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EGYPTIAN LITERATURE By Ma. Rachel C. Duncil EGYPT Official name: Arab Republic of Egypt Capital: Cairo Population: 54.6 million Currency: Egyptian Pound Official Language: Arabic EGYPTIAN LITERATURE • • • • Wide variety of types and subject matter. Old Kingdom Middle Kingdom New Kingdom THE HIEGROLYPHICS • Oldest form • Line drawings • Ideas and objects. HIERATIC SYMBOL Simpler than Hieroglyphics. DEMOTIC SYMBOL • Used in commercial documents OLD KINGDOM Pyramid text: • Non-literary • High-poetic spells OLD KINGDOM Cannibal Text: Represents dead kings. OLD KINGDOM PROVERBS OF PTAHOTEP: • Book of sound. • Wordly advice. MIDDLE KINGDOM: Tale of Sinuhe: • Flight of refugee courtier. • His political reasons. • Exile and homecoming. MIDDLE KINGDOM SHIPWRECKED SAILOR: Sailor who meets an old fatherly in an island. KING CHEOPS AND THE MAGICIANS Several folk tales in a frame work story. NEW KINGDOM Style of writing changed. NEW KINGDOM The Story of King Apophis and Seqenenre The Tale of Two Brothers Hymn to the Sun Contending of Horus and Seth NEW KINGDOM Hymn to the Sun Contending of Horus and Seth Late Period Written in Demotic Late Period The Lamentation of Isis and Nepthys and Setna The Magic Book TYPES OF EGYPTIAN LITERATURE RELIGIOUS LITERATURE Predominates in Egypt. Priests were the only one who can write an make records. TALES IN EGYPT Life of Sanehat (Sinuhe) Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor WISDOM LITERATURE Looked at the codes of behavior and ethical values. Express kindness and good judgment. The Wisdom of Ptahhotep The Wisdom of Amenemope Pessimistic Literature One of the forms that blossomed during Middle Kingdom. Dialogue of a Pessimist with His Soul Administion of an Egyptian Sage LOVE SONGS Run easily into english verse Princess Mutardis: One who has the most charming bridal song. POETRY V. To whom should I speak today? I. To whom should I speak today? There is no heart of man Whereon one might lean. Brothers are evil; The friends of today love not. VI. II. To whom should I speak today? To whom should I speak today? The righteous are no more; Hearts are covetous; The land is given over to evil-doers. Every man plundereth the goods VII. of his fellow. To whom should I speak today? III. To whom should I speak today? There is a lack of confidants; The peaceful man is in evil case; Men have recourse to a stranger to tell their Good is cast aside everywhere. troubles. IV. VIII. To whom should I speak today? To whom should I speak today? Yesterday is forgotten; I am laden with misery, Me do not as they were done by And am without a comforter. nowadays. He Walketh by Day by Robert Hillyer He Walketh By Day Robert Hillyer When the sky is illuminated with crystals, Then gladden my road and broaden my path And clothe me in light. I am Yesterday, Today, and Keep me safe from the Sleeper in Tomorrow, Darkness, The Divine Hidden Soul who When eventide closeth by the eyes of the created the gods, god And who feedeth the blessed. And the door by the wall. I am the Lord of the Risers In the dawn I have opened the Sycamore; from Death. Whose Forms are the lamps in My form is the form of all women and men, the House of the Dead, My spirit is God. Whose Shrine is the Earth. Thank You