Masterpieces of ancient egyptian literature ancient egypt ancient egypt-title. Ancient Egyptian literature
Initially, writing was used exclusively for economic or sacred purposes. From the era of the Old Kingdom, practically no written monuments have reached us, with the exception of hieroglyphic inscriptions of praise and prayers on the walls of tombs. The first economic documents are meager records that “so many animal carcasses were brought, so many sheaves of barley were collected from one field.”
The end of the Old Kingdom in the history of written monuments of Ancient Egypt is marked by the spread of tombstone inscriptions of a laudatory nature. The rise of the cult of Osiris and the connection of the myth of the dying and resurrected Osiris in connection with the cult of the dead give rise to the first monuments of funeral literature, which can be classified as literary works. On the walls of the tomb of a rich man, the entire “autobiography” is written on his behalf: his services to the pharaoh, personal virtues are listed, the wealth of the deceased and the position he occupied during his lifetime are described. These are the so-called “Pyramid Texts,” the oldest of the texts that, many centuries later, formed the “Book of the Dead” canon.
Obviously, during the era of the Old Kingdom, cultural tradition was preserved exclusively in oral literature. This tradition developed even earlier.
Middle Kingdom. Heyday ancient egyptian literature- Middle Kingdom. During this period, written works appeared that formed the backbone of classical literature Ancient Egypt.
First of all, we should note a work that continues the tradition of tomb inscriptions - “The Tale of Sinukhet”. This biography became extremely widespread and has survived to this day in many copies, made at a much later time.
Sinuhet, as follows from this work, is a nobleman who lived at the court of two pharaohs. Most likely it's not easy historical figure. Sinuhet may have been the author of his own life story. The story is told in the first person about the valor of Sinuhet in the royal retinue, about how, after the death of the pharaoh, he fled abroad to escape the riots. Having settled in Syria, Sinuhet managed there, thanks to his talents, to achieve nobility and wealth, but then returned to his homeland and served the new king.
"The Tale of Sinuhet" is a combination of autobiography, fiction and historical monument. The author not only inserted into the text excerpts from various government documents of his era to illustrate the narrative. With remarkable literary talent, he builds his essay, concluding harmonious composition. The figurative and colorful language of the work earned him well-deserved fame for many centuries of the existence of the Egyptian kingdom.
Another literary genre, which became extremely widespread in Egypt during the Middle Kingdom, are fairy tales. This genre, undoubtedly, originates in the tradition of oral creativity. Fairy tales are extremely diverse in theme.
One of the most interesting collections of fairy tales - Papyrus Westcar - is dedicated to stories from the reign of the last pharaohs of the Old Kingdom. Among the texts of this papyrus, fantastic stories predominate - tales of sorcerers working miracles at the court of Pharaoh Cheops. In one story, for example, a court magician cuts off the head of a bird, then puts it back, and the bird comes to life. In these and similar tales, the author's imagination is closely intertwined with Egyptian mythology. The plots of a number of fairy tales echo the most important myths, such as, for example, “The Tale of Truth and Falsehood.”
Many fairy tales are essentially literary processed testimonies of contemporaries about certain historical events- about the quarrel between the pharaoh and his military leader, about the storming of a foreign city.
Egyptian tales include all kinds of genres: a description of a journey, a moral story, even an adventure story. In most of these works, especially those related to early period formation of Egyptian literature, there is a strong element of the fantastic, characteristic in general for the folk writing tradition.
Historical works proper also belong to the era of the Middle Kingdom, in particular the Leiden papyrus and the Hermitage papyrus, which record testimonies of noble Egyptians who survived the horrors of anarchy in the country after the fall of the Old Kingdom. These works, known as the “Sayings of Ipuver” and “The Prophecy of Neferti,” describe the events that took place in the country after its collapse into independent nomes, after the fall of the power of the pharaohs.
Another genre that took shape in the literature of Ancient Egypt during the Middle Kingdom was all kinds of moralizing works. A significant part of them consists, as one might assume, of texts written by teachers in scribal schools for educational purposes. The authors of the “Instructions” and “Speeches” instill in students moral standards, calling for obedience and respect. Another favorite theme in didactic works is the praise of the advantages that education and the position of a scribe give. It is quite interesting to see what arguments the authors of these instructions give against this or that activity. Main object critics of scribe-mentors - military service. The hardships and troubles that await a recruit are described extremely vividly. One cannot help but get the impression that the author simply wants to intimidate the student, and not lead him to an independent conclusion about the preference for serving as an official.
Sometimes the mentor simply lacks sufficiently convincing arguments - then he resorts to evil ridicule. For example, not finding sufficient reasons why one should prefer the work of a scribe to the much quieter position of a temple priest, the mentor simply ridicules the priests who “wash only out of vow, and not out of necessity.”
In general, the “Instructions” are a very diverse in language, style and theme, a superbly developed genre, in which, apparently, the rhetorical tradition of the Egyptians was embodied. The protagonist-mentor in such works is a respected person - either an official who has achieved a high position, or a major nobleman or court sage. Some of the instructions were compiled on behalf of the pharaoh and were collections of advice to the heir about government.
Among other literary works of the Middle Kingdom era, “The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant” deserves special mention. Its plot is simple. A peasant is driving along a road that has been blocked by some petty official who is collecting bribes from travelers for driving through his land. The peasant has nothing to pay, and the official takes away his donkey. Then the unjustly robbed peasant comes to the pharaoh's palace and begins to complain about fate and about the offender. Pharaoh is attracted by the complainer's eloquence, unusual for a simple peasant. He orders the peasant to be brought closer and, after listening to the complaints, decides to reward the peasant for such talent, showers him with gifts and leaves him at court.
“The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant” is perhaps the first work in the history of world literature, the hero of which is a representative of the lower strata of the population, making accusatory speeches against a more high-born or rich offender.
The Middle Kingdom left many works to descendants poetic creativity. Basically, this is philosophical poetry of secular or religious themes, imbued with either sentiments of the futility of human existence, or, on the contrary, praises to life and calls to care more about today, than about the afterlife existence. Examples of these two directions of poetic creativity are “The Conversation of the Disappointed with His Soul” and “The Song of the Harpist.” The “song,” apparently sung during feasts and festive feasts, is full of cheerfulness and love of life. “Conversation” is a dialogue between a desperate person and his own soul. The soul tries to return joy to him, paints colorful pictures of fun and life, but in the end gives in to the owner’s arguments and agrees that his desire to die is quite justified and that life on earth is really nothing.
Along with philosophical works The poets of the Middle Kingdom created many examples of magnificent love lyrics, which were repeatedly translated into many modern languages.
Working with the Egyptian poetic heritage is a little-known side of the work of Anna Akhmatova, who created the best translations of love poetry from Ancient Egypt in Russia.
New kingdom. The New Kingdom is the time of “power” literature. At this time, during the period of the highest prosperity of the Egyptian kingdom, a literary canon was formed. Numerous papyrus scrolls from the New Kingdom contain accounts of myths in poetic and prose form, biographies of pharaohs and stories of victorious campaigns.
Mythology is an important component of the religious worldview of the ancient Egyptians, which previously existed almost exclusively in the form of oral literature, chants of priests, and was only partially reproduced in tomb inscriptions and prayers (mainly the myth of Osiris). Now a canon of mythological tales is being drawn up, which includes cosmological myths and the stories of the creation of all living things. It is interesting to note the similarity of some plots of Egyptian mythology with contemporary Sumerian mythology. Especially shining example intersections - the story of how Isis (aka Inanna of the Sumerians) deceives Ra-Amon, the sun god, about his secret name, which gives power over Ra. In the Sumerian-Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh, the episode with the discovery of the secret name of the supreme deity and the pursuit of Inanna occupies a very significant place.
Another canon emerging during the New Kingdom is the Book of the Dead. Obviously, by the New Dynastic time, the cult of veneration of the dead had already developed in full, which made it possible to bring together all the texts, rituals, prayers and spells associated with the practice of this cult. Copies of the “Book of the Dead” were found in large quantities in Egyptian tombs of various periods, but since the time of the New Kingdom, the “Book” has no longer undergone significant changes.
Historical literature was also developing at this time. In addition to the genre of “autobiographies” and tomb inscriptions, which are firmly established in the literary tradition, chronicles of kingdoms are compiled at the courts of the pharaohs, and lists of rulers of different dynasties and eras are created. The purpose of the compilers of these scrolls is to show the continuity and divine origin of the power of the pharaohs. These documents serve as a serious aid to modern historians in reconstructing the history of Ancient Egypt, since their data, as a rule, is confirmed by various independent sources.
Some historical works of this type represent a transformation of a long-standing hymn tradition, originating in the tomb inscriptions of the pharaohs and widespread in the era of the Middle Kingdom.
Oral tradition. The oral creativity of the ancient Egyptians - not mythological poetry, not hymns and moralizing stories, but the work of commoners - has reached our time thanks to the tombs of the nobility. On the walls of many tombs, next to images of people working in the field or on construction, artists, apparently in order to please the “ear” of the tomb’s inhabitant, often ascribed rhythmic poetic lines - the texts of songs with which the workers set their own rhythm and encouraged each other. Most likely those who recorded these samples folk poetry, slightly ennobled them, adjusting them to the long-established norms of the literary language.
Artistic techniques. There is no doubt that in the ancient Egyptian literary tradition there were clear rules that were worked out once and for all. Works of most genres are strictly kept within the framework uniform style For of this genre. Kit literary devices, used by Egyptian writers and poets, is not too great, but the skillful combination of these techniques allowed a talented scribe to create a genuine work of artistic creativity.
A favorite technique of Egyptian poets is parallelism in the construction of phrases and parts of lines. There are no indications of how the ancient Egyptian language could have sounded, but it can be assumed that with the exquisite construction of phrases and lines of the work, which can be seen in most examples of literature, rhythm could have been one of the main requirements to a good work.
The form of poetic works among ancient Egyptian authors, apparently, stood almost above the content. In one message, the scribe (probably the mentor who received the student’s letter) analyzes the message that came to him from the point of view of the construction of phrases and mercilessly criticizes the addressee for the fact that “one thing is mixed with another, the disgusting is adjacent to the good.” , and the words are neither sweet nor bitter." Judging by the importance most authors of this kind of letters attached to the sophistication of style, stylistics was one of the fundamental subjects in scribal schools.
The literature of Ancient Egypt is striking in its diversity. The similes used by the co-scribes are vivid and precise. So, in one of his life descriptions, Pharaoh says about himself that, having become angry with his enemies, he became like a snake in the desert.
A large number of images came to secular literature from the closely related religious literary tradition.
The content of the article
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LITERATURE, that have survived to this day literary monuments Ancient Egypt, dating from the 3rd millennium BC. before the beginning of the Christian era. Apart from a few stories retold by Greek authors, we know this literature from Egyptian sources, the discovery of which began in the 19th century. and continues to this day.
TYPES OF LITERARY WORKS AND THEIR STYLISTICS
The surviving body of literary works includes short prose narratives, fairy tales and myths, fables, letters, didactic literature (proverbs and teachings), love songs and other types of non-religious poetry, and hymns. As far as is known, the Egyptians had no entertaining drama, but theatrical dramatizations of myths, the characters of which sang and exchanged speeches, constituted integral part cult of certain deities. Several similar ritual dramas have been discovered. In addition, there is a large amount of non-literary written material, such as mathematical, medical, magical, legal texts, and business documents. Historical documents(official decrees, autobiographical inscriptions, royal annals) we have the right to classify as literary works only in cases where they have a certain literary form.
Since ancient Egyptian writing does not include vowels, very little is known about poetic metrics. Based on Coptic sources (Coptic is the latest version of the ancient Egyptian language and writing, which already had vowel signs), researchers suggest that ancient Egyptian poetry was based on rhythm, but not on regular meter. Poetry differed from prose mainly in vocabulary and the regular use of other stylistic devices. Favorite poetic device there was parallelism such a construction of the text in which the thought expressed in one line is repeated in the next line or lines, or is contrasted with the thought expressed in another, adjacent line, or is more fully revealed in subsequent lines. Other techniques include repetition, repetition with minor changes, refrains, and alliteration. Sometimes poetic lines are combined into stanzas. Many of them are also used in Egyptian prose. In both prose and poetry, puns are widely used. In religious texts she may have had magical meaning. There are also a lot of comparisons and metaphors, especially in texts that claim to be elevated in style. In fairy tales, on the contrary, such techniques are rare.
For the ancient Egyptians, it was not indifferent to how a poem (or other text) “looked” on papyrus or on a wall. In some texts, lines starting with the same word are arranged in such a way that their parallelism is available and visual perception. Egyptian was written either from right to left (the normal, most common direction), or from left to right, or from top to bottom. This made it easier to create elegant graphic compositions. For example, one vertical line could “limit” text consisting of several horizontal lines, or one horizontal line could “limit” text from several vertical ones. On the other hand, there are literary texts, graphically not organized in any way.
STAGES OF LITERARY DEVELOPMENT
From the Old Kingdom (3rd millennium BC), few texts have survived that can confidently be classified as literary. The most important of them Pyramid Texts. Although many of the spells included in Pyramid Texts, are not actual literary works; some of them are highly poetic. One of the spells describes a deceased king who, wanting to achieve power in the other world, devours the gods. This so called Cannibal Hymn, even if you get to know it only through translation, breathes true poetry. The ritual drama about the god Ptah from the time of the Old Kingdom was partially preserved in a later copy. In it, Ptah appears as the supreme deity to whom all things are subordinate. Teaching Ptahhotep, a collection of reasonable, albeit purely worldly, advice, was also written during this period, but is known only from later copies.
Characteristic of Ancient Egypt literary style arose during the troubled period that followed the fall of the Old Kingdom. Perhaps it was then that some works known from later copies were created. Thus, a certain king wrote instructions about public policy for his son Merikar. In another essay of an edifying nature, Teachings of Akhtoy, are contrasted with the position of the scribe, opening ample opportunities for a career, and the pitiful fate of representatives of all other professions. Sayings Ipuera describe the chaos that reigned in the country, indicating that no one was protected from oppression and robbery. Another work Eloquent villager, represents the lamentations of a peasant who has suffered from arbitrariness and calls for justice. In the end he wins the case after making several long and flowery speeches, composed in a very refined manner.
Middle Kingdom (22-11 centuries BC) classical era in the development of Egyptian literature. One of the works of this time, which remained popular for many hundreds of years, tells the story of the emigrant nobleman Sinuhet. It describes Sinuhet's escape from Egypt to Syria for political reasons, his life in exile and his return to his homeland. Charming Tale of the Victim shipwreck; her hero ends up on a desert island and meets an old snake there, who shows fatherly care towards him. Even more simple in plot and language Tales of Papyrus Westcar(King Cheops and the magicians) several fairy tales united by a frame narrative. Conversation disappointed with my soul can safely be called an outstanding poetic work. His hero, having decided to commit suicide, convinces his soul not to leave him when he accomplishes his plan. From this period many religious hymns and, in smaller numbers, “secular” songs also come down.
The language and style of literature of the Middle Kingdom were considered exemplary for five hundred years. During the New Kingdom, Akhenaten carried out a religious and literary revolution. Has changed narrative style, and began to write in colloquial language. More natural graphics replaced the delights of the Middle Kingdom. And although the religious revolution was defeated, the literary revolution was a success. Nevertheless, Middle Egyptian continued to be considered a classical language, and attempts to write in it were renewed as long as hieroglyphic writing was preserved.
The rise and fall of the New Kingdom is reflected in several quasi-historical narratives. Thus, the story of King Apophis and Seqenenre tells about the beginning of the war that led to the expulsion of foreign conquerors, the Hyksos, from Egypt. Another story tells of the capture of the city of Jaffa, an event that occurred during the reign of the great conqueror Thutmose III, when Egypt was at the zenith of its power. The boastful account of the Battle of Kadesh extols in epic style the personal combat prowess of Ramesses II. The decline of the empire was clearly reflected in Travels of Un-Amun, a story about an official sent to Lebanon to collect cedar wood. By that time, Egypt had lost its international prestige, and the petty Phoenician princes greeted his envoy without any respect.
A Tale of Two Brothers was probably written down from the words of a traveling storyteller. Parallels to its individual parts (folklore motifs) are found in Asian and European fairy tales and, in particular, in the Middle East. Fairy tales include The doomed prince. The prince is predicted to be killed by one of the three beasts. He happily escapes two deaths, but the end of the text has not been preserved, and his further fate remains unknown.
From the New Kingdom, quite a lot of the so-called. school texts, i.e. texts copied for educational purposes by apprentice scribes. They are, as you might expect, full of errors. The “exemplary” letters that make up a significant part of these materials provide a realistic picture of their era. One letter, for example, tells of the hardships of soldiering in Palestine. The letters praise the scribe's lot as happier than that of representatives of other professions.
Several collections of love songs are known. They remind Song Song Solomon both in terms of the set of comparisons and metaphors, and in the general tone. A number of drinking songs were also discovered, performed at feasts by blind harpists. They extol the joys of life, and they were written on the walls of tombs so that the dead would also enjoy similar joys. There are also poems praising kings or telling about their exploits, for example the already mentioned Poem about Battle of Kadesh.
It differs from traditional hymns filled with monotonous epithets and titles of gods. Hymn to the Sun Akhenaten, imbued with love for nature; it almost completely lacks the idea of God as a moral authority.
The legend of Osiris is most fully described by the Greek writer Plutarch, but one papyrus from the time of the New Kingdom contains a very remarkable description Litigation between Horus and Set. In this version of the myth, the gods are depicted without any respect, either because faith in the gods gradually weakened, or because Litigation reflected the views of more ancient era. The plot of the story is the final triumph of the Chorus over Seth in trial about the rights to the throne of the deceased Osiris. Another myth Extermination of humanity, is a parallel to the story of Noah. God Ra (Re) decides to destroy people, but when the goddess Hathor, at his command, begins to kill them, he repents and saves those who are still alive. During the New Kingdom, people increasingly turned their thoughts to dangers other world and created many spells and ritual texts for the needs of the dead. Among them, the so-called Book of the Dead, Book Blows, Book of Gates, Book of What's in the Underworld(Book Amduat) And Ritual of opening the mouth.
Literature Late period(7th century BC - 5th century AD, starting from the Sais period) is significantly different from everything that was created earlier. It was written in demotic, as the then simplified Egyptian language was called. From that era, folk tales have come down to us, which are grouped into cycles. The Haemais cycle includes a strange tale Setne Haemuas and the magical book. The book contained powerful spells and was carefully guarded - it lay in a casket placed inside another casket, and was guarded by snakes and scorpions. The whole atmosphere of these stories is completely different from the earlier Egyptian narratives.
Demotic literature also includes ritual drama (e.g. Lamentation of Isis and Nephthys), tales about animals, fables and what, with some stretch, could be called historical artistic prose. see also BOOK OF THE DEAD.
The Egyptians created a rich, rich interesting ideas and artistic images, literature, the oldest in the world. Feature literary process in Egypt there was a continuous and successive improvement of the originally found literary genres and artistic techniques.
The development of literature as one of the most important parts of culture was determined by the nature of the country's socio-economic development and the political power of the Egyptian state. At the same time, the direction of the literary process depended on general religious worldview, the development of Egyptian mythology and the organization of the cult. Absolute power gods, including the reigning pharaoh, the complete dependence of man on them, the subordination of the earthly life of people to their posthumous existence, the complex relationships of numerous gods in Egyptian myths, the theatrical cult, rich in symbolism - all this dictated the main ideas, the system artistic images and techniques of many literary works.
The originality of hieroglyphic writing, in particular the abundance of various signs and symbols, expanded the creative possibilities of the authors and made it possible to create works with a deep and multifaceted context.
The nutritious soil of literature has become oral folk art, of which remnants have been preserved in the form of a few songs performed during labor processes (for example, the song of an ox driver), simple parables and sayings, fairy tales in which, as a rule, an innocent and hardworking hero seeks justice and happiness.
The roots of Egyptian literature go back to the 4th millennium BC. e., when the first literary records were created. During the era of the Old Kingdom, the beginnings of some genres appeared: processed fairy tales, didactic teachings, biographies of nobles, religious texts, poetic works. During the Middle Kingdom, genre diversity increased, content deepened and artistic perfection works. Prose literature reaches classical maturity, works of the highest artistic level(“The Tale of Sinuhet”), included in the treasury of world literature. Egyptian literature reached its ideological and artistic completion in the era of the New Kingdom, the era of the highest development of Egyptian civilization.
The didactic genre of teachings and prophecies closely related to them is most fully represented in Egyptian literature. One of the oldest examples of teachings is the “Teaching of Ptahhotep,” the vizier of one of the pharaohs of the V dynasty. Later, the genre of teachings is represented by many works, for example: “The teaching of the Herakleo-Polish king Akhtoy to his son Merik-ra” and “The teaching of Pharaoh Amenemhet I”, which set out the rules of government, “The teaching of Akhtoy, the son of Duauf” about the advantages of the position of a scribe over everyone other professions.
Among the teachings of the New Kingdom, we can name the “Teaching of Ani” and the “Teaching of Amenemope” with a detailed presentation of the rules of everyday morality and traditional morality.
A special type of teaching were the prophecies of the sages, predicting the onset of disasters for the country, for the ruling class, if the Egyptians neglected to comply with the norms established by the gods. As a rule, such prophecies described real disasters that occurred during popular uprisings, invasions of foreign conquerors, social and political upheavals, such as at the end of the Middle or New Kingdoms. Most famous works This genre was “The Speech of Ipuser” and “The Speech of Neferti”.
One of the favorite genres were fairy tales, in which the plots folk tales were subjected to author's processing. Some fairy tales became real masterpieces that influenced the creation of fairy tale cycles of other peoples of the Ancient East (for example, the “A Thousand and One Nights” cycle).
Most famous examples there was a collection of tales “Pharaoh Khufu and the Sorcerers”, “The Tale of the Shipwrecked”, “The Tale of Truth and Falsehood”, “The Tale of Two Brothers”, several tales about Pharaoh Petubastis, etc. In these tales, through the dominant motives of admiration for the omnipotence of the gods and Pharaoh, the ideas of goodness, wisdom and ingenuity of a simple worker break through, who ultimately triumphs over the cunning and cruel nobles, their greedy and treacherous servants.
The true masterpieces of Egyptian literature were the story “The Tale of Sinuhet” and the poetic “Song of the Harper.” The “Tale of Sinuhet” tells how a nobleman from the inner circle of the late king Sinuhet, fearing for his position under the new pharaoh, flees Egypt to the nomads of Syria. Here he lives for many years, performs many feats, takes high position with the local king, but constantly yearns for his native Egypt. The story ends with the safe return of Sinuhet to Egypt. No matter how high a position a person occupies in a foreign land, his native country, its customs, and way of life will always be the highest value for him - this is the main idea of this classic work of Egyptian fiction. In “The Harper's Song,” for the first time in world poetry, doubts were expressed about the possibility afterlife and the idea of enjoying all the joys of earthly existence was proclaimed.
Follow your heart's desires
As long as you exist
Scent your head with myrrh,
Dress yourself in the finest fabrics,
Anoint yourself with the most wonderful incense
From the sacrifices of the gods.
Multiply your wealth...
Do your work on earth
At the behest of your heart,
Until that day of mourning comes to you.
The weary at heart does not hear their cries and cries,
Lamentations do not save anyone from the grave.
So celebrate a wonderful day
And don't exhaust yourself.
You see, no one took their property with them.
You see, none of those who left came back.
Translation by A. Akhmatova
Among various genres special place actually occupied religious literature, including artistic treatment numerous myths, religious hymns and chants performed at festivals of the gods. Of the processed myths, the cycles of tales about the suffering of Osiris and the wanderings through the underworld of the god Ra gained particular popularity.
The first cycle talks about what good god and the king of Egypt, Osiris, was treacherously overthrown from the throne by his brother Set, chopped into 14 pieces, which were scattered throughout Egypt (according to another version, the body of Osiris was thrown into a boat, and the boat was lowered into the sea). The sister and wife of Osiris, the goddess Isis, collected and buried his remains. The avenger for his father is their son, the god Horus, who performs a number of feats for the benefit of people. The evil Set is overthrown from the throne of Osiris, which was inherited by Horus. And Osiris becomes king underworld and judge of the dead.
On the basis of these legends, theatrical mysteries were staged, which were a kind of rudiment of the ancient Egyptian theater.
The hymns and chants sung in honor of the gods at festivals were apparently mass poetry, but some of the hymns that have come down to us, in particular the hymn to the Nile and especially the hymn to the Aten, in which the beautiful and generous nature of Egypt is glorified in the images of the Nile and the Sun, are world-class poetic masterpieces.
A unique work is the philosophical dialogue “Conversation of a Disappointed Man with His Soul.” It tells the story of the bitter fate of a man who is fed up with earthly life, where evil, violence and greed reign, and he wants to commit suicide in order to quickly get to the afterlife fields of Ialu and find eternal bliss there. The soul of a person dissuades him from this crazy step, pointing out all the joys of earthly life. Ultimately, the hero's pessimism turns out to be stronger, and posthumous bliss becomes a more desirable goal of human existence.
Introductory article and compilation by M. Korostovtsev
Approximately five thousand years ago, on the territory of modern Egypt, one of the oldest states on our planet arose. This historical fact was preceded by a centuries-old and almost unknown history of the struggle for hegemony in the country of small independent political entities (in modern scientific terminology, “nomes”). This struggle ended approximately at the turn of the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. e. the unification of all the nomes, of which there were about forty, into two larger state associations: the kingdom of Upper Egypt and the kingdom of Lower Egypt. In the end, the first of them subdued the second by force of arms, and all of Egypt was united under the rule of one pharaoh. The history of united Egypt covers a huge period of time - approximately three millennia - and according to the tradition established in science, it is divided into large periods: the Old Kingdom, the First Transitional Period, the Middle Kingdom, the Second Transitional Period, the New Kingdom, and the Late Time. In 332 BC. e. Egypt was conquered by Alexander the Great, and in 30 BC. e. entered the Roman Empire as a province. The listed periods are divided, in turn, into dynasties, and, thus, the dynastic feature underlies the periodization of not only the history of Egypt, but also the history of its culture.
Egyptian literature, which arose as part of Egyptian culture and disappeared along with it, lived for more than long life how the independent Egyptian state lived; starting from 332 BC this state becomes part political world Hellenism. However, the original Egyptian culture continues to live and develop in new political conditions, even in the first centuries of Roman rule.
The “dynasty” chronologization of Egyptian literature is forced, since it is determined mainly by the state of the source and the inability to trace step by step the development of the literary process itself. The following periodization of Egyptian literature is practically accepted:
I. Literature of the Ancient Kingdom, III millennium BC. A.
II. Literature of the Middle Kingdom, XXI-XVII centuries. BC 9.
III. Literature of the New Kingdom, XVI-IX centuries. BC e.
IV. Demotic literature, VIII century. BC e.-III century n. e.
This periodization basically corresponds to the major stages of language development; Ancient Kingdom - Old Egyptian language: Middle Kingdom - Middle Egyptian, the so-called ((classical" language; New Kingdom - New Egyptian language and, finally, literature in the demotic language (written in the so-called demotic script).( In Egypt throughout its entire length ancient history There were two types of writing: hieroglyphic and hieratic. The last one is cursive; it relates to hieroglyphs in much the same way as our handwritten texts relate to printed texts. In the 8th century BC O. complex and difficult demotic writing appeared, which, despite its specifics, is a further development of hieratic writing. All these types of Egyptian writing arose and developed independently in Egypt.)
From the era of the Old Kingdom, the so-called “Pyramid Texts” have been preserved, inscribed on the walls of the internal corridors and chambers in the pyramids of some pharaohs of the 5th and 6th dynasties (c. 2700-2400 BC). The Pyramid Texts are perhaps the oldest collection of religious texts in world history. This huge collection of magical formulas and sayings captures with great force the desire of a mortal to gain the immortality of the gods. The texts use techniques of eloquence such as alliteration, parallelism, and repetition (see the fragment [“To the Goddess”] translated by Anna Akhmatova in our volume!).
In the era of the Old Kingdom, the “Pyramid Texts” were already archaic (under the pharaohs of the 5th and 6th dynasties they were only written down). We have very fragmentary data about the literature of the Old Kingdom era. However, there is no doubt that then there was a rich and varied literature, which was mostly completely lost to us. We know of texts of a completely different type than the Pyramid Texts, although they also relate to religious ritual. These are autobiographical inscriptions of nobles: the name of the deceased had to be immortalized on the tombstone. The mention of the name was accompanied by a list of titles and positions of the deceased, as well as a list of sacrificial gifts that were intended for him. To this purely ritual part of the text, little by little, in order to glorify the deceased, they began to add descriptions of various episodes from his life, testifying to his services to the pharaoh, the latter’s favor towards the deceased, etc., in a word, everything that could exalt and embellish his personality. The ritual gravestone inscription unfolded into an autobiography. Historical and artistic value works of this genre is beyond doubt.
Thus, the poorly preserved inscription of Uashpta, the wazir and chief builder of one of the pharaohs of the 5th dynasty, contains a dramatic story about how the king, accompanied by his children and retinue, inspected the construction work headed by Uashpta. The king expressed satisfaction and suddenly noticed that Uashpta was not answering him. It turned out that the wazir had fainted. The king ordered to transfer him to the palace and immediately call the court doctors. The latter appeared with their saying papyri, but all their art was in vain; The king's faithful servant died.
The inscription of the priest Shesha is very remarkable. We read: “I have done the truth for the sake of its ruler, I have satisfied him with what he desires: I have spoken the truth, I have done what is right, I have spoken good and repeated good. I reasoned with my sister and two brothers in order to reconcile them. I saved the unfortunate from the stronger... I gave bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked. I transported on my boat someone who did not have one. I buried him who had no son... I made a boat for him who had no boat of his own. I respected my father, I was tender to my mother. I raised their children." Similar statements are not so rare in the texts of that distant era. They are even more common in subsequent times. This indicates the presence of a strong humanistic current that permeates all Egyptian literature in general and, in particular, the social thought of the times of the Old Kingdom.
Didactic literature was also developed. In the famous [“Teachings of Ptahotep”], which has come down to us in the edition of the Middle Kingdom, but compiled back in the era of the Old Kingdom, Ptahoten says to his son: “If you are a boss giving orders to many people, strive for every good thing, so that your orders do not include evil. Great is justice, everything is stable and excellent.” An experienced old wazir uses these words to warn his son against cruelty and violation of laws...
Already in the era of the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians valued eloquence and oratory. The same Ptahotep teaches: “If you are a close associate of the king, sitting in the council of your lord, be careful and remain silent - this is more useful than... [?]. Speak [only] after you have realized [that] you understand [the essence of the matter]. This is a craftsman who speaks in council. [Smart] speech is more difficult than any work...”
No works of narrative genres have survived from the times of the Old Kingdom, except for the mentioned inscriptions of nobles from the times of the Old Kingdom. However, the famous tales of the Westcar papyrus, telling about the pharaohs of the Old Kingdom (though they came down to us in the late edition of the Second Intermediate Period), undoubtedly testify that such literature already existed during the Old Kingdom: at the same time, it must be taken into account that the ancient core of these fairy tales could and probably underwent significant revision in later times.
From the First Transitional Period, that is, from the time between the end of the Old Kingdom and the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, that is, from the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e.. a remarkable didactic work has been preserved, known in science as the “Instruction” of the pharaoh, whose name is unknown to us, to his heir, Merikara. There we read, for example: “Imitate your fathers and your ancestors... these are their speeches enshrined in the scriptures. Expand them, read them, imitate them in knowledge. Only a trained person becomes a craftsman. Don’t be evil, self-control is excellent, establish [yourself] a monument by the disposition of others towards you.” These are the wonderful words that follow: “Be skilled in speech, so that you may be strong... speech is stronger than any weapon.” The teaching addressed to Merikara is another evidence that by the end of the Ancient Kingdom in Egypt, great literature had been created, forever lost to us.
The time of the Middle Kingdom, not without reason, is considered in science to be the time of its heyday literary creativity, some monuments of which have reached us. These are, for example, [“The Tale of Sinuhe”], [“The Tale of the Shipwrecked Man”], skillful, subtle adaptations of folklore - the tales of the mentioned Westkar papyrus, the teaching of the founder of the XII dynasty (c. 2000-1800 BC) Pharaoh Amenemhet I, [“The Teachings of Neferti”] or, more precisely, [“The Prophecy of Neferti”].
Of the Middle Kingdom hymns addressed to deities, the one with the greatest literary merit is the hymn to Hapi, the god of the Nile.
Several versions of the hymn that have come down to us date back to the New Kingdom, but there is no doubt that they are only late recordings, indicating the popularity of the work. The interest represented by the anthem is twofold; firstly, it colorfully reflects the attitude of the Egyptians to the mighty river, which not only created their country, but also fed its population for thousands of years (in other words, the hymn expresses man’s attitude to the nature he deifies); secondly, these feelings are expressed in him in a vivid artistic form. The anthem is not a prayer, not a collection of requests, but an expression of admiration and gratitude to the great nature that gave life to the country and its people.
In the hymn to the god Osiris, inscribed on the tombstone of the Middle Kingdom (kept in the Paris National Library), a deity is glorified, whose cult became widespread during the Middle Kingdom: Osiris became something of a “ruler of thoughts” in Egyptian society. His name was associated with the idea of accessible and desirable immortality beyond the grave for every mortal, and the cult of Osiris democratized and simplified the funeral ritual. The most modest tombstone in the form of a slab with sacred formulas inscribed on it and a mention of Osiris was enough to ensure eternal life in the other world.
As an antithesis to the generally accepted dogma of immortality, closely associated with the cult of Osiris, in the era of the Middle Kingdom the so-called “Harper’s Song” appeared - a set of approximately fifteen texts that came down partly from the period of the Middle, and partly from the beginning of the New Kingdom (the latter, however, , are copies or versions of older Middle Egyptian originals). These texts are related to each other general direction thoughts, one worldview and attitude; everything on earth is perishable, absolutely everything is doomed to disappear; from time immemorial, generations of people, one after another, descend into their graves, funeral monuments are destroyed and disappear, and not even memories remain of these people. (See in our volume translated by Anna Akhmatova ["Song from the House of the Deceased King Antef..."].) Therefore, we must use all the blessings of life, have fun and enjoy, because nothing will avert the inevitable death. Thus, ["Song..."] highly values earthly life and at the same time full of undisguised skepticism towards afterlife beliefs. ["The Song of the Harper"] undoubtedly reveals the presence in Egypt of the Middle Kingdom of different currents of religious- social thought, sometimes directly opposing each other.
A very interesting and perhaps not yet fully understood work of ancient Egyptian literature is the well-known “The Dispute of the Disappointed with His Soul,” contained in one of the Berlin papyri.
It is absolutely clear that “disillusioned” means some new social orders and morals that are diametrically opposed to those that are dear and close to him (“no one remembers the past”). In a word, he feels alone in the society around him, in which everything is alien and hostile to him.
Social upheavals in Egypt at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e., reflected in the content of “The Dispute of the Disappointed with His Soul,” left their imprint on other works of Egyptian literature of the Middle Kingdom era - works, so to speak, of a journalistic nature. Moreover, a whole group of works of that time was inspired by the palace with the aim of strengthening and promoting the authority of the pharaohs of the XII dynasty, which put an end to the previous centuries of political turmoil. This includes ["Sinuhe's Tale"] and ["Neferti's Prophecy"].
The literature of the New Kingdom is mainly the development of those literary traditions and genres that had already developed in the era of the Middle Kingdom. The main, although mostly only external, difference between the literature of the New Kingdom and the literature of the Middle Kingdom lies in the language - the literature of the Middle Kingdom is written in the Middle Egyptian, the so-called classical language, the literature of the New Kingdom - in the New Egyptian language.
The literature of the New Kingdom is represented by many fairy tales, such as ["Two Brothers"], ["Truth and Falsehood"], ["The Doomed Prince"], as well as many didactic works - "teachings". Of particular note is the story of the journey of a certain Ui-Amun to Byblos. This work does not contain any fairy-tale moments and, like the Middle Egyptian ["The Tale of Sinuhe"], can be classified as a work that truthfully reflects historical time the events described in it.
A number of works glorifying the military valor of the pharaohs, as well as highly poetic hymns to various deities, for example, the hymn to the god Aten, also date back to the New Kingdom. The subtle love lyrics of these times have special poetic merits.
Moving on to the works of demotic literature, it should also be said that it developed, continuing established literary traditions. Here and fantasy tales(for example, tales of the cycle about the priest Khasmuas), tales of an epic nature about Pharaoh Petubast, teachings, for example, [“The Teachings of Ankhsheshonk”], fables - a new, previously unheard of genre in which actors are only animals.
Particular mention should be made of the contents of papyrus Thailand IX, which tells the story of one priestly family over three generations. This work is full of reliable everyday and historical realities and does not contain any fantastic details. This is perhaps the oldest work in world literature, the characters of which are three generations (grandfathers, fathers, grandchildren) of one family.
The famous Belgian Egyptologist J. Kapar, taking the plot of papyrus Ryland IX as a basis, wrote a fascinating novel about the life of ancient Egypt.
Egyptian society in ancient times lived an intense, rich and multifaceted spiritual life. Egyptian culture as a whole is one of the sources of world culture. Egyptian literature, which represents one of the most striking and artistically valuable manifestations of this culture, is original and deeply human. It is inextricably linked with the life of society and its ideology. And since in the era of its development religion played a predominant role in ideology, it is not surprising that Egyptian literature experienced a significant influence of religion, and often in its works we find a religious worldview in its various manifestations. However, it does not at all follow from this that Egyptian literature is mainly religious or theological literature. On the contrary, it is represented by a wide variety of genres. Along with the folklore processed and written down in the form of fairy tales - the tales of the Westcar papyrus, ["Two Brothers"], ["The Doomed Prince"] - there are stories about real events: ["Tale (lshuhe"] and ["Tale of Un-Amun"], inscriptions of kings and nobles historical content; along with religious texts11 (hymns to Amon, Aten, Hapi, etc.) - works of skeptical content, for example, “The Dispute of the Disappointed with His Soul”; along with mythological tales (the tale of Horus and Seth) - fables and love lyrics. (Whether poems were known to the Egyptians in our understanding of this term - nothing definite can be gleaned, since the vocalization of Egyptian texts up to the present day is problematic.) The Egyptians were also no strangers to theatrical performances, and not only mysteries, but also to some extent secular drama.
It has already been said above that a number of works of Egyptian literature were created under the impulse of contemporary political trends and, for example, some works of the XII dynasty were inspired by the pharaoh and his immediate circle. This was first noticed and convincingly proven by one of the most authoritative Egyptologists of our time, French professor G. Posner.
There is hardly any reason to doubt that this fact is not at all an exception in the history of Egyptian literature, that the pharaohs of subsequent times did not miss the opportunity to use literature to strengthen their authority and popularize themselves. With the great conquering pharaoh Thutmose III, there was always a scribe, Chenen, who vividly and figuratively described the pharaoh’s campaigns, the brilliant victories of the Egyptian troops and the role of the king himself. There is no doubt that Chenen described everything as it was desirable for the king. Under another famous pharaoh, Ramesses II, there was another similar scribe, whose name we do not know, whose work was copied by the scribe Pentaur. This work, well known to us, describes the famous Battle of Kadesh between the Egyptians and the Hittites, describing in detail and in a clearly exaggerated form the military prowess of Ramesses II. Texts telling about the Battle of Kadesh and the exploits of Ramesses II, accompanied by corresponding images, are located in different temples. The texts and images were produced by highly skilled scribes and artists, but Ramesses II himself influenced the content and direction of their work.
When talking about literature, it is impossible not to talk about its creators, its authors. Here, however, we encounter very serious difficulties, which, of course, apply to a number of other literatures of antiquity. All the Egyptian texts that have reached us, of course, were once compiled and written by someone, even when they were a written recording of oral traditions. However, in most of these texts there is not the slightest hint of an author. Who were they, these authors, and why are their names absent from the texts? It is very difficult to answer this very important question unambiguously and quite definitely. There is no doubt that this question is connected with another, more general question: was the concept of authorship known or unknown to the ancient Egyptians? A negative answer to this question (and such a negative answer is widespread in the scientific literature) does not correspond to reality. The concept of authorship existed, but almost exclusively in the field of didactic literature.
As in other countries of antiquity, the concept of authorship in ancient Egypt was not yet a firmly established property of social thought. It only began to stabilize and be recognized and strengthened precisely in didactic literature. Apparently, the Egyptians themselves considered this genre the most important and significant. One of the papyri from the New Kingdom era contains highest degree a wonderful place where the authors of ancient teachings are praised:
They didn't build themselves pyramids of copper
And tombstones made of bronze.
They left no heirs behind,
Children who kept their names.
But they left their legacy in the scriptures,
In the teachings made by them.
Doors and houses were built, but they collapsed,
The funeral priests have disappeared,
Their monuments are covered with dirt,
Their tombs are forgotten.
But their names are pronounced while reading these books,
Written while they lived
And the memory of who wrote them,
Eternal.
A book is better than a painted tombstone
And a strong wall.
What is written in books builds houses and pyramids in the hearts of those
Who repeats the names of the scribes,
So that the truth is on your lips.
(Translation by A. Akhmatova)
Before us is the motive " miraculous monument", sounded on the banks of the Nile at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. These lines serve as clear evidence of honor, respect and gratitude to the authors - the sages who enriched Egyptian culture with their works.
Such thoughts could only be born where literature was loved and appreciated, where creative work was deservedly considered the highest achievement of man. Let us limit ourselves to pointing out that the word “scribe” in the Egyptian language meant not only a professional scribe or copyist, but also generally meant a “literate” or “educated” person. Data from monuments indicate that scribes (something like the most ancient “intelligentsia”) were recruited from all classes of the population (mainly from the ruling strata) and occupied a wide variety of levels in the social hierarchy, from persons very close to the throne, down to the most humble officials and clerks. The scribes as a whole represented a huge bureaucratic apparatus, highly privileged, and mainly engaged in administrative and economic activities. II in this large mass of officials there were always gifted and inquisitive people who could not be satisfied with the gray routine of bureaucratic duties, who strived for knowledge and creative work. It was they who became writers and scientists, the direct creators of Egyptian culture and literature.
The humanistic idea, which expressed society’s interest in man, and the philanthropic attitude towards him, inextricably linked with this interest, permeate the literature of ancient Egypt. Some scholars consider Egypt as the only homeland of many genres and literary subjects that later penetrated into other ancient literatures. This is an exaggeration, but one cannot deny the serious influence of Egyptian literature on other literatures of antiquity. Let us first note that Egyptian literature influenced the Bible. Although determining the scope of this influence causes conflicting opinions, the facts of such influence are undoubted. The Bible's story about the exodus of the Jews from Egypt contains the following episode: Moses “divided” the waters of the Red Sea, and along the dry land, that is, the bottom of the sea, led the entire Jewish people from one shore to the other. In the Westcar papyrus, the Egyptian priest also “divides” the waters of the pond. The biblical book “The Proverbs of Solomon” in its structure and style is reminiscent of Egyptian teachings. In [“Teachings of Amenemope”] we read: “Give your ears, listen [to the words] spoken by me, turn your heart to understand them.” In the Proverbs of Solomon: “Incline your ear, listen to my words and turn your heart to understand them.” Such a coincidence, of course, is not an accident; the Egyptian text is the primary source in this case. The closeness of biblical psalms 104, 110 and some others to Egyptian texts, etc. is striking. Study of a number biblical stories, for example, [“Joseph’s stay in Egypt”] (“Book of Genesis”) and others showed that they were inspired by Egyptian life and literature. Egyptian motifs penetrated Europe through the Bible and then through Coptic literature. Praise of the Roman commander Stilicho by a Latin poet of the 4th century. AD Claudpanom contains very clear traces of the religious and mythological ideas of the ancient Egyptians. It should also be noted that the researchers have identified a connection between Egyptian and ancient love lyrics. The so-called paraclaucitron, that is, a love song at the closed doors of the beloved (Plautus, Catullus, Proportius), was traditionally considered as primordially antique genre. It turned out, however, that long before the ancient authors the Egyptians knew this literary device. The facts presented are quite convincing, although they do not constitute a systematic or comprehensive overview of the literary connections between Egypt and the ancient world.
In general, ancient Egyptian literature was more a giver than a taker, influencing rather than being influenced. Of course, it would be wrong to exclude any influence on Egyptian literature. In demotic ligature there is a cycle of legends about Pharaoh Petubast. There are non-Egyptian literary moments in these tales, and one can assume here the influence of the Iliad. The fact that acquaintance with the Iliad left some imprint on the cycle about Petubasta testifies at the same time to the fact that the impression from the Iliad was perceived in an Egyptian way, as always happens when two interact great literature Egyptian culture and literature, which perceived foreign elements, adapted to themselves, but at the same time losing their original appearance.
M. Korostovtsev