THE LITERATURE OF ANCIENT EGYPT THE LITERATURE OF ANCIENT EGYPT AN ANTHOLOGY OF STORIES, INSTRUCTIONS, STELAE, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, AND POETRY Third Edition Edited and with an introduction by WILLIAM KELLY SIMPSON With translations by Robert K. Ritner, William Kelly Simpson, Vincent A. Tobin, and Edward F. Wente, Jr. YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS/NEW HAVEN & LONDON Disclaimer: Some images in the original version of this book are not available for inclusion in the eBook. Published with assistance from the William K. and Marilyn M. Simpson Endowment for Egyptology at Yale University. Copyright ∫ 2003 by Yale University. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Designed by Mary Valencia. Set in Simoncini Garamond and Michelangelo types by Keystone Typesetting, Inc. Printed in the United States of America by Vail-Ballou Press. ISBN: 0-300-09920-7 A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress and the British Library. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. 10987654321 To the memory of sages of our own time who have made outstanding contributions to the study and appreciation of the literature of ancient Egypt RAYMOND O. FAULKNER (1894–1982) WOLFGANG HELCK (1914–1993) GEORGES POSENER (1906–1988) CONTENTS List of Abbreviations xi Introduction by William Kelly Simpson 1 PART I NARRATIVES AND TALES OF MIDDLE EGYPTIAN LITERATURE 11 King Cheops and the Magicians 13 The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant 25 The Shipwrecked Sailor 45 The Story of Sinuhe 54 PART II LATE EGYPTIAN STORIES 67 The Quarrel of Apophis and Seknenre 69 The Capture of Joppa 72 The Tale of the Doomed Prince 75 The Tale of the Two Brothers 80 vii CONTENTS The Contendings of Horus and Seth 91 The Blinding of Truth by Falsehood 104 Astarte and the Insatiable Sea 108 A Ghost Story 112 The Report of Wenamon 116 PART III INSTRUCTIONS, LAMENTATIONS, AND DIALOGUES 125 The Instruction of Hardedef (First Part) 127 The Maxims of Ptahhotep 129 The Teaching for the Vizier Kagemni 149 The Teaching for King Merikare 152 The Teaching of King Amenemhet I for His Son Senwosret 166 The Loyalist Instruction from the Sehetepibre Stela 172 The Instruction of a Man for His Son 175 The Man Who Was Weary of Life 178 The Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage 188 The Lamentations of Khakheperre-sonbe 211 The Prophecies of Neferty 214 The Instruction of Amunnakhte 221 The Instruction of Amenemope 223 PART IV FROM THE RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 245 Selections from the Pyramid Texts 247 Selections from the Coffin Texts 263 Book of the Dead 125: ‘‘The Negative Confession’’ 267 viii CONTENTS The Hymn to the Aten 278 Penitential Hymns 284 The Book of the Heavenly Cow 289 PART V SONGS AND ROYAL HYMNS 299 Cycle of Songs in Honor of Senwosret III 301 The Love Songs and The Song of the Harper 307 PART VI ROYAL STELAE 335 The Semna Stela 337 The Neferhotep Stela 339 The Kamose Texts 345 The Poetical Stela of Thutmose III 351 The Israel Stela 356 The Bentresh Stela 361 The Victory Stela of Piye 367 The Famine Stela 386 The Satrap Stela 392 PART VII AUTOBIOGRAPHIES 399 Three Autobiographies of the Old Kingdom 401 The Stela of Tjetji 414 Amenemhet and Khnumhotep II at Beni Hasan 418 The Stela of Iykhernofret 425 ix CONTENTS PART VIII SCRIBAL TRADITIONS 429 The Satire on the Trades: The Instruction of Dua-Khety 431 The Scribal Traditions in the Schools 438 PART IX DEMOTIC LITERATURE 443 The Prophecy of the Lamb 445 The Tale of Amasis and the Skipper 450 The Romance of Setna Khaemuas and the Mummies (Setna I) 453 The Adventures of Setna and Si-Osire (Setna II) 470 The Childhood of Si-Osire 490 The Magician Hihor 492 The Fable of the Swallow and the Sea 494 The Instruction of ¿Onchsheshonqy 497 Bibliography 531 Illustrations follow page XIV x ABBREVIATIONS ÄAbh Ägyptologische Abhandlungen ADAW Abhandlungen der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Philosophisch-historische Klasse AEL Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. 1: The Old and Middle Kingdoms; vol. 2: The New Kingdom; vol. 3: The Late Period, Berkeley, 1973, 1976, 1980 ÄF Ägyptologische Forschungen ANET J. B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts, 3d ed., Princeton, 1969 ÄUAT Ägypten und Altes Testament BAR James Henry Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, 5 vols., repr. London, 1988 BdE Bibliothèque d’Etude IFAOC BEHE Bibliothèque de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes, IVe section, Sci- ences historiques et philologiques BES Bulletin Egyptological Seminar BIE Bulletin de l’Institut d’Egypte BIFAO Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale BiOr Bibliotheca Orientalis BSEG Bulletin de la Société d’Egyptologie Genève BSFE Bulletin de la Société Française d’Egyptologie xi ABBREVIATIONS CD C. E. Crum, A Coptic Dictionary, Oxford, 1939 CdE Chronique d’Égypte CNI Carsten Niebuhr Institute, Copenhagen CRIPEL Cahier de Recherches de l’Institut de Papyrologie et d’Egyp- tologie de Lille DAIK Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Kairo DE Discussions in Egyptology DFIFAO Documents de Fouilles de IFAO GMGöttinger Miszellen HÄB Hildesheimer Ägyptologischge Beiträge IFAO l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, Cairo JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society JARCE Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt JEA Journal of Egyptian Archaeology JEOL Jaarbericht Ex Oriente Lux JESHO Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies JSSEA Journal of the Society of the Study of Egyptian Antiquities LÄ W. Helck et al., eds., Lexikon der Ägyptologie I–VII, Wiesbaden, 1972–92 MÄS Münchner Ägyptologische Studien MÄU Münchner Ägyptologische Untersuchungen MIFAO Mémoirs IFAO MIO Mitteilungen des Instituts für Orientforschung MDAIK Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Institut, Ab- teilung Kairo OBO Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis OLA Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta OLZ Orientalistische Literaturzeitung OMRO Oudheidkundige Mededelingen uit het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden te Leiden Or Orientalia RdE Revue d’Egyptologie RevEq Revue Egyptologique RSO Rivista degli Studi Orientali SAGA Studien zur Archäologie und Geschichte Altägyptens SÄK Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur SAOCStudies in Ancient Oriental Civilizations xii ABBREVIATIONS SBAW Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaft, Phil.-hist. Abt., Munich SSEA Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities StudAeg Studia Aegyptiaca, Budapest TUAT Otto Kaiser, ed., Texte aus dem Umwelt des Alten Testament UGAÄ Untersuchungen zur Geschichte und Altertumskunde Ägyptens Urk. K. Sethe, ed., Urkunden VA Varia Aegyptiaca, San Antonio Wb. A. Erman and H. Grapow, Wörterbuch der Aegyptischen Sprache WdO Die Welt des Orients WZKMWiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Vienna ZÄS Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde ZDMG Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft ZPE Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik xiii Image not available 1. Papyrus Chester Beatty I before unrolling. Courtesy Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. 2. Prince Khuenre, eldest son of King Mycerinus, as a scribe. Giza, Dynasty 4. Museum Expedition. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Museum No. 13.3140. Image not available snnw.i ¢nhw psˇs.i m rmt, irw n.i kmdta n sdm.tw.f bw ¢0 n [¢≠h0] n m0n.tw.f, ist ¢≠h0 tw hr≠ mtwn, smh sf, nn km n bw nfr n hm rh.f;r-s0 msyt pw, h0w hpr s0k.twa r smdt rf tmt hpr, tmmt rdi ib m-s0 hr(y)t.s≠ m tk[n] im.sn [m] w¢w.k, m mh ib.k m sn, m rh hnms, m shpr n.k a[w] Oh you living images of me, my heirs among men, make for me a funeral oration which has not been heard (before), a great deed of [battle] which has not been seen, for men fight in the arena and the past is forgotten; goodness cannot profit one who does not know him whom he should know. It was after supper and night had fallen . (Corresponding to Pap. Millingen I, 9–11) Be on your guard against all who are subordinate to you when there occurs something to whose terrors no thought has been given; do not approach them [in] your solitude, trust no brother, know no friend, make no intimates. (Corresponding to Pap. Millingen I, 3–5) 3. Reverse of wooden writing board, with parts of The Teaching of King Amenemhet I, transcription into hieroglyphic, transliteration in standard form, and translation. Courtesy The Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Estate of Charles Edwin Wilbour. Museum No. 16.119. Image not available 4. Detail of scribe with papyrus roll, pen, and shell for black and red ink. From the tomb chapel of Nofer at Giza. Harvard University—Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Museum No. 07.1002. 5. Front and back of a scribe’s palette, Dynasty 13, with reed pens, inkwell, ink, and miscellaneous notations. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Hay Collection, Gift of C. Granville Way. Museum No. 72.4295. Length 38 cm., width 5 cm. Image not available 6. Relief from a tomb wall at Sakkara, Dynasty 19, with figures of famous men of the past. These include the sages Iyemhotep, Kaires, Khety, and Khakheperre-sonbe. Photographs courtesy M. Z. Ghoneim and Henry G. Fischer. Image not available Image not available INTRODUCTION s for those learned scribes from the time of the successors of the gods, A those who foretold the future, it has come to pass that their names will endure forever, although they are gone, having completed their lives, and although their offspring are forgotten.