writing first appeared during the very late 4th millennium BC, it
was only used to convey short names and labels; connected strings of text
did not appear until about 2600 BC, at the beginning of the Old
Kingdom.[33] This development marked the beginning of the first known
phase of the Egyptian language: Old Egyptian.[33] Old Egyptian remained a
spoken language until about 2100 BC, when, during the beginning of the
Middle Kingdom, it evolved into Middle Egyptian.[33] While Middle
Egyptian was closely related to Old Egyptian, Late Egyptian was
Columns with inscribed and painted
significantly different in grammatical structure. Late Egyptian possibly Egyptian hieroglyphs, from the
appeared as a vernacular language as early as 1600 BC, but was not used as hypostyle hall of the Ramesseum (at
a written language until c. 1300 BC during the Amarna Period of the New Luxor) built during the reign of
Kingdom.[34] Late Egyptian evolved into Demotic by the 7th century BC, Ramesses II (r. 1279–1213 BC)
and although Demotic remained a spoken language until the 5th century
AD, it was gradually replaced by Coptic beginning in the 1st century AD.[35]
Hieratic was used alongside hieroglyphs for writing in Old and Middle Egyptian, becoming the dominant form of
writing in Late Egyptian.[36] By the New Kingdom and throughout the rest of ancient Egyptian history, Middle
Egyptian became a classical language that was usually reserved for reading and writing in hieroglyphs[37] and the
spoken language for more exalted forms of literature, such as historical records, commemorative autobiographies,
hymns, and funerary spells.[38] However, Middle Kingdom literature written in Middle Egyptian was also rewritten in
hieratic during later periods.[39]
Literary functions: social, religious and educational

Throughout ancient Egyptian history, reading and writing were the main
requirements for serving in public office, although government officials
were assisted in their day-to-day work by an elite, literate social group
known as scribes.[40] As evidenced by Papyrus Anastasi I of the Ramesside
Period, scribes could even be expected, according to Wilson, "...to organize
the excavation of a lake and the building of a brick ramp, to establish the
number of men needed to transport an obelisk and to arrange the
provisioning of a military mission".[41] Besides government employment,
scribal services in drafting letters, sales documents, and legal documents
would have been frequently sought by illiterate people.[42] Literate people
are thought to have comprised only 1% of the population,[43] the remainder
being illiterate farmers, herdsmen, artisans, and other laborers,[44] as well
as merchants who required the assistance of scribal secretaries.[45] The
privileged status of the scribe over illiterate manual laborers was the
subject of a popular Ramesside Period instructional text, The Satire of the
Seated statue of an Egyptian scribe
Trades, where lowly, undesirable occupations, for example, potter,
holding a papyrus document in his
fisherman, laundry man, and soldier, were mocked and the scribal
lap, found in the western cemetery
profession praised.[46] A similar demeaning attitude towards the illiterate at Giza, Fifth dynasty of Egypt (25th
is expressed in the Middle Kingdom Teaching of Khety, which is used to to 24th centuries BC)
reinforce the scribes' elevated position within the social hierarchy.[47]
The scribal class was the social group responsible for maintaining,
transmitting, and canonizing literary classics, and writing new
compositions.[48] Classic works, such as the Story of Sinuhe and
Instructions of Amenemhat, were copied by schoolboys as pedagogical
exercises in writing and to instill the required ethical and moral values that
distinguished the scribal social class.[49] Wisdom texts of the "teaching"
genre represent the majority of pedagogical texts written on ostraca during
the Middle Kingdom; narrative tales, such as Sinuhe and King Neferkare
and General Sasenet, were rarely copied for school exercises until the New
Kingdom.[50] William Kelly Simpson describes narrative tales such as
Sinuhe and The shipwrecked sailor as "...instructions or teachings in the
guise of narratives", since the main protagonists of such stories embodied
the accepted virtues of the day, such as love of home or self-reliance.[51]
There are some known instances where those outside the scribal profession
were literate and had access to classical literature. Menena, a draughtsman
working at Deir el-Medina during the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt, quoted
passages from the Middle Kingdom narratives Eloquent Peasant and Tale
of the shipwrecked sailor in an instructional letter reprimanding his
Wooden statue of the scribe
disobedient son.[31] Menena's Ramesside contemporary Hori, the scribal
Kaaper, 5th or 4th dynasty of the
author of the satirical letter in Papyrus Anastasi I, admonished his
Old Kingdom, from Saqqara, c.
2500 BC
addressee for quoting the Instruction of Hardjedef in the unbecoming manner of a non-scribal, semi-educated
person.[31] Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert further explains this perceived amateur affront to orthodox literature:
What may be revealed by Hori's attack on the way in which some Ramesside scribes felt obliged to
demonstrate their greater or lesser acquaintance with ancient literature is the conception that these
venerable works were meant to be known in full and not to be misused as quarries for popular sayings
mined deliberately from the past. The classics of the time were to be memorized completely and
comprehended thoroughly before being cited.[52]
There is limited but solid evidence in Egyptian literature and art for the
practice of oral reading of texts to audiences.[53] The oral performance
word "to recite" (šdj) was usually associated with biographies, letters, and
spells.[54] Singing (ḥsj) was meant for praise songs, love songs, funerary
laments, and certain spells.[54] Discourses such as the Prophecy of Neferti
suggest that compositions were meant for oral reading among elite
gatherings.[54] In the 1st millennium BC Demotic short story cycle centered
on the deeds of Petiese, the stories begin with the phrase "The voice which
Hieroglyphs from the Mortuary
is before Pharaoh", which indicates that an oral speaker and audience was Temple of Seti I, now located at the
involved in the reading of the text.[55] A fictional audience of high Great Hypostyle Hall of Karnak
government officials and members of the royal court are mentioned in
some texts, but a wider, non-literate audience may have been involved.[56]
For example, a funerary stela of Senusret I (r. 1971–1926 BC) explicitly mentions people who will gather and listen to a
scribe who "recites" the stela inscriptions out loud.[56]
Literature also served religious purposes. Beginning with the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom, works of funerary
literature written on tomb walls, and later on coffins, and papyri placed within tombs, were designed to protect and
nurture souls in their afterlife.[57] This included the use of magical spells, incantations, and lyrical hymns.[57] Copies of
non-funerary literary texts found in non-royal tombs suggest that the dead could entertain themselves in the afterlife
by reading these teaching texts and narrative tales.[58]
Although the creation of literature was predominantly a male scribal pursuit, some works are thought to have been
written by women. For example, several references to women writing letters and surviving private letters sent and
received by women have been found.[59] However, Edward F. Wente asserts that, even with explicit references to
women reading letters, it is possible that women employed others to write documents.[60]
Dating, setting, and authorship

Richard B. Parkinson and Ludwig D. Morenz write that ancient Egyptian literature—narrowly defined as belles-lettres
("beautiful writing")—was not recorded in written form until the early Twelfth dynasty of the Middle Kingdom.[61] Old
Kingdom texts served mainly to maintain the divine cults, preserve souls in the afterlife, and document accounts for
practical uses in daily life. It was not until the Middle Kingdom that texts were written for the purpose of
entertainment and intellectual curiosity.[62] Parkinson and Morenz also speculate that written works of the Middle
Kingdom were transcriptions of the oral literature of the Old Kingdom.[63] It is known that some oral poetry was
preserved in later writing; for example, litter-bearers' songs were preserved as written verses in tomb inscriptions of
the Old Kingdom.[62]
Dating texts by methods of palaeography, the study of handwriting, is problematic because of differing styles of
hieratic script.[64] The use of orthography, the study of writing systems and symbol usage, is also problematic, since
some texts' authors may have copied the characteristic style of an older archetype.[64] Fictional accounts were often set
in remote historical settings, the use of contemporary settings in fiction being a relatively recent phenomenon.[65] The
style of a text provides little help in determining an exact date for its
composition, as genre and authorial choice might be more concerned with
the mood of a text than the era in which it was written.[66] For example,
authors of the Middle Kingdom could set fictional wisdom texts in the
golden age of the Old Kingdom (e.g. Kagemni, Ptahhotep, and the prologue
of Neferti), or they could write fictional accounts placed in a chaotic age
resembling more the problematic life of the First Intermediate Period (e.g.
Merykare and The Eloquent Peasant).[67] Other fictional texts are set in
illo tempore (in an indeterminable era) and usually contain timeless
The stela of Minnakht, chief of the
themes.[68]
scribes, hieroglyph inscriptions,
dated to the reign of Ay (r. 1323–
Parkinson writes that nearly all
1319 BC)
literary texts were
pseudonymous, and frequently
falsely attributed to well-known male protagonists of earlier history, such
as kings and viziers.[70] Only the literary genres of "teaching" and
"laments/discourses" contain works attributed to historical authors; texts
in genres such as "narrative tales" were never attributed to a well-known
historical person.[71] Tait asserts that during the Classical Period of Egypt,
"Egyptian scribes constructed their own view of the history of the role of
One of the Heqanakht papyri, a
scribes and of the 'authorship' of texts", but during the Late Period, this
collection of hieratic private letters
role was instead maintained by the religious elite attached to the dated to the Eleventh dynasty of the
temples.[72] Middle Kingdom[69]
There are a few exceptions to the rule of pseudonymity. The real authors of
some Ramesside Period teaching texts were acknowledged, but these cases are rare, localized, and do not typify
mainstream works.[73] Those who wrote private and sometimes model letters were acknowledged as the original
authors. Private letters could be used in courts of law as testimony, since a person's unique handwriting could be
identified as authentic.[74] Private letters received or written by the pharaoh were sometimes inscribed in
hieroglyphics on stone monuments to celebrate kingship, while kings' decrees inscribed on stone stelas were often
made public.[75]
Literary genres and subjects

Modern Egyptologists categorize Egyptian texts into genres, for example "laments/discourses" and narrative tales.[76]
The only genre of literature named as such by the ancient Egyptians was the "teaching" or sebayt genre.[77] Parkinson
states that the titles of a work, its opening statement, or key words found in the body of text should be used as
indicators of its particular genre.[78] Only the genre of "narrative tales" employed prose, yet many of the works of that
genre, as well as those of other genres, were written in verse.[79] Most ancient Egyptian verses were written in couplet
form, but sometimes triplets and quatrains were used.[80]
Instructions and teachings

The "instructions" or "teaching" genre, as well as the genre of "reflective discourses", can be grouped in the larger
corpus of wisdom literature found in the ancient Near East.[81] The genre is didactic in nature and is thought to have
formed part of the Middle Kingdom scribal education syllabus.[82] However, teaching texts often incorporate narrative
elements that can instruct as well as entertain.[82] Parkinson asserts that there is evidence that teaching texts were not
created primarily for use in scribal education, but for ideological purposes.[83] For example, Adolf Erman (1854–1937)
writes that the fictional instruction given by Amenemhat I (r. 1991–1962 BC) to his sons "...far exceeds the bounds of
school philosophy, and there is nothing whatever to do with school in a great warning his children to be loyal to the
king".[84] While narrative literature, embodied in works such as The

Eloquent Peasant, emphasize the individual hero who challenges society
and its accepted ideologies, the teaching texts instead stress the need to
comply with society's accepted dogmas.[85]
Key words found in teaching texts include "to know" (rḫ) and "to teach"
(sbꜣ).[81] These texts usually adopt the formulaic title structure of "the
instruction of X made for Y", where "X" can be represented by an
authoritative figure (such as a vizier or king) providing moral guidance to
his son(s).[86] It is sometimes difficult to determine how many fictional
addressees are involved in these teachings, since some texts switch
between singular and plural when referring to their audiences.[87]
Examples of the "teaching" genre include the Maxims of Ptahhotep,

Instructions of Kagemni, Teaching for King Merykare, Instructions of
Amenemhat, Instruction of Hardjedef, Loyalist Teaching, and A New Kingdom copy on papyrus of
the Loyalist Teaching, written in
Instructions of Amenemope.[88] Teaching texts that have survived from the
hieratic script
Middle Kingdom were written on papyrus manuscripts.[89] No educational
ostraca from the Middle Kingdom have survived.[89] The earliest
schoolboy's wooden writing board, with a copy of a teaching text (i.e. Ptahhotep), dates to the Eighteenth dynasty.[89]
Ptahhotep and Kagemni are both found on the Prisse Papyrus, which was written during the Twelfth dynasty of the
Middle Kingdom.[90] The entire Loyalist Teaching survives only in manuscripts from the New Kingdom, although the
entire first half is preserved on a Middle Kingdom biographical stone stela commemorating the Twelfth dynasty
official Sehetepibre.[91] Merykare, Amenemhat, and Hardjedef are genuine Middle Kingdom works, but only survive
in later New Kingdom copies.[92] Amenemope is a New Kingdom compilation.[93]
Narrative tales and stories

The genre of "tales and stories" is probably the least represented genre
from surviving literature of the Middle Kingdom and Middle Egyptian.[95]
In Late Egyptian literature, "tales and stories" comprise the majority of
surviving literary works dated from the Ramesside Period of the New
Kingdom into the Late Period.[96] Major narrative works from the Middle
The Westcar Papyrus, although
Kingdom include the Tale of the Court of King Cheops, King Neferkare
written in hieratic during the
and General Sasenet, The Eloquent Peasant, Story of Sinuhe, and Tale of
Fifteenth to Seventeenth dynasties,
the shipwrecked sailor.[97] The New Kingdom corpus of tales includes the contains the Tale of the Court of
Quarrel of Apepi and Seqenenre, The Taking of Joppa, Tale of the doomed King Cheops, which is written in a
prince, Tale of Two Brothers, and the Report of Wenamun.[98] Stories phase of Middle Egyptian that is
from the 1st millennium BC written in Demotic include the story of the dated to the Twelfth dynasty.[94]
Famine Stela (set in the Old Kingdom, although written during the
Ptolemaic dynasty) and short story cycles of the Ptolemaic and Roman
periods that transform well-known historical figures such as Khaemweset (Nineteenth Dynasty) and Inaros (First
Persian Period) into fictional, legendary heroes.[99] This is contrasted with many stories written in Late Egyptian,
whose authors frequently chose divinities as protagonists and mythological places as settings.[51]
Parkinson defines tales as "...non-commemorative, non-functional, fictional narratives" that usually employ the key
word "narrate" (sdd).[95] He describes it as the most open-ended genre, since the tales often incorporate elements of
other literary genres.[95] For example, Morenz describes the opening section of the foreign adventure tale Sinuhe as a
"...funerary self-presentation" that parodies the typical autobiography found on commemorative funerary stelas.[100]
The autobiography is for a courier whose service began under Amenemhat I.[101] Simpson states that the death of
Amenemhat I in the report given by his son, coregent, and successor Senusret I (r. 1971–1926 BC) to the army in the
beginning of Sinuhe is "...excellent

propaganda".[102] Morenz describes The
shipwrecked sailor as an expeditionary
report and a travel-narrative myth.[100]
Simpson notes the literary device of the
A raised-relief depiction of Amenemhat I accompanied by deities; story within a story in The shipwrecked
the death of Amenemhat I is reported by his son Senusret I in the sailor may provide "...the earliest examples
Story of Sinuhe.
of a narrative quarrying report".[103] With
the setting of a magical desert island, and a
character who is a talking snake, The shipwrecked sailor may also be classified as a fairy tale.[104] While stories like
Sinuhe, Taking of Joppa, and the Doomed prince contain fictional portrayals of Egyptians abroad, the Report of
Wenamun is most likely based on a true account of an Egyptian who traveled to Byblos in Phoenicia to obtain cedar
for shipbuilding during the reign of Ramesses XI.[105]
Narrative tales and stories are most often found on papyri, but partial and sometimes complete texts are found on
ostraca. For example, Sinuhe is found on five papyri composed during the Twelfth and Thirteenth dynasties.[106] This
text was later copied numerous times on ostraca during the Nineteenth and Twentieth dynasties, with one ostraca
containing the complete text on both sides.[106]
Laments, discourses, dialogues, and prophecies

The Middle Kingdom genre of "prophetic texts", also known as "laments", "discourses", "dialogues", and "apocalyptic
literature",[107] include such works as the Admonitions of Ipuwer, Prophecy of Neferti, and Dispute between a man
and his Ba. This genre had no known precedent in the Old Kingdom and no known original compositions were
produced in the New Kingdom.[108] However, works like Prophecy of Neferti were frequently copied during the
Ramesside Period of the New Kingdom,[109] when this Middle Kingdom genre was canonized but discontinued.[110]
Egyptian prophetic literature underwent a revival during the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty and Roman period of Egypt
with works such as the Demotic Chronicle, Oracle of the Lamb, Oracle of the Potter, and two prophetic texts that focus
on Nectanebo II (r. 360–343 BC) as a protagonist.[111] Along with "teaching" texts, these reflective discourses (key
word mdt) are grouped with the wisdom literature category of the ancient Near East.[81]
In Middle Kingdom texts, connecting themes include a pessimistic outlook, descriptions of social and religious change,
and great disorder throughout the land, taking the form of a syntactic "then-now" verse formula.[112] Although these
texts are usually described as laments, Neferti digresses from this model, providing a positive solution to a
problematic world.[81] Although it survives only in later copies from the Eighteenth dynasty onward, Parkinson asserts
that, due to obvious political content, Neferti was originally written during or shortly after the reign of Amenemhat
I.[113] Simpson calls it "...a blatant political pamphlet designed to support the new regime" of the Twelfth dynasty
founded by Amenemhat, who usurped the throne from the Mentuhotep line of the Eleventh dynasty.[114] In the
narrative discourse, Sneferu (r. 2613–2589 BC) of the Fourth dynasty summons to court the sage and lector priest
Neferti. Neferti entertains the king with prophecies that the land will enter into a chaotic age, alluding to the First
Intermediate Period, only to be restored to its former glory by a righteous king— Ameny—whom the ancient Egyptian
would readily recognize as Amenemhat I.[115] A similar model of a tumultuous world transformed into a golden age by
a savior king was adopted for the Lamb and Potter, although for their audiences living under Roman domination, the
savior was yet to come.[116]
Although written during the Twelfth dynasty, Ipuwer only survives from a Nineteenth dynasty papyrus. However, A
man and his Ba is found on an original Twelfth dynasty papyrus, Papyrus Berlin 3024.[117] These two texts resemble
other discourses in style, tone, and subject matter, although they are unique in that the fictional audiences are given
very active roles in the exchange of dialogue.[118] In Ipuwer, a sage addresses an unnamed king and his attendants,
describing the miserable state of the land, which he blames on the king's inability to uphold royal virtues. This can be
seen either as a warning to kings or as a legitimization of the current dynasty, contrasting it with the supposedly
turbulent period that preceded it.[119] In A man and his Ba, a man recounts
for an audience a conversation with his ba (a component of the Egyptian
soul) on whether to continue living in despair or to seek death as an escape
from misery.[120]
Poems, songs, hymns, and afterlife texts

The funerary stone slab stela was first produced during the early Old
Kingdom. Usually found in mastaba tombs, they combined raised-relief
artwork with inscriptions bearing the name of the deceased, their official
titles (if any), and invocations.[121]
Funerary poems were thought to preserve a monarch's soul in death. The

Pyramid Texts are the earliest surviving religious literature incorporating
poetic verse.[122] These texts do not appear in tombs or pyramids
The ba in bird form, one component
originating before the reign of Unas (r. 2375–2345 BC), who had the of the Egyptian soul that is
Pyramid of Unas built at Saqqara.[122] The Pyramid Texts are chiefly discussed in the Middle Kingdom
concerned with the function of preserving and nurturing the soul of the discourse Dispute between a man
sovereign in the afterlife.[122] This aim eventually included safeguarding and his Ba
both the sovereign and his subjects in the afterlife.[123] A variety of textual
traditions evolved from the original Pyramid Texts: the Coffin Texts of the
Middle Kingdom,[124] the so-called Book of the Dead, Litany of Ra, and
Amduat written on papyri from the New Kingdom until the end of ancient
Egyptian civilization.[125]
Poems were also written to celebrate kingship. For example, at the Precinct
of Amun-Re at Karnak, Thutmose III (r. 1479–1425 BC) of the Eighteenth This vignette scene from the Book
dynasty erected a stela commemorating his military victories in which the of the Dead of Hunefer (Nineteenth
dynasty) shows his heart being
gods bless Thutmose in poetic verse and ensure for him victories over his
weighed against the feather of truth.
enemies.[126] In addition to stone stelas, poems have been found on
If his heart is lighter than the feather,
wooden writing boards used by schoolboys.[127] Besides the glorification of he is allowed into the afterlife; if not,
kings,[128] poems were written to honor various deities, and even the his heart is swallowed by Ammit.
Nile.[129]
Surviving hymns and songs from the Old Kingdom include the morning
greeting hymns to the gods in their respective temples.[130] A cycle of
Middle-Kingdom songs dedicated to Senusret III (r. 1878–1839 BC) have
been discovered at El-Lahun.[131] Erman considers these to be secular
songs used to greet the pharaoh at Memphis,[132] while Simpson considers
them to be religious in nature but affirms that the division between
religious and secular songs is not very sharp.[131] The Harper's Song, the
lyrics found on a tombstone of the Middle Kingdom and on Papyrus Harris
500 from the New Kingdom, was to be performed for dinner guests at
formal banquets.[133]
During the reign of Akhenaten (r. 1353–1336 BC), the Great Hymn to the
Aten—preserved in tombs of Amarna, including the tomb of Ay—was
A blind harpist, from a mural of the written to the Aten, the sun-disk deity given exclusive patronage during his
Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, 15th reign.[134] Simpson compares this composition's wording and sequence of
century BC ideas to those of Psalm 104.[135]
Only a single poetic hymn in the Demotic script has been preserved.[136] However, there are many surviving examples
of Late-Period Egyptian hymns written in hieroglyphs on temple walls.[137]
No Egyptian love song has been dated from before the New Kingdom, these being written in Late Egyptian, although it
is speculated that they existed in previous times.[138] Erman compares the love songs to the Song of Songs, citing the
labels "sister" and "brother" that lovers used to address each other.[139]
Private letters, model letters, and epistles

The ancient Egyptian model letters and epistles are grouped into a single
literary genre. Papyrus rolls sealed with mud stamps were used for long-
distance letters, while ostraca were frequently used to write shorter, non-
confidential letters sent to recipients located nearby.[140] Letters of royal or
official correspondence, originally written in hieratic, were sometimes
given the exalted status of being inscribed on stone in hieroglyphs.[141] The
various texts written by schoolboys on wooden writing boards include
model letters.[89] Private letters could be used as epistolary model letters
for schoolboys to copy, including letters written by their teachers or their
families.[142] However, these models were rarely featured in educational
manuscripts; instead fictional letters found in numerous manuscripts were
used.[143] The common epistolary formula used in these model letters was
"The official A. saith to the scribe B".[144]
The oldest-known private letters on papyrus were found in a funerary

temple dating to the reign of Djedkare-Izezi (r. 2414–2375 BC) of the Fifth
dynasty.[145] More letters are dated to the Sixth dynasty, when the epistle
subgenre began.[146] The educational text Book of Kemit, dated to the
Eleventh dynasty, contains a list of epistolary greetings and a narrative
with an ending in letter form and suitable terminology for use in Hieratic script on an ostracon made
of limestone; the script was written
commemorative biographies.[147] Other letters of the early Middle
as an exercise by a schoolboy in
Kingdom have also been found to use epistolary formulas similar to the Ancient Egypt. He copied four
Book of Kemit.[148] The Heqanakht papyri, written by a gentleman farmer, letters from the vizier Khay (who
date to the Eleventh dynasty and represent some of the lengthiest private was active during the reign of
letters known to have been written in ancient Egypt.[69] Ramesses II).
During the late Middle Kingdom, greater standardization of the epistolary

formula can be seen, for example in a series of model letters taken from dispatches sent to the Semna fortress of Nubia
during the reign of Amenemhat III (r. 1860–1814 BC).[149] Epistles were also written during all three dynasties of the
New Kingdom.[150] While letters to the dead had been written since the Old Kingdom, the writing of petition letters in
epistolary form to deities began in the Ramesside Period, becoming very popular during the Persian and Ptolemaic
periods.[151]
The epistolary Satirical Letter of Papyrus Anastasi I written during the Nineteenth dynasty was a pedagogical and
didactic text copied on numerous ostraca by schoolboys.[152] Wente describes the versatility of this epistle, which
contained "...proper greetings with wishes for this life and the next, the rhetoric composition, interpretation of
aphorisms in wisdom literature, application of mathematics to engineering problems and the calculation of supplies
for an army, and the geography of western Asia".[153] Moreover, Wente calls this a "...polemical tractate" that counsels
against the rote, mechanical learning of terms for places, professions, and things; for example, it is not acceptable to
know just the place names of western Asia, but also important details about its topography and routes.[153] To enhance
the teaching, the text employs sarcasm and irony.[153]
Biographical and autobiographical texts

Catherine Parke, Professor Emerita of English and Women's Studies at the University of Missouri in Columbia,
Missouri, writes that the earliest "commemorative inscriptions" belong to ancient Egypt and date to the 3rd
millennium BC.[154] She writes: "In ancient Egypt the formulaic accounts of Pharaoh's lives praised the continuity of
dynastic power. Although typically written in the first person, these pronouncements are public, general testimonials,
not personal utterances."[155] She adds that as in these ancient inscriptions, the human urge to "...celebrate,
commemorate, and immortalize, the impulse of life against death", is the aim of biographies written today.[155]
Olivier Perdu, a professor of Egyptology at the Collège de France, states

that biographies did not exist in ancient Egypt, and that commemorative
writing should be considered autobiographical.[156] Edward L. Greenstein,
Professor of Bible at the Tel Aviv University and Bar-Ilan University,
disagrees with Perdu's terminology, stating that the ancient world
produced no "autobiographies" in the modern sense, and these should be
distinguished from 'autobiographical' texts of the ancient world.[157]
However, both Perdu and Greenstein assert that autobiographies of the
ancient Near East should not be equated with the modern concept of
autobiography.[158]
In her discussion of the Ecclesiastes of the Hebrew Bible, Jennifer Koosed,

associate professor of Religion at Albright College, explains that there is no
solid consensus among scholars as to whether true biographies or
autobiographies existed in the ancient world.[159] One of the major
scholarly arguments against this theory is that the concept of individuality
did not exist until the European Renaissance, prompting Koosed to write
"...thus autobiography is made a product of European civilization:
A funerary stela of a man named Ba
(seated, sniffing a sacred lotus while Augustine begat Rosseau begat Henry Adams, and so on".[159] Koosed
receiving libations); Ba's son Mes asserts that the use of first-person "I" in ancient Egyptian commemorative
and wife Iny are also seated. The funerary texts should not be taken literally since the supposed author is
identity of the libation bearer is already dead. Funerary texts should be considered biographical instead of
unspecified. The stela is dated to
autobiographical.[158] Koosed cautions that the term "biography" applied
the Eighteenth dynasty of the New
to such texts is problematic, since they also usually describe the deceased
Kingdom period.
person's experiences of journeying through the afterlife.[158]
Beginning with the funerary stelas for officials of the late Third dynasty,
small amounts of biographical detail were added next to the deceased men's titles.[160] However, it was not until the
Sixth dynasty that narratives of the lives and careers of government officials were inscribed.[161] Tomb biographies
became more detailed during the Middle Kingdom, and included information about the deceased person's family.[162]
The vast majority of autobiographical texts are dedicated to scribal bureaucrats, but during the New Kingdom some
were dedicated to military officers and soldiers.[163] Autobiographical texts of the Late Period place a greater stress
upon seeking help from deities than acting righteously to succeed in life.[164] Whereas earlier autobiographical texts
exclusively dealt with celebrating successful lives, Late Period autobiographical texts include laments for premature
death, similar to the epitaphs of ancient Greece.[165]
Decrees, chronicles, king lists, and histories

Modern historians consider that some biographical—or autobiographical—texts are important historical
documents.[166] For example, the biographical stelas of military generals in tomb chapels built under Thutmose III
provide much of the information known about the wars in Syria and Palestine.[167] However, the annals of Thutmose
III, carved into the walls of several monuments built during his reign, such as those at Karnak, also preserve
information about these campaigns.[168] The annals of Ramesses II (r. 1279–1213

BC), recounting the Battle of Kadesh against the Hittites include, for the first time
in Egyptian literature, a narrative epic poem, distinguished from all earlier poetry,
which served to celebrate and instruct.[169]
Other documents useful for investigating Egyptian history are ancient lists of kings
found in terse chronicles, such as the Fifth dynasty Palermo stone.[170] These
documents legitimated the contemporary pharaoh's claim to sovereignty.[171]
Throughout ancient Egyptian history, royal decrees recounted the deeds of ruling
pharaohs.[172] For example, the Nubian pharaoh Piye (r. 752–721 BC), founder of
the Twenty-fifth dynasty, had a stela erected and written in classical Middle
Egyptian that describes with unusual nuances and vivid imagery his successful
military campaigns.[173]
An Egyptian historian, known by his Greek name as Manetho (c. 3rd century BC), The Annals of Pharaoh
was the first to compile a comprehensive history of Egypt.[174] Manetho was active Thutmose III at Karnak
during the reign of Ptolemy II (r. 283–246 BC) and used The Histories by the Greek
Herodotus (c. 484 BC–c. 425 BC) as his main source of inspiration for a history of
Egypt written in Greek.[174] However, the primary sources for Manetho's work were the king list chronicles of previous
Egyptian dynasties.[171]
Tomb and temple graffiti

Fischer-Elfert distinguishes ancient Egyptian graffiti writing as a literary
genre.[175] During the New Kingdom, scribes who traveled to ancient sites
often left graffiti messages on the walls of sacred mortuary temples and
pyramids, usually in commemoration of these structures.[176] Modern
scholars do not consider these scribes to have been mere tourists, but
pilgrims visiting sacred sites where the extinct cult centers could be used
for communicating with the gods.[177] There is evidence from an
educational ostracon found in the tomb of Senenmut (TT71) that formulaic
graffiti writing was practiced in scribal schools.[177] In one graffiti message, Artistic graffiti of a canine figure at
left at the mortuary temple of Thutmose III at Deir el-Bahri, a modified the Temple of Kom Ombo, built
saying from The Maxims of Ptahhotep is incorporated into a prayer written during the Ptolemaic dynasty
on the temple wall.[178] Scribes usually wrote their graffiti in separate
clusters to distinguish their graffiti from others'.[175] This led to
competition among scribes, who would sometimes denigrate the quality of graffiti inscribed by others, even ancestors
from the scribal profession.[175]
Legacy, translation and interpretation

After the Copts converted to Christianity in the first centuries AD, their Coptic Christian literature became separated
from the pharaonic and Hellenistic literary traditions.[179] Nevertheless, scholars speculate that ancient Egyptian
literature, perhaps in oral form, influenced Greek and Arabic literature. Parallels are drawn between the Egyptian
soldiers sneaking into Jaffa hidden in baskets to capture the city in the story The Taking of Joppa and the Mycenaean
Greeks sneaking into Troy inside the Trojan Horse.[180] The Taking of Joppa has also been compared to the Arabic
story of Ali Baba in One Thousand and One Nights.[181] It has been conjectured that Sinbad the Sailor may have been
inspired by the pharaonic Tale of the shipwrecked sailor.[182] Some Egyptian literature was commented on by scholars
of the ancient world. For example, the Jewish Roman historian Josephus (37–c. 100 AD) quoted and provided
commentary on Manetho's historical texts.[183]
The most recently carved hieroglyphic inscription of ancient Egypt known

today is found in a temple of Philae, dated precisely to 394 AD during the
reign of Theodosius I (r. 379–395 AD).[184] In the 4th century AD, the
Hellenized Egyptian Horapollo compiled a survey of almost two hundred
Egyptian hieroglyphs and provided his interpretation of their meanings,
although his understanding was limited and he was unaware of the
phonetic uses of each hieroglyph.[185] This survey was apparently lost until
1415, when the Italian Cristoforo Buondelmonti acquired it at the island of
Andros.[185] Athanasius Kircher (1601–1680) was the first in Europe to
realize that Coptic was a direct linguistic descendant of ancient
Egyptian.[185] In his Oedipus Aegyptiacus, he made the first concerted
European effort to interpret the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphs, albeit
based on symbolic inferences.[185]
The trilingual Rosetta Stone in the
British Museum It was not until 1799, with the Napoleonic discovery of a trilingual (i.e.
hieroglyphic, Demotic, Greek) stela inscription on the Rosetta Stone, that
modern scholars were able to decipher ancient Egyptian literature.[186] The
first major effort to translate the hieroglyphs of the Rosetta Stone was made by Jean-François Champollion (1790–
1832) in 1822.[187] The earliest translation efforts of Egyptian literature during the 19th century were attempts to
confirm Biblical events.[187]
Before the 1970s, scholarly consensus was that ancient Egyptian literature—although sharing similarities with modern
literary categories—was not an independent discourse, uninfluenced by the ancient sociopolitical order.[188] However,
from the 1970s onwards, a growing number of historians and literary scholars have questioned this theory.[189] While
scholars before the 1970s treated ancient Egyptian literary works as viable historical sources that accurately reflected
the conditions of this ancient society, scholars now caution against this approach.[190] Scholars are increasingly using
a multifaceted hermeneutic approach to the study of individual literary works, in which not only the style and content,
but also the cultural, social and historical context of the work are taken into account.[189] Individual works can then be
used as case studies for reconstructing the main features of ancient Egyptian literary discourse.[189]
Notes
1. Foster 2001, p. xx. 13. Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 19.
2. Parkinson 2002, pp. 64–66. 14. Wilson 2003, pp. 22–23.
3. Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 26. 15. Wilson 2003, pp. 22–23, 91–92; Parkinson 2002,
4. Wilson 2003, pp. 7–10; Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 73; Wente 1990, pp. 1–2; Spalinger 1990, p. 297;
pp. 10–12; Wente 1990, p. 2; Allen 2000, pp. 1–2, 6. Allen 2000, p. 6.
5. Wilson 2003, p. 28; Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 13; 16. Parkinson 2002, pp. 73–74; Forman & Quirke 1996,
Allen 2000, p. 3. p. 19.
6. Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 13; for similar examples, 17. Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 17.
see Allen (2000: 3) and Erman (2005: xxxv-xxxvi). 18. Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 17–19, 169; Allen 2000,
7. Wilkinson 2000, pp. 23–24; Wilson 2004, p. 11; p. 6.
Gardiner 1915, p. 72. 19. Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 19, 169; Allen 2000, p. 6;
8. Wilson 2003, pp. 22, 47; Forman & Quirke 1996, Simpson 1972, pp. 8–9; Erman 2005, pp. xxxvii, xlii;
pp. 10; Wente 1990, p. 2; Parkinson 2002, p. 73. Foster 2001, p. xv.
9. Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 10. 20. Wente 1990, p. 4.
10. Wilson 2003, pp. 63–64. 21. Wente 1990, pp. 4–5.
11. Wilson 2003, p. 71; Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 101– 22. Allen 2000, p. 5; Foster 2001, p. xv; see also Wente
103. 1990, pp. 5–6 for a wooden writing board example.
12. Erman 2005, p. xxxvii; Simpson 1972, pp. 8–9; 23. Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 169.
Forman & Quirke 1996, p. 19; Allen 2000, p. 6. 24. Quirke 2004, p. 14.
25. Wente 1990, pp. 2–3; Tait 2003, pp. 9–10. 61. Parkinson 2002, pp. 45–46, 49–50, 55–56; Morenz
26. Wente 1990, pp. 2–3. 2003, p. 102; see also Simpson 1972, pp. 3–6 and
Erman 2005, pp. xxiv-xxv.
27. Tait 2003, pp. 9–10.
62. Morenz 2003, p. 102.
28. Wilson 2003, pp. 91–93.
63. Parkinson 2002, pp. 45–46, 49–50, 55–56; Morenz
29. Wilson 2003, pp. 91–93; see also Wente 1990,
2003, p. 102.
pp. 132–133.
64. Parkinson 2002, pp. 47–48.
30. Tait 2003, p. 10; see also Parkinson 2002, pp. 298–
299. 65. Parkinson 2002, pp. 45–46; Morenz 2003, pp. 103–
104.
31. Fischer-Elfert 2003, p. 121.
66. Parkinson 2002, p. 46.
32. Simpson 1972, pp. 3–4; Foster 2001, pp. xvii-xviii.
67. Parkinson 2002, pp. 46–47; see also Morenz 2003,
33. Allen 2000, p. 1.
pp. 101–102.
34. Allen 2000, p. 1; Fischer-Elfert 2003, p. 119; Erman
68. Morenz 2003, pp. 104–107.
2005, pp. xxv-xxvi.
69. Wente 1990, pp. 54–55, 58–63.
35. Allen 2000, p. 1; Wildung 2003, p. 61.
70. Parkinson 2002, pp. 75–76.
36. Allen 2000, p. 6.
71. Parkinson 2002, pp. 75–76; Fischer-Elfert 2003,
37. Allen 2000, pp. 1, 5–6; Wildung 2003, p. 61; Erman
p. 120.
2005, pp. xxv-xxvii; Lichtheim 1980, p. 4.
72. Tait 2003, pp. 12–13.
38. Allen 2000, p. 5; Erman 2005, pp. xxv-xxvii;
Lichtheim 1980, p. 4. 73. Parkinson 2002, pp. 238–239.
39. Wildung 2003, p. 61. 74. Wente 1990, p. 7.
40. Wente 1990, pp. 6–7; see also Wilson 2003, pp. 19– 75. Wente 1990, pp. 17–18.
20, 96–97; Erman 2005, pp. xxvii-xxviii. 76. Fischer-Elfert 2003, pp. 122–123; Simpson 1972,
41. Wilson 2003, p. 96. p. 3.
42. Wente 1990, pp. 7–8. 77. Fischer-Elfert 2003, pp. 122–123; Simpson 1972,
pp. 5–6; Parkinson 2002, p. 110.
43. Wente 1990, pp. 7–8; Parkinson 2002, pp. 66–67.
78. Parkinson 2002, pp. 108–109.
44. Wilson 2003, pp. 23–24.
79. Foster 2001, pp. xv-xvi.
45. Wilson 2003, p. 95.
80. Foster 2001, p. xvi.
46. Wilson 2003, pp. 96–98.
81. Parkinson 2002, p. 110.
47. Parkinson 2002, pp. 66–67.
82. Parkinson 2002, pp. 110, 235.
48. Fischer-Elfert 2003, pp. 119–121; Parkinson 2002,
p. 50. 83. Parkinson 2002, pp. 236–237.
49. Wilson 2003, pp. 97–98; see Parkinson 2002, 84. Erman 2005, p. 54.
pp. 53–54; see also Fischer-Elfert 2003, pp. 119– 85. Loprieno 1996, p. 217.
121. 86. Simpson 1972, p. 6; see also Parkinson 2002,
50. Parkinson 2002, pp. 54–55; see also Morenz 2003, pp. 236–238.
p. 104. 87. Parkinson 2002, pp. 237–238.
51. Simpson 1972, pp. 5–6. 88. Parkinson 2002, pp. 313–319; Simpson 1972,
52. Fischer-Elfert 2003, p. 122. pp. 159–200, 241–268.
53. Parkinson 2002, pp. 78–79; for pictures (with 89. Parkinson 2002, pp. 235–236.
captions) of Egyptian miniature funerary models of 90. Parkinson 2002, pp. 313–315; Simpson 1972,
boats with men reading papyrus texts aloud, see pp. 159–177.
Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 76–77, 83.
91. Parkinson 2002, pp. 318–319.
54. Parkinson 2002, pp. 78–79.
92. Parkinson 2002, pp. 313–314, 315–317; Simpson
55. Wilson 2003, p. 93. 1972, pp. 180, 193.
56. Parkinson 2002, pp. 80–81. 93. Simpson 1972, p. 241.
57. Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 51–56, 62–63, 68–72, 94. Parkinson 2002, pp. 295–296.
111–112; Budge 1972, pp. 240–243.
95. Parkinson 2002, p. 109.
58. Parkinson 2002, p. 70.
96. Fischer-Elfert 2003, p. 120.
59. Wente 1990, pp. 1, 9, 132–133.
60. Wente 1990, p. 9.
97. Parkinson 2002, pp. 294–299; Simpson 1972, 129. Erman 2005, pp. 137–146; 281–305.
pp. 15–76; Erman 2005, pp. 14–52. 130. Erman 2005, p. 10.
98. Simpson 1972, pp. 77–158; Erman 2005, pp. 150– 131. Simpson 1972, p. 279; Erman 2005, p. 134.
175.
132. Erman 2005, p. 134.
99. Gozzoli 2006, pp. 247–249; for another source on
133. Simpson 1972, p. 297; Erman 2005, pp. 132–133.
the Famine Stela, see Lichtheim 1980, pp. 94–95.
134. Erman 2005, pp. 288–289; Foster 2001, p. 1.
100. Morenz 2003, pp. 102–104.
135. Simpson 1972, p. 289.
101. Parkinson 2002, pp. 297–298.
136. Tait 2003, p. 10.
102. Simpson 1972, p. 57.
137. Lichtheim 1980, p. 104.
103. Simpson 1972, p. 50; see also Foster 2001, p. 8.
138. Simpson 1972, pp. 7, 296–297; Erman 2005,
104. Foster 2001, p. 8.
pp. 242–243; see also Foster 2001, p. 17.
105. Simpson 1972, pp. 81, 85, 87, 142; Erman 2005,
139. Erman 2005, pp. 242–243.
pp. 174–175.
140. Wente 1990, pp. 2, 4–5.
106. Simpson 1972, p. 57 states that there are two
Middle-Kingdom manuscripts for Sinuhe, while the 141. Wilson 2003, pp. 91–92; Wente 1990, pp. 5–6.
updated work of Parkinson 2002, pp. 297–298 142. Erman 2005, p. 198; see also Lichtheim 2006,
mentions five manuscripts. p. 167.
107. Simpson 1972, pp. 6–7; Parkinson 2002, pp. 110, 143. Erman 2005, pp. 198, 205.
193; for "apocalyptic" designation, see Gozzoli 2006, 144. Erman 2005, p. 205.
p. 283. 145. Wente 1990, p. 54.
108. Morenz 2003, p. 103. 146. Wente 1990, pp. 15, 54.
109. Simpson 1972, pp. 6–7. 147. Wente 1990, p. 15.
110. Parkinson 2002, pp. 232–233. 148. Wente 1990, p. 55.
111. Gozzoli 2006, pp. 283–304; see also Parkinson 149. Wente 1990, p. 68.
2002, p. 233, who alludes to this genre being revived
150. Wente 1990, p. 89.
in periods after the Middle Kingdom and cites
Depauw (1997: 97–9), Frankfurter (1998: 241–8), 151. Wente 1990, p. 210.
and Bresciani (1999). 152. Wente 1990, p. 98.
112. Simpson 1972, pp. 7–8; Parkinson 2002, pp. 110– 153. Wente 1990, pp. 98–99.
111. 154. Parke 2002, pp. xxi, 1–2.
113. Parkinson 2002, pp. 45–46, 49–50, 303–304. 155. Parke 2002, pp. 1–2.
114. Simpson 1972, p. 234. 156. Perdu 1995, p. 2243.
115. Parkinson 2002, pp. 197–198, 303–304; Simpson 157. Greenstein 1995, p. 2421.
1972, p. 234; Erman 2005, p. 110.
158. Koosed 2006, p. 29.
116. Gozzoli 2006, pp. 301–302.
159. Koosed 2006, pp. 28–29.
117. Parkinson 2002, pp. 308–309; Simpson 1972,
160. Breasted 1962, pp. 5–6; see also Foster 2001, p. xv.
pp. 201, 210.
161. Breasted 1962, pp. 5–6; see also Bard & Shubert
118. Parkinson 2002, pp. 111, 308–309.
1999, pp. 36–37.
119. Parkinson 2002, p. 308; Simpson 1972, p. 210;
162. Breasted 1962, pp. 5–6.
Erman 2005, pp. 92–93.
163. Lichtheim 2006, p. 11.
120. Parkinson 2002, p. 309; Simpson 1972, p. 201;
Erman 2005, p. 86. 164. Lichtheim 1980, p. 5.
121. Bard & Shubert 1999, p. 674. 165. Lichtheim 1980, p. 6.
122. Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 48–51; Simpson 1972, 166. Gozzoli 2006, pp. 1–8.
pp. 4–5, 269; Erman 2005, pp. 1–2. 167. Breasted 1962, pp. 12–13.
123. Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 116–117. 168. Seters 1997, p. 147.
124. Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 65–109. 169. Lichtheim 2006, p. 6.
125. Forman & Quirke 1996, pp. 109–165. 170. Gozzoli 2006, pp. 1–8; Brewer & Teeter 1999,
126. Simpson 1972, p. 285. pp. 27–28; Bard & Shubert 1999, p. 36.
127. Erman 2005, p. 140. 171. Bard & Shubert 1999, p. 36.
128. Erman 2005, pp. 254–274. 172. Lichtheim 1980, p. 7; Bard & Shubert 1999, p. 36.
173. Lichtheim 1980, p. 7. 182. Mokhtar 1990, pp. 116–117.

174. Gozzoli 2006, pp. 8, 191–225; Brewer & Teeter 1999, 183. Gozzoli 2006, pp. 192–193, 224.
pp. 27–28; Lichtheim 1980, p. 7. 184. Wilson 2003, pp. 104–105; Foster 2001, pp. xiv-xv.
175. Fischer-Elfert 2003, p. 133. 185. Wilson 2003, pp. 104–105.
176. Fischer-Elfert 2003, p. 131. 186. Wilson 2003, pp. 105–106.
177. Fischer-Elfert 2003, p. 132. 187. Foster 2001, p. xii-xiii.
178. Fischer-Elfert 2003, pp. 132–133. 188. Loprieno 1996, pp. 211–212.
179. Bard & Shubert 1999, p. 76. 189. Loprieno 1996, pp. 212–213.
180. Simpson 1972, p. 81. 190. Loprieno 1996, pp. 211, 213.
181. Mokhtar 1990, pp. 116–117; Simpson 1972, p. 81.
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from the Third and Second Millennia BC, translated by Aylward M. Blackman, New York: Kegan Paul, ISBN 0-
7103-0964-3
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Oklahoma Press, ISBN 0-8061-2751-1
Foster, John Lawrence (2001), Ancient Egyptian Literature: An Anthology, Austin: University of Texas Press,
ISBN 0-292-72527-2
Gardiner, Alan H. (1915), "The Nature and Development of the Egyptian Hieroglyphic Writing" (https://zenodo.org/
record/1449856), The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 2 (2): 61–75, doi:10.2307/3853896 (https://doi.org/10.230
7%2F3853896), JSTOR 3853896 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/3853896)
Gozzoli, Roberto B. (2006), The Writings of History in Ancient Egypt during the First Millennium BC (ca. 1070–180
BC): Trends and Perspectives, London: Golden House Publications, ISBN 0-9550256-3-X
Greenstein, Edward L. (1995), "Autobiographies in Ancient Western Asia", Civilizations of the Ancient Near East,
New York: Scribner, pp. 2421–2432
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T Clark International (Continuum imprint), ISBN 0-567-02632-9
Lichtheim, Miriam (1980), Ancient Egyptian Literature: Volume III: The Late Period, Berkeley and Los Angeles:
University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-04020-1
Lichtheim, Miriam (2006), Ancient Egyptian Literature: Volume II: The New Kingdom, with a new foreword by
Hans-W. Fischer-Elfert, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-24843-0
Loprieno, Antonio (1996), "Defining Egyptian Literature: Ancient Texts and Modern Literary Theory", in Cooper,
Jerrold S.; Schwartz, Glenn M. (eds.), The Study of the Ancient Near East in the 21st Century, Winona Lake,
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College London, Institute of Archaeology, an imprint of Cavendish Publishing Limited, pp. 101–118, ISBN 1-
84472-007-1
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John (ed.), 'Never Had the Like Occurred': Egypt's View of Its Past, London: University College London, Institute
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External links
Internet Ancient History Source Book: Egypt (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook04.html#Literature)
(by Fordham University, NY)
The Language of Ancient Egypt (http://www.ancient-egypt.org/index.html) (by Belgian Egyptologist Jacques
Kinnaer)
Book: Literature of the Ancient Egyptians, Readable HTML format (https://www.wisdomlib.org/egypt/book/the-liter
ature-of-the-ancient-egyptians/index.html)
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15932/15
932-h/15932-h.htm#Pg_37) (E. A. Wallis Budge)
University of Texas Press - Ancient Egyptian Literature: An Anthology (2001) (https://web.archive.org/web/200904
23133312/http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/excerpts/exfosanc.html) (The entire preface, by John L. Foster)
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8/9/2019 Ancient Egyptian literature - Wikipedia

Writing in ancient Egypt—both hieroglyphic and hieratic—

Writing implements and materials

Scripts, media, and languages

Hieroglyphs, hieratic, and Demotic

Hieratic is a simplified, cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphs.[12] Like

Writing implements and materials

Preservation of written material

John W. Tait stresses, "Egyptian material survives in a very uneven

Classical, Middle, Late, and Demotic Egyptian language

Literary functions: social, religious and educational

Dating, setting, and authorship

Literary genres and subjects

Instructions and teachings

king".[84] While narrative literature, embodied in works such as The

Examples of the "teaching" genre include the Maxims of Ptahhotep,

Narrative tales and stories

beginning of Sinuhe is "...excellent

Laments, discourses, dialogues, and prophecies

Poems, songs, hymns, and afterlife texts

Funerary poems were thought to preserve a monarch's soul in death. The

Private letters, model letters, and epistles

The oldest-known private letters on papyrus were found in a funerary

During the late Middle Kingdom, greater standardization of the epistolary

Biographical and autobiographical texts

Olivier Perdu, a professor of Egyptology at the Collège de France, states

In her discussion of the Ecclesiastes of the Hebrew Bible, Jennifer Koosed,

Decrees, chronicles, king lists, and histories

information about these campaigns.[168] The annals of Ramesses II (r. 1279–1213

Tomb and temple graffiti

Legacy, translation and interpretation

The most recently carved hieroglyphic inscription of ancient Egypt known

121. Bard & Shubert 1999, p. 674. 165. Lichtheim 1980, p. 6.

173. Lichtheim 1980, p. 7. 182. Mokhtar 1990, pp. 116–117.

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