Ancient Egyptian literature
The Narmer Palette, dated to approximately 3100 BC during the last phase of Predynastic Egypt, combines hieroglyphs for catfish and chisel to produce the name of King Narmer. Writing in ancient Egypt first appeared in the late 4th millennium BC as a system of small artistic pictures representing natural objects. These early scripts evolved into three distinct forms: Hieroglyphs, Hieratic, and Demotic. Hieroglyphs were reserved for monuments and funerary literature, serving as words of god to communicate with divinities. Hieratic developed as a cursive form for everyday writing on papyrus, allowing scribes to record legal documents, medical texts, and private letters quickly. By the mid-1st millennium BC, Demotic emerged as an even more cursive script used for informal day-to-day administrative tasks. The final script adopted by the ancient Egyptians was the Coptic alphabet, a revised version of the Greek alphabet that became standard in the 4th century AD when Christianity took over the Roman Empire.
Egyptian literature survives today because it was often buried in dry desert settlements rather than left on the moist Nile floodplain. Archaeologists have discovered larger quantities of papyrus documents in elevated desert areas like Elephantine, El-Lahun, and El-Hiba where moisture could not destroy the ink or paper. Most settlements sat on alluvium soil which created an environment unsuitable for long-term preservation of organic materials. Papyrus rolls were moderately expensive commercial items made from strips of Cyperus papyrus plant pith beaten together into thin sheets. Many surviving scrolls are palimpsests, meaning their original contents had been erased or scraped off to make room for new written works. This practice suggests seasonal shortages caused by the limited growing season of the papyrus plant itself. Writings on stone were frequently re-used as building materials, while ceramic ostraca required dry conditions to ensure ink survival. A waste pit discovered at the Ramesside-era village of Deir el-Medina yielded the majority of known private letters on ostraca, described by Penelope Wilson as equivalent to sifting through a modern landfill.
The genre of teaching or sebayt represents the majority of pedagogical texts written on ostraca during the Middle Kingdom. These didactic works often incorporated narrative elements to instruct as well as entertain young scribes learning their craft. Key words found in teaching texts include to know and to teach, usually adopting the formulaic title structure of the instruction of X made for Y. Examples include the Maxims of Ptahhotep, Instructions of Kagemni, Teaching for King Merykare, and Instructions of Amenemhat. Adolf Erman wrote that the fictional instruction given by Amenemhat I far exceeded the bounds of school philosophy. It served as a great warning to children to be loyal to the king rather than just teaching basic skills. The entire Loyalist Teaching survives only in manuscripts from the New Kingdom, although its first half is preserved on a Middle Kingdom biographical stone stela commemorating Sehetepibre. No educational ostraca from the Middle Kingdom have survived, but wooden writing boards with copies of teaching texts date back to the Eighteenth dynasty.
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. Richard B. Parkinson defines tales as non-commemorative, non-functional, fictional narratives that often incorporate elements of other literary genres. The autobiography of a courier whose service began under Amenemhat I appears in the beginning of Sinuhe. Simpson notes that the death of Amenemhat I reported by his son Senusret I serves as excellent propaganda for the new regime. The Shipwrecked Sailor features a magical desert island setting and a character who is a talking snake, possibly classifying it as a fairy tale. While stories like Sinuhe contain fictional portrayals of Egyptians abroad, the Report of Wenamun is most likely based on a true account of an Egyptian traveling to Byblos in Phoenicia. These tales were found on papyri, but partial and sometimes complete texts also appear on ostraca. One ostraca contains the complete text of Sinuhe on both sides, proving its popularity among later scribes.
The Pyramid Texts are the earliest surviving religious literature incorporating poetic verse, appearing only after the reign of Unas at Saqqara. These texts functioned to preserve and nurture the soul of the sovereign in the afterlife while eventually safeguarding both the sovereign and his subjects. A variety of textual traditions evolved from the original Pyramid Texts including the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom and the Book of the Dead written on papyrus during the New Kingdom. Poems were also written to celebrate kingship, such as Thutmose III's stela commemorating military victories where gods bless him in poetic verse. Surviving hymns and songs from the Old Kingdom include morning greeting hymns to gods in their respective temples. A cycle of Middle-Kingdom songs dedicated to Senusret III have been discovered at El-Lahun. The Harper's Song lyrics found on tombstones and Papyrus Harris 500 were performed for dinner guests at formal banquets. During Akhenaten's reign, the Great Hymn to the Aten was written to the sun-disk deity given exclusive patronage.
Modern historians consider biographical or autobiographical texts important historical documents because they provide information about wars in Syria and Canaan. The annals of Ramesses II recounting the Battle of Kadesh against the Hittites include a narrative epic poem distinguished from all earlier poetry serving to celebrate and instruct. Ancient lists of kings found in terse chronicles like the Fifth dynasty Palermo stone legitimated the contemporary pharaoh's claim to sovereignty. An Egyptian historian known by his Greek name as Manetho compiled a comprehensive history of Egypt called the Aegyptiaca during the reign of Ptolemy II. His primary sources likely included king lists and chronicles of historic rulers which he organized into thirty-one dynasties still recognized today. Tomb biographies became more detailed during the Middle Kingdom including information about the deceased person's family. Autobiographical texts of the Late Period place greater stress upon seeking help from deities than acting righteously to succeed in life.
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. It was not until 1799 with the Napoleonic discovery of a trilingual stela inscription on the Rosetta Stone that modern scholars had resources to decipher Egyptian texts. Key breakthroughs were made more than twenty years later in the work of Jean-François Champollion in deciphering hieroglyphs and Thomas Young in deciphering Demotic. By the time of Champollion's death in 1832 it was possible to discern the general sense of Egyptian texts. Emmanuel de Rougé published the first translations of Egyptian literary texts in 1856 as the first scholar able to read an Egyptian text in full. Before the 1970s scholarly consensus held that ancient Egyptian literature was not an independent discourse uninfluenced by the ancient sociopolitical order. Scholars now use multifaceted hermeneutic approaches taking into account style, content, cultural context, social factors, and historical background together.
Common questions
When did writing first appear in ancient Egypt?
Writing in ancient Egypt first appeared in the late 4th millennium BC as a system of small artistic pictures representing natural objects. The Narmer Palette, dated to approximately 3100 BC during the last phase of Predynastic Egypt, combines hieroglyphs for catfish and chisel to produce the name of King Narmer.
What are the different forms of ancient Egyptian script?
These early scripts evolved into three distinct forms: Hieroglyphs, Hieratic, and Demotic. The final script adopted by the ancient Egyptians was the Coptic alphabet, a revised version of the Greek alphabet that became standard in the 4th century AD when Christianity took over the Roman Empire.
Why does so much ancient Egyptian literature survive today?
Egyptian literature survives today because it was often buried in dry desert settlements rather than left on the moist Nile floodplain. Archaeologists have discovered larger quantities of papyrus documents in elevated desert areas like Elephantine, El-Lahun, and El-Hiba where moisture could not destroy the ink or paper.
Who were the scribes in ancient Egyptian society?
An elite social group known as scribes assisted government officials in their day-to-day work and drafted letters, sales documents, and legal papers for illiterate people. Literate people likely comprised only 1 to 15 percent of the population based on very limited evidence available today.
When was the last hieroglyphic inscription carved in ancient Egypt?
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. It was not until 1799 with the Napoleonic discovery of a trilingual stela inscription on the Rosetta Stone that modern scholars had resources to decipher Egyptian texts.