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